Chilling new details have emerged about Latino residents living in terror, threatened by gangs with death or harm to their families if they don’t pay up, mob style — and keep quiet about the insidious tentacles of drugs and gang activity they say is gripping the North Fork community under the cloak of night, according to a resident who spoke to Guardian Angels and SoutholdLOCAL this week.
Guardian Angels were on patrol in Greenport again on Saturday, and Benjamin Garcia spoke to a resident, who, in fear for his own safety asked that his name not be published, but agreed to give a firsthand account of what he’s been told by members of the Latino community.
The man, who has lived in Greenport for years, said MS-13 members train new recruits in the cemetery. He also spoke of Latino business owners who have spoken to him about living in fear, terrified to report the presence of gangs to authorities, under threat of deadly retribution.
“Nobody wants to talk,” he said. “Gang members are demanding that store owners give them money.” In the mafia-style shakedowns, he said, “If they don’t pay, they’re threatened. They’re told that the gangs will kill their family in Guatemala.”
One eatery on the North Fork, the man said, began receiving threats from MS-13 gang members in December. Another on Route 48 reportedly had MS-13 gang members pay a visit and take whatever they wanted without paying. All were afraid to contact authorities, for fear of the repercussions.
“The code of omerta, or silence, is ingrained in the immigrant community because retribution is done only to those people who are of your ethnic group,” Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa told SoutholdLOCAL this week. “MS-13 rarely retaliates against people outside their immediate web of control through fear. To be Salvadorian or Central American means that you can be targeted by MS-13 at any moment. It is emasculating, to say the least.”
Of the mob-style shakedowns for money from business owners, Sliwa said, “There is no doubt that extortion is tactic number one used by MS-13 against Central American and Mexican business owners. It occurs in Suffolk County, but the strong arm of MS-13 can reach into any El Salvadorian or Guatemalan village and apply the pressure of threats and intimidation in their country of origin.”
The man also directed the Guardian Angels patrol to Carpenter Street in Greenport, where he said drug activity is brisk. “It’s getting worse. It’s like a cancer,” he said. “There’s a lot of drug traffic here.” Pointing to the windows, one draped with a sheet, he said, “A lot of gangs get together in these apartments.”
Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said he would speak to officers working the Greenport sector about the Guardian Angels’ reports of drug activity on Carpenter Street. “Carpenter Street has been the site of drug activity in the past; several of the houses on this street are broken up into apartments and have transient residents that rent these and turn them over frequently,” he said.
Signs of gang presence on a street, Garcia said, include broken windows and a sea of cars, many with out-of state license plates. Drug dealers, he said, come from out of state to stock up.
Garcia said word on the street is that a firearm used in the October gang shooting on South Harbor Road in Southold could be possibly be located in the possession of a gang member living on the allegedly drug-ridden area.
With an eye toward attacking the crime where it originates, Sliwa said plans are forming to kick off Guardian Angels chapters in Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Greenport resident said many hardworking families, “good people” also live on the street amongst gang members, but “find themselves weak” in the face of threats. “Everyone is protecting the gangs. They’re not talking. They’re afraid something could happen to their families back in their homeland or here. They keep quiet and say they don’t know anything.”
Garcia, who spoke at St. Agnes in November to recruit new Guardian Angels for a local patrol, said the Guardian Angels could possibly plan a Walk for Peace in Greenport to rally support and shine light onto the issues plaguing families. “This your community,” he said. “Your loved ones, your kids. Let’s work together to clean it up.”
Sliwa embraced the idea of a Walk for Peace. The march, he said, “will unite the immigrant community with the larger community so that everyone is joined in the battle to weaken MS-13’s influence.”
The resident also told Garcia that he recognized the man charged recently in the rape of a 13 year old and said he believes he associates with “bad people.” Flatley could not confirm whether or not there was any evidence to support that claim.
While it was unclear if that crime was associated with MS-13 gang activity, Sliwa told SoutholdLOCAL that gangs often require high stakes of new recruits.
“There is a violent initiation that MS-13 gang members must go through. It usually starts with having to take a beat down given to the person by other MS-13 members but it then must escalate to an MS-13 member committing a violent crime. It could be a car jacking, shooting, stabbing, rape or even a murder. That is true in El Salvador, it is true in Southern California, it is true in Fairfax county Virginia and it is true in Suffolk County.”
Since commencing patrols in the fall, Garcia said changes are significant and tides are turning. Businesses that have seen Guardian Angels presence say they no longer have gang members hanging around, intimidating employees or issuing threats.
