Punishment 19 years Tex correction Hello I’m James Wilson youth gangs have existed in many American cities for Generations the members usually drawn from a single ethnic group give unswerving loyalty to the gang and defend its turf as a matter of Honor when gangs turn to violence and crime they create formidable problems for the
Police and when some start selling drugs the law enforcement problems are even greater some law enforcement officials say that gangs are establishing satellite drug Distribution Systems in other cities assassinating members of other drug dealing gangs and permeating neighborhoods with drug selling bazars nowhere does the problem of Youth
Gangs and drugs appear to be more pervasive than in Los Angeles their names dominate the graffiti all over Los Angeles Crips Bloods little Watts they’re the infamous LA gangs known across the country for their violent criminal activity driveby shootings drug dealing and fierce Turf rivalry as you can see on these walls
That we’re walking by uh they’re at war with a number of gangs and a lot of gangs don’t like them uh as as you can see on the wall here all the black writing is the local guys in this particular gang and they’re indicating who they at war with and there are two
Different gangs that came by and crossed their plers out to tell them that hey we don’t like you either one is a blood gang and the other is a is a [ __ ] gang disputes between gangs are serious business there were 554 Gang Related killings in Greater Los Angeles in
1989 I mean for the people in New York I know this coming out there you know what I’m saying they got gangs out there The Gangs out there ain’t nothing like the Gams in Los Angeles Point ain’t nothing like La you know what I’m saying we the we the gang
Capital of the world you know we the gang capital of the world murder capital of the world people do not join no game because they have to you’re not forc them to join no gang or nothing like that you see them little group of kids over there right there all them is
Buddies all them is friends they growing up they growing up each other they going through thick and thin it’s not just like a gang you know we’re just like a family you know we stick in our own neighborhood you know we grow up together but to you guys it’s a gang you
Know to us it’s just a family law enforcement officials say that what these gang members describe as close-knit friendships frequently lead to dangerous crimes we’re talking about people who kill people we’re talking about people who rob people we’re talking about people who uh who steal cars we’re
Talking I mean this is serious business now this is real criminality and and again we don’t Define gangs um by way of college fraternities or sororities these are criminal process groups 25 years ago there were about 25,000 gang members in all of Los Angeles today there’s close to 100,000 gang
Members the main difference that we’re seeing today is that they’re staying in gangs longer because of the drug involvement uh drugs being so lucrative that uh in the old days people went through gangs as a phase and and if they were lucky they came out the other end
After doing a little time or or maybe having a bullet in them but they’re still alive uh today they’re voluntarily staying in until they’re older in the 30s and such because of the uh the draw and and the uh uh the Reliance on the income from drugs there are estimated to
Be over 20 gangs that attend rollout High School seven of them come from the Alisal housing projects uh these gangs right here operate around R about high school and these gangs right here are bust in from other areas and my last question is Steven valdia is the executive director of community youth
Gang Services an anti-gang program that targets neighborhoods and works directly with gang members and their families valdia believes education and intervention is necessary before the kids get involved with their neighborhood gang he stresses helping kids develop self-respect self-esteem and self-reliance I keep telling people to look at gangs like a disease it’s
Preventable if you inoculate young people in elementary school and you inoculate their parents and you give them a booster in elementary are in junior high school and you stay with them and at the same time you provide uh uh just regular things that people need
A little pat on the back a little love and a little attention and positive outlets and a belief that the future is is is for them as well as others uh people will do the right thing decision Mak what is a decision can somebody tell
Me what a decision is what is it um choices choices what kind of choices we use our brain we use our brain we use our Bel we want these kids to know that they don’t have to join a game they don’t have to take drugs that there are
Other options and other choices in life I think when you have a high self-esteem you’ll have respect for yourself and love for yourself I think with all those you’ll start making right decisions and when you start making right decisions possibly one of those decisions will will be not to join a
Gang okay one couple deals before Al gets into it they had a kind of a standoff this morning at Jordan 256 officers are assigned by the Los Angeles Police Department to deal with gangs Sergeant JJ May is supervisor of a crash unit an acronym for Community Resources against Street hoodlums oh I’m real
Familiar with this area I’ve probably been working this one here about 5 six years yeah they know me quite well they know I I don’t fool around I’m mean business out here if you’re gang banging standby you know you’re going to go to jail law enforcement officials agree
With Community workers that the key is early intervention but they also believe that once someone gets involved in a criminal gang activity a heavy hand is essential you hear me one of the things you do is you attack The Gangs as a gang you make it so it’s very unpleasant for
Them to keep participating in the type of activity that they’ve gotten the satisfaction from you you create a situation where it’s no longer satisfactory to engage in this kind of conduct so you’re down with these fethers you’ve been throwing go these are all South Los gang members and there
Was two here that we haven’t seen recently and we stopped to just uh fill out a little information card on them to find out who they were what their street name is uh where they’re living at and just for our information so prior contacts down the road that we’ll know
Who who they are who we’re talking to we just kind of like like to keep tabs of uh who’s new in new in the group and uh current things that are going on we stop and talk to them all the time the three years in the joint probably kept me
Alive cuz at the time I had at least six or seven neighborhoods wanting to kill me so it’s probably the best thing that ever happened to me he going to prison former gang member Marian Parton knows she’s lucky to be alive today the question is how many others will be able
Successfully to break away from gang life we arrest people every day we convict people every day the Jail’s a full kids are seeing other kids die out every day behind this gang thing it still that doesn’t deter him either so I don’t know what’s going to stop it we as
Policemen we surely aren’t going to be the ones to do it a g you’re putting us like I said we’re a family you know you’re telling us to break up our family you know that’s that’s not right but I think a lot more people who have been
Through it have to come back and clean up the neighborhood cuz part of the reason why the kids join us cuz they want to be like us you know and they need to be like the people we are today not what we were 105 years ago you got
To let the Legend die someday
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