Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
Copyright 2006 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
If, as law enforcers say, they want to show young people that joining a gang will result in spending much of their lives in a federal prison, they sent a powerful message this week by obtaining grand jury indictments against 14 of the worst criminals along the Wasatch Front.
Assuming the cases against the members of the Tiny Oriental Posse are solid, they should indeed be gone for a long time. The federal prison system isn’t big on niceties such as time off for good behavior.
Years ago, Americans had a habit of romanticizing their worst criminals. From Jesse James to Bonnie and Clyde and Al Capone, outlaws and gangsters routinely made headlines and were the stuff of songs and legends. Thank goodness the nation outgrew that.
Gang members operate under conspiracies of silence and codes of conduct that include protecting each other from attacks by rival gangs. Not only do they engage in drug trafficking, robbery and other crimes that affect average residents, they also attack other gangs. Sometimes, they mistakenly shoot innocent people they suspect of being rival gangsters. That happened with the Tiny Oriental Posse. Nearly eight years ago, Bethany Hyde was shot to death in her car because gang members mistook her for someone else.
Americans should be thankful that Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act way back in 1970. Originally, it was intended as a tool to break up the Mafia. Today, federal officials are using it successfully against street gangs.
One example of this occurred recently in Syracuse, N.Y., where authorities used RICO to convict 26 members of a gang that had terrorized many. According to the Post Standard/Herald-Journal, the gang members were sentenced to an average length of 15 years each in prison. After their convictions, homicides declined by 40 percent in the areas where the gang used to roam, and drug crimes fell by 92 percent.
We hope Utahns soon will see a similar drop in crimes now that the Tiny Oriental Posse has been decimated.
RICO has caught the eye of Canadian officials, who are hoping similar laws will help them deal with gangs. A recent story in the Toronto Star noted the law had helped bust gangs in “Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Utah.”
That isn’t the kind of publicity Utah wants or needs, but if the law does its job, this will be a much safer place.