MEDIA WATCH: While Mayor Emanuel continued teacher bashing (saying teachers had 'shafted' the kids) and tried to destroy police, firefighter and teacher pensions — Chicago's massive drug gangs went on a rampage across the Humboldt Park area and south across the city
No sooner had Mayor Rahm Emanuel gotten off his most recent scripted one-liner attacking teachers and scapegoating public worker unions in Chicago (the largest of which is still the Chicago Teachers Union) for both the educational and fiscal woes of the city than another eruption of violence from the drug gangs should have been a warning about where the real problems facing the city are coming from. By the evening of June 19, 2011, police radios (and police blogs) across Chicago were erupting with reports of gang violence.
The corner of Spaulding and Beach in West Humboldt Park in Chicago. For more than 30 years, the area has been called the "Motherland" by the Latin Kings street gang. Three generations of Chicago gangsters and Chicago police and teachers have known about Spaulding and Beach, but the fact that it remains a center of Latin King northside enterprises in Chicago tells a major story about how the city has allowed the major gangs — the Latin Kings and Maniac Latin Disciples, the Black P. Stones and the Black Gangster Disciples, and the Gaylords and Simon City Royals (to name gangs from the three major ethnic groups) — to thrive in Chicago. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
But while the shooting (including firing at cops) was going on across the inner city, from Humboldt Park out to 87th and Damen and beyond), Mayor Emanuel was silent about the gangs. City Hall reported that he was in Baltimore, giving a speech to the National Conference of Mayors on the need for infrastructure repairs. If so, it was an almost perfect irony.
Map from Test of nerves at dangerous street corner in Humboldt Park
But while the shooting (including firing at cops) was going on across the inner city, from Humboldt Park out to 87th and Damen and beyond), Mayor Emanuel was silent about the gangs. City Hall reported that he was in Baltimore, giving a speech to the National Conference of Mayors on the need for infrastructure repairs. If so, it was an almost perfect irony.
Three days after Emanuel said that Chicago's teachers and unions had "shafted" the kids, he was in the city where "The Wire" was made while the gang problems in his own city escalated to the point where the corporate media was having more and more trouble ignoring it. One of the reasons why Chicago's drug gangs have become the largest and best-organized in the USA is that Chicago's political leaders, now including Rahm Emanuel, have chosen to scapegoat teachers and other public workers, while allowing the drug gangs (which often flourish with political protection) to grow in size and influence.
The area in and around Humboldt Park on Chicago's north side (North Ave. and California to North Ave. and Kedzie, south to Augusta) has long faced gang problems, with Latin Kings to the west and various Disciples gangs to the east. The problems that arose during the weeks before June 19 were widely known in the schools, on the streets and to the police, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel was too busy trying publicity stunts against the city's unionized teachers to even speak out against the gangs his predecessors had allowed to take over large parts of Chicago. Substance photo June 19, 2011, by George N. Schmidt.
Overnight between June 18 and June 19, gunfire could be heard in most parts of Chicago, and it wasn't a rehearsal for the July 4 fireworks. Probably the only communities where you couldn't hear the rapid sounds of automatics firing was the Gold Coast, which had received extra police protection after the gangs headed there a week earlier for an afternoon of text-based activities. But after throwing a brief scare into Chicago's wealthiest (and the business that cater to them along the Magnificent Mile), most of the city's thousands of drug gang members were back in action on the home territories they have long claims — with the help of the city's political and economic leaders — as their "turf."
But Emanuel won't be interested in stopping the gangs, which on election day will be part of the political process. Instead, he's working on destroying the teachers' union and privatizing schools. That this will only lead to more violence and destruction (as it already has) isn't part of the public discussion. Everyone must remember that chaos is what the ruling class wants so they can make a profit.
Interesting how crime get s covered up until the ruling class needs the information to create and call for emergency measures to fix the problem! Just like the $65 million "Culture of Calm" crony money that disappeared under Ron Huberman and Terry Mazany. First, from a police blog.
From one end of Chicago to the other, well organized and often massive drug gangs have been operating for generations. With support from politicians and other powerful people, they replicate their activities and symbols now into the fourth generation. Above, Maniac Latin Disciples graffiti adorned a garage across from Gage Park High School on the South Side in December 2009. Gang Park was victimized and its teachers slandered by the Daley administration, which allowed the gangs to proliferate across the south and west sides. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Humboldt Park Chaos?
Saturday, June 18, 2011. http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/...
Our comment section started lighting up just before 9 PM, but there doesn't appear to be any coverage on the networks, radios or websites.
We're getting unconfirmed reports of stabbings and massive gang fights across the entire [Humboldt] park. Supposedly, TAC [tactical squads], Gang and Response Teams are being called out from districts across the city to go to the Puerto Rican festival in full riot gear, even gas teams being assembled?
