Pubdate: Mon, 21 Mar 2005
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498
Author:  Hillary Chabot

SERIOUS MONEY

Former gang member Juan Rivera, 25, began dealing drugs when he was just 
12. Rivera started because he wanted to help his single mother, who was 
raising four children while on disability.

"Instead of putting the burden on her, I wanted to do what I could do to 
help out," Rivera said.

It was easy for the 12-year-old to start selling drugs, because they were 
all around him, he said.

"There weren't too many after-school programs we could go to. We had a lot 
of time to hang out, and in the neighborhood I hung out in, there was a big 
drug problem and gang problem," Rivera said.

Rivera grew up on Plymouth Street in the Cleghorn neighborhood of 
Fitchburg, near trash-laden playgrounds with broken equipment.

"Time went by and we didn't see the city doing anything about (the drugs or 
crime). We had rundown parks with broken swings. My generation -- I call us 
the lost generation. They made up new laws to put us in jail, but they 
never gave us the tools to do anything else," Rivera said.

He moved to Fitchburg from Newark, N.J., in 1986, left briefly, and then 
returned for good in 1990.

Rivera didn't learn English until he moved to Massachusetts when he was 7 
years old. Rivera said he tried to make extra money in Fitchburg delivering 
newspapers and shoveling out driveways with friends when it snowed. "People 
just didn't really use us," Rivera said.

Rivera said he started selling drugs because it was a faster, easier way to 
make money.

Little lookouts "I was a little lookout and a little stasher," Rivera said. 
"They asked me, 'Do you need to make money?'"

Rivera said he and his friends delivered heroin or crack. "We'd be playing 
basketball, and they'd tell us to go pick something up. We'd just go grab 
it," Rivera said. "I'd make $25. That was a lot of candy." Rivera began 
dealing drugs full time in Fitchburg in 1991. Serious money "When I first 
started hustling, I was making $500 to $600 a week," Rivera said. "My mom 
found $600 in the basement. I tried to tell her I got it from shoveling, 
but she didn't believe me. I got in a lot of trouble." Although Rivera 
began selling drugs to bring in money and help his family, drugs tore 
Rivera's family apart.

Rivera said he joined a gang because it offered him a sense of family and 
belonging that he didn't get from anything, or anyone, else in his life. 
The gang virus "It was like a virus in my head -- like this is the only way 
for me. But it was just a bunch of excuses," Rivera says now about the time 
he spent in the gang. Rivera's eyes squinted and he looked out the window 
as he talked about his former gang.

He said he left because it offered a false sense of brotherhood. "A lot of 
the crime I did was within the gang to other gang members. People wouldn't 
pay their dues, and we would extort them, or they could get beat downs. 
People would realize, we're not a family, we're worse," Rivera said. Beat 
downs A beat down is what happens when gang members beat another gang 
member, usually for about two or three minutes, said Gregg Nadeau, a member 
of the state police's gang unit.

"To get into a gang or to get out of a gang, you have to subject yourself 
to a beating. Sometimes they can be as long as five minutes," Nadeau said. 
"If you commit a violation of gang policies, you might also get a beat 
down." Rivera said he stopped selling drugs after his family moved to 
Leominster when he was 13 years old.

Then his mother got hooked on cocaine, and she started selling things to 
pay for her fix.

"She sold everything. Anything that could get her that fix. When you start 
seeing those things, you grow up real fast. I don't know if you've ever 
felt what starvation is, but it's not good."

Rivera said his mother's addiction made him even angrier at the world 
around him. "I was destroyed. That's your only parent. Your only parent 
isn't protecting you," Rivera said. "I was in a frozen state, I couldn't 
believe it. You lose touch with reality. You start feeling like, 'Wow. Why 
is life treating me like this?'" "It is scary, but at the time you 
(expletive) the world mentally," Rivera said. Crews on every corner After a 
stint in New Jersey, Rivera came back to Fitchburg in 1995 and began to 
sell drugs again while forming a drug habit of his own. "When I came back, 
the drug thing was huge. There were just crews and crews and crews selling 
drugs on every corner. It was easy to get back involved," Rivera said. "I 
was seeing about $1,500 to $2,000 a week in crack sales. I was mixing coke 
and weed a lot. I was just hustling for my own habit." Rivera joined the 
gang in 1997.

"I filled out a lot of paperwork. It was just like a job. They ask you 
where your parents live, where your grandparents live. At the time, you 
feel like this is your crew and you give the information willingly, but 
after a while, you wish you never gave it out," Rivera said.

Nadeau said people joining gangs often are forced to fill out paperwork 
listing where their families live in case they owe money or double-cross 
the gang. "In some cases, if you leave a gang on bad terms, they want to 
know where your family members are for retribution," Nadeau said. "They ask 
for biographical information, family names, addresses, any crimes you have 
been convicted of, military history."

Nadeau said several gangs have handbooks in addition to application forms, 
which detail the rules and procedures of the gang.

"Some of the national gangs are highly organized. I've seen inch-thick 
documents about policies and procedures," Nadeau said. Rivera said he would 
travel to other parts of Massachusetts and collect "dues" from other gang 
members.

