[Newspoetry] Illinois exiles gangs to Anywhere Else, U.S.A.

[Sam Patterson]

OK all you illinois people, this looks like an easy commentary to
write.  How is this different than the Serbs pushing to "violent and
drug trafficking" Albanians out of Kosovo.  Is it because the Albanians
are a minority and these are gang members? (oh, well I guess the gangs
are 3/4 latino so that can't be it.)  How long before Canada starts
bombing Chicago?  I mean if this unrest spreads through the Great Lakes
region is could jeopardize the regional stability




April 27, 1999


          Illinois Town Hopes to Exile Its Gang
          Members to Anywhere Else, U.S.A.



          By PAM BELLUCK

               CICERO, Ill. -- This is the place that welcomed Al
Capone, along
               with his bootlegging, betting parlors and bordellos,
after Chicago
          gave him the boot.

          It is the place where federal investigators have had their
hands full,
          looking into allegations of sweetheart deals, misuse of
municipal funds
          and police corruption.

          And it is the place where the husband of the town president
pleaded
          guilty to federal conspiracy charges and acknowledged being a
          bookmaker for the mob.

          Now, without an ounce of irony, Cicero has an idea for
tackling
          organized crime of a different sort. This working-class city
of 70,000 just
          southwest of Chicago is drafting an ordinance that would evict
all gang
          members -- and punish them if they returned, even to visit
their families.

          It would be the first gang-eviction law in the country, and
if, as expected,
          it is passed by the town board on April 27, it might be only a
matter of
          time before it faces a legal challenge.

          "It reminds you of the Wild West," said Jay Miller, executive
director of
          the Chicago chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"It's like a
          bumper sticker: Gang-Free City. It sounds wonderful. But where
do they
          go? Are they going to send them all to New York?"

          While Cicero's proposal is severe, it is just the latest in a
spate of
          anti-gang ordinances cropping up nationally.

          In the 1990s, Los Angeles, San Jose and other California
communities
          have made it illegal for people identified as gang members to
congregate
          on certain streets. In some cases, they are barred from
whistling, making
          gang hand signals or carrying bottles, baseball bats or
flashlights in these
          areas.

          Phoenix is considering a similar approach. And Chicago
instituted an
          anti-loitering law authorizing arrests of suspected gang
members who
          defy police orders to leave a street.

          The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the San Jose law and is
reviewing the
          Chicago law, which resulted in tens of thousands of arrests in
the three
          years before it was declared unconstitutional by an Illinois
court in
          1995.

          Cicero officials say they have a list of 600 "known gang
members,"
          including some minors, who would have 60 days to get out of
town.
          Officials say some on the list have been convicted of violent
assaults and
          weapons charges, while others are simply "self-admitted gang
members,"
          having told the police under questioning that they belonged to
a gang.
          Those on the list, which has not been made public, are not
serving jail
          sentences, officials say.

          Cicero officials say their gang problem has increased in
recent years. The
          town said gangs were responsible for a drive-by shooting in
1995 in
          which a young girl was killed, and another in 1996. Last year,
there were
          64 shootings and 15 homicides, Bernard Harrison, the deputy
police
          superintendent, said. This year, there have been 24 shootings
and 2
          homicides. Harrison said all of the shootings and most of the
homicides
          had been gang-related.

          "The ACLU says gang members have rights," said the town
president,
          Betty Loren-Maltese. "How about our civil rights? That we
cannot live in
          a peaceful community."

          On a recent driving tour of the town, she pointed out gang
houses and
          graffiti and told stories about gang members: the one whose
legs were
          broken when he was run over by a rival, the day one gang
dynamited
          another gang's house ("Unfortunately, nobody got hurt," she
said), and
          the gang member who was shot in the testicles. Pointing out
her own
          bungalow, she said a gang member lives on her street, a
teen-ager who,
          among other things, threw a cherry bomb at her car and tried
to set roofs
          on fire with fireworks, she said.

          Legal experts say Cicero's proposal is in questionable
constitutional
          territory.

          "There's a problem of punishing people for their status as a
gang
          member," said Mark Tushnet, a constitutional law professor at
          Georgetown University. "You can punish people for what they
do, but
          you can't punish people for what they are."

          In addition, if Cicero banished people who had completed
criminal
          sentences, it could be accused of punishing people twice for
the same
          crime.

