Gangs in Tampa Bay

Still waiting on a letter from Ted. Not sure if my letters are getting to him or if his letters are getting out to me. His last letter contained only two blog entries, so the prison may be confiscating some of the pages.

I recently found out stuff about gangs in Tampa Bay that I never knew – from another source, not from Ted.

About how gangs go to middle schools to recruit kids that are 8 or 9 years old. This is in Clearwater, Dunedin, St. Petersburg, Tampa…right here where we live. Clearwater Beach is a big area for gang activity. Gang leaders come all the way from NY and California to recruit high school students here. Gangs are in rural areas too. Not just in cities.

Someone told me about one young boy who got jumped walking home from middle school by a bunch of kids. He wasn’t safe until he joined a gang.

Gangs aren’t just cute social clubs, where kids wear colored bandanas to look cool. They force you into illegal activities. Selling drugs. Burglary. Vandalism. Members go to parties where they pull out guns regularly. Kids get stabbed. Shot.

Ted said he joined a gang so long ago ‘he didn’t remember how old he was, but he was really young.’ At first I thought it was around age 12, as that’s the first time I saw him wearing a red bandana. But now I realize it was much younger – probably about 9 or 10.

Ted went to a Christian school right up through 8th grade. He wasn’t even safe there.

I asked my source what danger Ted faced when he got out. After all, he appeared on the front page of the Floridian section of the St. Pete Times wearing a red bandana and throwing up a Blood sign. The source said Ted was brave for having that picture on the front page of the paper.

Once you’re in a gang, you never leave. You may get jumped out, but you still have an association with them. But they use you. They’re never there to visit you in jail or prison and they sure won’t put money in your commissary account.

Younger kids look up to their older relatives and copy what they do. Stay out of gangs. If not for yourself, for your little brother or sister.

Photo: Ted at age 12 wearing a red bandana on a trip out West.