He kidnapped or beat up gang members if they failed to pay. A lot of 
hurting "I was very violent. I did a lot of hurting," Rivera said. The 
25-year-old said he realized his violence had gotten out of control when he 
got into a bloody fight with his girlfriend and knocked her out. "I was 
beating her with a clock, and we were fighting in the dark. I remember 
feeling the blood on my hands and getting scared. I turned on the light and 
she was just lying there on the bed. I thought I killed her. I started 
crying," Rivera said.

Rivera said he feels kids today face the same problems now that he did when 
he was growing up.

"I think the drug problem in Fitchburg can be as bad as we want to make 
it," Rivera said. "There are similar problems when I was growing up, like 
the drugs, the lack of programming, and the lack of places for kids to go 
after school." Building relationships Rivera said he feels the police do a 
good job of getting criminals off the street, but they fail when it comes 
to building relationships with minorities who want to help.

"The cops on the street turn it into a police state. People who aren't 
involved in (drug dealing) feel like they're under investigation," River 
said. "I think (police have) been effective in their aspect, but in terms 
of leadership, they haven't done a damn thing."

Adrian Ford, executive director of Three Pyramids Inc., a nonprofit group 
in Fitchburg that works to help minorities, said he believes many residents 
living in areas where drug dealing is prominent don't help police because 
they end up feeling harassed.

"I knew a woman who was sitting on her porch and the police came up to her, 
shined their flashlight on her and asked her what she was doing," Ford 
said. "Most people feel like they want drugs out of their life and their 
community, but they don't want a police state where everyone is suspect." 
Rivera said the gang culture "exploded" during the 1990s in Fitchburg. "I 
think you had disenfranchised youth who felt like they couldn't voice 
themselves in a positive way," Rivera said.

Who's who? Nadeau said there are currently 15 gangs operating in North 
Central Worcester County. Five are chapters of national gangs.

"There are about 200 gang members living in the area," Nadeau said. Three 
of the gangs are classified as inactive, Nadeau said. Nadeau refused to 
name the gangs because he said the gangs get notoriety when they are 
mentioned in the newspaper.

"We don't want to glorify any of the gangs. If they see their name in the 
paper, it gives them credibility, it lends credence to what they do," 
Nadeau said. "It legitimizes their activity, and it aids in their 
recruitment process." Ford said the Latin Kings, the Queens, NETA, the 
Bloods, the Crips and Folk Nation are the national gangs operating in the 
area. The local gangs include Family Pride, the Asian Knights, the Green 
Street Thugz, the Latin Mamas, and Mulatto Mafia, Ford said. Rivera also 
listed the Green Street Thugz and the X-Men as local gangs in the Fitchburg 
and Leominster area.

Fitchburg Police Chief Edward Cronin said there are members of the Latin 
Kings, Latin Associates and the Asian Knights in Fitchburg. "How active are 
they in Fitchburg? Not very active," Cronin said. "Here it's more subtle. 
Kids identify with the national image. Are they organized like they are in 
East L.A.? No way."

However, a known gang member is charged with shooting a Leominster resident 
in a crowded Fitchburg State College off-campus party in 2003. John Y. Yang 
is still awaiting trial after he was arrested and charged with murder in 
connection with the 2003 shooting death of Jacky Phandanouvong. Fitchburg 
police identified Yang as a member of an Asian gang in earlier police 
documents.

Gangs and drugs Nadeau said there is a big connection between gangs and 
drugs. "They're interwoven very strongly. Some gang members have to pay 
dues to the gangs to remain a member. A lot of members pay these dues by 
selling drugs," Nadeau said.

Gang members also bring violence, Cronin said. "Gangs don't operate just in 
drugs, and they are very quick to use violence to enforce their ways," 
Cronin said.

Because gang activity deals with selling drugs, many members get into turf 
wars about who can sell where, Nadeau said.

Those lead to drive-by shootings, gang fights and beat downs. "The drive-by 
shootings at Green Acres (a Fitchburg public housing complex) are an 
example," Nadeau said. "They're instances where people have tattoos burned 
off when they leave the gang."

Leominster Police Detective Joseph Siciliano said there are roughly 20 
big-time drug dealers in the North Central Worcester County area. But he 
noted there are countless smaller dealers who drift in and out of the 
region. "A majority of the dealers, like 60 to 70 percent, are lower-level 
dealers. They probably make $100 to $200 a week, and they are selling to 
support their own habit. About 5 percent are the real big dealers. Those 
guys are making $20,000 a week easy," Siciliano said.

Nadeau said many of the dealers market themselves by creating a stamp on 
their heroin or cocaine.

"There are bags that have different stamps, and some people prefer one 
brand over another. Successful drug dealing is basic economics, you either 
lower your prices or you offer a superior product," Nadeau said. Nadeau 
showed an example of a stamp that had the silhouette of a woman sitting and 
leaning back on her hands.

A similar silhouette is found on the mud flaps of some 18-wheeler trucks. 
"Some dealers will hand out free samples to get a wider client base," 
Nadeau said. Heroin is one of the most popular drugs in the area, Nadeau 
said. "There are four primary market cities for heroin in the country: 
Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles," Nadeau said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth