21650: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Experts: Haitian gangs going north (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Experts: Haitian gangs going north

By Beth P. Krane
Staff Writer
Posted May 1 2004

Tequesta · Gang experts from Miami had a clear message Friday for Palm Beach
County and Martin County police officers, educators and social workers:
Haitian-American gangs are moving north.

Two detectives with decades of gang experience between them said that
Miami-Dade officials ignored Haitian-American gangs for years, which allowed
the gangs to grow stronger. The detectives cautioned the crowd of almost 200
against making the same mistake.











"They were saying, `There's no such thing as Haitian gangs ... It's just
kids shooting at each other,'" North Miami Beach Detective Jodi Schuster
said at a conference at Sandy Pines Treatment Center.

Schuster said one reason Haitian-American gangs are migrating north is that
they tend to gravitate toward agricultural areas where their families work
and settle. Gang members also know they are being closely watched in
Miami-Dade and Broward counties following a series of pawn shop
"smash-and-grabs" that allowed them to stockpile hundreds of guns,
Miami-Dade Detective Walter Trammell said.

The gangs are particularly violent, Trammell said, because Haitians joined
notorious gangs when they first arrived in Miami.

"They've been taught by the best," he said.

Haitian gangs also fear police officers less because, in Haiti, police
officers belong to the gangs, assuming leadership roles and delivering
kickbacks to government officials, Trammell said.

Palm Beach County sheriff's Lt. Marcos Martinez, head of the department's
gang unit, said later in the day that there is little evidence of
Haitian-American gangs moving into the area. Of 173 gangs his unit has
documented in Palm Beach County, only one -- based in Lake Worth -- is
Haitian-American, he said.

Still, Martinez said, recent shootings in Boynton Beach may have been linked
to drug and gang rivalries between Haitian-Americans and African-Americans.
He said his division has provided the Boynton Beach Police Department with
intelligence on the groups.

In February, one man was killed and three others injured in a drive-by
shooting in the city's historically black neighborhood. In March, another
man was injured in a drive-by shooting in the same area. At the time,
residents said they suspected rivalries between African-Americans and
Haitian-Americans were to blame, but officials have said they do not think
gangs or racial tensions were responsible. The investigations are ongoing.

"While some of the suspected individuals may be related to a gang [west of
Lake Worth], there's no reason to suspect that it is a gang vs. gang issue,"
Boynton Beach Police Chief Marshal Gage said. Instead, he said, he suspects
personal rivalries fueled the violence.

The Miami gang experts said it is difficult for officers to track
Haitian-American gang members because they don't tend to wear colors or brag
about being in a gang as traditional gang members do. They also are more
mobile than some gangs.

The detectives said African-American gangs also are becoming increasingly
active and violent in South Florida.

"They're more aggressive because they have more to lose," Trammell said.
"They're motivated by the financial part of it."

Trammell said language and cultural barriers fuel the tensions between the
two groups.

Beth P. Krane can be reached at bpkrane@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6631.

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