Council meets on sale of gang wear

In the ongoing fight to squelch gang culture, the New York City Council’s Committee on Consumer Affairs and the Committee on Public Safety held a joint oversight hearing focusing on the sale of gang paraphernalia.
Testimony was offered by the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Gang Division, as well as community organizations such as Peace On The Street, SCAN-NY, the Coalition To Save Our Children and Power-Up Faith Fellowship Ministry.
The hearing offered the opportunity for these groups to share intimate knowledge of the gang lifestyle and shed some light on how apparel affects the community and perpetuates the culture of gangs.
In August of this year, news reports revealed that baseball caps displaying gang colors and symbols were being sold in stores throughout New York City.
Manufactured by the New Era Cap Company, a Buffalo-based business that has been producing hats for Major League Baseball for over seven decades, the caps featured images typically associated with gangs, including a crown above the ‘N.Y.’ to represent the Latin Kings, or a red or blue bandana design stitched into the cap to represent the Bloods or Crips, respectively.
When the on-going sale of these caps was revealed, Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees immediately issued statements condemning the sale of the gang-related apparel.
New Era, meanwhile, claimed ignorance and pledged to recall the offending caps.
However, a City Council investigation led by Councilmember Leroy Comrie, chair of the Committee on Consumer Affairs, revealed that the caps were still being sold in stores across the five boroughs, along with other apparel that seemed to glamorize and promote the gang lifestyle.
“Other apparel items, such as those made under the AKA Stash House fashion line, have received less publicity but send an equally disturbing message,” said Comrie. “Shirts produced by this brand include images of rifles, pistols and bandanas, while including a gang code of conduct that states, ‘never snitch ever.’ ”
AKA Stash House has since promised to discontinue production of these shirts and Dr. Jay’s, an apparel retailer that distributes the shirts, has removed the clothing from their web site.
“Many of the involved parties are aware of the ongoing sale of gang-related apparel but few have taken proactive steps to truly rectify the problem,” said Comrie.
New Era and Major League Baseball, through written correspondence, declined to testify at the hearing.
Speaking on behalf of the NYPD’s Gang Division was its Commanding Officer, Deputy Chief Robert Boyce, who discussed the division’s mission to reduce violence attributable to street gangs and track gang members from arrest, through incarceration, and upon release. The Gang Division also works closely with all of the city’s district attorneys, whose Gang Bureaus identify the cases that involve gang crime and members, allowing for aggressive prosecution.
“Like graffiti and hand signals, gang insignia, colors and paraphernalia are the external signs of an underground culture in which loyalties are demonstrated and threats are made,” said Boyce. “There is no question that a Yankee hat manufactured with a five-pointed crown is a blatant demonstration of Latin King’s loyalty.”
Boyce urged parents to learn about gang culture and to pay close attention to what their children are buying, wearing and displaying.
He also noted that the Gang Division is working Department of Education’s School Safety Division to educate school personnel about the trends and messages that may be silently communicated by students, so that they can recognize potential problems.
There has been a 29 percent increase in the number of gang-related incidents reported over the past year.
On September 3, Jose Nava, a Mexican immigrant working as a dishwasher in Astoria, was attacked and killed by alleged member of the Los Treviosos gang, who incorrectly interpreted the victim’s rosary beads to be an identifier for another gang.