Anyone have the actual story? We can't imagine anyone missed this one coming. Its been building for days and the weather is only going to aggravate it.
UPDATE: A couple of veterans saying it was normal behavior for the fest, just a couple of larger half-assed fights, mass dispersals and the like. They say it looks worse because we're undermanned and won't fill the wagons.
By 4:00 a.m. June 19, the following (again from Second City cop): An officer safety alert warning that cops are at a heightened risk of being shot in the area has since been put in place, police sources said.On Friday night, dispatchers had been instructed to send two beat cars to all calls for service in that part of town. So even though they're under siege from gang banging pieces of crap, the cops are going there en masse because you know it's all the police's fault.Time to stop the fest. Actually, the time was probably 20 or 30 years ago, but no better time than the present. Have Rahm plead poverty, we can't afford it, unwise use of resources, etc. It's outlived its usefulness. Rahm in Action
Sounds like a neighborhood under siege:
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/...
Labels: un-fucking-believable, June 19, 2011 at 4:20 AM
Following the publication of its ground-breaking work "Gangs: Public Enemy Number One" during the 1990s, the Chicago Crime Commission updated the "Gang Book" in 2003, adding a second book detailing how girls, both in larger gangs and in their own gangs, were becoming more and more a major part of the gang problem in Chicago. Despite the recognition on the part of street cops and some (like the crime commission), Chicago found its leaders scapegoating unionized teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers and ignoring the Chicago drug gangs, which made the famous HBO series "The Wire" look like Disneyworld. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Humboldt Park Street Plagued By Violence: Police Kill Man Days After 15-Year-Old Slain
Residents in Chicago's west Humboldt Park neighborhood are calling on the police department to increase its presence in the area after three people were shot -- two fatally -- on the same block in just three days.
On Monday, Jovany Diaz was celebrating his 15th birthday with friends near his home on the 4300 block of West Hirsch Street when a man reportedly came out of a nearby alley and shot him in the chest. He was pronounced dead at nearby hospital. Diaz was reportedly a straight-A student with no gang ties, but as loved ones gathered to remember him on Tuesday, more violence erupted on the street.
A Chicago Sun-Times reporter attending Diaz's memorial ended up running from the scene after a "crazed teenager" began firing at the crowd. A 24-year-old man was shot in the leg, and allegedly refused to talk to police about the gunman due to fear of retaliation.
On Wednesday night, police reportedly saw a man with a gun near Diaz's memorial at Hirsch and Kolin, according to the Chicago Tribune. The man, 21-year-old Pedro Gonzalez III, was apparently a friend of Diaz's.
From the Tribune:
The officers got out of their car and started chasing the Gonzalez, according to a spokesman for the FOP, Pat Camden. In the 1400 block of North Kolin Avenue, Gonzalez pulled out a gun and was shot by the officers, he said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office told the Sun-Times Gonzalez was shot multiple times. He is the second person to be killed by police this week. On Tuesday, officers shot carjacking suspect Sean Brown, 18, on the South Side.
Gonzalez's father called his son "quiet and kind of dorky" and said he would have kicked him out of the house if he found out he was in a gang. He was also worried about Gonzalez leaving the house due to violence in the area.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Police fatally shoot man in Humboldt Park
June 15, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Chicago police fatally shot a man on the same block where his friend was killed by gunfire earlier this week.
The shooting happened in the 4300-block of West Hirsch in Humboldt Park on the city's West Side.
Witnesses say Pedro Gonzalez III, 21, was standing outside the home of his dead friend, 15-year-old Jovany Diaz, when officers approached and Gonzalez ran. Police say the officers gave chase and fired after Gonzalez pointed a gun at them. Police say they recovered that gun.
"He starts running, the gun comes out and at that point, the officers, being in fear for their life, some people don't like that term but that's the fact, opened fire on him," said Pat Camden, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman,
"Ten minutes later, my wife called crying that the police shot him. But there's witnesses out there who say he had no gun, so I don't know what the hell is going on," said Pedro Gonzalez Jr, father.
"You're riding around, all these police officers to serve and protect because someone got killed and then you turn around and kill the person's best friend who you are out here for? You're not doing your job properly," said Miguel Santos.
On Monday, Jovany Diaz was shot to death. Police say the teenager was not the intended target. He was celebrating his birthday with friends. Diaz lived across the street from Gonzalez.
In a neighborhood known for violence, the loss of two friends in two days - even under very different circumstances - is too much for some to bare.
"They was always together. He looked up to my brother as a big brother. My brother was mourning. He's not even going to get to go to his funeral because now his mama got to bury him," said Tammy Knighten, sister.
