Across Collier County, there are 15 to 20 gangs and 390 documented gang members; the average age for a gang member in Collier is 16
Sunday, December 15, 2002
By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com
Sporting a black T-shirt emblazoned with marijuana leaves, the 15-year-old East Naples boy doesn't attend school, smokes pot regularly, and has a burglary charge under his belt. Authorities say he's been reported as a runaway in the past.
He was questioned by authorities one night last week and is considered a lead suspect in a recent rash of graffiti in his neighborhood that left $200 damage. Authorities haven't been able to prove yet that he took a can of spray paint and, along with two other boys, helped deface his trailer-home community off Radio Road last weekend.
This is the dilemma that investigators from the Collier County Sheriff's Office Gang Enforcement Unit are confronted with daily.
"We know who the players of this graffiti are," said Sgt. Tim Guerrette, head of the sheriff's Gang Unit. "You have to catch them doing the graffiti and it's tough to do that."
Over the past few weeks — including Thanksgiving weekend — there have been 17 separate reports of graffiti damage left throughout Collier, Guerrette said.
One night last week, Gang Unit investigators arrested two teenage boys and charged them with criminal mischief. The boys signed a sworn statement, confessing that they vandalized their community with spray paint.
From neighborhoods off Radio Road to the Naples Manor area and sections of Golden Gate, gangs such as "Sur 13" (Spanish for South 13) have been striking the community, targeting homes, ballparks and playgrounds.
Joyce Short's residence in Naples Manor has been struck numerous times throughout the years. In the past two weeks, gang members from Sur 13 have left their mark on a large wall that surrounds Short's home.
The 70-year-old Short, a 21-year Naples Manor homeowner, is fed up.
"People are afraid of these punks," she said. "They write lots of vulgar language. It costs me a lot of money to get the wall redone because I don't use paint for the wall . . . it's cement and it's expensive."
Late at night, whether on weekdays, weekends or holidays, Guerrette and his five Gang Unit investigators spend endless hours on the road, trying to crack down on the graffiti raiders.
Often, gangs leave damages in the thousands of dollars.
All they need is a $1 can of spray paint.
Along with Sur 13, another gang, "La Raza" (the race), has struck Collier neighborhoods in the past, including a playground at the intersection of Sholtz Street and Tucker Avenue in Naples Manor. The park was renovated by Lely High School students earlier this year.
"Gangs are like cancer. If you attack them when they're small, you have a chance," Guerrette said. "What happens here is that a bunch of guys grab cans of paint late at night at 3 o'clock in the morning and it's free advertisement for them."
Across the county, there are 15 to 20 gangs and 390 documented gang members. The average age for a gang member in Collier is 16. Typically, gang members are between 14 and 20 years old, law enforcement officers said.
Investigators from Collier's Gang Unit say it's not the hard-core gang members who are going out to leave graffiti.
Instead, authorities say, it's youngsters they refer to as "jitter bugs" who are to blame for much of the vandalism taking place across the county.
"Jitter bugs are middle school-age kids who are trying to emulate the real gangs," Guerrette said. "You have a group of 10 to 15 kids who are doing this."
Guerrette, along with Gang Unit investigators Cpl. Rich Hampton and Cpl. Doug Fowler, were out one day last week investigating graffiti damage in the Southwind neighborhood of East Naples.
Thirteen-year-old Alejandro confessed to investigators that he had taken part in some of the graffiti. Investigators also charged a second 13-year-old with criminal mischief in connection with the recent graffiti on Radio Road.
On the night that authorities showed up to his home to arrest him, Alejandro denied his role in the graffiti spree. At the time, he was being questioned by officers in front of his parents, who don't speak English. Gang Unit investigators are not fluent in Spanish.
"I didn't do anything," Alejandro told his parents, Victoria and Alejandro Ramirez Sr.
The family, who arrived from Mexico four years ago, reside in a mobile home in the Southwind neighborhood.
The Ramirezes don't understand why their son is implicated in a crime. Their son must be befriending the wrong kids, the couple said.
"We've had complaints from school, but nothing like this," said Victoria Ramirez, 36. "I don't think he did it because, when he does something wrong, he always cries to me and tells me the truth."
Through an interpreter, Gang Unit investigators explained to the parents how Alejandro admitted to his role in the graffiti. In a written statement, which Alejandro signed, he told police he did indeed participate.
But with his parents present, the teenager denied his involvement in the recent rash of graffiti.
