National gangs take root in area
Gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and Gangster Disciples might seem far off and irrelevant to the lives of most central Virginia residents, who typically equate such groups with big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
But offshoots of those gangs are living and committing crimes in our cities and counties, area law-enforcement officials say. And the degree to which those gangs have taken root here might surprise many law-abiding local residents, they say. "I don't think there's any national-flavored gang that's not here," said Mindy Grizzard, a board member of the Virginia Gang Investigators Association.
Numerous localized versions of the Bloods, for example -- one of the nation's most notorious gangs -- can be found throughout the Richmond area, including in Chesterfield and Henrico counties, Grizzard said.
"We've got Bloods. We've got Crips," Grizzard said. "Right now, the most prevalent national gang in the Richmond metro area is the Bloods."
The conviction two weeks ago of a Petersburg gang leader has drawn attention once again to the prevalence of gangs in the Richmond region, particularly those with national affiliations.
Authorities say Kalvin B. Kelley, 22, arrived here two years ago from New York to take charge of a Bloods-affiliated gang in the Tri-Cities known as G Shyne. Police say he plotted, while in jail, to kill a Petersburg detective who arrested him last year in a series of gang-related robberies in Petersburg.
Although Richmond's gang problem doesn't appear to be as large as Petersburg's, the seat of Virginia's government has its share of Bloods and a "smattering" of Crips and Gangster Disciples, said Richmond prosecutor Erik Smith, who with colleague Ann Cabell Baskervill prosecutes most of the city's gang cases.
Subsets of the national gangs operating in Richmond include the Bloodhound Pyru, the 9 Trey Bloods and the Insane Gangster Disciples, Smith said.
"It's close to an even split" between home-grown gangs and those with national affiliations, Smith said. "But the scales probably tilt a little bit more in favor of the home-grown gangs."
Most of Richmond's gangsters seem focused on drug trafficking, Smith said, although authorities have prosecuted some for street robberies.
"There are still folks out there that are gang-affiliated that are committing robberies, especially in the Carytown area and in the Fan," he said. But Smith said such crimes are sporadic. Most law-abiding residents have nothing to fear, "unless you're going into the wrong neighborhoods at the wrong time doing the wrong thing."
Chesterfield police Detective Keith Applewhite said suburban dwellers should have no illusions that gang members -- even those with national ties -- aren't operating in the counties.
"You cannot draw borders with our gangs," he said. "Chesterfield has to work with Richmond, Henrico, Dinwiddie, Hopewell . . . because our gang members cross borders. I might have a gang member living in Chesterfield, but he hangs out in Richmond."
Although gang members have been known to commit robberies in Chesterfield, Applewhite said the biggest thing residents have to fear is that their children could be recruited by a gang.
National gangs will set up "franchises" in areas like central Virginia and recruit young people to help generate income through drug sales.
"They're here to set up business, and they need the workers," Applewhite said. "And the workers can be as young as 9 or 10 years old, on up to their later teens. That's pretty much what I'm seeing around here."
Gang leaders make contact with potential recruits at parties or seek out teens who are having problems at home, Applewhite said.
"The average citizen in our area really doesn't have to worry about gang crime -- at this point," he added. "Because right now [those gang members] are building respect, and in building respect they'll commit crimes against each other."
Yet area residents can still fall prey in less-direct ways, such as when gang members break into homes and cars to steal items that are turned into operating revenue for the gang. "They have to commit crimes to pay their dues each week," Applewhite said.
As a senior probation and parole officer for the Virginia Department of Corrections, Grizzard has seen hundreds of adult gang members pass through the system. About 300 gang members currently are on supervised probation with the Richmond probation office's gang unit, she said.
"We have at least 30 Bloods alone on supervision -- just in Richmond," Grizzard said. "That's just adult probation and doesn't include those who haven't been caught."
Those 30 or so Bloods belong to six or seven different factions of the national gang, she said.
"The Bloods have different sets, and each set has its own leader," Grizzard said. "So there's multiple factions with their own leader and their own hierarchy that break off. But they are all national Bloods."
Ignorance about the prevalence of gang activity here may be due in part, Grizzard said, to the reluctance by some law-enforcement officials to talk openly about it. There's a fear that too much attention could result in an economic backlash for the region, she said.
"We couldn't even say the 'gang' word in Richmond when [Richmond Police Chief André] Parker was here," she said.
