The plot thickens.
In the last episode, Councilwoman Janice Hahn fought back against the talk shows, bloggers and concerned citizens who were inflamed by a Fox Channel 11 report she helped get two tough anti-gang cops pulled out of Watts, supported a woman who raised a family of gangsters to be the queen of gangland peace and helped channel city funds to known hoodlums.
Today's installment of Janice and The Gangs fuels the public conversation by tearing apart piece by piece much of the Fox News storyline. The San Pedro councilwoman's local newspaper, the Daily Breeze, published a well-researched article by reporter Gene Maddaus under the headline "TV report accusing Hahn flawed" which sought to defend Hahn by debunking elements of the story so far.
This is the nut graph, the heart of the story, about the flaws in the Fox reprot: "Most notably, records and interviews show that the gang intervention workers identified in the report have not received city funding. Additionally, a convicted rapist was wrongly identified as a gang intervention worker, and Hahn was mistakenly accused of providing funds directly to gang workers."
Don't you love it? I do. We're actually starting to talk about a critical element of the gang problem and like most things, the truth lies in the details and the Breeze story supplies some new ones.
What intrigues me about what's going on in Watts under Hahn's auspices is the growing evidence that the LAPD is using the same strategy General Petraeus is employing in Iraq.
I call it the "Baghdad Strategy." It works like this: When authorities are powerless to stop the violence being committed in all directions by multiple terrorist factions, they fund one or more of the warring groups to buy a measure of peace. In exchange, the newfound allies are pretty much given free rein to do what they want on their own turf.
It's a devil's deal if ever there were one.
And the mounting detail coming out suggests the LAPD has adopted the Baghdad Strategy to reduce murder and mayhem in gang-infested areas of the city, using gang intervention workers, marginal gangsters and group's like Betty Day's Watts Gang Task Force to reduce the bloodshed among rival gangs.
That's where troublemaking officers Ryan Moreno and Chuck Garcia come in. Their aggressive tactics against drug dealers and other street gang thugs violated the secret "treaty" that gave the hoodlums the room to do their illegal business activities as long as they respected each other's turf.
I know it's only my theory of the crime but here's a nugget from the Breeze story that I liked a lot.
Connie Rice, the brilliant civil rights attorney who has become the city's leading expert on gangs and advocate for a massive campaign to break their stranglehold on so many neighborhoods, said she advises gang intervention groups not to pay workers with longtime gang ties with taxpayer money to avoid accusations of misusing public funds.
How you keep the private funding and public funding separate in any meaningful way is beyond me but that seems to be the sum and substance of the whole argument about whether or not gangsters are getting city money. It seems a moot point.
Rice talks about a guy named "Bow Wow Jones," a gang intervention worker who is on the payroll of a group called Unity One. He's met with Hahn, Chief William Bratton and other officials but was arrested in February for violating a city gang injunction.
"These guys aren't angels, but you have to evaluate where they are," Rice told the Breeze. "There are some guys you can't pay any public funds to, because they're not far enough away from their old world. But there's a very small group of people that can really do this work."
Similarly, a gang member named Brandon Bullard who was killed in a gang shooting in January also was on the Unity One payroll. According to Rice, he had not left his gang life behind.
"He was an intermediary," she said. "He had a license to try to negotiate to reduce violence. He was not banging. He left the banging behind a long time ago. But I don't know that he ever completely severed his relationship."
OK, I'll stipulate they somehow keep their public and private money separate but I still think it's pretty clear that we are paying gangsters not to kill each so often fighting over turf and control of their illegal commercial activities.
But we also need to talk about why we're pulling tough cops off of gang details and whether it's because we're going soft on crimes like drug dealing.
In which case, the question is this: What's the price of peace?
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the Naitonal Enquirer.
Great analysis. But who's going to explain it to Janice?
Isn't the Baghdad Strategy basically Iran/Contra?
Your analysis sounds about right, Ron, the LAPD brass seems to be involved to the highest levels, and these two cops who actually wanted to do their job weren't playing ball.
But I don't want my tax money allegedly to fight gangs, going to gangbangers to deal drugs just so they won't kill each other. That's telling the other dealers and gangbangers that the LAPD and politicians are the worst kinds of enablers of crime, and the cops on the street are vulnerable. Just pick a couple who are too tough on the local "overlords," get together some locals who don't like their business being hurt (like Betty Day) and accuse them of some abuse. You'll get a photo op with a grinning, publicity-hungry Janice Hahn.
