Gang-tervention
By John Joyce
Published in News on January 26, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sgt. Matt Williams of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office speaks about changes being made to combat the changing landscape of gang organization in Wayne County.
Criminal gangs operating in Wayne County will soon have more to worry about than rival gangs, enemy graffiti or drive-by shootings on their home turf.
The biggest threat to the criminal enterprises will be a locally based FBI task force geared toward targeting gangs, local officials say.
Wayne County Sheriff Larry Pierce gave the go-ahead for the task force last week.
"I have decided to appoint Matt Miller to the federal task force full-time, feeling that there is a significant gang problem in Wayne County that we need to address," Pierce said.
Miller, a sergeant in the Sheriff's Office and a specialist in gangs, said he is more than confident he and his federal counterparts are up to the task.
"We will be targeting, validating and building cases against whole sets, not just individual members," Miller said.
Sets are subgroups within a larger structure of a gang -- a local branch, so to speak.
Arrests could come in a dozen at a time, he said.
Miller, currently a part-time FBI task force member, is the sheriff's office's designated "gang guy." He has worked gangs for years in the scope of his normal duties, but is now poised to take them on full-time.
Pierce said the appointment will become official in February.
"I will still get paid by the sheriff, but he loans me out to the feds," Miller said.
And becoming a full-time FBI task force member means Miller will have at his fingertips all the resources available to federal agents.
FBI offices and agents in Raleigh, Greenville and other eastern North Carolina cities will be just a phone call away, and will be lending both expertise and equipment to Miller and his fellow deputies.
Miller said the gang problem in Wayne County is such that it warrants a full-time FBI task force.
"Yes, we have a need to address a gang issue. We've got some gang members, and we are preparing to deal with them," he said.
Using his smartphone, Miller calls up a rap video shot in Goldsboro by a group he said is composed of confirmed gang members. He asked that neither their names be used nor the gang itself be named, for fear of inspiring rival gangs to start "tagging," or spraying graffiti all over town to announce their presence as well.
The video, which shows landmarks immediately recognizable to Goldsboro citizens, such as a street sign at Hugh Street and Olivia Street, talks about guns and drugs and even calls out Miller and his partners directly.
Miller was previously attached to the Sheriff's Office Aggressive Crime Enforcement Team or ACE Team.
A lyric repeated throughout part of the song refers to the "jumps."
Jumps is street slang for the detectives who jump out of unmarked cars and surprise suspected gang members and drug dealers, usually after they have been under surveillance, to catch them with guns, money and drugs in their possession, Miller explained.
What might look like innocuous handshakes or gestures in the video, are actually gang signs, Miller explained.
It is one of the first signs a parent, teacher or guardian might see when his or her child or student begins affiliating with a gang.
"When you see them drawing on themselves, or on their notebooks or their shoes, that's a sign they are into something," he said. Symbols are prevalent gang identifiers, as are bandanas or "flags" as they are called in gang circles.
Miller said colors do not matter as much to many gang members these days, red or blue bandanas do not strictly represent one gang or another. One thing he is seeing a lot more of lately, however, are black flags -- an indication that gangs are at war or "beefing."
"Right now there seems to be some beef going on," he said.
The gangs at the center of the trouble are, or are affiliated with, the Bloods and Crips/Folk.
The Bloods -- historically a Los Angeles, Calif., based gang that spread east to New York in the 1990s -- occupy much of the south side of Goldsboro. The Crips and Folk, originating in L.A. and Chicago, respectively, have also spread to other states. Their local stronghold is in the city's North End, and extends into the county.
As many as 16 gangs operate in some capacity in the area and surrounding region, Miller said. He said he named them in an interview a few years back and the result was a huge rise in graffiti tagging in a battle for recognition. He stopped short of naming each of the gangs this time around.
Miller did say, however, that loyalty to the gangs depends on its members. Some gang members just want the benefits that come with hanging around a gang -- the money, the drugs, the girls, the prestige. To others, it is the most important thing in their lives and they are willing to kill, die, or go to jail all in the name of the gang.
The recruitment starts early, with children in the neighborhood who might need someone to look out for them.
"They might have an older cousin or someone they see who tells them, 'Hey, if you need anything, you need money to eat or new shoes, see me. I'll take care of it,'" he said.
It is not until later on that the discipline comes in.
Later on the youth might do something the gang leader doesn't like, and he will have a "green light" on him -- a designation to beat him up on sight -- or worse.
"He will make him food. He'll say, 'He's food.' That means kill him," Miller said.
The indoctrination is generational, beginning with a group who wants to make a name for themselves and carve out an area. Once they do so, they ease back a little, Miller said.
By the second generation of gang members, it is accepted that the gang exists and is part of life.
"By the third generation, which is sort of where we are now, it is all they know. There is nothing else," he said.
The gangs' chief income comes from drugs, but they also branch out into armed robberies, hold-ups, sex trafficking, people trafficking, scams and more, Miller said.
He goes back to the rap video he displayed earlier in the interview. The rapper is heard saying he has "pills, boy, girl, exotic."
Pills are self-explanatory, usually pain killers and other opiates, Miler explained.
"Boy is heroin. Girl is cocaine. Exotic is weed, marijuana," he said.
The biggest obstacle to making a significant impact against the gangs and their illicit business is a complicit community, Miller added.
"We are the authority figures they fear. We are well-organized and well-trained," he said.
But the community has to be accountable and take some responsibility, Miller said.
"The community has to step up, throw out the whole 'snitch' mentality and quit enabling it. Stop turning a blind eye."