Gangs Sharing a Common Ground

From age 13 until he landed in prison at 22, Gustavo Chavez never left home without a pistol. The Pacoima 13 gang member walked to school with a gun, he went to the mall with a gun, he took the bus with a gun.

Never was he more alert, never was his finger more poised for the trigger than when he traveled to Panorama City, turf of the archrival Blythe Street gang.

“Blythe and us hated each other,” said Chavez, 28. “We killed each other.”

So it was a bit surprising to some observers to see Chavez hanging out on a recent Wednesday night at Van Nuys Recreation Center with Gabriel Vasquez from Blythe Street.

Chavez and Vasquez met in prison where they were doing time for robbery. But they really didn’t get to know each other and become good friends until the past year through a series of Wednesday night gang peace talks usually held in a Van Nuys church basement.

This month marked the one-year anniversary of the meetings, which have been praised by community leaders, gang members and even brass at the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Something is responsible for the 60% decrease in homicides this year in the Valley, and I think those meetings are having an impact,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergman, commander of the Valley Bureau.

From Jan. 1 to May 15, 19 homicides occurred in the San Fernando Valley, compared with 50 for the same period last year, and gang-related homicides have dropped from 27 to 15 in the same period, Bergman said.

A Valley gang coalition, with representatives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, probation, parole, schools and council districts, works to combat gang crime, “but I have to give Blinky some of the credit,” Bergman said, referring to community activist William “Blinky” Rodriguez, 49, executive director of the nonprofit organization Communities in Schools, who helped broker the 1993 Valley gang truce.

The weekly meetings began in May 2002 after a spate of shootings left several dead in the Valley. Rodriguez said he and his staff -- many of them ex-gang members with criminal records -- hit the streets trying to get key players to join the talks.

At first, he said, it was difficult to get anyone to the table.

“No one wanted to come at first because they felt some people would view it as a sign of weakness,” Rodriguez said.

Eventually, gangs from a few neighborhoods showed up and the meetings began to grow. Throughout the year, members of 32 different gangs have attended the sessions, he said.

“It’s getting better, but there’s still a lot of things jumping off,” said Rodriguez, referring to continuing gang crimes. “But just the fact that we’ve been doing this for one solid year tells me it’s positive.”

Gilbert Bautista, supervisor of the Intensive Gang Supervision Program at the Los Angeles County Probation Department, also credits the talks for the drop in homicides. “I’m a big supporter of the meetings. Anything that helps with the madness is good.”

The weekly sessions may have helped lower gang-on-gang killings, but other crimes committed by gang members have actually increased slightly, Bergman said. So far this year, there have been 364 serious crimes attributed to gang members, compared with 340 for the same period in 2002.

“They’re still pulling some crimes,” Bergman said, “but not killing each other as much.”

Mario “Spider” Corona, who describes himself as a “nonactive gang member” of the Pacoima Criminals, says the gatherings are a good idea. “These meetings can only help. Look at all these ‘hoods around here,” said Corona, pointing to the people from different neighborhoods gathered at a meeting at the Van Nuys park.

Corona, wearing a heavy gold chain with a gaudy “P” for Pacoima on his chest, said he was set to graduate from Cal State Northridge this month with a degree in sociology. Still, he said, he often attends the gang talks.

On a recent Wednesday night, 37 gang members from nine neighborhoods gathered at the park. The most important task, organizers and gang members said, is communication. Most of the time, many said, the reason confrontations escalate from a push to a punch to a pistol is lack of communication.

“Usually a murder starts with a little thing that just gets out of hand,” said Corona. “By guys meeting and talking about things, it helps squash the little stuff.”

As some gang members took to the baseball field to practice for an upcoming game against Los Angeles County gang probation officers, others greeted one another with elaborate handshakes.

The baseball practice was not the normal meeting activity. Typically, Rodriguez gets the sessions going with a brief talk emphasizing positive news such as job training offers.

Recently he alerted the all-male group to a film shoot he heard about that was looking for extras. If there has been friction between two gangs, the members themselves try to mediate the problem before it gets bloody.

Ernie “Swifty” Simental, a Blythe Street member recently released from juvenile hall on a drug charge, is under house arrest and wears a bulky ankle monitor that tracks his movements. Still, he said, he came to the meeting, the second since his release, because he felt it was important.

“Blythe Street, we don’t really get along with anybody, except maybe Valerio,” said Simental, referring to a gang in Van Nuys. “But these meetings, you get to meet people and you kind of see there’s no point in gangbanging. Unless you want to go to prison. And over here, you don’t have to watch your back.”