Chicago Officials Fear Gang Is Staking Out Political Turf : Politics: Rise of activist group sparks concerns about its funding, goals. Its leaders defend their tactics, members.

On South May Street, the first display of civic-mindedness on the part of the Gangster Disciples came a year or two ago.

Members of the GDs--a vicious street gang best known for selling drugs, shooting rivals and extorting money--began sweeping the sidewalks and cleaning up vacant lots. “I was really shocked,” said Angela Price, a resident of Englewood, the South Side community at the heart of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation.

Not far away, neighbors noticed an Election Day tradition taking shape: a “regent,” a GD member with considerable rank, stationed at the local polling place, checking off names of underlings as they show up to cast their ballots. Clearly, voting is mandatory duty.

This new GD devotion to the role of public citizen coincides with the rise of a new political group here: 21st Century V.O.T.E., for Voices of Total Empowerment, which writes in handbills that it shares “the common goal for Growth and Development of all our communities.” That wording echoes a declaration by jailed GD Chairman Larry Hoover that he has changed the name of his “nation” from Gangster Disciples to Growth and Development.

Indeed, police, prosecutors and gang investigators say they believe that the two organizations are virtually synonymous. The Chicago Crime Commission reports in a book on street gangs to be published soon that 21st Century V.O.T.E. “is truly the political voice of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation.”

The organization has drawn thousands to marches protesting school cutbacks and closures of health clinics, and it is welcomed at candidates’ rallies, civil rights organizations and even the White House. Using time-honored ward heeler tactics, such as free food and help finding jobs, the group builds goodwill. But the growing influence of 21st Century V.O.T.E. has some officials worried. Among other things, investigators suspect that the group is a recipient of drug money from the Gangster Disciples.

The fact that 21st Century V.O.T.E. is broadening the base for the gang “ought to worry people in those neighborhoods,” said Jerry Gladden, chief investigator for the Crime Commission. “In this city, any police position above lieutenant is a political job. If their candidates win, who do you think is going to decide who the (district) police commander is?”

Gladden’s worst-case scenario comes right out of mobster history from the days of Al Capone. The murderous bootlegger exerted considerable control over many elected officials and police chiefs in Chicago and its suburbs during the 1920s, and he ran soup kitchens as well to showcase his benevolent side.

The syndicate continues to extract favors today; corruption cases are common here, and investigators still casually refer to “mob wards.”

So when it comes to street gangs, “I’m surprised it took them so long,” Gladden said. “They all watched ‘The Untouchables’ religiously.”

The furor surrounding 21st Century V.O.T.E. is the most visible component in a nationwide debate: How should the community respond to gang members seeking influence and an improved image in the mainstream culture?

Always, such efforts have been accompanied by bitter division and suspicion. Is this a way to show gang members they can work productively through the system? Or will this protect criminal activities and lure more young people to the brutal world of gangs?

Because police were overzealous in spying on black militant organizations during the 1960s, courts have placed sharp restrictions on their ability to investigate political groups. Still, authorities are scrutinizing 21st Century V.O.T.E’s finances and say they suspect that cash from narcotics and weapons sales is flowing through its coffers.

The officials, who decline to be identified, point to huge picnics in rural Illinois and concerts in Chicago that were sponsored by the group and cost far more than the organization has ever reported taking in, raising the question of where its sustaining funds are coming from.

A portion of the “street tax” collected from gang members--even the youngest children, who give $2 a week--has been allocated to the political committee, the sources say.

Obvious links connect 21st Century V.O.T.E. and the GDs. The committee’s registered agent is Hoover’s attorney. The treasurer is a lifelong Hoover friend. Much of the committee’s business goes to Hoover’s common-law wife. High on its agenda is lobbying for Hoover’s release from state prison, where he has served 20 years of a 150- to 200-year sentence for murder.

The officers of 21st Century V.O.T.E. say they are proud of reaching out to gang members, an estimated 30,000 strong. To an organization pledged to empower youth, “they are part of the community, they’re citizens, and they deserve representation too,” said Tom Harris, the committee’s spokesman. As for Hoover, they say, as he does, that he is a changed man. Law enforcement officials contend that Hoover is quite effectively running the GD narcotics empire from his cell.

Though they acknowledge visiting Hoover in prison, leaders of 21st Century V.O.T.E. react angrily to authorities’ assertions that he controls their affairs. They have their own interpretation of the allegations swirling about. “The white Establishment wants to stop us because we’re doing things.” said Patricia E. Hogan, the group’s treasurer.

In its first two years of existence, 21st Century V.O.T.E. has extended its operations beyond Chicago to the southern suburbs and even, some gang experts believe, to Peoria, the state’s third-largest city, in central Illinois.

