Gangs using social media to spread violence
By FRANK MAIN and MATT HANLEY Sun-Times Media January 29, 2012 8:34PM
A photo illustration from the new Chicago Crime Commission "Gang Book."
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Updated: February 29, 2012 10:22PM
The video showed three young men urinating on a gang rival’s grave. It was meant to be insulting and inflammatory. To make sure the insult was seen, it was posted on YouTube.
Of course, the rivals weren’t the only people who saw it.
It wasn’t hard for Aurora investigators to track down three of the men in the video who, according police, used their gang nicknames. All three were charged with offenses ranging from desecrating a grave to associating with gang members.
The stupefying part of this crime is not that it happened, but that evidence was posted online. But a new book on Chicago area gangs details how gang members are just like the rest of us: they have a compulsion to tweet, Facebook and YouTube their daily thoughts and activities.
“It used to be guys standing down on the corner, holding down the neighborhood. Now, the guys go online and think they’re holding down the neighborhood,” said Aurora Police Investigator Jeff Hahn, who has worked in the gang unit for seven years. “It’s kind of a different way of thinking.”
Gangs are still spray-painting their graffiti on alley walls, train cars and viaducts — but they’re also using their smart phones and computers for “cyber-tagging,” according to the Chicago Crime Commission, which released an updated book on street gangs last week. They’re provoking their rivals with Internet graffiti and using social media to keep in touch.
“They can talk to their whole gang this fast,” Crime Commission President Jody Weis said, snapping his fingers. “They can send a message: ‘Everybody meet at this corner at this time.’ And everybody’s got it.”
Weis, the former Chicago police superintendent, estimated two-thirds of school-related violence is spawned on social media sites.
“You and I get in an argument on Facebook, and the next thing you know I’m shooting your sister or you’re shooting my brother,” he said.
Tool for police
Web chatter is a valuable tool for law enforcement officials to monitor for information on gangs, Weis noted.
“A kid may say he’s never carried a gun and on his Facebook page there’s a picture of him holding an AK-47 or a Glock,” he said.
Authorities can obtain search warrants to go deeper into a suspect’s social media site and build a criminal case, Weis said.
Last year, Chicago police tracked social media sites to combat mobs of young thugs robbing and assaulting people in the downtown area.
And in New York City, authorities recently announced charges against 43 Hood Starz gang members who allegedly bragged about their crimes on Facebook and Twitter.
The Crime Commission’s 320-page gang book revealed some gang members’ web conversations about shooting at officers, mourning slain associates and boasting about drug dealing. One gang member even acknowledged police were watching.
The book also gave examples about authorities conducting investigations based on gang messages on the Internet. One case led to the arrest of gang members who threatened a witness in a murder trial. In another case, authorities arrested a man who posed with guns on a website and claimed he was on a “murder mission.”
Three charged in Aurora
Aurora police were hesitant to talk about how often they’re monitoring social media for gang intelligence. But digital fingerprints came in handy in the graveyard YouTube case.
The three men who urinated on the grave and threw flowers at the headstone were arrested in April. Ricardo Chairez, 21, of Alsip, pleaded guilty to vandalizing a burial ground and paid a $500 fine. He violated his probation in November. Marcus Banks, 20, of Elgin, pleaded guilty to spitting on the grave. The video also allowed police to charge him with associating with gang members, a violation of his probation.
Arturo Trejo Jr., 17, of Aurora, was charged with felonies resisting an officer and unlawful contact with a gang member, according to Kane County court records. Those charges are pending.
A way of life
The gang book estimates there are more than 68,000 members of 73 street gangs in the Chicago area. Over the past decade, the corporate structure of many large gangs began to disintegrate as housing projects were demolished and gang members were scattered throughout the metropolitan area, according to the book.
As a result, juveniles — those most likely to use social media — have gained power. For law abiding citizens, its counterintuitive that gang members would post evidence of crimes. But, police say it’s no different than how other people use social media: they want to tell you about their daily life, and that includes gang activities.
“Instead of saying something to someone’s face, you can put it on their Facebook page,” said Kane County Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Gengler. “Social media is just a way of life, and it’s no different for gang members. They like to brag.”
And even though some gang members have started to hide some of their online activity, there’s still plenty available to the public.
As of Monday, there was a three-minute video online promoting an Aurora gang. The video, posted in April, features a drawing of gang graffiti. In the background, men and women rap about their gang while insulting several rival gangs. The people on video use their nicknames and shout gang slogans.
“You all ain’t got nothing,” one man says before he lists all the gangs he wants to “fill with bullet holes.”
Other commenters have posted the slogans of rival gangs in the comments underneath the video.
“They’ve gone from spray-painting on walls to hiding online,” Hahn said.
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