Gangs are no longer just an urban problem in the Garden State according to Attorney General Jeff Chiesa.

He warns that this new breed of gangs can be ultra-violent and says, “The problem with gangs is that they operate in a way that includes indiscriminate violence.”

Chiesa says if you think about a traditional organized crime network from ‘The Godfather’ setting, the La Cosa Nostra and those types of groups you know they can certainly be violent, but they generally don’t commit indiscriminate acts of violence against other people. He explains what’s happening now is, “Many gang initiations involve the indiscriminate killing of people just to show that you could kill somebody.”

The Attorney General says he once worked on a case where people who were walking home from the night shift at their jobs and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Chiesa says the entered into an area where a gang initiation was taking place.

There’s another problem with these gang bangers. Chiesa explains, “They also don’t have any regard for law enforcement. The way they go about their violence and their complete lack of any respect for law enforcement or families or communities is incredibly troubling…….It’s obviously an issue in urban areas, but people shouldn’t think that these things don’t exist in their communities as well and it’s really important to address it because it terrorizes families.”

Chiesa says cracking down on gang violence is important because he understands they prey on kids and parents can’t always be around to keep an eye on their children. He says gang members, “Don’t do anything else. They don’t want jobs. They don’t want education and they want to bring people down to their level.”

Every resource the Attorney General’s office has will be used to address this issue promises Chiesa. He says, “You can really change communities by going in and eradicating those gangs that really take hold of certain sections of towns.”


 

 

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