"He's afraid I'll give him a beating," said Alejandro Ramirez Sr., 35. "We're worried about him because he's been doing bad in school and he's been drawing some weird symbols that have to do with gangs. We don't know what that stands for."
Scenarios such as these are common for investigators.
For residents in the community, perhaps it's not so easy to understand.
Cindy Mysels is president of Little League sports at Gulf Coast Little League Park, a Warren Street park that was recently struck by graffiti.
Members from Sur 13 spray-painted the park; the markings since have been painted over.
"Every once in a while we get it," said Mysels, 44. "The kids get mad ... we're a little league, so why paint our building? They're disappointed when this happens."
Caroline Garner, 13, is a member of the Naples Rage softball team. She, too, is upset that gang members are targeting her ballpark.
"I think it's rude and inconsiderate," she said. "It's immature and they shouldn't do it again. I would want them to get caught so they can't do it again."
A duplex shared by Robert and Dorothy Smith, wheelchair-bound seniors residing on Hardee Street in Naples Manor, has been damaged with graffiti a few times this year.
Thanksgiving weekend, members of Sur 13 struck the front of the Smith home. Officials from the Sheriff's Office have since painted over it.
"I wish they'd catch the kids who did it and make them come back and pay for it," said Robert Smith, 73, who, along with his wife, moved from Miami-Dade County 28 years ago. "Naples Manor has an awful reputation. This place is getting like Miami."
Added Dorothy Smith, 71, "When this happens, it makes it awful hard for a homeowner who's trying to keep their property nice."
The Smiths think that aggressive patrolling by the Sheriff's Office will stop the graffiti.
Investigators from Collier's Gang Unit contend it's not so easy. Officers say they find it harder to do their job when photos of graffiti or gang names are published in newspapers or shown on television.
"This glorifies them and this is what they're looking for," Gang Unit investigator Hampton said.
"Most of the gang wars nowadays are being fought through the media," Guerrette concurred. "By using their name, it serves them as a recruitment tool."
Not so, according to at least one gang expert.
George Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research at Chicago State University, has been studying gangs and gang behavior for 26 years.
Law enforcement agencies that frown upon gang awareness in the media are doing the community a disservice, said Knox, a sociologist/criminologist.
"It is the media's moral right to use the name of the gang and put the appropriate blame and shame on the gang so prosecutors open up a case," Knox said. "If you systematically deny that the gang is there, the gang will have a field day in crime and violence in your city."
Knox compared the gang problem on America's streets to the war on terror.
"If you had al-Qaida (the terrorist network) in your neighborhood and you're not going to use their name, how will you let people know that al-Qaida is in there?" he said.
Todd Payne, supervisor of the Orange County Sheriff's Office Gang Enforcement Unit in Orlando, agrees with investigators from the Collier Sheriff's Office.
"We generally will not release the gang's name to the media because it's a recruitment tool for the gang," Payne said. "By releasing the name, it could be harmful to the community. With the name, they (the gangs) become somebody."
Mike Stanforth, who oversees the Gang Unit at the Lee Sheriff's Office, also shares that sentiment.
"When (the newspaper) prints names of gangs, the crime goes up for a while and it's like (gang members) are flexing their muscles," Stanforth said.
Knox, the gang expert, disagrees.
"We have a situation where our country is in a state of terrorist alert and we have gangs in America who have been willing to do work for terrorists," Knox said. "What we've seen is the escalation of gang activity across the country. All the kids have to do is get on the Internet and they can see Web pages about gangs and aggressive gang recruitment."
Detective Gady Serralta heads the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office Gang Strike Unit and is president of the Florida Gang Investigators Association. The 12-year seasoned officer shared some insight into the gang world.
"Any gang that has sudden graffiti, what they are doing is marking their territory and it becomes a symbol of power," Serralta said. "It's a message that 'I own this area.' They use it to challenge law enforcement."
Serralta said that Sur 13, the gang that recently struck Collier, is a Los Angeles-based gang. Sur 13 represents the road that divides the south from the north part of California, and its large Mexican population. The rival gang for Sur 13 is Norte 14 (Spanish for North 14).
Serralta noted that those who associate themselves with Sur 13 in Collier County are most likely the "wanna-be" gang members who may or may not be tied to the real Sur 13 gang from Los Angeles.
"The difference between a 'wanna-be' and an 'is' ... is the pulling of a trigger," Serralta said. "Sur 13 as a whole are murderers, drug dealers and criminals. A gang can be very volatile, from doing nothing to stabbing someone."