More recently, Richmond police officials denied several requests to interview the department's anti-gang unit leader, Lt. Hamlett Hood, about gang activity in Richmond.
Nevertheless, Grizzard believes attitudes have started to change in recent years, especially after the Virginia attorney general's office "made the gang-word come to the forefront."
She credited former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, who was one of the first public officials to confront the problem of gangs in Virginia. A package of anti-gang laws he championed was approved by the General Assembly in 2003, and more laws were passed in subsequent sessions.
Petersburg police spokeswoman Esther Hyatt, who is researching Petersburg's gangs, said authorities have identified more than a dozen gangs operating in the Tri-Cities area with a membership of about 650. She said it's difficult to say how many of those groups have national ties.
"It's not an easy question to answer . . . because we have some groups that are a family-kind of posse that commit a lot of our crime," Hyatt said. "But we do have groups that are affiliated with the Bloods and the Crips."
Police are in the process of cataloging the Petersburg gangs, Hyatt said, "to see who they have beefs with, what types of crimes they commit, how organized they are and if they have a chain of command."
"So we have started identifying those organizational [characteristics] within these groups, and then seeing who they are affiliated with," Hyatt said.
Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or
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Reader Reactions
“The adults are talking here.“
I don’t think anyone reading this would go that far. Don’t flatter yourselves.
To robmo35 and metoo -
As is the usual case with your ilk, you can’t see anything beyond your oh-so-sensitive “feelings”.
The reason prison sentencing doesn’t work is because of bleeding-heart liberals like yourselves. For the next 20 years, let the govt put anyone who so much as pulls a gun or a knife out during a crime in prison for 10 years…and keep them there for 10 LONG YEARS. And let someone who does the same thing with a prior conviction sit in prison for the next 20 years, with nary a parole hearing in sight. Violent crime will drop by 80%. But oh, I forgot…the only people who should be thrown in prison and allowed to rot are Enron executives or Bush administration officials.
By getting rid of child support for unwed mothers, you put the onus for raising the child back where it ultimately belongs…on the mother. Society can’t have it both ways: if the man has no right whatsoever to stop a woman from having an abortion whenever she chooses, then a just society would recognize that he really has no rights at all when it comes to his offspring. And as such, if he has no rights, then he should have no respsonsibilities.
The reason we’ve seen the explosion of out-of-wedlock births over the past 40+ years is because women know that they are going to be receiving a check for hundreds of dollars each month for each child they have, either from the father or from the taxpayer or both. IOW, child support ENABLES out-of-wedlock births. You want to reduce the problem? Get rid of what is enabling the problem.
“Oh my God, that’s ghastly!“ Is it? I find it far less ghastly a prospect than the perverse irony of forcing taxpayers to finance entire generations of fatherless boys who then turn around and prey on and murder those same taxpayers.
And as for your screeching about me “getting up and doing something about it”, cry me a river. It isn’t my job NOR my responsibility to do ANYTHING for society’s parasites. And it has nothing to do with whether or not a person is white, black, hispanic, or whatever…and for your information I’m neither white nor upper middle class.
And understand this also, metoo: as for me hiding behind “the veil of the internet”, I have nothing to hide from the likes of you. In fact, I’d be more than happy for us to arrange a time and place where you could tell me to my face how “ignorant” and “not worth a damn” I am. You just let me know.
This is one of those problems in our society that does not have one cause. It has many and therefore the solution must be as complex as the problem.
Illegal immigration and the underlying issues (an undercurrent of society that has no legal means of support) must be addressed. Both the securing of our borders and a manner of allowing more people who wish to immigrate easier methods of doing so.
Parents have to choose to teach their children how to become productive members of society and teach their children morals. Parents have to instill a work ethic in their children that will allow them to overcome. They have to choose to be parents to their children not caretakers and buddies.
Communities must choose to refuse the crime that tries to take them apart. A handful of leaders in a neighborhood working with local authorities can make all the difference in the world.
Our justice system needs to be enabled to handle both those who simply need treatment for a drug addiction that is driving them to crime, and the hardened criminals who relish their deeds and will continue to work evil no matter what treatment they receive.
This problem will never go completely away. But if we really want our neighborhood to be free of gang violence there are steps that each of us can take.
For starters, I don’t do drugs, never have. You claim to have dyslexia, but it sounds more like you didn’t make use of your education. You entire rant, every time you rant, makes no sense, even after I try to figure out what you write with my cracker jack decoder ring.
