When a group of masked gunmen burst into a Dunkin' Donuts last year in Delray Beach and began indiscriminately shooting customers, they were doing more than just robbing it they were announcing the arrival of a new Crips gang chapter in South Florida. After being caught for that robbery, as well as a string of similar violent incidents in Broward County, one of the suspects bragged about his gang affiliation.
"These are just cold blooded thugs who enjoyed doing this," Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said back in December. "In fact one of them, when asked, `Why did you shoot innocent, innocent people?', his response was he just wanted to up his body count."
Those shootings, as well as a recent spate of violence in Miami Dade County, are all vivid examples of the growing reach of South Florida gangs. "We have seen a resurgence in active recruiting by national gangs in South Florida that, combined with a significant increase in violence arising out of small neighborhood drug-based gangs, has led to an explosion of violence in the last few years," said Frank Ledee, head of the Miami Dade State Attorney's Gang Unit. Ledee estimates the number of active gangs in South Florida at between 160 and 200, with a total membership well in excess of 2,000. And violence is often the currency they trade in for respect – or at least what passes for respect in gang life. "You have many situations where gang members will go out and commit certain acts of violence, shooting someone, a random person on the street, just too either earn rank, or to earn respect within a certain criminal street gang," he said. "Respect is akin to fear. If you can impose fear in the hearts of your rivals, you have won, and that was what they [in the Dunkin' Donuts robberies] intended to do."
A longtime South Florida gang member spoke to CBS4 News on condition that we conceal his identity. He described how gang life has long been a part of the culture here in South Florida and that violence is simply part of that life.
"When we've got to get violent we get violent," he explained. "Whether with other gang members or with people in general, that's just how the gangs get down."
Have you ever shot anyone? "I've shot at people," he admitted. "Either do or die. I was getting shot at so my main thing was to shoot back." He said he doesn't know if he has ever hit anyone, but as we have often seen, gang members often miss who or what they are shooting at -- sometimes with tragic consequences. Nine-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins and 5-year-old Rickia Isaac are just two of the young victims who have been caught and killed in the crossfire The gang member I spoke to said the violence recently in the Dunkin' Donuts cases was foolish. "There is no need to do that," he said. "You do your crime; you do it on the low, do what you have to do, make your money." In the last few weeks, Hialeah police arrested a dozen members of a gang called 3OP for allegedly selling drugs near a school. In Homestead, a branch of the violent international gang MS13 was arrested and its members charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. And in recent months, Ledee has seen a growing number of Bloods the famed LA street gang building a presence in Dade County.
"We have identified packs in Hialeah, we have identified packs in South Dade, we have identified packs on the Beach, as well as in Miami," he said. "We estimate that the Blood groups here are over 300 strong." National gangs, like the Bloods, the Crips, the Latin Kings and the Imperial Gangsters, divide up territory and compete with local gangs, such as the YLOS in Hialeah or the Haitian gangs in Miami.
One thing all these gangs share is that they have no trouble recruiting new members, and it often starts in the schools. "If you are being bullied on, that's how a lot of members become gang members, they become bullied or whatever and they seek protection," the gang member told CBS4 News. And the gangs become their families.
"In the beginning when I got in the gang I needed the attention, I needed the love," he said. "I wanted to be part of something I didn't have." But the newest trend in gang recruitment is the Internet. "It's easier to recruit on the Internet like through MySpace and Facebook and things like that," said the gang member. Ledee says some of the national gangs are so internet savvy, they design their websites as recruitment tools and post videos enticing would-be members. Using a computer, Ledee showed how easy it is to find information on various gangs. "He wants to join the Latin Kings, he goes to MySpace, he types in Latin Kings," Ledee says. "All of the things that they believe in, they actually put on the public web sites. So just by going to one site you have an incredible amount of information for recruitment purposes. This is how they communicate." And the price of admission is allegiance to the gang. "You've got to pay your dues," the gang member explains. "You are out there doing crimes, doing whatever you've got to pay your dues. You've got to make sure you pay the person in charge their dues so that we can have money for whatever reason." And for what reason do they need the money? "Party, that's one, that's the main one, we like to party," he said. "Two, in case one of your gang members gets arrested they need to get bonded out of jail. So we've got some money for that. Gas for our cars – cars break down. What happens if we need to do a drive by but we ain't got a car to do a dive by because the brakes are messed up on the car? We need money to fix that." The biggest misnomer about gangs in South Florida is that it's a problem isolated to the poorest neighborhoods. When gang members need money, they rob or commit burglaries in some of the better neighborhoods.
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