“The businesses that were given Guardian Angels coverage have become the security blanket for the owners and employees,” Sliwa said. “They know that if they have a problem they can call the Guardian Angels, who will speak their language, understand their culture and more importantly, understand the threat that they face from MS-13 both here and family members back in Central America. One of the ways we hope to remedy that in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is to be able to organize Guardian Angels groups in those country’s communities that can network with the Guardian Angels in Suffolk County and cut the tentacles of extortion that exist in both regions.”
Recently, Sliwa shed an insider’s light on gang activity on the North Fork and explained what residents should be on alert for. He spoke to residents in Greenport in November before organizing patrols.
A junior Guardian Angels program, if instituted in area schools, could be modeled after a successful group in New York City aimed at deterring crime from the youngest age, he said.
One issue the new Guardian Angel chapter in Greenport faces, Garcia said, is the fact that some are “afraid to join. They think if they join, MS-13 will make one phone call to Guatemala and hurt their families, either in their homeland or here.”
Addressing the issue of fear among some who might be hesitant to join the Guardian Angels over looming threats, Sliwa said, “Wherever a Guardian Angels chapter may set up, whether in a large urban area or even a rural or suburban area, there is always the problem that when a recruit initially gets involved that they end up becoming a target by the criminal element and get subjected to verbal abuse, taunts, threats and sometimes, direct confrontations.”
And yet, Sliwa said those instances actually happen a lot less often than one would anticipate. “The members, at some point will be seen patrolling in the red berets and the red Guardian Angel jackets. When patrolling an immigrant community where your own membership is drawn from that same community because it is very insular and parochial there is a lot more interaction on a day to day basis between the Guardian Angels who are defenders and, in this case MS-13 and 18th Street, who are offenders.”
As a result, Sliwa said “there is far more intimidation that takes place, so it takes a much greater commitment by a volunteer when they are patrolling the communities that they live in, work in and socialize in. It is all the more reason why the Guardian Angels have proven to be effective against all odds. Our critics and naysayers have always said the immigrant community will not come out from behind the shadows. They won’t take the risk, they are afraid of retribution and revenge and they want to stay away from any government interaction.”
He added, “We have proven time and time again to overcome the odds. The jury is still out about the long-term commitments of our members in Greenport and Southold but I am assured by our past results in similar circumstances we will maintain a core group that is now able to help us establish in Riverhead.”
New members spoke to SoutholdLOCAL about why they joined the Guardian Angels in December.
“I have kids, a 14 year old and an 18-month old,” said Oscar Cruz of Greenport. “Every generation, they’re waiting for help from the outside, or waiting for cops to do the job. I want to make a difference. If we can do something about leaving our streets safe for our children, for the future, even if we catch one bad guy, it will make a difference.”
He added, “It’s better to start today to make a change, rather than waiting for the next generation.”
Oscar Sanchez said he has long been motivated to get involved after Eber Lopez, 15, of Greenport was shot by alleged gang members in 2009. The teen, who went missing after a christening, was found in Farmingville.
Sanchez he knew the boy, and since his death, always felt the need to do something to stem the tide of gang activity in his own community. “He was at a party with gang members. And then he was shot,” he said.
“I like helping the community,” added Minor Barcarsel of Greenport.
Gabriel Gonzales said he joined the effort “to clean up the community and get rid of the gangs. We want to protect all the children.”
The Guardian Angels continue to patrol, despite some officials who have resisted their efforts.
“I think that our department members and our partners in Suffolk County are in a better position to give a factual account of the gang activity in Southold Town than Guardian Angels members. And no, I will not be inviting the Guardian Angels to patrol Southold,” Flatley has said. Southold Town organized a gang forum of its own in response to the violent gun and machete attack in Southold.
Meanwhile, The Guardian Angels will soon have a presence in Riverhead, Supervisor Sean Walter has promised, embracing the group and welcoming them to patrol streets.
Walter has said he believes a working alliance with the Guardian Angels will help Riverhead in a crucial way: communication with parts of the Hispanic community he says he hasn’t been able to reach; he hopes the Guardian Angels will provide a “bridge” for better communication. Sliwa “brings to the table a way to get us access to information in a big way,” Walter said.
“The single biggest issue for me as supervisor, from my perspective, is protecting the Hispanic population. We can’t continue to have the Hispanic population being vulnerable to either thugs or gangs,” Walter said.
The supervisor worries that Latino men, who have been victims in a series of beatings and robberies in downtown Riverhead, will turn to gangs for protection.
“Because of the number of Guardian Angels who are bilingual, we could be a conduit for them with the immigrant community,” Sliwa agreed.
Sliwa said this week that as soon as the snow has cleared and weather improves, Guardian Angels will begin patrolling Riverhead.
