GANG ACTIVITY SPURS ALERTS

An Uptick In Gang Activity This Year -- And High-Profile Violence
Attributed To Gangs -- Has Put Investigators And Schools On Alert In Miami-Dade

When a reputed gang member peppered cops with bullets from an assault
rifle last week, he illustrated what authorities say is a troubling
spike in gang activity.

Investigators say it's a new wave of gangs -- some loosely knit
groups formed around drugs in North Miami-Dade, others national gangs
drawing recruits from the suburbs. Consider:

o Members of a gang called Behind the Plaza shot and wounded two
Miami- Dade officers on two separate occasions, police say. Also last
week in Miami Gardens, somebody shot and killed Dwayne Smith,
believed to be one of the gang's leaders.

o Two warring Haitian-American gangs, 68th Street and Zombie Boys,
were linked to a string of homicides this summer. An 18-month-old
toddler is counted as a casualty.

o The Bloods, a Los Angeles-born gang uncommon here, quietly has been
recruiting in suburban Miami-Dade.

Investigators say they recently documented a member getting beaten up
as an initiation -- inside the bathroom of a South Miami-Dade middle school.

o Police in September broke up a party in North Miami-Dade. It was
thrown by a man claiming to be a Crip, another West Coast-based gang.

Miami-Dade gang detectives say they averted bloodshed. The party had
been targeted for a drive-by shooting by a rival gang.

"Overall, the gang activity is evolving and is becoming more
volatile," said Miami-Dade Lt. Israel "Izzy" McKee, who heads the
department's gang unit.

"It's not to the magnitude of a Los Angeles or Chicago yet, but if we
don't stay vigilant, if we don't do our job -- and we're doing our
job now -- we would be at that level."

As the population swells and national gangs are imported, McKee and
fellow gang investigators say their aim is proactive: monitor gangs
and disrupt them before there is more bloodshed.

Strike Force Created

That was the idea in 1997 when the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Gang
Strike Force was formed with prosecutors and detectives from various
police agencies. That year, the number of active street gangs was 60,
up from 36 in 1985.

Using racketeering laws, they dismantled gangs such as the South
Beach Posse, I.N.P and Latin Kings. Criminal activity associated with
gangs, while not disappearing, did slow by turn of the millennium,
said Frank Ledee, a Miami-Dade prosecutor who now heads the strike force.

But now, Ledee's office estimates there are nearly 100 gangs, not
including less structured groups formed around the drug trade in
North Miami-Dade.

Investigators say various reasons exist for this spurt in gang
activity: economics, population growth, media influences, growth of
Internet recruiting.

Hiding Out

One factor unique to Miami-Dade is its demographics. Gang
investigators say national Latin gangs believe they can hide here in
the heavily Hispanic county without attracting attention.

Just last week, a member of the Los Angeles-born gang MS-13 plead
guilty to a Miami home invasion robbery; he'll be returned to Los
Angeles to face a murder charge.

Also, gangsters locked up in the late 1990s have returned from jail
to the streets. Take Edgar "Nano" Gonzalez, 29, a documented member
of the gang T.N.S.

He was convicted in 1999 on charges including robbery and battery on
an elderly person. Since his release in 2002, he has been arrested
seven times on various drug and robbery charges.

Detectives on a gang sweep say they recently encountered him --
hanging out with teenagers.

Because gangs here don't fit neatly into one category, police say,
tracking them isn't easy.

In northern Miami-Dade, loosely knit Haitian drug gangs closely
resemble the violent John Doe gang from the 1990s, police say.
Considered more violent, their motivations lie in greed and drugs,
not gang ideology.

"Their loyalty aspect is more fear driven than values driven," Ledee said.

On the flip side, authorities say nationally known gangs such as the
Latin Kings, Folk Nation and the Bloods have ramped up recruiting,
generally in the county's southern half.

Their recruits are often middle class, easily susceptible to the dark
glamour of gangs, and end up dealing in small-time drugs, robberies
and auto theft. Some are wannabees.

Others, like a group of teenagers arrested last year, are not so benign.

Claiming to be members of the Latin Kings, they savagely attacked
members of a rival gang with baseball bats, police said. Not in the
inner city, the attack happened in the well-heeled West Kendall
neighborhood called the Hammocks.

They've since been convicted.

Sometimes, the violences escalates further.

Victor "Magic" Lopez, police say, is a member of Chicago-based
Imperial Gangsters. The letters I.G. are tattooed on his neck.

His family also lives near a Miami Beach golf course. His father is a doctor.

Miami homicide detectives say Lopez and another man opened fire from
their car on another carload of men after a night at a downtown Miami
nightclub. They left one man dead.

Lopez faces a murder charge. His attorney didn't return a phone call
from a reporter.

Vexing Crime

The rise in nationally known streets gangs particularly vexes Miami-
Dade Schools police. It doesn't have a dedicated gang unit.

During the past three months, detectives have begun training school
administrators to spot gang colors, gang signs and graffiti.

"There has definitely been an increase of gang activity in our
schools. We have attempted to educate the administrators on what to
look for," said Miami-Dade Sgt. Willie Tagle, a veteran gang investigator.

Tagle and Detective J.T. Messenger recently solved a disturbing case.

On Nov. 7, police say gangs Crazy Young Thugs and 420 agreed to a
fist fight. Instead, detectives say, Jose Cuevas, 23, shot one
teenager in the chest. He lived.

The shooting happened at night -- on the basketball court at Citrus
Grove Elementary School in Little Havana.

Cuevas was jailed for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Curbing the gang problem, authorities say, starts with the parents,
schools and increased funding for programs that help intervene with
troubled youths.

Police point to successful organizations such as Project MPACT, a
four-year-old gang intervention program that works with eight schools
in North Miami-Dade.

The county-funded program offers mentoring and therapy and, for some
students, it trains and lands them construction jobs.

Renee Parker, the coordinator for Project MPACT, says the program has
met with success in its short history. Officials may expand it to the
Homestead area.

"We need to take the blinders off. We need to stop pretending the
problem doesn't exist," she said.