When gangs are involved, the common denominator is crime

Courtrooms from Charlotte to Chester this past week were filled with bad news of homicide, mayhem, spilled blood and sickened victims’ families. The suspects are individuals, yes, but many of them are part of a group.

They belong to gangs.

Gangs whose members tithe in much the same way as a person would tithe a church. Except gangs send no groups on mission trips. Gangs send squads to steal and maim.

The latest spate of violence started in Chester, where Roundtree Circle gang members are accused of the November shooting death of City Councilman Odell Williams. In bond hearings for the accused – all of whom live with mothers or grandmothers and have no jobs – their lawyers made them out to be such fine young men that one might think they should be applauded.

Except, according to police, all had so many guns the night Williams was killed that they needed a truck to carry all the bullets. All had dropped out of school.

One of them, an eighth-grade dropout with convictions dating to middle school, is now 26 and lives with his mother. He faces charges in connection with shootings dating back years, as well as for an alleged role in killing Williams. Investigators say he once proudly rolled around Chester like a peacock, showing off his gang colors.

The incident that led to Williams’ death was sparked by a gang shooting two weeks earlier, prosecutors said, and was ratcheted up when gang members showed up armed to the teeth to rob a rival gang at gunpoint.

In court on Tuesday, Williams’ daughter, Coretta Williams, was not applauding. What she said counted for more than any judge or prosecutor could say. She stood tall and proud and told the world the difference between a life of work and a life of crime.

Williams, a retired police officer, “protected the streets,” his daughter said in court. He volunteered with Boy Scouts and youth football, helping hundreds of kids.

“My dad gave so much to this community,” Coretta Williams said. “He gave his sweat, dedication, his hard work.”

Gang members, she said, are not constructive citizens. They take. They hurt. They sometimes kill.

For Odell Williams to die at the hands of gang members who will not work, she said, who offer nothing to Chester or anywhere else except bullets and violence, is a “ridiculous shame.”

Members of several community groups continue to show that gangs do not represent the majority in Chester County.

Just Saturday, the Joshua Lodge of Chester, a civic group made up of many black men, most of whom are military veterans, held a “balloon release for love” in defiance of violence and gangs. They wanted the world to know that most of Chester’s people work hard and love their neighbors.

The balloons were set free in front of Chester City Hall, where Williams was a councilman for 17 years and a police officer for 25 years before that. The symbolic gesture attracted about 40 people to watch, and clap, and hug.

The display of love was a lot more than hot air. It was a show of togetherness.

“What happened to Councilman Williams, we can’t allow that to be Chester,” said Joshua Lodge leader Michael Halsey. “We have to show young men there is a better way, a better life. That a life of hard work pays off.”

Young men need to know that they are loved, but that gang activity, crime and violence will not be tolerated, said lodge member Robert McCrorey.

“We love all people,” he said, “but all must be responsible men.”

Williams’ killing tore Chester apart, lodge president Willie Bell said, but there are many people – black and white – who with law enforcement can change the culture of gangs.

There are at least six gangs in Chester County, with as many as 300 members. They have not gone away since Williams was killed.

This past week, prosecutors held more bond hearings for other gang members, whom Chester deputies – led by a big burly detective named Chris Reynolds – have charged with burglaries. This was another Chester gang, one called the “10-4,” not the Roundtree Circle gang alleged to have killed Williams.

Again and again in court, prosecutor Julie Hall would say the words, “documented gang members.”

Six guns were stolen during the burglaries. One victim told police the burglars took a jar of change. Alleged gang members have nicknames like “Murder Black” and “Hot Boy.”

Despite death threats that investigators say gangs have lodged against cops and their families, police remain undaunted. Officers continue to march defendants into courtrooms.

York County is where – before getting busted in 2013 – the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and other biker gangs sold enough guns and drugs to cover a roomful of tables at the federal prosecutors office. More than a dozen of them marched off to prison with sneers on their faces, even after their lawyers described them as decent fellas who have their own idea of family.

York County is where, before Christmas, a Rock Hill gang leader in his teens was sentenced to 40 years in prison after killing a drug dealer during a ripoff.

Coretta Williams – whose father was shot in the head with an assault rifle by an alleged gang member – spoke for those who are not in gangs this week.

In a courtroom that was silent except for her powerful words, she called gang members “mean and hateful.” She used one other word to describe the level of gang activity in Chester – where six gangs with as many as 300 members fight for turf in a city of just 5,500 people.

“Ridiculous.”

This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 4:38 PM with the headline "When gangs are involved, the common denominator is crime."