Mothers Speak Out About Terror of Gangs and the Affects on their Children's lives

Families in fear

Gregg M. Miliote and Will Richmond
Herald News Staff Reporter

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FALL RIVER -- The effect street gangs have on the community is often hard to measure, but the stories of two families living in separate neighborhoods illustratethe problems gripping Fall River’s streets.

Flint resident Linda Grey and a woman from Corky Row who asked only to be identified as "Jane" are both parents of school-aged children, and both have borne witness to what gangs can do.

Jane’s 16-year-old son is currently recovering from a vicious gang-related hammer attack near Griffin Park. The brutal assault resulted in facial reconstructive surgery and has forced him out of B.M.C. Durfee High School -- where the alleged perpetrators still roam the halls freely.

But the attack, she said, was just one of many incidents she and her family have dealt with since moving into Corky Row a few years ago.

"Either you’re a gang member, you’re a drug dealer or you’re a drug user in Corky Row," Jane lamented. "We are all afraid. There’s a major gang problem that we are left to deal with every day. The truth is, none of us are safe unless we become a part of (gangs)."

Jane is a single mother struggling to raise four children in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods.

She said her family began encountering daily gang problems nearly two years ago when an alleged member of the notorious Mafioso street gang allegedly attempted to have sex with her young daughter.

When her daughter refused, she said, the gang member punched her in the face.

Not knowing at the time that the boy who punched their sister was a gang member, Jane’s two oldest sons went out looking for him the next day.

But what they found was the beginning of a two-year saga that has left Jane’s family petrified and one of her sons hospitalized.

"We are targets," she said. "I am so tired of being afraid. I am sick of sitting in my house and not being able to go out and enjoy my yard."

Even the cops told us to leave the house in pairs. We just can’t go out alone anymore.

"Jane said gang members from cliques like Mafioso, History and the Young Gunners routinely rob and beat her sons, and have even threatened to kill her."

They think my sons are snitches, so they call us on the phone, harass us, and even threaten to kill me and my children," she said.

"They have surrounded my house numerous times, forcing us to walk around with bats, mini-blades and swords."

Jane said her family is not alone, though. She said a number of people in the neighborhood have complained about the same issues, but little has changed for the better.

One neighbor said, "It’s gotten to the point where it’s either going to be them or it’s going to be us."

On the other side of the city, Grey said she and her family are tormented by gang members in the Flint almost daily.

Grey lives two doors down from where a member of the Bloods allegedly shot and killed Crips gang member Nathan "Bouncer" Harrigan late last month.

She said that slaying was only one of several gang-related incidents in and around her home during recent years. She has personally seen many gang-related beatings and has witnessed gang members breaking into homes in the area.

"I’m afraid. I pick up and drop off my son (from school) almost every day. The police say they know the gangs, but things are getting out of hand over here," Grey said. "Gangs have their own way of doing things. They’ll hang around and be nice to you, and before you know it you’re dressing their way, then boom -- you’re in it before you even know it."

Grey said gangs have taken her youngest son’s childhood away from him, and she explained how her oldest son was forced to drop out of Durfee because of repeated gang threats.

"My older son is suffering now because he had to leave school early. He had to quit school at the age of 16 because of the gang presence," Grey said. "He is sorry he quit, but he felt there was no other choice. It was either (drop out) or be afraid someone is out there waiting for him after school."

Grey said her youngest son -- a student at Talbot Middle School -- is not allowed outside of the house anymore due to her neighborhood’s constant gang problems. She said her son has every electronic game available to keep him inside and occupied.

"If my kid is not in the house by 2:45 p.m., I’m pacing around the house," she said. "I don’t even let my kid out of the house. I don’t care if he spends the day playing video games."

She said gang members are always outside her house, and said they frequently carry concealed weapons.

Grey also said gang members waited in the woods outside Talbot in an attempt to "jump" her son, and said she was actually forced into a physical altercation on County Street with gang members who were harassing her son.

"I was there for almost an hour fighting off six of them, and no one even stopped to help me," she said. Both Grey and Jane also spoke of being shut out of city parks during certain times of the day because gangs have taken them over.

Corky Row’s Griffin Park is continuously blighted with gang graffiti, something Jane says sends a strong message that "regular people aren’t allowed there."

"If we go in the park at certain times, we are probably in for some real trouble," Jane said. Grey tells a similar story about Lafayette Park.

"These gangs have become such a problem that my son isn’t even allowed in (Lafayette) Park anymore," Grey said. "It’s awful, and now I have to convince my kids to stay in the house."

While Grey has succeeded in keeping her sons off the streets, Jane says she is having a more difficult time.

"My son keeps talking about joining a gang so he is not isolated anymore," she said. "That’s something I really don’t want to let happen."

The fear and lack of quality of life being experienced by these two families was summed up best by Jane, who said she is actively seeking to move out of town. "Even my 6-year-old son feels like he has to carry a knife (like the rest of his family) because he thinks there are bad guys outside," Jane said. "These gangs have turned my quiet young boys into young men who are forced to carry weapons. This is everything I am against in life.

"We need help out here!"