Thread: Hazleton: City detective testifies about gangs

City detective testifies about gangs
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
By KENT JACKSON


Police Detective Christopher Orozco is learning to read the writing on the wall – the squiggles, symbols and slogans that gangs spray paint on buildings, fences, and pavement in Hazleton.
some gang members, Orozco watches with whom they meet and studies surveillance photos to identify their associates.
Through his work, he identified gangs active in Hazleton, including Crips, Bloods, MS-13, East Side, the Latin Kings and Trinitarios, which seems to be absorbing members from Dominicans Don’t Play.
Identities aren’t always obvious.
One member of MS-13, a gang also known as Mara Salvatrucha, had “MX” tattooed on his right shoulder and “S3” on his left shoulder.
“Looking at one arm, it was difficult to understand,” Orozco said. But when looking at the man across his body and realizing the “X” was the Roman numeral for 10, Orozco knew the tattoo represented MS-13.
The man’s brother is wanted for homicide in Omaha, Neb., and police there told Orozco to look for him in Hazleton.
Like tattoos, graffiti requires care to decipher. A gang’s name scrawled on a wall, for example, might be an insult written by a rival gang, Orozco said.
Jared Lewis, director of Know Gangs, an organization in Jefferson, Wis., that instructs police, said he explained some graffiti to Orozco when visiting Hazleton on Tuesday, the night before he also testified in the trial.
Before Orozco began teaching himself about gangs, he noticed signs of their activity, such as groups dressing in the same colors, as far back as two years ago in Hazleton.
“Basically you were seeing a pattern of behavior and put it together in your head?” Carla Maresca, an attorney for the city, asked during the trial.
“Yes,” Orozco said.
He began talking about gangs with Police Chief Robert Ferdinand.
From those conversations grew the Street Crime Unit that he heads.
The unit formed last month, and Ferdinand and Orozco still are deciding how it will function.
Eight of the 33 members of the police force are assigned to the unit part-time.
They meet regularly with Orozco, who said he spends about 20 hours a week on the unit’s business.
The Street Crime Unit took a general name.
Orozco said he wanted the unit to be flexible enough to investigate other crimes, such as a rash of robberies, but the focus is on gangs.
After testifying, Lewis said Hazleton set up the task force on a model used in other cities with investigative and patrol branches.
“Police officers who gather information (are) contacting gang members and getting intelligence back to other officers to do follow up,” Lewis said.
He said Hazleton’s gangs appear well established. Even Hazleton teenagers whom he contacted on the Internet social-networking site MySpace knew particulars of gang activity in the city. He said he saw a picture of people throwing gang signs in Hazleton on MySpace.
“Once it reaches the level where 12-year-old kid knows what’s happening, you’ve got a problem,” Lewis said.
Police have made a good start in dealing with Hazleton’s gangs, but he said the officers need help.
“It’s not a police problem. It’s going to take churches, schools and social service organizations if you want to get any footing,” Lewis said.

http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.ph ... 6&Itemid=2

It’s not a police problem. It’s going to take churches, schools and social service organizations if you want to get any footing,” Lewis said.

If the social service organizations and churches are willing participants in the process of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, what's left? Schools?

I think some of these illegal alien supporters need to be sent to the jail to look at and talk to some of these people. All they can say is see the little children. Ha! I can't see them for all the criminals. By the way, the children's parents are criminals too!

Dixie

Expert testifies about gangs
By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com

SCRANTON – A nationally-recognized gang expert testified this morning that MS-13 – a gang Hazleton police say has a presence in the city is one of the most dangerous gangs in the world.

The defense called Jared Lewis, director of Know Gangs – an organization he founded to teach law enforcement how to identify and deal with gang problems – as an expert witness in the Illegal Immigration Relief Act trial.

Mayor Lou Barletta and Police Chief Robert Ferdinand testified previously that many illegal immigrants arrested in the city have gang association.

Det. Cpl. Jason Zola, who heads the Hazleton Police Department’s Narcotics Unit, testified earlier today that five of 15 arrests of people with gang affiliations he made since May 2006 were illegal aliens.

Much of Lewis’s time on the witness stand was spent answering questions about his experience and credentials, or lack thereof.

Plaintiff attorney Tom Fiddler objected to Lewis’ testimony as an expert witness because he has minimal law enforcement experience, did not include any published authoritative works in his resume, and his expert report did not include any information based on statistics specific to Hazleton.

Defense attorney Carla Maresca argued that Lewis’ area of expertise is not an area about which many authoritative books have been written.

“His knowledge comes from being on the street. His life experience and on-the-job experience is what goes directly to his expertise,” Maresca said.

U.S. District Judge James Munley allowed Lewis’ testimony.

Before the proceedings broke for lunch, Lewis provided a history of Mara Salvatrucha – more commonly known as MS-13.

Lewis said the gang was formed in California by refugees from El Salvador. They are known for their use of machetes to kill people even when automatic weapons are available, he said.

Lewis’ testimony will continue this afternoon.

Steve Cutler, a retired agent from the former U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services, is expected to testify as an expert witness for the defense, and is also expected to be the final witness in the trial.

Attorneys on both sides agreed that Temple University law professor Jan Ting would not be called. The attorneys were waiting on a ruling about whether representatives from the Hazleton area School District and the Greater Hazleton health Alliance would be called, but one attorney said it’s doubtful.

Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday.

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/16947382.htm