October 20, 1956
By BILL MONTGOMERY Fifty organized gangs of teenagers – some of them numbering 50 to 75 members – roam the streets of El Paso nightly now. Their operations: beatings, stabbings, zip-gun shootings, thefts, burglaries, vandalism, auto thefts, drinking. Their field of operations: from the crossroads to Ysleta; from 13th Street to Mountain View. So
far this year the rat packs have shot one person with a zip-gun,
severely beaten several and stabbed at least eight who have had to go
to the hospital for treatment. How many have nursed their black
eyes, bruises, split heads, sliced ribs and chain-flayed backs at home
or under care of private doctors is not known. Juvenile gangsters
at the moment have reached the greatest numerical status in history
here. There is no distinction as to neighborhoods which spawn them, no
racial, religious or economic group which supplies more of their
recruits than others. BIGGEST SINCE 1951 Not since the
bloody days of 1950-51 when juveniles hospitalized someone every few
days for weeks at a time has El Paso permitted the young gangsters to
achieve such widespread organizations. Capt. John M. Fuller,
County probation officer, Friday confirmed that a list of 50 gangs
obtained by The Times were all in active operation at this time and
that all were under investigation by his office and City Police
juvenile officers. Concerted effort by probation officers,
police, sheriff’s deputies, church groups and above all, parents
crushed the vicious rat packs here in 1950. But now they’re back as Capt. Fuller emphatically confirmed. They
congregate at drive-in cafes, intimidating employes and customers,
picking fights and committing acts of vandalism. They pick out a likely
recruit and rough him up until he joins one gang or another in simple
self defense. They use knives, clubs, homemade blackjacks and
zip-guns. And a weapon which has rapidly gained ascendancy in recent
years, the bicycle chain. RUGGED WEAPON It has sharp edges
and leaves a welt or gash halfway round its victim. It tears and gouges
with its dirty, rusty edges and properly used leaves a dandy scar. Mainly
the tough kids (none of whose El Paso gangs are named Dead End Kids or
Gashouse Guys) fight other kids about the same age, but adults are fair
game for the thievery and retaliation. At drive-in cafes near the
military bases they gather by the carloads, make slighting remarks to
waitresses in hopes of stirring up a battle with soldiers to whom some
of the carhops are married. Usually they succeed in getting their battle. One
boy whose father lives in a distant city and whose mother lives here
was sent to live with his father after becoming a chronic juvenile
offender here. The father intercepted a letter to the youth from fellow
gangsters and sent it back to El Paso officers. Maybe most of that letter was youthful (and badly-spelled) boasting. Officers and citizens can hope it wasn’t all true. FULL SCHEDULE His
correspondent told the ex-gang member than the kids were doing OK,
having “got in fights with those spics every day last week” and that
the “midnight auto fund” was in good shape. The “midnight auto
fund,” the letter indicated, was made up of money obtained from sale of
stolen autos, auto parts and other property. The writer assured the
exile that a car recently had been sold for $2,500 and that he, the
writer, would soon forward “a grand” to his deported buddy. Keeping
the midnight auto fund supplied hurt the gang once, the letter said.
They were meting (presumably with their girls’ auxiliary) in a six-room
house “near the mountain” which they had rented and only 23 were on
hand, since the rest were out “replenishing the fund.” Along came
a gang of “30 guys from Ruidoso” who had traveled here in seven autos,
and fell upon the unsuspecting local gang with the advantage of
surprise. The battle raged for 20 minutes, the “Ruidoso” gang set
fire to a trellis on the house, and “four cop cars and two fire
engines” came screaming to the scene. The letter-writer calmly
described one youngster with three ribs and a shoulder fractured,
others with other injuries. But maybe that was just bragging, because
the hospitals did not report any such cases. Maybe. MOUTHPIECE FUND In
another intercepted letter officers learned that one gang turned all
its stolen property into a “mouthpiece fund” to hire a good lawyer if
any of its members ever got arrested. Capt. Fuller, who retired
after years as an El Paso policeman before taking the probation
officer’s post, has plenty of personal experience to draw on in
commenting on juvenile affairs here. He told a service club recently
that delinquency in the form of gangs was now at a peak in El Paso. What makes juvenile gangsters? “Cars,” says Capt. Fuller. “Giving a youngster a car is the worst sin a parent can commit in connection with that child.” Police echo the sentiment. Kids
with cars have to go someplace to show them off. They don’t go alone.
Kids with cars have to have money to keep them going to “dress them
up,” to make them “dig out” faster than the other kids’ cars. That makes thefts, according to Fuller and police. The
parents’ responsibility comes in not keeping track of their children;
not knowing where they are when they go out night after night. Police
think most parents must not even know the contents of their children’s
rooms or their own garages, or they would discover evidence of gang
membership – maybe a bicycle chain with one end wrapped with tape for a
grip. Maybe a zip-gun made out of an auto radio antenna, a rubber band a block of wood. Maybe an extra hubcap or spare tire. Or a black eye or a bloody shirt. No
high school in El Paso is without its gang and police say at the
present rate of growth there are few homes in El Paso proof from them.
The Dead End Kids and Gashouse Guys are back.
Treatment center recommends varieties of effective struggling youth treatment. Treatment is specially used for removing drug and alcohol addictions, behavioral and psychological disorders. Therapies play an important role in developing character and mind of rebellious youths.
http://www.teenageproblems.net/
Posted by: Teenage Problems | January 05, 2009 at 12:39 AM
It is better that the parents knows the contents of their children's room or other place of their house where they can place their paraphernalia of gang membership.
-mj-
Posted by: teen treatment center | March 02, 2009 at 11:39 PM
We could not do much of eliminating gangs in the street actually 50 organized gangs of teenagers are huge numbers. But think of a way on preventing violence and crime. Let gang stay but be more open on how change get inside the gang as a good example.
Posted by: adolescent residential treatment | October 19, 2009 at 05:53 AM