Wearing their traditional bright red jackets and berets, a van filled with Guardian Angels headed to the North Fork Monday to assess the area after a recent brutal attack in Southold that was allegedly gang-based.
Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, offered, after the alleged gang attack, to help address what he considers a growing threat not only on the North Fork but nationwide.
His plan for tackling the gang issue on the North Fork is to take the program in two phases. First, Guardian Angels came to Greenport and Southold this week to assess the situation. Next, Sliwa will come out to make a presentation to the Southold and Greenport school districts, outlining a Guardian Angel anti-gang in-school program that can help educate both students and administrators on the inner workings of how deadly gangs are recruiting new members as young as first and second grade.
“We want to mentor the children and steer them away from the romanticized images of the MS-13 and the 18th Street gangs,” Sliwa said.
Ultimately, said Guardian Angel Benjamin Garcia, the goal is to help train local residents and empower them to take back the streets from potential gang members. Once established, local patrols could tour the community two to three times per week.
Garcia arrived in Greenport with fellow Guardian Angels Jose Gonzalez, John Gavares, Ricardo Agard, and Tito Colon. First, the group canvassed Greenport, making stops at the Third Steet basketball park — which, Garcia noted, had changed drastically from 2005 when it was littered with evidence of drugs and beer cans; the park, he said, showed a vast improvement after being renovated — and children’s playground, then walking along Front Street to Mitchell Park and the carousel, where they passed out flyers to a group of young boys who expressed interest in joining the Guardian Angels.
The Guardian Angels told the young men that if they joined, they’d learn martial arts for free. “We want you to be our eyes and ears,” they told them.
Next, the group headed to Southold, where they gathered in formation and walked down South Harbor Road, the scene of the recent incident where two victims were hurt after being attacked with guns and a machete. The Guardian Angels believe that by walking around a community, they serve as a visual deterrent, with gang members realizing there is a tangible presence in the community who knows how to read their hand signs, tattoos, and other signals.
“It’s important that they see us,” Garcia said.
Also, he added, the Guardian Angels set out to keep public areas such as playgrounds and carousels safe for children and hardworking families.
“No gangs have the right to take our communities, the parks where our children want to play,” Garcia said.
The Guardian Angels, who carry no weapons, have been trained to spot illicit activity and intervene, detaining suspects until law enforcement, with whom they work hand in hand, can arrive. Each time they wait for a light to change, the stand in a circle, assessing the situation from all sides, so they can’t be jumped or attacked from behind.
Eyes scanning, they peer into dark corners, investigate suspicious activity near public restrooms and stop to watch a crowd of young people congregating outside a convenience store — always aware, always assessing, checking for possible drug activity and other crimes.
“Anything is possible,” Garcia said.
Garcia, born in East Harlem, said he grew up in a gang-riddled community and “saw the money” but ultimately decided to fight for good and the honor of his family. It’s not always easy, he admitted, for young kids born into poverty to resist $100 or more for keeping watch or other gang activity. But despite the temptation of fast cash, booze and drugs, Garcia said every gang member he knows from his youth is either in jail or dead.
That’s why, he said, the Guardian Angels seek to provide alternatives in school programs. “Kids are gullible,” Garcia said, and easily swayed, with recruitment in the elementary schools beginning as young as six years old. Reaching children at the elementary school level is critical, Sliwa said, in stemming the ecalating tide of gang activity.
Sliwa first collaborated with former Greenport Village Mayor David Kapell in 2005, when he came to Greenport and organized a citizen-based group that helped patrol village streets. The Guardian Angels is a volunteer-based organization made up of citizen volunteers who help protect communities around the world.
“In 2005 the village had an acute drug problem. In response, a committed group of local volunteers formed the Greenport chapter of the Guardian Angels to provide the support of a neighborhood watch to the police. Their efforts, in combination with the work of the Southold police working with the District Attorney’s East End Drug Task Force, solved the problem. This type of collaboration between the police and the people they protect should be ongoing,” Kapell said Monday.
Last month’s brutal gun and machete attack, which took place in Southold on Route 25 and South Harbor Road, is believed to have stemmed from a dispute between some of the four alleged MS-13 defendants and the victims that occurred at the Third Street Park in Greenport — and it is believed that the victims are members of Mara-18 or 18th Street, a rival street gang.
The Guardian Angels finished their tour Monday with the promise to return soon and help with a possible citizens’ group forming.
