Gang War FEATURED ARTICLE

2 gangs find real peace, in secret
Officials' summit halts bloodshed

By Suzanne Smalley
Boston Globe

Secret negotiations culminating in a "peace summit" have produced an unprecedented truce between two of the most dangerous street gangs in Boston, dramatically reducing violence on their turf.

When the effort began in June, the FBI had attributed about 20 shootings since January 2005 to the decades-old feud between Heath Street , a group of about 30 youths who live in or near Jamaica Plain's Bromley-Heath public housing development, and H-Block, a slightly smaller group from a nearby part of Roxbury around Humboldt Avenue.

That violence stopped abruptly in July, when a temporary cease-fire took effect, later strengthened by the truce. In the nearly four months since, there has not been a single shooting that police have connected to either group, two law enforcement officials involved in the truce effort told the Globe . Overall violent crime in the sections of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury where the gang members live has plummeted by as much as 80 percent, said one of those officials.

The truce was finalized at a carefully organized summit held July 24 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The gangs agreed to stay away from each other's territory until at least Labor Day, not to shoot on sight when they saw each other at events such as Boston's Caribbean Festival, and to call a minister before retaliating for any disagreements.

Within days of the two gangs shaking hands on the treaty, members of other gangs began contacting clergy and youth workers to ask for similar peace summits. Police and clergy are talking with eight other street gangs, hoping to broker truces -- with similar incentives and commitments -- across the city.

"I don't think there will ever be a strategy for dealing with gangs in Boston again that doesn't involve a truce," said the law enforcement official. "They don't want to be afraid. They don't want to shoot each other."

Acting Boston Police Commissioner Albert Goslin declined through a spokeswoman yesterday to discuss the effort.

"Commissioner Goslin believes that it is premature to engage in public discussion about this ambitious initiative," said spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Disclosing details is potentially detrimental to the mission, which is decreasing gun violence on the streets of Boston."

The Globe -- from interviews with three participants and from the journals and the notes they kept -- has reconstructed how a dozen or so Boston police commanders, ministers, and youth workers used methods more akin to international diplomacy to bring peace to two violent gangs. The participants spoke on the condition of anonymity because the effort has not been made public.

Many of those involved were also key players in the "Boston Miracle," a collaboration of police, ministers, and community leaders that helped end a murder wave in the 1990s. Now, police say, gang feuds are helping to fuel the resurgence in gun violence in the past two years. Boston is on pace this year to surpass last year's 10-year high in homicides.

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