Join Rebecca F., me, and members of local law enforcement for a follow-up to our meeting on April 20, wherein Eric Adams spent some time telling us how best to organize. Since then, Rebecca has done a great job working with a few committed neighbors on creating a "hot spots" map that can be shared with the precincts. Part of the idea is to hold the PsTB (powers that be) responsible for improving the safety of certain corners and buildings. If we say "there's a real problem with drugs and gangs at the corner of X&Y," we hope they'll not want to have to deal with explaining why a major crime took place there later.
Come on down, and add your name to the email list. I for one would like to come out of this meeting with a little more intel on what exactly is the "gang" situation and whether any of the crime around here is related or random. For instance, Inspector Fitzgibbon told me a major bust was going to take place in the SW corner of the 71st Precinct (Bedford/Hawthorne area). Was that successful? What was going on and where? Etc.
More on the shooting 4am Saturday morning.
If you zoom out a bit, you'll see that we're hardly alone. Areas north, east, south and southwest of us are experiencing plenty of shootings too. It's easy to think we're under siege, but lots of times these crimes are disputes that just happen to blow up near your home. But sometimes it IS something that's happening next door or down the street, and we want to make sure we're getting the attention we deserve.
If you're new, don't feel too, too bad. This stuff has been going on for a long, long time. And gratefully no innocent bystanders were hurt. We live in a very dense neighborhood, with a pretty sizable underclass and a fair amount of gang activity. This is true throughout central Brooklyn. It's a reality. And clearly not going away anytime soon. To pretend otherwise, would be deceitful.
4 comments:
The friend of the victim is not painting a picture of a gang shooting:
' "This is surreal,” said friend Pierre Baker, 35. "It's hard to understand. People sometimes live a certain lifestyle and something like this is not that surprising — but that's not him.” '
I am beginning to think people use the word "gang" to mean any apparently concerted and non-random act of violence that doesn't seem common in their social group. Something based on a grudge, or event that transpired between people. As a lawyer who works for the city said to me recently, sitting in a room full of lawyers working on a project where the term came up, "what's a gang? we're a gang. we're a group of people gathered for a purpose and working together..." the word has become problematic. i don't think people are using it to mean gangster, as in mafia, as in some big organized crime entity. i don't know what to do about any of this, but i think i'm personally going to start saying things like "it looks like the shooter and victim must have known each other" rather than looks like a gang incident.
Anon: Yeah, it's code anyway. It means young black men. As MC E Props on Ocean likes to say, everyone's in a gang. Including dudes in corporate America and politicians. But whether it's ORGANIZED gangs, like you'd see on TV, that's pretty rare. They had a big gang in Ebbets that they took down with the world's most absurd name: Six Tre Outlaw Gangsta Disciples Folk Nation. I kinda wonder whether the "Six Tre" part is like a Local 237 for the Teamsters.
It doesn't really matter that much, except when it's organized enough that they can go after them with racketeering or laundering charges.
"The friend of the victim is not painting a picture of a gang shooting:
' "This is surreal,” said friend Pierre Baker, 35. "It's hard to understand. People sometimes live a certain lifestyle and something like this is not that surprising — but that's not him.” '
I don't know the facts, but if one is considering the available public evidence, it was reported that a gun was found in the victims's car. So it would appear that someone was shooting from inside the car, quite possibly the victim, or someone with him in the car. On-the-scene interviews praising someone's character are, at best, very weak indicators of what went on.
Post a Comment