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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Chicago's gang summit sounds like our "cease fire" except they used parolees to try to influence the younger gangsters. Arguments against it include the need for more law enforcement to implement and the presence of the Police Superintendent put him on equal footing as the gangsters. Some attendees left the meeting and the meeting was criticized by the Illinois Governor.
Two oficers have been killed since the meeting. The issue has become a political one because of anupcoming election for Mayor
Chicago police chief criticized for 'gang summit'
By SOPHIA TAREEN, AP
2 hours ago
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FILE - In this July 22, 2010 file photo, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody ...
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CHICAGO — The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation's third-largest city.
But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called "gang summit" last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime.
Among the chief complaints: that Weis himself was at the meeting, that the department should instead be adding more officers on the streets and that gangs won't take the message seriously.
"What are we doing negotiating or having a sit-down with urban terrorists who are killing with guns and drugs on the streets?" Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti said. "Gangs are not to be coddled."
The issue resonates deeply in Chicago, where the number of brazen shootings has escalated this year, even though the overall homicide rate is down. Earlier this year, two state lawmakers asked to send in the National Guard to patrol streets. On Wednesday, two cops were shot and injured while serving a warrant.
The Chicago Gang Violence Reduction Initiative launched at an unpublicized Aug. 17 meeting, when Weis met with parolees and reputed gang members from Chicago's west side. The meeting, which was also attended by family members of victims, was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Some reputed members of gangs like the Four Corner Hustlers and the Traveling Vice Lords said they were surprised to see Weis there after being told by their parole officers to show up. Many were visibly angry and some left during the meeting.
But Weis has defended the initiative with the support of Mayor Richard M. Daley and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who likened the tactic to his office holding parolee forums to warn people leaving prison that they'll be watched.
Weis said the message was simple: "If you should resort to violence, we'll sharpen our focus on you and really really make your lives uncomfortable. You have the ability to influence people within your sphere. You guys are in the position to stop the killing."
Weis said prosecutors at the meeting threatened attendees that they could be charged under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act if killings were traced back to gangs with members attending the meeting. The federal law, commonly known as RICO, provides stiffer penalties for acts performed as part of a criminal organization such as the Mafia.
Experts say the tactic of meeting with gang leaders — whether formally with top administrators or at the neighborhood level — is just part of good police work.
"It's become almost standard practice in police departments around the country," said David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "It's simply saying to people that violence is going to get special attention from law enforcement and that a whole lot of violence, especially in places like Chicago, is driven by gangs."
At least 50 jurisdictions nationwide use the approach. In Cincinnati, Chief Tom Streicher Jr. attends similar meetings, and the Los Angeles Police Department has started using the approach.
Among the pioneers was the Boston Police Department. In the early 1990s when the city's murder rate hovered around 150 a year, the department launched Operation Ceasefire, which continues today.
Parolees and other alleged criminals attend meetings with prosecutors where they're warned of consequences and given jobs information. Police say it has helped cut Boston's homicide rate. Last year the department reported 49.
"We give them a conversation about the fact that we know who they are, what they're up to and they have two options," said Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Take advantage of the resources or end up in jail."
Still, criticism in Chicago has continued.
"I don't think that's the way to go," Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said. He suggested going after guns on the streets.
Fioretti, who is mulling a run at Chicago mayor, said Weis shouldn't have been there with reputed gangsters.
"He brought them to a table and made them equal," Fioretti said.
Chicago Alderman Joe Moore has called it "a desperation tactic," while others have suggested younger and active gang members may not listen to the word of parolees.
Some of the scrutiny could simply be because it was Weis' idea.
Since he took over in 2008, the department has been wary of Weis, a career FBI agent who continues to be seen as an outsider by many rank and file officers.
Weis noted the program hasn't incurred big costs and that if it doesn't work, the department will drop it. He said he thinks his presence at the meeting made it more meaningful and that attendees were chosen because of their influence.
Overall, Chicago's homicide rate has mirrored national trends and dropped significantly since the 1990s. It fell from a high of 943 in 1992 to 460 last year and has held steady in recent years.
But if residents and police need evidence that the city remains a dangerous place for officers — four officers were killed in the line of duty this year — they found it Wednesday morning. Two plainclothes officers were shot and wounded while serving a warrant on the city's South Side.
Weis said the next step is to determine if recent crimes can be traced to gangs at the meting.
"I don't view it as the panacea to stop all crimes," he said. "It certainly seemed like a worthwhile effort, even to try."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:42 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Chicago gangs to top cop: You're not playing fair
Buzz up!50 votes ShareretweetEmailPrint AP – Jim Allen, a member of the Vice Lords speaks at a news conference, joined by several current and former … By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer Michael Tarm, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 2, 7:06 pm ET
CHICAGO – Calling the Chicago police chief's ultimatum to stop resorting to violence a waste of time, current and former members of some of the city's most notorious street gangs held an unlikely news conference on Thursday to send their own message to police: You're not playing fair.
