IBO, Brian R. Lundin [the ebook reader .txt] 📗

case.
“Let me knows if you feel anything.” the doctor said to Malik as he inserted the needle about an inch into his left calf, a little below the knee.
“Feel anything?” He asked.”
“No,” Malik said.
Doctor Westbrook repeated the procedure on Malik right calf with the same results
“You will have you make a decision soon about the operation?” the doctor says.
“Let's go with it doc, but one question, are you going to be the one operating on me?”
“Yes, why?”
“I trust you,” Malik said.
”Ok, I will schedule the operation for tomorrow morning. You won't have anything else to eat or drink today and sometimes tonight they'll give you something to clean you out and in the morning about seven they will take you to the operating room, that's it, any questions?”
“No,” Malik answered sadly.
“Ok, I’ll see you in the morning,” Doctor Westbrook said leaving the room.
Malik lay on his bed and he thinks about Paco. After bringing Joyce home from the hospital, Malik went to the playground where the gang hung out looking for Paco or Lobo but no one had seen either one of them all day. Malik went to Paco’s apartment but he was not there and his mother told him that he had not been home in two days and she did not know where he was. Malik decided not to tell her what he had done to Joyce.

Chapter 8

Malik and Paco like most of kids who live in public housing projects in Chicago were members of a gang. The gang became the surrogate family; it protected its members and had its own code of conduct and rules and provided sanctions or punishments for violation of these rules. Often the decision to join the gang was purely practical, where the danger of being unaffiliated, and thus unprotected, outweighed the risk of gangbanging, even though it could result in early exposure to drugs, violence and a short life expectancy or a long prison terms.
Other temptations to join a gang also existed: money, drugs, power and respect. The police very seldom patrolled Robert Taylor Homes; it was too dangerous even for them. Paco and Malik started as Peewee’s, when they were thirteen years old, the youngest age to be a gang member. At sixteen years of age, they could become a regular member of the gang. In order to be a Peewee you had to commit a crime and get away with it, that was the initiation. It was June, 1996 the air was hot and humid even the breeze blowing off Lake Michigan was hot. Blobs of light came from the entrances to the buildings and every other streetlight was out, casting dark shadows over the high rises on State Street. Cars and buses sped down the busy street making the sound of a rushing wind. From one of the buildings a boom box was playing a loud and vulgar rap song. Paco and Malik dressed in black skullcaps and black light weight hoodies wondered how they were going to complete their initiation. As they walked south on State Street approaching 54th Street an old black man was staggering down the street holding a bottle of Ripple, a cheap wine.
“Hey, look at that old drunk mutherfucka,” Paco said smiling and pointing to the old man.
“He looks good,” Malik said.
”My man, Paco said as they approached the man.
“Hey, little brother,” the old man said, slurring his words, “What’s up?”
Paco put his hand in his pocket and said, “Give me all your money, you drunk mutherfucka,” Paco said threatenly.
“Fuck you, you little motherfucka, I ain’t giving you shit,” the old man responded, slurring his words and slapping Paco.
Paco hit the man upside his head with a short iron pipe he had in his pocket knocking him to the ground. Malik went into the old man’s pockets and got the five dollars he had in his wallet.
“Let’s go, Malik yelled at Paco, who had started kicking the old man whose mouth was bleeding from the blows with the pipe and seemed dazed, he tried to cover up as Paco continued kicking him.
“I’m going to kill this mutherfucka, he hit me," Paco said still kicking the man who had passed out.
“Come on man, let’s split,” Malik pleaded.
Paco straddled the unconscious man and began hitting him in the face with the pipe. Malik grabbed Paco and pulled him off the old man who was lying very still with blood coming from his mouth and nose and a big bruise forming on his forehead. Malik decided immediately that something was wrong with Paco.
Shortly after the robbery Timbo, the Junior State Street Boys recruiter and leader of the Peewees, took Paco, Malik and ten other young boys to an abandoned CHA warehouse for the formal swearing-in ceremony as Peewees. Timbo was twenty-one years old had a pattern of reddish brown freckles on his light brown skin and was the recruiter for the gang. When they got to the warehouse there were over one hundred young and brawny boys standing around with typical teenage cockiness already there, and they had formed a circle. Timbo directed the new inductees into the center of the circle and told them to repeat after him.
“I am a Peewee, the State Street Boy’s are my family, I dedicate my life, my soul and my blood to my brothers and I will never hurt a brother without orders from above. I will never betray or inform and I will always honor the code of secrecy and silence and I will obey without question any orders from above, if I violate this oath I will give up my life and my families’ lives, I swear.”