          "Cities would love to be able to say, 'We don't want child
molesters
          released back in our community,"' said Erwin Chemerinsky, a
          constitutional law professor at the University of Southern
California. "But
          they can't. And what if every city adopted that? Does that
mean they
          wouldn't be allowed to go every place?"

          Ms. Loren-Maltese, a blunt-spoken Republican, said that was
not her
          problem.

          "I can't worry if they go to Berwyn or Oak Park or Chicago,"
said Ms.
          Loren-Maltese, who has been president since 1993 and once
proposed
          making gang members wear pink aprons and clean up graffiti, an
idea
          that went nowhere. "My concern is to protect the people of
Cicero."

          The people of Cicero would seem to approve, overwhelmingly
voting for
          a nonbinding referendum on the gang-free proposal this month.

          But leaders of Cicero's Hispanic population, which has
mushroomed in
          the last two decades and transformed an all-white enclave into
a city that
          is about half Hispanic, fear the ordinance might single out
Latinos.

          While many Hispanic residents apparently voted for the
referendum,
          Hispanic leaders say those results are deceptive. Dolores
Ponce de
          Leon, a community organizer for a group called the Interfaith
Leadership
          Project, said the ballot question was so broad that many
people had
          interpreted it as saying, " 'Vote yes if you are against the
gangs.' Well,
          who's going to vote against that?"

          Now that they better understand the proposal -- and that about

          three-quarters of the gang list is Hispanic names -- some
Latinos are
          worried.

          "It's really an injustice to the Latino families," said Delia
Barajas, an
          Interfaith Leadership Project member with six children,
including two
          teen-agers. "We would like something done with the gangs, but
we want
          more prevention, intervention. "

          Latinos have been irked by other policies of Ms.
Loren-Maltese's
          administration, including efforts to force a bank with many
          Mexican-American customers to take down a Mexican flag. They
          complain that she is not committed to hiring Hispanic police
officers and
          say she supported a police practice of reporting suspected
illegal
          immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

          Ms. Loren-Maltese says her policies are not discriminatory,
points to
          Hispanic employees she appointed to town jobs and says her
critics are
          simply political opponents.

          Still, accusations of discrimination are a thorn for Cicero,
once such a
          symbol of racism that Martin Luther King Jr. called it the
Selma of the
          North.

          Cicero has also drawn the attention of Federal investigators,
with
          allegations including irregularities in towing practices and
unorthodox
          payments to municipal contractors.

          Ms. Loren-Maltese denies allegations of government corruption.
She has
          made accusations of police misconduct, and has purged nearly a
third of
          the police force.

          Ms. Loren-Maltese said the gang ordinance might give suspected
gang
          members a banishment hearing and the right to appeal. If those
evicted
          came back to town, they would be fined, charged and have their
vehicles
          confiscated.

          Asked how a 10-square-mile city with roughly 135 police
officers would
          enforce such a law, Ms. Loren-Maltese said she might consider
gating
          neighborhoods and establishing police checkpoints.

          Given that her late husband, Frank Maltese, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy
          charges in 1991, Ms. Loren-Maltese has been asked if the
ordinance
          would apply to people in organized crime.

          "If they get involved in drive-by shootings," she said.

          But she said it would certainly apply to minors, even if their
families
          stayed in Cicero.

          "I kind of call it tough love, and a parent's got to make that
choice," she
          said.

          On the driving tour, Ms. Loren-Maltese and Harrison pointed
out
          buildings they said were hangouts of some of Cicero's 16
active gangs,
          including the Latin Kings, the Sin City Boys, the Latin Angels
and the
          Two Six Boys.

          Ms. Loren-Maltese has tried other tactics, like fining
landlords $500 a
          day for failing to evict gang tenants. She said the town
planned to file a
          suit against gangs, seeking reimbursement for cleaning
five-pointed stars,
          crowns and other gang graffiti.

          Harrison said he believed word of the ordinance had caused
three gang
          members to leave town.

          But a man who identified himself as Pablo, 24, a member of the
Maniac
          Latin Disciples, scoffed at the idea that gangs could be
banished.

          "They're never going to get rid of gangs," said Pablo, perched
on the
          stoop of his house across from an elementary school. "They
don't have
          that much power."
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