Members talk about gang life on street in Beloit

Gangs: Often, it's about fitting in

By Jen Scherer
Daily News staff writer

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story is the first in a two-part series about gang activity in Beloit. Sources quoted in this story agreed to speak with the newspaper only if their names were changed to protect their identity.

Whenever Carlos was shot at, he'd think, “this is not what I want to do.”

Still, it took time for him to extricate himself from the Latin Kings, where he'd climbed up the ranks into the upper echelon of the gang. Now, at 21, he has been out of the gang for a little over three years.

Carlos grew up in Beloit and at age 15, more or less drifted into membership because most of the guys in the gang were already friends of his.

“Most people think they do it because (they don't have) a very good family life or got picked on,” Carlos said. “That was never my case at all.”

At the time, he wasn't sure what to expect. He'd been in some trouble as a juvenile. After he joined, he ended up getting waived into adult court at age 17 for a criminal damage charge.

Still other things are never reported, and Carlos said “nobody gets caught for a lot of things they do.”

Carlos said he did make money in the drug trade as a gang member, but gang members in bigger cities like Chicago, Milwaukee or Madison, make a lot more.

One factor that attracted him to the gang was there were always people there to help.

“Whatever happened, I always had somebody there,” Carlos said.

The bad part of gang life was that people knew him, whether he knew them or not, because of his gang affiliation.

“At any point and time you could be attacked by somebody else,” Carlos said.
His life changed in many ways after joining the LKs.

“Before that, the smallest things you let go,” Carlos said. “In a gang, if you let smaller things go, it comes back at you. You had to deal with it.”

He recalls having the most run-ins with Black Disciples, which is a little different than it would be in a bigger city. In Chicago, for example, Hispanic gangs tend to have more problems with Hispanic gangs.

Carlos said the LKs have regular meetings. There is a top council comprised of seven people. The top three of these figure out options when there is a problem, and then there is a vote.
Some people strive to get to the top council, while others don't want that kind of responsibility and “prefer to pretty much be a soldier.”

Carlos made his way into the upper echelon.

“I'm never the type, my whole life to sit there and take orders and do it without question,” he explained. “That was never me.”

Carlos said LKs have been labeled one of the most violent gangs around, and he would say that's true. If someone acts against one gang member, there's always a reaction, though retaliation was equivalent to the original action.

“If they just came by and beat somebody up, that's pretty much what it would be,” Carlos said. “But if they came by and shot, we'd go by and shoot back.”

Carlos feels the December 30 murder of Luis Herrera was likely gang-related, but that would be the most recent. When something like that happens, Carlos realizes it could have been him; he has in fact been shot at, a point he concedes casually.

“When that s--- happens, you think, this is not what I want to do,” Carlos said.

So why did he want to get out?

“People eventually, just human nature, started to want more and want more,” Carlos said. “It got to the point where one of them actually stole from me and nothing was done about it, because people who could have done something, they prospered from it.”

It was not, however, easy to get out. There are people today who would fight Carlos if they saw him.

LKs understand when they join they can't quit the lifestyle on a whim. People who get married or have children, and who've been members long enough are allowed to just go. Others can quit, but they may be jumped by their former friends on sight.

Though Carlos plans to steer his two children away from the path of gang life, he does not regret having been part of the LKs.

“I've learned a lot from it,” Carlos said. “I walked away with a lot more street smarts and a lot more knowledge of just the true character of people. Someone could be your best friend and (for one decision) you're just the next person in the street that they're willing to beat up.”

Member since age 12Boo, which is his street name, 18, has been in the Crips since he was about 12, and like Carlos joined because his friends were members and approached him about joining.

At the time, his older brother was in a gang.

“I thought it was cool, but I didn't really want to be in a gang,” Boo said. “It was either be with my friends in a gang or be an outsider.”

The good side for Boo is that he always has friends to look out for him and give him money if he needs it.

“Ain't nobody gonna let you go without,” he said.

The bad side about being in a gang is the preconceptions about the lifestyle.

“People automatically think just because you're in a gang, you're trying to fight all the time, or you steal, or you sell drugs or whatever,” Boo said. “Or you're a certain way because other people heard about what gang members do or whatever.”