Representatives of the Traveling Vice Lords, Four Corner Hustlers and other gangs gathered before TV cameras on a park building portico and bemoaned a recent message police Superintendent Jody Weis gave to reputed gang leaders at what has been billed as a "gang summit" — that if gangs don't stop the killings, police will go after their leaders.
"Is it possible for one person to micromanage a group?" Vice Lords gang member Jim Allen asked reporters, wearing a black baseball cap with the words, "Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest." "We will not be responsible for anyone's actions but our own."
Former gang member Reginald Berry Sr. said police would be better off if gang members were given job offers instead of threats of jail time.
"The problem with them is they're giving us an ultimatum — 'quit!' instead of alternatives," he said. Members of gangs ought to be told, "Get off the corner selling these bags, and come to this construction site and pick up this brick."
Weis is facing mounting criticism from leaders across the city and state — including Gov. Pat Quinn — for holding the unpublicized Aug. 17 meeting, even though several police departments across the country have relied on similar approaches for decades to help reduce crime.
Some reputed gang members said they were surprised to see Weis at the meeting after being told by their parole officers to show up. Many were visibly angry, with some even leaving the meeting.
Convening gang members under false pretenses undermined any possible effectiveness of the meeting, Allen, 32, told reporters.
"Their words and actions are null and void — because it was all a trick," he said.
Weis has said prosecutors at the Aug. 17 meeting, which was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, threatened attendees that they could be charged under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act if killings were traced back to gangs with members attending the meeting. The federal law, commonly known as RICO, provides stiffer penalties for acts performed as part of a criminal organization such as the Mafia.
The police chief has defended the initiative with the support of Mayor Richard M. Daley and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who likened Weis' approach to his office holding parolee forums to warn people leaving prison that they'll be watched.
Weis also doesn't buy the notion gang leaders are powerless to stem violence by their auxiliaries.
"You have the ability to influence people within your sphere," Weis told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "You guys are in the position to stop the killing."
Though Chicago's homicide rate has mirrored national trends and dropped significantly since the 1990s to 460 last year, the number of brazen shootings have escalated this year. Four police officers have been killed in the line of duty this year, and on Wednesday, two cops were shot and injured while serving a warrant on suspected gang members.
Daley seemed to shrug off the gang members' media offensive, telling reporters earlier Thursday that, "Everybody complains about the police. But again, it's America. You can complain about anything."
Later, some of the current and ex-gang members turned community activists complained about Daley.
Activist Mark Carter asked how gang leaders could be asked to take responsibility for their subordinates when city government leaders don't take responsibility for alleged misdeeds by their employees.
"Is the mayor going to be held accountable for the corruption that takes place under his watch?" he said. "And the biggest gang in the city of Chicago is the Chicago Police Department."
But experts say the tactic of meeting with gang leaders — whether formally with top administrators or at the neighborhood level — is just part of good police work.
At least 50 jurisdictions nationwide use the approach, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Boston.
"It sounds like pixie dust, but it works," Jim Fealy, a chief of police in High Point, North Carolina, said Thursday. "It's worked miraculously in other parts of the country, and it can work in Chicago."
Since starting to put gangs on notice 13 years ago, he said, violent crime is down in the city of 100,000 people by more than 40 percent.
"High Point was once known as little Chicago because of the violence," he said. "We're not known as that anymore."
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Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report. |
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Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:32 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Self-identified gang leaders hold a news conference in Chicago, Sept. 2. 2010. (CBS)
(WBBM/CBS-2 Chicago) At a news conference organized by self-identified gang members Thursday morning, several speakers complained that police and city officials do not respect them, and that the only way to curb violence is to provide jobs and improving their community.
The self-described current and former gang members held a news conference at the Columbus Park Refectory, at 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. on the city's West Side.
"You say it's gangs, drugs and guns. We say we need jobs, opportunities and contracts," said Reginald Akeem Berry Sr., who identified himself as a former gang member. "That's the resolution."
They are taking issue with Weis' strategy of meeting with gang leaders and warning them of serious consequences if violence continues.
Weis held a meeting with the reputed leaders of several West Side gangs at the Garfield Park Conservatory over the weekend. At the meeting, prosecutors warned that the gang members could be charged under the federal racketeering laws if killings were traced back to gangs with members attending the meeting.
The Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, RICO for short, provides stiffer penalties for acts performed as part of a criminal organization such as the Mafia.
