Today’s Roanoke Times has an article about increased gang activity in the Roanoke/Salem/Blacksburg area. Well, not actually increased gang activity, they admit, but there’s been some graffiti that is painted in red, the color used by the Bloods, so, y’know…
Anyhow, here’s my favorite bit, about the Latin Kings, the Bloods and the Crips moving southward:
Similar problems have touched nearly every part of the state as gangs migrate from their Northern Virginia strongholds, [Virginia Gang Investigators Association spokeswoman Mindy] Grizzard said. “Some of the smaller areas, like Charlottesville, are having a huge problem right now,” she said.
Um. What? She totally made that up. Charlottesville is most certainly not having a “a huge problem” with gangs. In fact, there was a 10% drop in serious crimes last year, on the heels of five consecutive years of decreases. Police Chief Timothy Longo has identified five gangs in Charlottesville, but they’re all relatively harmless local groups of kids with names like “D-Block” or “8 Ball.” They are not the Crips or the Bloods.