[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

There’s coverage in Chicago, but the wire services and TV have tired of picking up the reports.

As a Chicago area native, it’s commonly known that the well-armed drug-financed gangs control the south and west sides of the city. The fatalities and injuries are gang wars or innocent bystanders. The gangs have well-defined borders and “defend” them aggressively. They sustain their ranks with aggressive “recruiting” of new members. Young men have a choice when drafted into the gangs — accept or be beaten or killed. The situation on the south and west sides of the city is very much like what the situation was/is in Mexico.

There isn’t any way that the City can afford the number of police which would be necessary to quash the gangs. The solution would have to be the same as what was done in Mexico. They deployed virtually their entire armed forces, marines and army, throughout the country to go to war with the drug lords.

Whose decision is it to deploy such forces? Certainly not the mayor of Chicago. The mayor can request federal involvement, but as we know that would require a federal Executive Branch decision, unlikely because of the disdain between the political parties.

What’s the solution? It may be more reportage of the weekly statistics, but certainly it’ll take a lot more than that. This is a situation that local politics simply can’t afford to fix. Until the street gangs start invading, looting and killing “other” parts of the City, not much will be done.

Very interesting thanks for sharing. Would think that the natural progression of the street gangs is to expand and at some point citizens will be outraged enough to want to take control back.