Gangs, the secret sourge in Lake Worth

At the last ROLOH meeting I attended, I asked the specific question to the Sheriff’s Dept officers present, “Is it the gangs that are mostly involved in these home invasion burglaries?” I never really got an answer that was satisfactory. It was sort of “no, not really” but the answer was not definite. The Sheriff’s department does not want to discuss gangs that much and seems to cover up all the criminal activity by gangs happening right here in our own backyard; they probably don’t want to scare us to death. If we probably knew the truth, we would all be barricading our homes, triple locking, buying guns as well as pit bulls.

William N. Shepherd, statewide prosecutor who was appointed by Bill McCollum in 2007 and who was with the Attorney general’s office for over three years, sort of confirmed my theory when he said at Tuesday’s anti-crime symposium at the Hilton in Deerfield Beach that some police chiefs have denied the problem in the past. Mr. Shepherd leads 35 prosecutors in 8 bureaus throughout the State.

His office’s mission is to make gangs ineffectual. From their web site it says, “During the past year, the office served as legal advisor to the 18 Statewide Grand Jury on two separate reports. The first report investigated the problems of gangs and their violent activities. The office’s work with the grand jury contributed to the law being changed to better protect Florida citizens from the violence of gang activities. The statute now classifies gangs as a public nuisance that can be abated, reduces the criteria for being identified as a gang member, and authorizes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to compile and retain information on gangs. It also establishes an 11-member Coordinating Council on Criminal Gang Reduction Strategies within the Attorney General’s Office.”

With 1,000 gangs and 65,000 gang members here in Florida that are bringing an escalating rate of gun violence to their crimes, Shepherd’s office has successfully prosecuted 13 members of Sur 13 and 12 members in Top 6 here in South Florida, both of which are located here in Lake Worth.

Top 6 in Lake Worth started out as a music group. Members are predominately Haitian-American and African-American; affiliated with more than a dozen neighborhood street gangs, including the San Castle Soldiers, THB (True Haitian Boys), Non-Stop Zoes/B-Town Boys and 14th.

Sur 13 originated in Southern California. Color: Blue. Symbols/Identifiers: Sur refers to "southern," 13 refers to the 13th letter in the alphabet "M," which stands for Mexican Mafia; graffiti often says "SUR 13" members wear long blue canvas belts, the hand sign is done by throwing up three fingers, tattoos are three blue dots on the right hand and one blue dot on the left hand.Alliance: Aryan Brotherhood, Italian Mafia, MS 13.

The MS-13 gang is said to be highly organized and one of the most violent and dangerous gangs in the United States. This gang is international and considered an organized crime gang with factions in many states and countries including Florida and Guatemala. Review the entire report on Criminal Gangs and Gang related Violence HERE

I’m not too sure that it is your next door neighbor’s kid committing these crimes as the Sheriff would like to suggest. I would be concentrating on the escalating gang problem here and knocking them out of action. For a small city, Lake Worth property crimes are over twice the national average.

When you have an economic collapse, so much blight and give illegal aliens a welcome mat, it makes it that much more impossible for the rest of us to maintain a peaceful quality of life as it gives the criminals a breeding ground. The scourge continues to grow right here in Lake Worth.