Any who suffered when they shut down schools in the 50s and 60s? It wasn’t the kids fault the adults in this country couldn’t accept each other, but guess what, the kids were the one who lost their chance for an education. That was a huge embarrassment and mistake for this state, and I can’t believe you’d begin to claim it was an effective move by the state. It was incredibly stupid and they have paid for it ever since.
No Child Left Behind… again, it’s the students who suffer that consequence, but it’s not always their fault their school system does poorly. Sure, plenty don’t try very hard on SOLs or put much effort into learning, but there’s plenty of second rate teacher who don’t do a good job teaching the stuff to them in the first place.
Road work- drivers suffer. We’ll I didn’t do anything to contribute to whatever made them stop giving the money, but it’s my car that gets destroyed by the potholes.
Cutting funds does not work, unless you cut them from the right place. I can see your comprehension skills are weak, but I think you need to re-read my post. I’m saying that of course the gov’t supports the drug trade, there is no interest in actually ending the “war on drugs.“
I think it’s time for you to go away and I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment.
METOO,,YES CUTTING FUNDS WORKS,,ITS THE MOST POWERFULL TOOL OF THE FEDERAL GOV..they did it with road work,,they did it with “"no child left behind”“they did it to VA. when she refused to inter grate her schools prince wm county,,75 % of gov money requires that states match or put money up to get it,,so your poor poor cities ,,would jump in line with the will of the people and stop all this illegals support especially when the feds sAys to NYC,,you want this 10 billion $$,,that’s all iam saying,,and RICHMOND does it to all cities/counties throughout the state,,you want sewer lines,,water lines,,roads put under state control,,so METOO,,get a grip !!put down that pipe,,and as conspirator theories goes,,everyone knows that half our gov employee ,,congress,senate,,would flunk a piss test,,and are HIGH,,why else would our gov. turn a blind eye to drugs and an deaf ear to the cries of the people,,and our western drugs are alcohol,,the drugs of the new world ,,and for 10,000 years is COCAINE,,POT,,MUSHROOMS,,PEOTE BUTTONS,,after all why do you think white man came here,,“"TOO PARTY “”,,now go away !!
Zerro- yeah, cut funding for cities that happen to have large amounts of social ills. Punish the masses for the actions of few. If Richmond no longer received money from the federal or state government, what would YOU do? Do you think all the good citizens of this country should be punished, because that’s what would happen. You can start to put limitations on stuff, but in the end it’s going to go back to all or nothing.
You want to stop illegal gun trade or drug cartels? Arresting Joe Blow (pun intended) on the street won’t stop the operation. They’re just the movers, not the brains. I’m not much of a conspirator, but there are many well documented theories that the government knowingly allows shady countries to bring “shipments” of undefined nature (aka boat loads of drugs) into this country in exchange for god knows what. It’s all a cycle that punishes the little guy, but never solves the problem. Arrest a street level drug dealer one day and before the sun sets, there’s 2 more wanting his job.
,,E-T-THING,,“"DSYLEXIC”“,,so sorry but get use to my slaughter of English,,and remember you people to us dyslexic,s,,are just as bad ,,w/all your strange spelling,,like fish,,phish,,anyway my name is ZERO,,I AM SO BAD I CANT EVEN SPELL THAT,anyway just skip over my post,,and whats w/the fat ???,,now CAVEMAN,,u still don’t get it,,the FEDS ,,control all immigration,,,the feds wont allow states or cities to circumvent their hands off approach,,like i said,,neither OBAMA-MCCAINE had any platform on immigration,,why because it put lots of money into the pockets of the rich,,its our new slave labor,,the only HOPE,,and YES WE CAN that i do have is that OBAMA ,,will see the devastating effect Mex labor has had on his own kind and with the crashing Eco do something about it,,also the Mex now out populate the blacks,,and the blacks have been here for 400 yrs…my worse fear is that all these new job will be eaten up by illegals!!who send all there money back home,,which is the sec.largest influx of cash to Mex,,DRUG-DEALING being their first ,,myself i would have cut all funds to these sanctuary cities long ago,,locked them up for treason and go after the CARDINALS who commit treason by allowing the illegals to hide in churches,,and the 5 names you want ,,heck each of those cities you mention have 50 fed judges that allow the sanctuary cities to flourish and the REPB..pick them,,and even drove what DEMO judges there were out,,because that’s the power a pres has ,,to pick his judges and get rid of the other judges,,and OBAMA has that same power,,yet haven’t heard what he going to do w/it..now to my college ed..POLY SCI==political science,,u big dummy !!and just because i wear a helmet,,doesn’t give you the right,,,to,,,sniff,,sniff,,boohoo,,now ROBO35,,1)leave CAVEMAN alone !!2)i am a very successful buss.owner/operator !! so i don’t go to job fairs or draw unemployment nor hire illegals,,and it,s ( et.el.) not et.all,,and re-read my post on “"the distribution of wealth”“what good is your training program if there are no jobs !!plus we have internships and journeyman-ships in all construction related work,,,ohhh that’s right the illegals have taken all those jobs!!,,P/S scholars,,i used spell check ,,ok ,,happy now.. :)
rvaman- your #3 suggestion is already how the TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families- aka welfare) works.