But at the news conference, the speakers said the city should be working to place young African-American men in jobs, particularly those with criminal records who have paid their debt to society.
"The problem with them is that they're giving us an ultimatum - quit - instead of an alternative. But we're offering these young men an alternative, saying, 'Get off the corner selling these bags, and come to this construction site and pick up this brick," Akeem Berry said.
Another speaker, Barrion Dupree El, 34, identified himself as a member of the Conservative Vice Lords, and said he has pride in his affiliation.
"It wasn't to tear down our community. It was to uplift the fallen stages of humanity," he said.
All the speakers said repeatedly that they do not condone the violence in the community and "gang banging" and want to stop it. But they argued that gangs are not the cause of the violence.
"You keep saying gang violence. It's drug-related. It's not gang related. It's drug related," Akeem Berry said.
Gang members have also taken issue directly with the meeting Weis organized. They say they were tricked into coming to the meeting, and that it amounted to harassment.
The Columbus Park news conference was convened by Jim Allen, a self-identified Vice Lords Nation member. Allen is also identified as the "almighty minister" of an organization called Tha Movement. The group's logo features several gang signs in the center surrounded by a circle bearing the message: "Stop the violence. One love."
An announcement on the blog for Tha Movement said members of the "Lords, Disciples, Kings, Stones, Hustlers, Souls, Cobras, etc." are expected to be at the news conference.
The group is protesting what they call the "unconstitutional, guilty before innocent, premeditated arrest and indictment by Chicago Police hearsay and propaganda tactics," in regard to the threat to use the RICO statute at the "'secret trick meeting' the Chicago Police and others held with whom they deemed to be top gang leaders.
"Tha Movement believes this to be nothing more than the continuation of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge style tactics of harassment," the announcement says. Burge was convicted this past June of lying about torturing criminal suspects into confessions into the 1970s and 80s.
Some Chicago aldermen, as well as police officers posting on the Second City Cop blog, have blasted Weis' meeting with gang leaders as negotiating with "urban terrorists."
But Allen told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell that there was no "negotiation." He told Mitchell that when President Barack Obama was in the U.S. Senate, he said he was "willing to sit down with terrorists without preconditions," but the gang leaders were "tricked" into attending the meeting.
The gangs were told they were attending a routine parole hearing when they came to Weis' summit over the weekend.
Mayor Richard M. Daley has defended Weis' decision to meet with the gangs. Earlier this week, he said, "If it saves your child's life, you would want me to sit down -- simple as that."
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Weis was right to meet with gang members to stop violence, but he says neither he nor Weis will negotiate with gangs.
"Anyone who thinks that anyone has a pass to commit crime in this city is wrong. The federal government goes after drugs, guns and gangs. If people aren't involved in current violence, we'll still prosecute them for doing drugs. We're offering them nothing," Fitzgerald said. "We are sending them a message that they can understand that the more violent they are, the more of a target they are."
Weis says he now plans to have another meeting with South Side gang leaders.
Meanwhile, Gang members are also expected to attend another news conference that is being held by local clergy at 11 a.m., at the New Life Christian Ministries of Greater Chicago, 8201 S. Jeffery Blvd.
Another Violent Night
Meanwhile, it was another violent night in Chicago, as one gang-related shooting quickly led to another in retaliation.
In the latest incident, a 14-year-old boy was shot around 7:30 p.m. in the 8300 block of South Baltimore Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood. A gunman approached on foot and shot him in the thigh, said a South Chicago District police sergeant, adding that the boy is an alleged gang member.
About 8:43 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the left arm in the 8300 block of South Phillips Avenue when an unknown gunman wearing sunglasses opened fire from a passing vehicle, said the sergeant.
The sergeant said the Phillips Avenue attack was allegedly done in retaliation for the earlier shooting of the boy.
The boy was taken in good condition to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. The 20-year-old man was taken in good condition to South Shore Hospital, the sergeant said.
There were several other shootings overnight for which the motive has not yet been released. One of them was fatal.
Johnnie Dyer, 38, of the 400 block of East Oakwood Boulevard, was shot multiple times and killed overnight in the 3000 block of West Fifth Avenue. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 12:38 a.m., authorities said.
A 20-year-old man was shot in the torso in the 6900 block of South Talman Avenue around 10:55 p.m. The gunman walked up to the victim as he sat on a porch, police said.
Around 10:30 a.m., a 15-year-old boy was shot in the foot and shin by two gunmen in the 9700 block of South Lowe Avenue. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition, police said.
As of Thursday morning, no one was in custody in connection with any of the shootings.
WBBM's Mike Puccinelli, the Associated Press and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
© MMX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:44 pm |
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