Social media fuel gang violence

Data show Internet used to hide drug deals, goad enemies

A frame from video posted on YouTube on Oct. 27, 2016, in which a member of one of Chicago gangs was filmed walking into the territory of another gang with a gun in his hand. New law enforcement materials compiled by the Chicago Crime Commission say the embrace of social media by gangs to taunt rivals is the biggest change in how gangs operate compared with 10 years ago. (YouTube via AP)
A frame from video posted on YouTube on Oct. 27, 2016, in which a member of one of Chicago gangs was filmed walking into the territory of another gang with a gun in his hand. New law enforcement materials compiled by the Chicago Crime Commission say the embrace of social media by gangs to taunt rivals is the biggest change in how gangs operate compared with 10 years ago. (YouTube via AP)

CHICAGO -- Lamanta Reese lived much of his gang life in virtual reality, posting videos on YouTube of him and others taunting rivals. He died at age 19 in the real world, bleeding from his head onto a porch on Chicago's South Side after one of those gang rivals, prosecutors say, shot him 11 times.

Another possible factor in his slaying: a smiley-face emoji that Reese posted, which authorities say the suspected gunman may have interpreted as a slight about his mom.

Gangs' embrace of social media to goad foes or conceal drug dealing in emoji-laden text is the biggest change in how gangs operate compared with 10 years ago, according to new law enforcement data provided to The Associated Press ahead of their release today by the Chicago Crime Commission.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sites have radically altered gang culture in Chicago. They are having a similar influence on gangs nationwide.

These days, there is nearly always a link between an outbreak of gang violence and something online, said Rodney Phillips, a gang-conflict mediator working in the low-income Englewood neighborhood where Reese lived and died. When Phillips learns that simmering tensions have spilled into violence, he no longer goes first to the streets.

"I Google it," Phillips said. "I look on YouTube and Facebook. Today, that's how you follow the trail of a conflict."

Asked what led to his son's death, Reese's father, William Reese, said: "Something on the Internet." He said his son and Quinton Gates, later charged with first-degree murder in the killing, had been trading barbs on Facebook.

Updated gang maps also being released in a Chicago Crime Commission Gang Book chart the turf of 59 gangs, including Reese's Black Disciples. The maps illustrate how gangs have splintered into smaller, less disciplined factions.

The previous Gang Book -- used as a guide by regional police -- was published in 2012.

Gangs put a premium on retaliation for perceived disrespect. In the past, insults rarely spread beyond the block. Now, they're broadcast via social media to thousands of people in an instant.

"If you're disrespected on that level, you feel you have to act," said Phillips, who's employed with Target Area, a nonprofit group that seeks to defuse gang conflicts.

Reese, whose nickname was Taedoe, was prolific on Twitter, posting 28,000 tweets. He displayed bravado but was also introspective, tweeting about his odds of dying a violent death. One of his last tweets read: "Death Gotta Be Easy Because Life is Hard." It included a sad-face emoji.

Police say there was a gang connection to most of the 650 homicides in Chicago recorded in 2017 -- a total that's more than in Los Angeles and New York City combined. Homicides in 2018 are down about 20 percent. Police partly credit better intelligence and the deployment of officers to neighborhoods on the anniversaries of gang killings.

So integral are social media to gang dynamics that when Englewood-area pastor Corey Brooks brokered a truce between factions of the Black Disciples and Gangster Disciples in 2016, he insisted they agree to refrain from posting taunts. The gang truce lasted longer than most -- 18 months.

Some gangs provoke enemies by streaming live video showing them walking through rival turf. Others face off using a split-screen function on Facebook Live and hurl abuse at each other.

Chicago gangs maximize attention with videos of themselves performing an aggressive hip-hop called drill rap. Reese was among his gang's rappers. In a video posted before he died, he and his gang brandish guns, flash gang signs and curse, singing, "They want war? We're gonna give 'em war."

The Black Disciples' historic enemies include the Gangster Disciples and Micky Cobras. But authorities say the 19-year-old Gates was a fellow Black Disciple but from a different faction. Gates' Mac Block is across the street from Reese's faction, called LoweLife, authorities say. Each controls four square blocks.

The Chicago Crime Commission materials list more than 2,000 gang factions. Successful prosecutions in the 1990s of gang bosses, who kept street soldiers in check, left power vacuums filled by small cliques led by younger people eager to break away.

Another Target Area mediator, Michael Nash, who speaks regularly with the Mac and LoweLife factions, said Reese and Gates were once friends. He said both were likable.

It's not entirely clear why there was a falling out, Nash said. But Gates was said to have felt disrespected by something Lamanta Reese posted on Facebook before the shooting. Another person made an off-color comment about Gates' mother. Reese's response was a smiley-face emoji.

"Without social media, maybe Taedoe goes, 'Ha, ha,' and that's as far as it goes," Phillips said. "With social media, everyone sees it. Social media is gasoline that fuels violence."

A Section on 06/12/2018

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