Your #2 suggestion is crap. Most baby daddies don’t pay child support as is, eliminating it will only let more run away from their responsibility. The baby is still the one who loses in the end and it’s not their fault.
Your #1, while might be good in theory, it’s already been proven that mandatory minimum sentencing is no more effective.
If you want a real solution that doesn’t cost the taxpayers more money… get off your butt and go do something to help. Stop your boo-liberal gawking behind the veil of the internet and try to help someone to get back on their feet without money. Teach someone a skill so they can get a job, if you own/manage wherever you work, hire one of the many people who’ve been laid off lately. You probably don’t do anything to benefit someone else. Yeah maybe you donate to some BS cause through your work once a year and you convince yourself youre a good person, when in reality you turn your nose up at anyone who isn’t squeaky clean, white, and upper middle class. Your as ignorant as the next and THAT attitude will keep those people you judge so harshly from think they are worth a damn. So much for the land of opportunity huh- only if you come from the right British family right rvaman?
First off of rvaman I made no reference to my politics,which is mine and private. I did not ask you to make more snide comments about democrats, I asked you for a viable solution. You recommended 10 year mandatory sentences. Okay how are you going to pay for all the extra prison space this will involve, and please don’t respond with “we have plenty of prison space already,“ that is a foolish argument which could potentially end up putting violent offenders back on the street for violations of Constitutional rights, yes people who have been arrested and tried still have rights.
2) Ending child support for out of wedlock births simply allows the father to breed and leave, and does nothing at all to alleviate the gang problem. A constant poverty level with additional costs, ie raising a child could potentially lead to more crime. This is a senseless argument because you are equating a basic human drive, the need to breed, with financial consequences that people simply are not thinking about while in the act, remember you got here somehow. People are going to have sex whether they are married or not, and this is something that has been going on since the dawn of man. More to the point how does marriage, potentially a loveless one prevent gang activity? Gang bangers get married too. I don’t have as much of a problem with the welfare limits, but there has to be more of job training program in place, that could come from private sector or state money, but simply telling people you have two years and then your done doesn’t give someone a marketable skill, and without a marketable skill the chance of employment is non-existent, and the chance of criminal behavior increases.
Finally although the world might be a better place without you, you need to ease up, stop being so angry. You’ll live longer
“I’m guessing you don’t have much of an answer.“ Oh, I’ve got the answer. 1) 1st violent crime = 10 years in prison and you do every day; 2nd violent crime = life in prison, til you die. 2) End child support for out-of-wedlock births…watch the out-of-wedlock birth rate sink like a stone within 10 years. 3) A cap on welfare benefits of two years. After that, you’re not eligible again until you can show 1 year of sustained employment that was only terminated for reasons of lay-offs or permanent injury. If you don’t meet those criteria, you get nothing. If you can’t provide for any children you have, you will have the option of placing them with relatives. If that isn’t an option, the children will become wards of the state. But since our nation is now infested with Oh-so-sensitive! liberals such as yourself, there’s no chance in h-ll that anything of substance will be done. Just a lot of talk and nonsense, followed by the flushing of TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS more dollars down the same drains (i.e. welfare, “education”, etc.) that we’ve already flushed TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS down over the past 40+ years. So what’s your “solution” to the problem that liberalism caused in the first place, robmo35? Let me guess: more “initiatives”? More “funding”? More “nuance”? More “HopeyChange!“? As for my “snide” comments about Lil’ Lord Obama, I have no intention of doing anything else where he’s concerned until his marxist a—is ejected from office in 4 years…as is my right as a free American. Hmmm…I love this country :)
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