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Looks Like Trouble Early Signs of Gangs and Violence Introduction On Thursday, April 14, 1994, John Thompson, a nineteen-year-old Beltway resident, was walking in the area beside Rendell Park, in the eastern part of the neighborhood, when a car containing four men drove by. One of the men in the car jumped out, yelled gang slogans, and opened fire, allegedly taking five shots at Thompson. One of the bullets struck Thompson in the thigh. The shooter and the other three men escaped westbound in their car. Thompson later told police that Frank Smyth, a twenty-threeyear -old Beltway resident, had fired the gun. Smyth was later arrested and charged in connection with a gang-related shooting.1 At a time when youth gang violence was peaking elsewhere in the city of Chicago, Beltway had its first recorded gang shooting.2 The report of the incident that appeared in the local weekly paper is important because it sets the scene for the events that were to follow. While such shootings, and indeed a great deal more gang violence, were a regular occurrence in neighborhoods to the east, gang-related violence was almost unheard of in Beltway at that time. Long-time residents spoke of gangs that had existed when they were growing up, but, according to these Beltwayites, such gangs were different. Melanie Thorpe, a thirty- five-year-old city worker who has lived in Beltway for about fifteen years, explains how she thinks gangs have changed in the past two decades: Yeah, because I remember when I was a kid, like there was groups that hung out, but they never were into like shootings or anything. The only thing you ever heard of was those Black Panthers over on the East Side. But even the Latin Kings, like some of them would say, “I’m in the Latin Kings,” but all they did was just hang out together. They didn’t you know, go destroying [property] or shooting and stuff. I think that all just kind of came about in the last twenty years. 4 55 The language of the newspaper report of the Thompson shooting is significant because the incident is described as “gang-related,” the protagonists are said to be “gang members,” and the shooting itself is depicted as a “drive-by.” These phrases connote gang violence in its most extreme form, something that most Beltway residents thought they would not have to contend with in their neighborhood. Indeed, one of the reasons that some people move to Beltway is to escape gang violence.3 However , it is sufficient to note that after the Thompson shooting there was a definite perception on the part of some residents that gangs were taking over their neighborhood, and, for most residents in and around the Rendell Park area, there was at least a sense of a growing threat. This chapter describes the early gang-related incidents and the reaction they provoked in Beltway. Specifically, I focus on the two neighborhood patrol groups that were formed in the wake of the Thompson shooting and the boxing program begun by other concerned residents to help keep young men from joining gangs. In essence, the story of the reaction to the Thompson shooting illustrates how difficult it can be to establish effective informal social control, and I speculate as to the contingent factors that prevent communities from organizing successfully to combat crime and disorder. Beltway Reacts In the days immediately after the Thompson shooting in the spring of 1994, a group of people living in the area around Rendell Park got together and sent fliers to many of the houses in the area. The flier, drafted by longtime residents John and Brenda Belinski and Maria Causio, urged people to attend a meeting of the Local School Council (LSC) at the nearby Gerald Elementary School, due to be held the following Wednesday , less than a week after the shooting. The flier promised that the recent shooting and gangs would be discussed at the meeting, and it exhorted people to come along “to voice your concerns about the neighborhood.” I had attended Gerald LSC meetings before the shooting; usually, about eleven people attended. However, this LSC meeting was different. When I arrived for the meeting at the Gerald School shortly before six o’clock, I noticed that a large group of people had already gathered outside the classroom where the meetings were usually held. Before the Thompson shooting, the...

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