Long Branch: Gangs are a U.S. problem

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Officials: It's not a crisis yet
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/8/07
BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

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(Second of two parts) LONG BRANCH — With two gang-related murders in the city in the past two months, authorities say the problem is worsening and they are taking it seriously.

To call it "gang warfare is probably hyperbolic," said city Public Safety Director William A. Richards. "Long Branch is not Mayberry, but it is not crime-ridden, either. We have crime. It is a city, and every city has crime."

Long Branch's four murders in 2006 — all of which occurred since August and include two that authorities say are not gang-related — are not unprecedented. In 1995, the city had six homicides, and in 1996, there were five.

But officials say those homicides did not cause the uproar that has accompanied these most recent killings.

On Nov. 22, 27-year-old Michael Montgomery was killed in a residential neighborhood near John Street and Hendrickson Avenue. A 26-year-old man whom authorities have asked not be identified also was shot and is recovering, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin.

Authorities recently arrested Carl Holdren, 18, of Lakewood, and Valdo A. Thompson, 21, of Jackson, charging them in both shootings. Both are said to be members of the "Sex Money Murder" set of the Bloods, a violent street gang.

Authorities also have arrested three more reputed Bloods members in connection with the Dec. 14 killing of Keith T. Mason, 28, in his Second Avenue home. Mason was shot once in the upper torso as he tried to protect his 2-year-old son, authorities said.

Valentin has said the trio attempted to rob Mason of marijuana they believed was in his apartment. There is no information linking Mason to any gang, the prosecutor has said.

Arrested in connection with Mason's death were Darnell L. Stovall, 19, of Lakewood, and Qumere J. McClendon, 20, and Paul Lewis, 18, both of Long Branch.

A third gang-related slaying occurred in Asbury Park on Dec. 5. Four members of the Bloods gang were arrested in that shooting, which killed 21-year-old Latyria Nealy of Neptune.

State, federal and county officials say the gang problem has been growing steadily in New Jersey in the past five years. Officials says the Bloods are the most prevalent — and most violent — gang in New Jersey, and they have taken over much of the illegal drug operations in the state.

"There's been kind of a straw-man argument that's been advanced where we've been accused of denying the gang presence," Richards said of Long Branch. "This is a city. Every mythology . . . is represented. I think on balance it is a safe city. Of course, we have gang elements and eruptions. It happens to be a city in America. It is an American problem. It is a cultural problem.

"Do I have apprehensions we're on a continuum and this is progressing?" Richards said. "Yes, I'd say there are legitimate concerns. The people charged in connection with these events, the oldest is 21. They just got out of high school."

Are residents afraid as they walk through certain areas in a city where the crime rate has steadily declined during the past decade and a half? Some are.

Laurie DosSantos, a single mother of four and a lifelong city resident, said she worries about letting her children go outside or permitting them to walk to the store because of the escalating gang presence.

It has gotten so bad, she said, that she's considered moving out of the city, but her choices are limited right now.

"And why should we (have to move)? It's not fair," said the 35-year-old.

She said children in the city need more activities, such as after-school programs or a recreation center because "there's nothing for the kids to do."

But Schools Superintendent Joseph M. Ferraina said the schools are open from sunrise to sundown to provide such programs, and Richards said he does not believe recreation is the primary answer; that, he said, begins with more vigilant parenting.

He noted that some of the men charged in these gang killings were once "vaunted athletes" in city or school recreation programs.

"I don't perceive a nexus between recreation and criminal behavior," Richards said. "It might be somewhat simplistic, but I have never run into a situation where choices devolved down to playing basketball or robbing a bank."

Last winter, when Lorenzo "Bill" Dangler, president of the Greater Long Branch NAACP, first suggested a worsening gang problem, one state expert said the city did not appear to be in a gang "crisis."

Is the city in crisis now?

"Yes, because we've had crimes here that are bad," Mayor Adam Schneider said. "No, because I suspect my answer would be different if I was sitting here and the crimes hadn't been solved. . . . I have, then and now, every confidence in my Police Department. I look at my Police Department and know they can do the job."

Of the emerging gang issue, the mayor said, "I don't know I would label it a crisis, but it is an area of concern that we all pay attention to."

Meanwhile, Schneider took exception to comments Dangler made at a hastily convened news conference Dec. 26 at which Dangler and the Concerned Citizens Coalition called for federal and county help in resolving the problem.

Schneider, in noting that local officials regularly work with county and state officials, called Dangler's comments "politically opportunistic. . . . I won't put up with that." He also rattled off the names of numerous Long Branch detectives who are lifelong city residents and whose ties to the community are closer than any member of an outside agency would have.

"Within a couple of days, we had names and suspects, and we were tracking down evidence and putting a case together," Schneider said.

Dangler denied he had a political motive behind his statements.

"I'm sure they'll say it didn't speed things up," he said of his criticisms and the arrests. "I'm not going to get into a verbal debate with the mayor. If that is how he feels, that is how he feels. Right now, it looks like those particular murders were solved, and if those people were guilty, certainly they are off the streets."

Staff writer Karen Sudol contributed to this story.