East L.A. Programs Reduce Gang Killings

Once, the low-income Latino community of East Los Angeles led the country in gang-related slayings, but today, while gang activity is increasing in other areas of Los Angeles, gang killings have reached a 10-year low in East Los Angeles.

Police and other officials are pointing to the community’s anti-gang programs as a model for other areas with a heavy gang population.

Saturday about 100 of the people responsible for cooling gang violence, including gang veterans, came together at Our Lady of Soledad Church on Brooklyn Avenue for mutual reinforcement, the recounting of war stories and blessings by Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony, who pledged the support of the church to reduce gang activities.

“Violence is contagious,” Mahony said. “But you have demonstrated that love and peace are also very contagious. The same energy that it takes to be violent can be turned around, as you have done so successfully.”

Sheriff’s deputies say that the area, an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County about three miles east of downtown, has a stable gang presence with an estimated 70 organizations with 3,000 members.

But the turn away from violence is dramatic: Gang-related killings in East Los Angeles, which reached a high of 24 in 1978, totaled four in 1986. By contrast, gang-related killings in the city of Los Angeles exceeded 180, the highest number since 1980.

The more peaceful ways of East Los Angeles can also be noticed in other ways. The buildings along Brooklyn Avenue, once covered with the graffiti that gang members use to mark territory, are now unblemished, by and large.

Sgt. Wes McBride of the East Los Angeles sheriff’s substation said he recalls when the killings were so frequent that he used their locations as local landmarks.

“Right across the street, I remember a killing,” McBride said. “You can’t say that anymore. In those days, East Los Angeles led the nation in gang killings--not just Los Angeles.”

Brother Modesto Leon, credited by many as a leader in pulling together the law enforcement agencies and community groups, said he remembers the sad phone calls in the middle of the night.

“I’ve been here 18 years. I do the funerals. . . . We have gone to many funerals,” he said. “We got calls at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. . . . When we don’t have to worry about burying people, we have time and energy for other things, education.”

Virginia Lopez recalls those days all too well.

“My children were involved in violence. There was one killing after another. Our boys couldn’t cross into a neighborhood without being asked, ‘Hey, where are you from?’ and--without warning--they would be shot,” she said.

A group of parents came together several years ago to form the Concerned Parents Organization, joining together across gang boundaries, despite the violent rivalries of their children.

“We all hurt the same,” Lopez explained.

And when a slaying occurred, no matter which gang was implicated, “we collected money for the funeral,” she said. “It is hard for a mother to come home (from the funeral) and face nothing but a cup of coffee.”

The key to the change, speaker after speaker said, is sustained and coordinated community involvement to offer disaffected youths an alternative to the undeniable satisfactions that gangs can afford and steady pressure that makes clear gang activities are unwanted.

Merchants are encouraged to paint over graffiti quickly. The Sheriff’s Department targets hard-core gang members heavily involved in violence. On the positive side, community leaders support job training programs. The Sheriff’s Department runs football, basketball, baseball and soccer leagues.

“They learn they can compete in an acceptable manner,” Sheriff’s Lt. Al Scaduto said. “They learn about leadership, about self-confidence.”

Scaduto said the Sheriff’s Department considers East Los Angeles as a model for other areas seeking to reduce gang violence. “It is because of the community support. It cannot be done by law enforcement and drug busts. I’ve worked with six other patrol stations and the community here is the closest and warmest,” he said.

Veteran gang members put out the message: “Don’t recruit.” And some former members have joined the anti-gang coalition.

For 10 years, Johnny Garcia, 25, belonged to Rivera 13, a violent gang still active in nearby Pico Rivera. “We did a lot of partying together and, sure, when trouble came, we got into it.”

Today Garcia, who came to the meeting dressed in a navy blue blazer and red tie, is a senior leader with the city- and county-supported Youth Gang Services project. He recently helped negotiate a Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s truce between his former organization and the rival Pico Rivera gang, which have been killing each other’s members for 15 years, he said.