Despite having a last name ending in a vowel, I have little to no experience with organized crime, which is why, until now I didn't really have much of an opinion on Jody Weis' decision to bring a number of high-ranking Chicago street gang members together for a pow-wow where, rather than executing the RICO statutes, arresting them all and crippling Chicago's gang problem - or, for that matter, hiring additional police officers - he decided to re-enact the third season of The Wire and negotiate a peace.
I feel like, despite historical precedent, this was a bad idea, in part because I don't think the gang members were all that fazed by the prospect of RICO prosecution and in part because 8 people still got shot last night in incidents with all the classic markings of gang violence. Also, the gang issued a press release to something like ten thousand media email addresses and held a press conference to discuss their feelings on the subject.
Gang members themselves are the latest to come out against police Supt.
Jody Weis' strategy to put pressure on them and curb gang violence.Self-described gang members held a news conference at the Columbus Park
Refectory, at 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. on the city's West Side.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......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.
I left out the best part of that article which was, of course, the part where the CBS news carried the conference on livestream as though these guys had some sort of legitimate point they needed to make in a public forum. Call me crazy, but the sentiment that appears to be missing here? They're gang members who engage in illegal activity on a routine basis. The police are charged with keeping the community safe from people who do bad stuff. Now, I understand that they might feel a little slighted and unfairly singled out when the police go after them for doing things like selling drugs, knocking over liquor stores, shooting people and whatnot, but see, I feel like this relationship was solidified around the beginning of time. But what the hell do I know? Well, besides the whole part about how belonging to a criminal enterprise that makes illegal activity a priority is probably illegal, no matter how loosely the gang can be described as a "community organization."
When did this bullsh*t become commonplace? At what point did Chicago get so f***ed up that there are actually organizations within the communities that are ravaged by gang violence that coddle and excuse this type of behavior as a police problem? Did we just give up on ourselves somewhere, thinking, you know, if I just assume it's someone else's fault - Republicans, Democrats, God, the government, Cubs fans, unicorns, Cthulhu etc. - that I can continue to bemoan this problem into eternity without actually taking any responsibility for my own community? Is that really what's happening here? Have we just wallowed so far into our own self-pity that as a city we are actually totally incapable of helping ourselves?
Ugh. I mean, if they backed up and took a look at themselves, they'd at least see that they'd make a decent, if overly aggressive, corporate communications department. They could make millions with this kind of organization.
Their first client could be Pat Quinn, whose nonsensical response to the whole issue is frought with assumptions and ridiculous statements: (1) Gangbangers don't come by weapons legally so gun laws wouldn't keep guns out of the hands of gangbangers, even assault weapons, which is, weirdly, currently a federal issue, meaning of course that the governor of a state like Illinois would have little to no say in how the issue played out on a national level. (2) The city of Chicago never managed to enforce the gun laws they actually had on the books. (3) While the gun laws were in effect fifty people still got shot every weekend and (4) you're three days late on a response.
Seriously. The gang actually had a better media strategy.
Filed under: Local Politics
Tags: Chicago Police, Chief of Police, gang meeting, gang violence, gang warfare, Jody Weis, Mayor Daley, Pat Quinn, Richard Daley, RICO
"Despite having a last name ending in a vowel, I have little to no experience with organized crime,..."
And here I thought you were related to a certain Sicilian gentleman with connections to the olive-oil trade.
I read about that story a day or so ago, and thought it a bit odd, but still, that's Chicago.
There may be a difference between Chicago and Mexico, but it's only one of scale. When you start giving the Bad Guys voice and influence, it's the start of a really bad trend.
"Here, Bad Guys, have an inch."
I'm beginning to miss Alphonse Capone.
It seems ridiculous to me that Chicago can't get a grip on gang violence. That's why I left a couple of years ago.How do you guys cope? I know I couldn't. Great article btw. If you get a chance drop by a new forum http://politicalforum.net/forum.php for civil discussion on topics like this.