Gangs are socio-economic phenomena which are considered, almost by definition, the products of depressed urban areas. They involve the bonding of young males and their loyalty to each other under circumstances which are extremely violent, and criminal. When males who are law-abiding, successful members of society draw close to each other in an organized social context, their organizations are called clubs, not gangs. But the general principles are similar.
Gangs are definitely not exclusively male, but most of those who murder and are murdered, and who go to jail, are males. It is the male members of the gangs whom we see in the news, but gang neighbourhoods have family structures, that is, gang males are responsible for the welfare of their personal women and children.
At the time of their deaths last weekend, Pinky Tillett and Arthur Young were vaunted gang leaders, or dons, inside the George Street and Taylor’s Alley gangs, respectively.
Pinky had become famous some years ago when, armed and firing in a vehicle, he chased some Mexicans down Central American Boulevard who were trying to kidnap the George Street mastermind at the time, George “Rique” Herbert, who is now incarcerated in a U.S. penitentiary.
The legend of Arthur Young had grown and grown over some two decades. The daughter of a very prominent Belizean official bore two children for Arthur Young, and was believed to be totally faithful to him, through thick and thin. He lived to be 38 years of age, which is old in the Belize City streets, and he was fearless and fearsome. Men spoke his name with maximum respect. This was a man who could take you out and make sure he was not caught: simple as that.
We said at the beginning of this essay that the gangs are socio-economic phenomena. Gangs are the source of daily bread for a bunch of people in the areas which they control. If a man is responsible for the bread you eat, as Pinky and Arthur were responsible for feeding people in their gang territories, then such a man takes on a heroic aura, no matter what he does in order to obtain that food for you. Without such a man, you suffer from hunger. This, you must understand: In George Street, Pinky was a hero; in Taylor’s Alley, Arthur was a don.
As events unfolded over the weekend, we thought of how activities similar to what we saw over the weekend in Belize were romanticized for movie audiences all over planet earth in The Godfather movie trilogy. In New York City and Chicago, primarily, gangs emerged and became powerful and wealthy during the era of Prohibition (1919-1933) in the United States. The law said alcohol was illegal, but Americans still wanted to drink. So gangsters got rich risking jail and death to obtain and distribute the illegal product. The government would put gangsters in jail when they caught them, but it was other gangsters who would kill gangsters, similar to what we see happening here.
In the 1930s, an American gangster by the name of Charles “Lucky” Luciano led an effort to organize the gangsters into “families,” with internal ranks of authority. Peace came to the land of gangs in America. But, every now and then, there would still be wars and bloodshed. Such violence would require the intervention of the Crime Commission of gangsters.
After World War II, narcotics trafficking became a lucrative gang activity in America. It was the drug heroin which sparked the first violence between families in Part I of The Godfather. In Part II, the gangs had bought influence from corrupt political leaders in pre-Castro Cuba,where they controlled gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking. Other drugs came on the scene, such as marijuana and then cocaine. The drugs were illegal, which made their trafficking highly profitable, and extremely violent.
Because of the demand for illegal drugs in the wealthy United States market, there is an incredibly violent state of affairs in Mexico, in which the present government appears to require U.S. government and military support in order to run the country. The Mexican drug cartels have become so rich and powerful that they can corrupt government officials and security personnel.
The chaos in Mexico has moved down into Belize and Guatemala. These are poor countries whose populations cannot resist the temptation to deal and traffick drugs. In Belize, the gangs have become so strong that law-abiding Belizeans are intimidated, and understandably so. We saw this happen in Mexico.
This newspaper does not consider itself in a position to comment on the apparent murders of Pinky Tillett and Arthur Young on Friday night and Sunday night, respectively. We can say that our community is shaken to its very core, and it has not returned to any level of emotional normalcy even as we write. We, the people, don’t know who is who and what is what.