Meeting a Chicago gang

I’ve covered stories in war zones and places where people were desperate for food and life itself, but I never felt the same level of intensity on the streets as I did when I started reporting on the south and west sides of Chicago. The combination of drugs, poverty and easy access to guns has made Chicago the deadliest city in America. Last year, 2,500 people were shot – and 515 of them were killed. The police department claimed that violence in the city was down earlier this year. But when we arrived in June, 47 people were shot during our first 48 hours on the ground.

One of the more surreal moments during production came when we arranged, through an intermediary, to meet with gang members in one of their hideouts to listen to their stories. We spent a lot of time with the police, non-profits and others trying to combat the violence, but hearing from the young men themselves who were shooting and being shot at was a whole other side to the story.

On a hot summer afternoon, we were driven to a vacant home, one of thousands on the west side of Chicago. A large man opened the door with a T-shirt tied around his face to conceal his identity. He walked us to a living room that the Gangster Disciples, one of Chicago’s most notorious street gangs, used as a hideout. Inside, there were six other young men, some of them teenagers, also with their faces covered with T-shirts. It was like staring at ghosts. Baggies of crack cocaine and multiple guns lined the sofa and makeshift coffee table. When we asked if they could move the guns for us to sit down, I was surprised to find that the guns were all loaded. And while the men boasted about how many times they’d used them, which sounded like a lot, my producer and I watched nervously as they pointed their weapons carelessly at us and at each other, tossing them around with no safeties on. We realized we could be shot in the kneecap at any moment.

When the guys were done showing off their collection of guns and drugs, what they told us was incredibly sad. These young men felt stuck in an endless cycle of violence. Raised by families whose lives revolved around the same gang, most had fathers who had been shot and killed, either in drug deals gone bad or targeted killings by rival gangs. One of them remembered seeing his first dead body at the age of 3. All of them had seen one by the time they were 12 years old. Knowing nothing better for themselves, they entered into lives where justice is decided at the business end of a gun. To them, dealing drugs and shooting is the secret to survival in a city where they are long forgotten. 

In our upcoming series for America Tonight, produced by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud, we show you those kids and their lives, and we visit the families of shooting victims, former gang leaders, religious leaders and police who are fighting what appears to be a losing battle to take back control of the streets of Chicago.