Meanwhile, what's happening to those two cops, Garcia and Moreno I think they're called? No wonder the Protective League doesn't want LAPD to have all their bank and vital info on file -- there are some allegations that these were leaked to one of those "inside" intervention workers/ gangsters, who was supposed to set them up. Maybe that's going too far, but once the cops and simpleminded pols like Hahn are involved at all, suspicion is natural.
The Breeze as you point out is in Hahn's district so if she passed "her" property tax for gang programs, she'd definitely use it in her district which isn't one of the current 12 gang reduction zones receiving money. So this woman, who at best is easily manipulated by her ego and desperation for attention and looking important like her Dad, would be taxing the rest of us for programs she administers largely in her area, some of which would go to finance criminal activity by intervention workers. JUST SAY NO TO HAHN'S GANG TAX AND KEEP THAT WOMAN OCCUPIED WITH REGGIE THE ALLIGATOR AND ROOSTERS.
Ron, I agree with much of your analysis and your conclusion. I take objection to your description of Gene Maddaus' article as well researched. He clearly is pandering to Hahn. In his 'review' of Fox 11's report he provides a link to Hahn's website and parrots Hahn's statements. For example, Maddaus claims that Blatchford's "story was largely based on the allegations of two Los Angeles Police Department officers who contend that Hahn pressured the department to remove them from their foot beats in Watts due to complaints about their aggressive tactics."
How could he know on what information Blatchford based his report? If he had watched the report he claims to be reviewing, Maddaus would have discovered that Blatchford referred to and interviewed a DOZEN cops, a PJ Watts Crip gang member, a Grape Street gang member, and the mother of two murdered Grape Street gang members, just to name a few sources.
Maddaus claims there are no reports or records showing these gang members received any public funds. A shocking claim since two City Controllers (Tuttle and Chick) have been unable to audit Unity One, Toberman House, Amer-I-Can, No Guns, or any of the other Bridges gang intervention organization receiving and spending millions of tax payer dollars. In the 10 or so days since the Fox report Maddaus has apparently been able to access the books of these organizations, studied them, and concluded there is nothing there of concern to Los Angeles residents.
Blatchford did have, and show on camera, numerous police reports not to mention two video taped interviews with gang members. Each of those gang members claimed to be paid by Hahn or discussed gang members who received money through her. Hahn's response to Fox 11 was that there was never a payment 'directly' from her. Maybe the money did not come from her budget, or from her office holder account. But certainly those at Unity One, Amer-I-Can and Toberman are loyal to her. A phone call or referral from her would most certainly facilitate someone getting 'hired' as a gang intervention worker.
I would also challenge Maddaus about Brandon Bullard. Hahn can't run from Bullard as she ran from Myrick, since she is on video speaking at his funeral. He quotes Connie Rice saying that Bullard "had a license to try to negotiate to reduce violence. He was not banging. He left the banging behind a long time ago. But I don't know that he ever completely severed his relationship."
BL was not banging? He was on parole and murdered at a gang party. And, with 30 seconds of research Maddaus could have discovered both of those facts.
I would not characterize Maddaus' article as researched at all. In fact, I would question if he was on Hahn's payroll. His article is poorly written and so clearly biased it shocks the conscience.
On the upside, it does keep this conversation alive. And with the multi-million dollar gang intervention tax and Hahn's re-election on an upcoming ballot it is imperative we keep talking.
Ron:
Why don't you take the time to attend one or two meetings of the Watts Gang Task force? The meetings are held at 10:00 every Monday at Janice Hahn's Watts office. The meetings are packed and you will learn a lot more on the subject than is reflected in these commentaries. I guarantee it. It would also enable you to do some good and decent reporting
Janice attends 80% of the time. The meetings are run by the City's Human Relations Department. It is a demonstration of how by just listening a political leader can truly empower a community.
A fight exists for the souls and the hearts and minds of the next generation of young kids. Many people have a vested interest in the status quo, and are desirous of wounding Janice Hahn because of her many successes on multiple fronts.
Homicides in Watts have decreased by 50%, year over year. This is not a coincidence; and it is not the result of 'paying dollars for peace'; but the direct result of the efforts of a great political leader, Janice Hahn, and the Watts Gang Task Force.
The goal here should be to shed light on this issue, instead of heat. Gratuitious personal smears on Janice Hahn lend nothing positive to the debate.
I therefore again urge you and anyone else reading this to take the time to educate yourself before commenting further and to attend a Watts Gang Task Force meeting.