by Marc Santora, The New York Times
The five gangs sharing 30 acres of turf got along splendidly. For at least the last five years, the police say, “The Rough Riders,” “The Little A-Team,” “The Front Crew” and the other gangs agreed to détente. Business was thriving in each little slice of the sprawling Cypress Hills housing complex in Brooklyn, and there was little need to fight.
“These groups, for the most part, peacefully coexisted with each other,” Inspector Steven Powers said.
Gangland bonhomie.
But what made for an ideal market to sell more than $1.5 million in crack, cocaine and heroin annually resulted in a living prison for many of the community’s 3,600 residents.
“They would shoot the lights out on the sidewalks and shoot the lights in the hallways,” said Johnny Robinson, a resident and a maintenance worker at the complex. “People couldn’t come in and out through the lobby. They couldn’t go up and down on the elevators. The old folks couldn’t sit out on a park bench. It got so ridiculous, tenants got used to it.”
However, with the arrests of 45 people over the past week, including 8 described by the police as “top-level gang leaders,” the residents in Cypress Hills say that may be changing.
“Now that the police came,” Mr. Robinson said, “it’s beautiful.”
Cypress Hills was completed in 1954 when Robert F. Wagner was mayor. Older members of the community remember when residents were so meticulous about keeping the place gleaming that fines were issued just for walking on the grass.
While the grounds are still relatively clean, the reinforced steel doors and metal grates on windows, even seven stories above ground, betray the hard times the community has had over the past 20 years.
Allison Villanueva, 26, said she felt safer walking her 20-month-old baby, Lamont, after the police sweep. Still, she worried that it would be temporary. “A while back there was a rape in one of those buildings and the police was all around,” she said. “After a while, you didn’t see them.” She feared the police would disappear again.
Joseph Campbell, a police captain whose responsibilities include supervising officers in the complex, said the police were making a determined effort not only to clean up Cypress Hills, but to keep it clean. He said that while the drug dealing there might not have been the worst in the city, the impact on quality of life was one of the most severe.
“Now that the narcotics police have swept that place and removed 45 bodies, we have to make sure the good people can come out and the bad people stay away,” he said.
One of the ways the police will do that is by actively involving the residents in what he called “tenant patrols” watching for suspicious activity. “They don’t need to tell us everything,” Captain Campbell said. “Just point us in the right direction.” Captain Campbell said the six-month investigation that led to the recent arrests would not have been possible without help from the community.
Captain Campbell said it was also important to get the younger children involved in activities that kept them off the street. Detective Walter Brant, who has worked in Cypress Hills for nine years, said he was about to get the touch football season under way. He was hoping to field a team of about 15 boys, ages 13 to 16. “There are a lot of good kids who live here,” he said. “And they couldn’t even go into their own lobbies.”
Antonio Baker, 14, described life under gang rule as “hectic.” He said he often could not get into his apartment, but he minded his own business, concentrating on doing his homework and practicing to make the high school basketball team. “I just stay focused,” he said.
In the past, that has been difficult. Like many of the people in this community he has a story about a shooting that was a little too close and a little too recent.
“About three weeks ago I was walking toward my house, and I heard this shot,” he said. “I didn’t turn around to look. I just kept running. But I heard later that somebody had gotten their face blown off by a 12-gauge.”
As the rain and chilly air added to the calm mood, and with the lobbies clear so residents could come and go as they pleased, Antonio Baker said today was not hectic. “Quiet is good,” he said.