GANGLAND: Salt Lake City

[MrAnderson]

Originally Posted by Lamborgotti

Haha, that's funny. Well, if the gangs in the Salt Lake valley are as sophisticated as you say they are and blend in as well as you say they do, then I'm not upset by this "problem" at all. I have yet to experience a problem or situation caused directly by a gang. I don't care if that makes me a "denier," if gangs are there but they're not doing anything, then that's really no different than them not being there at all. In my opinion statistics (which these numbers obviously are not, as they're pretty much pulled out of nowhere or are more like pseudo-estimates) are irrelevant if they don't accurately describe the problems that many common people are experiencing. Sure, maybe there are a lot of polynesian gangs in west valley (which really wouldn't surprise me at all, even if they are religious) and some hispanic gangs in south salt lake. Just because there are some mild problems in some places (with or without accurate numbers) doesn't mean the SL valley is any less safe than you would've guessed. I bet most of the "gang-related" crimes in SLV would happen regardless of whether they were "gang-related" or not, they're not gang-dependent.

They try to blend in so they don't get caught for the crimes they commit. Also, many of the crimes are directly related to gangs, including many of the shootings you hear about in the Rose Park, Glendale, and West Valley area.

[chantzypantzy]

there are few gangs in utah there a little kids that start a gang that last for like 2 days but nne u need o worryabout just try to steere clear of rose park and westvalley
if u want to read this hihglight it first!!!!!!!!

[Ghungroo]

Originally Posted by illinoisboy

Today they estimate that there are over 100,000 Crips in the Salt Lake Valley alone.

I just watched this episode today (Gangland Season 3, Episode "From Heaven to Hell") and wanted to correct some inaccuracies on this thread. The show said that close to 300 gangs call the valley home, among them an estimated 1000 crips divided into numerous sets. A Metro Gang Unit detective said there are "an average of at least probably two gang-related drive-by shootings or attempted homicides a week."

In addition to that, here's some fascinating things I learned from the episode that I thought others would be interested in:

The LDS church converted large numbers of people in Tonga and Samoa. Los Angeles, California started seeing a surge of these Polynesian immigrants in the 70s and 80s, the same period of time that gang life was taking hold there. When many of their youth started being involved in gangs, the Polynesian families moved to or sent their kids to Salt Lake City in an attempt to be closer to their religion's "capital" and to help their kids escape the violence back home. As expected, the violence simply followed, aided by federal vocational programs for disadvantaged youth that brought in kids to Salt Lake from all over the country, many from various gangs. In the episode, a gang member recounts how his friends were fascinated by his stories from back in LA and how amazed he was by the easy target Salt Lake was (no fences around the schools, no bars on restaurant robbery targets).

A retired gang unit officer said that the first evidence of gangs in Salt Lake was noticed around 1987 with Crip-related graffiti, and the Metro Gang Unit was founded in 1989. A Salt Lake Gang Prevention Specialist said that at the time, the administration said the gang problem should be kept quiet so people did not worry. Another gang unit worker said that outside police agencies didn't initially take the problems in Utah seriously, and Utahns were in denial because they felt "they were raised differently."

Things came to a head in 1992 when a gang shot at another rival gang at the Pioneer Day Parade downtown and in 1993 when an innocent man was pulled from his stopped car, beaten, and shot by gang members.

The most fascinating thing about the episode was the strange dichotomy of gangbanging-by-Saturday/churchgoing-by-Sunday Polynesians and especially all the comments throughout the episode by Miles Kinikini "Mr. C," the individual who shot the gun in the infamous 1992 parade shooting. In the episode, officers recounted tales of gang members found carrying a pocket version of the Book of Mormon in one pocket and a gun in the other, and Mr. C said church was often a place to go to meet fellow homies.

The most jaw-dropping part of the episode was listening to Mr. C recount how after serving time for the 1992 shooting, he wanted to serve an LDS mission but was denied by his Stake President. He then went above the Stake President's head and claims he got permission from a General Authority to serve, and was sent to Northern California (of all places!!). After his mission he married and settled in his old neighborhood, but old habits resurfaced when his aunt's house was shot up. He then went and broke into the offending gang member's house, threw gasoline inside, fired a gun and exploded the structure completely in flames. As he drove away he says he thought he heard a baby and prayed to God that there was not a baby inside as he wasn't *that* kind of gangbanger. (!!!)

Also of interest was the admissions by former/current gang members that Salt Lake doesn't have the kind of strict territoriality like California does where you cannot cross an exact street line or neighborhood and risk getting shot. The lines are malleable here and rival gangs may live in the same area. Police also said that the gangs here are less interested in money and more interested in making a "name for themselves."

Anywho, this whole episode was so fascinating, I highly recommend it. You can watch it on itunes or get it from Netflix. Crazy stuff.

[dcisive]

I already stated the information you have mentioned here way back earlier in the thread. I was aware of this via some insiders with the church who told me all about it in the late 80's. I lived here in 1978 until early 1981. Back then there was virtually NO graffiti anywhere in the city to be found....I mean ANYWHERE. I visited many areas of the city which I would no longer care to go. Before the towns on the west side incorporated, Taylorsville, Kearns, and others were fairly sleepy communities where there was next to no crime of any kind.

At the risk of sounding prejudiced, quite frankly there were for the most part NO significant numbers of any minorities in the city at that time. I'm not even sure the entire time I resided in Salt Lake City back then I even saw a hispanic person, let alone a black person. I most certainly never saw or met a Tongan or Islander that's for sure. I lived in E. Millcreek and commuted to Downtown for some time. I also worked out in the Cottonwood Hts. area as well as what was then Granger. No minorities and as I say, for the most part there was essentially no real crime. The 3 years I was out here then I don't recall any robberies or burglaries other than a few banks got robbed. There was 2 murders the entire time, one of which was quite bad (remember the Hi Fi murders in Ogden?).

The element that came in (was invited in) via the church was IMHO the largest and most significant product of the undoing of the greater Salt Lake area. Unfortunately you can't hit the "rewind" button on this one. It's an infection that is here to stay.

[Ghungroo]

^dcisive, you are correct that you mentioned some similar information, but I was posting about exactly what was stated in the Gangland episode.

I found it interesting that the episode pointed out that it wasn't only the Polynesian LA-imports that contributed to the problem but also the federally funded programs for youth that brought in various gang-affiliated kids. I would also add the recent welcoming of refugees accompanied by little long-term support and funding to help them as a contributor.

Anyway, I agree with some upthread that gangs are a problem here and it is serious but I'm not overly concerned about it. It's important to understand the problem and how to recognize it and the bad areas of town, but no need to be panicked- these sort of things happen everywhere.