The organization is concentrating on the younger generation, Harris said, because “the youth are the ones” that change things. The priority list is simple but far-reaching: economic parity for African Americans, political and police fairness, and improvements for neighborhoods that have deteriorated badly.

21st Century V.O.T.E. does not ask its supporters in gangs to renounce drug dealing, violence or other criminal activity. “We’re not saying (the political group is) an alternative,” Harris said. “We’re not going to say what you’re doing is bad. We respect what you do to survive.”

“That’s not to say we condone it,” Hogan said. “But we do understand it. What we’re doing is showing them another way. We’re not beating them over the head.”

She added, heatedly: “They’ve got a few bad apples in the White House too. We are not going to let the white Establishment tell us how to control our community, who to deal with in our community, who’s good, who’s bad.”

Above a beauty parlor, in offices decorated with threadbare carpeting and huge maps of target aldermanic wards, 21st Century V.O.T.E. offers evening political education classes, screening “Eyes on the Prize,” the documentary about the nonviolent civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s.

The committee has enlisted more than 200 people for training at City Hall as deputy voter registrars. “We register people in areas where their people were afraid to register,” Harris said.

One volunteer is Calvin Williams, 27, who stumps the streets for prospective voters and drives elderly women on their errands. Williams himself hadn’t been registered until last year, when the group’s chairman stopped by the Boys and Girls Club where Williams worked.

21st Century V.O.T.E. staffers persuaded Williams to return to school and earn his certificate as a maintenance engineer. They helped him fill out forms for financial aid. The group helped pay for his books. The result: a new job at higher wages. When he injured his knee at work, 21st Century V.O.T.E. transported his wife to the hospital where he was admitted. The group then checked to make sure she and the five children were all right during his stay.

Money is also being raised, though its origins are mysterious. Of more than $120,000 in contributions reported to the state--much less than investigators believe the group has access to--only a little more than $5,000 was itemized. Contributions of less than $150 do not have to be accounted for in disclosure filings, and 21st Century V.O.T.E. isn’t explaining where they came from.

Harris answered a question about finances with a question of his own. “Do we look like gangbangers?” he asked, flinging out his arm in a gesture that encompassed his tweed jacket and tie and Hogan’s elegant striped slacks and white blouse. Harris, 53, formerly owned a mortgage brokerage and Hogan, 48, has sold real estate, cars and health and beauty aids.

Other 21st Century V.O.T.E. directors have criminal records for offenses ranging from narcotics possession to attempted murder. Harris said he found discussion of their pasts “in bad taste.” Said Hogan: “Just because you’ve done wrong doesn’t mean you can’t ever do right. And even if you plea-bargain, it doesn’t mean you committed a crime.”

Whatever their backgrounds, the directors have shown that they can guarantee a turnout. They did it for a picnic in rural Kankakee County, where local merchants were so frightened that they closed their stores early. They did it for the protest against school cutbacks, which halted rush-hour traffic while young people linked arms and sang civil-rights songs. They did it again at a shopping center in Englewood to demand clearer exchange-and-return policies from Korean merchants. They helped gather 4,892 petition signatures and about 50 letters supporting Hoover’s release, which were presented to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.

Among the results:

* Standing prominently at the candidate’s side when Joseph Gardner announced recently that he will challenge Mayor Richard M. Daley next year was Wallace (Gator) Bradley--a Hoover confidante, 21st Century V.O.T.E. consultant and former county commissioner’s aide who is running for 3rd Ward alderman. “I don’t separate people on the basis of gang membership or non-gang membership,” Gardner told the Chicago Sun-Times, “as long as members and leadership are engaged in positive things.”

* Former Mayor Eugene Sawyer was among the witnesses urging Hoover’s release from prison.

* The Chicago Urban League chose 21st Century V.O.T.E. as a subcontractor for a grant to negotiate construction jobs at various public works projects. Until a last-minute reversal, the Daley Administration supported the deal, which would have paid 21st Century V.O.T.E. $45,000 to run a job-referral program.

* And then there was the time last year that the Rev. Jesse Jackson took Bradley to the White House to talk to President Clinton about how best to reduce crime. Bradley, investigators say, told Clinton that he represented Better Growth and Development. There were those buzzwords again, with the same initials as Black Gangster Disciples--an important signal in a community where gang members drink Miller Genuine Draft beer simply because the caps bear the letters “GD.”

Jackson later wrote that he thought taking Bradley to meet Clinton “was the right thing and the redemptive thing to do.”

Researcher John Beckham contributed to this story.