Boo said there is violence that stems from being in a gang though typically, he feels problems start between individuals with the gang connections being secondary. When there is a personality conflict like that, it becomes understood that when the two people meet, they will fight. Boo said he's been in at least 10 fights he can remember.

Asked is he's ever thought his life was in danger, Boo said “yeah” with a laugh.

“Me and my friends we prefer to use fists, because there's really no reason to kill somebody over an argument or something like that,” Boo said. “A lot of the gangs prefer to use weapons. Some people can't use their fists, they ... have to use a pistol.”

Boo said it's unusual for them to bring problems to the police.

“We don't go to the police because, we ain't no snitches,” Boo said. “If you in a gang, you want to be respected. You can't call the cops if you don't need to call the cops.”

Boo doesn't believe people are pressured to join gangs. If he becomes friends with someone new, he might suggest that person join, but that person doesn't have to do so.

“We don't be like either you gonna get down or you gonna go,” he said.

Though he admits he was in trouble prior to his association with Crips - he had some disorderly conducts and had a mob action charge for beating someone up - Boo believes he wouldn't have been in as much trouble as he has been if he hadn't joined a gang.

However, he hasn't been in trouble since he turned 18.

Boo said his mom raised him and his five siblings. While he knew who his father was, he was “there and gone” all the time, spent time in prison and smoked crack and dope.

Though he knows right from wrong, he also missed his father's influence.

“I really don't know what fathers teach their kids, but if he would have been around to do that I probably would have been a lot different,” Boo said.

At this point, he couldn't say what his future might hold.

“Honestly I don't even know,” Boo said. “I hope I don't go to jail. I'm trying not to go to jail and be on a better path, but you never know. I don't know.”

Boo said his younger brother will probably try to become a Crip and he doesn't know how he feels about that, remembering how much trouble he was in when he was 15 or 16.

“If I knew half (of what) I know now when I was 15, 16 or even 11, I would probably be a lot different,” Boo said.

Despite this, he said he's never wanted out of the Crips, and would recommend the lifestyle.
Ready to leave gangAfter getting in trouble with the law, Joe, 17, a member of the Maniac Latin Disciples, or MLD, says he's ready to leave the lifestyle behind.

He joined MLD when he was 12 after peer pressure from friends already in the gang.

“I got to meet a lot of new people (and party),” Joe said. “But then, they had a lot of consequences to it too, like always looking behind your back when you're walking to the store, and there's always that chance that when you're with your family that you'll get beat up you know?”

Joe said he's gotten into fights because of his MLD affiliation. He particularly clashes with LKs and Vice Lords.

“It wasn't for me,” Joe said of why he's getting out.

There are in fact a lot of negatives to the lifestyle.

“There's always the fear of being shot at or jumped, you know?” Joe said.

He's been shot at, his friend's house was hit with gunfire while he was there, and there have been parties where bullets have flown.

“At that moment I feared death,” Joe said of the times he was shot at. “A couple times I got jumped that I was pretty afraid how it was going to turn out in the end.”

He said he was once with three friends when they got jumped by about 20 rival gang members. One of his friends got staples in his head.

Joe said he was facing felony mob action and a lot of stuff, and blames his lifestyle for being on probation now.

“Once you're in a gang, cops are after you,” Joe said. “Something happens and they just assume you were the bad person because you were there. There's a lot of negatives to it. A lot more negatives than positives.”

When he joined, he was “in it for the parties” and just to have fun. He said most of his friends have experimented with marijuana, and while he never sold drugs some of his friends have gotten into trouble for it.

“When I was into it I liked the thrill, I was always trying to do something crazy so people would look up to me,” Joe said. “I just wanted respect.”

So what does he do for respect now?

“A lot of my friends don't really respect me because I quit banging,” Joe said. “I don't really care. I don't gotta prove nothing to nobody.”

Joe is originally from Beloit. His mom and dad got divorced, and he grew up with his mom who he said always gave him everything.

“Basically I just wanted more,” Joe said.

He has two brothers, one sister and two half-siblings. Joe said he's trying to keep them out of gangs and is currently pursuing his high school equivalency diploma.