Street gang realpolitik

I TALK TO a lot of gangsters in my line of work. A lot of them are like child soldiers, both dangerous and pathetic, at once sharpened and blunted by years of constant predation and grief. Still, I liked this guy last week. He was watchful and laconic, like a lot of cops I know. He got jumped into a gang around the time I became a cop, said he'd done it for the health plan — figuring it was healthier to get jumped in than to keep getting jumped on.

By Will Beall

March 25, 2007