"I came out and my son said, 'someone got shot,' and I said, 'no, not again,'" Minerva Orozco, witness.
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the actions of the officers involved in the shooting.
There have been three shootings resulting in two deaths over the last few deaths in Humboldt Park.
http://abclocal.go.com/...
Police kill West Side man
Pedro Gonzalez was friend of teen killed Monday
June 15, 2011|By Jeremy Gorner and Andrew L. Wang, Tribune reporters
A friend of a 15-year-old gunned down Monday in Chicago's West Humboldt Park neighborhood was killed in a police-involved shooting Wednesday on the same block where the teenager was shot.
The shooting happened about 4:50 p.m. near Kolin Avenue and Hirsch Street, Officer Darryl Baety said.
The victim was a 21-year-old man who died after the shooting, said Carlos Weeden, a spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority.
On Wednesday evening, family members on the scene identified the man as Pedro Gonzalez. He was standing near a makeshift memorial for his friend Jovany Diaz, 15, who was shot to death Monday on the block.
Three officers on patrol in a squad car saw the suspect, said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7. "They can clearly see a weapon stuck into his waistband," he said.
The officers got out of their car and started chasing the man, while one stayed closer to the car, Camden said.
During the chase, the suspect pulled his gun out, Camden said, and shots were fired by two of the officers. He said the third officer at the car — "not knowing who is doing the shooting" — saw the suspect with the gun, opened fire and shot the suspect, Camden said.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...
Another shooting on a violent block: 'This neighborhood is bad'
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/...
Test of nerves at dangerous street corner in Humboldt Park
esus Diaz decided against burying his slain teenage son during the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
The 15-year-old boy was shot to death Monday at Kildare and Hirsch — Chicago’s deadliest corner last week — where three people were shot, two fatally.
And Diaz, a former heroin junky and car thief, says his boy wouldn’t get a proper funeral on Saturday with street tensions high and warring gang members expected at the parade.
“We’re Puerto Ricans,” he said. “We know how things get down.”
In that part of West Humboldt Park, street business is handled with pistols.
And Jovany Diaz’s murder wasn’t different.
Last year, Jovany got in a fight at Amundsen High School and badly beat up a classmate — allegedly a Spanish Lord gang member — whose brother vowed revenge, according to a Chicago Police source familiar with the case.
Last week, Jovany was shot multiple times while celebrating his birthday and died on the sidewalk.
After Jovany was killed, that corner got “hot” — again.
http://www.suntimes.com/...
Photo by Siede Preis/Photodisc
FROM LAST WEEK
Chicago Police Brace for 'Flash Mob' Attacks
JUNE 9, 2011, 5:50 P.M. ET
The Wall Street Journal Online
Police here are girding for another weekend of "flash mob" attacks after arresting 29 people in connection with a recent rash of assaults and robberies in and around the city's tony shopping and dining district.
Twelve crimes involving large groups of young men were reported last weekend, in addition to others earlier this spring. The incidents are some of the first major problems confronting newly appointed Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
The attacks have received wide attention in Chicago because they have occurred around the city's affluent north side, including near the "Magnificent Mile," a Michigan Avenue strip popular with tourists.
The latest attack occurred early Thursday morning. A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said the attack involved "multiple" perpetrators near an elevated train platform. Described in the police report as a "strong arm robbery," the group of assailants took the victim's iPad and money and punched him in the face. No arrests have yet been made in that case.
http://online.wsj.com/...
U.S. News Mob attacks harm Chicago's reputation
CHICAGO, June 8 (UPI) -- Chicago's mayor acknowledges that the city's reputation as a safe place is being undermined by recent attacks carried out by text-messaging flash mobs.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he told the city's acting police superintendent that he expects to see every one of the youths responsible for weekend robberies in Streeterville and the Magnificent Mile areas brought to justice, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.
Politicians and retailers victimized by text-messaging, shoplifting flash mobs have been walking a political tightrope, the newspaper said.
They're trying to avoid calling too much attention to the problem for fear of scaring customers away from Chicago's famed upscale shopping areas.
Tuesday evening there were at least two more attacks by youths just west of tony North Michigan Avenue, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Police would not immediately categorize the incidents as mob action-related but said three people were in custody in connection with the street attacks.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/...
FROM LAST YEAR
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3:16 PM PT: while murders and drug wars run rampant in Chicago, rahmbo is selling privatization and union busting to mayors in Baltimore.
Rahm Emanuel Gets Warm Welcome At Conference Of Mayors
BALTIMORE -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel was warmly embraced at his U.S. Conference of Mayors debut here, partly because of his celebrity, but more important to cash-starved mayors, Emanuel is seen as key to getting Washington to ship more money to cities.
http://www.suntimes.com/...