Timbo ended the swearing in by giving the gang sign. The State Street Boys gang sign was the meeting of the tip of the thumb and index finger of both hands forming a circle and touching each other, the three other fingers of both hands was also joined together signifying unity. The gang sign was very important; it was a means of identification and recognition. The gang was so large not all the members knew each other and the gang sign recognized you as a brother. It was an insult for a non-gang member to flash the sign and could result in death. The young men in the center of the circle repeated the oath. After the oath, Timbo pulled out a small knife and slashed the index finger on the right hand of each inductee, which they pressed to each other. He then gave them a paper binder that in bold letters on its cover read, “RULES AND REGULATIONS,” beneath a six-pointed Star of Johnny, one of the gang symbols.
In unison all the young men that formed the circle began to chant, “Peewee, Peewee.”
Timbo slashed his right index finger with his knife, went to each boy, and pressed his finger to his
After pressing their fingers together, each of the new Peewees punched the other inductee hard on his right shoulder.
“We are all blood brothers now, our blood is as one, and this is the last time any brother will hurt another brother. You have more than you ever had, you have a family that love you and will protect you, and together we can have riches. Alone, we have nothing. You will live by the six-pointed star. The six points are God, Love, Life, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding. You are all now blessed,” Timbo said.
Again, the crowd shouted, "Peewee, Peewee.”
They all gave the gang sign and left the warehouse.
“Let’s go something to eat, and I’ll give you a history lesson on “The Boys,” Db suggested.
“Let’s go,” both boys replied.
After ordering their food at McDonald’s, DB said,” We started out, as a “Social Organization” or club where they banded together for companionship or protection The leader of the group was seventeen years old Johnny Roberts, known as “Razorman,” a nick name he got after being kicked out of DuSable High School for cutting a teacher with a single-edged razor blade. Roberts bullied the people living in the Homes and after the incident in the school; he got the reputation as being a crazy nigger, a crazy nigger got respect on the streets, a crazy nigger was someone who had an explosive temper, took flak from no one-man, woman or child. He would shoot, cut, bite or do whatever he could to somebody who disrespected him. Some of the people in the homes admired Johnny; some hated him, but most feared him.
Johnny was good at everything, he was the best crapshooter, best dancer, best player in any sport, and most importantly, he could fight. Because he dressed well, all the young girls liked him and he soon established a reputation as an established lover, a silver-tongued player who conquered the young girls for sport. He wore nice knit shirts, well-pressed jeans and Julius Ervin gym shoes. He was bigger than the other young boys were who ranged in age from twelve to fifteen and they idolized him. He had a medium build, dark skin, and a hot temper. One evening the Arab owner dissed him by refused to sell him a bottle of 40-ounce beer. When the owner closed the store and walked to his car with his three sons Roberts and ten of his boys waited in the parking lot. When they approached the car Roberts slashed the owner with a single-edged razor blade across the face and the group of boys beat him and his sons severely. A week later, the owner closed the store and left the neighborhood.
In the late 1960s, Roberts formed the Five One Boys. At first, the Five One Boys considered themselves a civic, social and sport’s organization concerned with protecting the community, especially from the white police officers that they believed were terrorizing the black community. They walked the younger kids to school, helped the elderly with groceries and provided mentors for the many young men who had no father figure or male role model in the home. During the summer they played softball games against other project teams and held “quarter parties.” At the “quarter parties,” admission was a quarter and the young people danced and socialized.
Occasionally there would be fights between the gangs but the fights usually resulted in a few black eyes and bloody noses, but nothing too serious. Their turf was from South 47th Street to South 51st Street, Federal Street to Michigan Avenue. Their major rival was the 43rd Street Boys whose turf was from 4300 South to 4700 South, Federal Street to Michigan Avenue and Larry Williams was their leader. As the years passed however, so did the State Street Boys interest in protecting the community that they now exploited.
The gangs were constantly at war over “turf,” or gang controlled areas. The gangs would kill or beat rival gang members who wandered into their “turf” and that led to reprisal killings and beatings.
Drive-by shootings, fights and deadly ambushes were common.
In the early 1970’s, Roberts and Williams decided to stop the war, and unite the two gangs. The called the new gang the State