The gangs of Providence.....

Note that much of the gang-membership is Latino and Guatemalans are involved in MS-13 and other "Latin" gangs in Providence. Much of that could be reducec if the identification of illegal alien gang members along with ICE would be part of a comprehensive anti-gang initiative. Without an immigration component, we are allowing illegal alien criminal enterprises to flourish with impunity.

The gangs of Providence

In the Renaissance City, the mean streets are what many youths call home

05:17 PM EST on Friday, February 8, 2008

Stories By W. Zachary Malinowski
Photographs by Kris Craig
The Providence Journal

Detective Sgt. Michael Wheeler makes a quick check around the home of a leader of the Hanover Boyz on the South Side of Providence. Wheeler, raised in the West End, knows these streets as well as any of the gang members.

PROVIDENCE

On a beautiful afternoon in early autumn everyone seems to be enjoying the unseasonably warm weather with one exception: the Providence Police Gang Unit.

Rising temperatures have led to rising tensions in the ongoing feud between the Young Bloods and Hanover Boyz, two of the largest and most notorious street gangs in the city’s West End.
Special Report:
The Gangs of Providence
In the Renaissance City, the mean streets are what many youths call home

Mapping the violence: An interactive map of gang-related shootings and murders in Providence in 2007

Gang Profiles: The grafitti, symbols, colors and codes of Providence's most visible gangs

Your turn: What can be done to keep young people out of gangs?
Multimedia

Hanging out works: Providence Police Gang Unit Detective Sgt. Michael Wheeler says you'll find his team wherever you find gang members.

A billboard for violence: You can learn a lot from gang graffiti

Jump in, jump out: You've got to prove your toughness to get into a gang, but you can't leave one without a broken bone.
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In the early morning of Sept. 27, there had been two drive-by shootings in gang strongholds: The first in a triple-decker on Hanover Street where a Young Blood gang member had recently moved. Two hours later, the police responded to reports of shots fired on Sorrento Street, just a few blocks from Hanover.

The gunfire came just four days after a Public Street apartment was riddled twice within two hours; it was the home of Souvthea “Smurfyâ€