GANGS OF HARVEY: THE BARREL OF A GUN

In the old days people used to box when they got violent. Maybe someone would pick up a bottle or a brick, or even a knife, but situations generally didn't involve guns. That changed more and more in Harvey during the 1980's. As rival gangs strove for power they came into violent conflict with each other. This violence increasingly involved guns.

It was a dark freezing night in the early 80's. My friend Hiram Walker and I were walking up to Thornton Township High School for an off season baseball conditioning camp, to get the jump on tryouts. We were just passing the Harvey Library on Turlington when three boys stepped from the shadows. They yelled out for Hiram to come over. I didn't want to go, but Hiram said that he knew one of them. I stood in the Library's parking lot entrance, while Hiram walked over to the group.

A few minutes later all of them walked past me into the lot. Hiram looked angry and tears were running down his face. I was walking up to them when one of the boys, a Mexican, said that he had a gun! He had his hand in his jacket pocket, and there was a bulge! One of the other boys told Hiram that they were going to rob him. I knew the boy...we'd played little league together years earlier. "Stay out of it Steve or we'll rob you too,: he growled. "Barrr" I retorted. Barrr basically meant, in nice language, I don't think so! They ignored me and turned back to Hiram. They took his baseball glove, his money and his coat. The thugs went on their way, and I walked a shivering and shaken Hiram home in the sub zero wind chilled air. The police later tracked down the thieves. They were Gangster Disciples. The interesting thing is, the Prosecutor for that case is the current Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn.

One night Hiram and I were just coming from a store. We were walking down snow covered 154th St., just coming up on Vine, when we saw three men standing across the street next to old Major Motors Auto Supply -- arguing. Suddenly, one of the men dashed into the street! He was having a hard time running in the slippery snow, when one of the other men pulled out a gun and started shooting! The running man made it across the street, to the corner of Vine, when he was hit! Surprisingly, he got back up and kept running -- and the shooter kept shooting! Hiram and I turned around without a word, made it to an alleyway, and ran like the wind! Don't know what happened to the "running man."

Harvey used to have carnivals at Harmon Park near Thornton High School. One night I was walking around, looking for girls with my friends, when gunshots rang out! After the confusion died down, I saw a boy lying on the ground. He had a red baseball cap and a bloody white t-shirt on. His name was Tim, and he was a Vice Lord. He'd been shot six times in the stomach! On a separate occasion at the carnival another gang member had his lips shot off. Just one more instance of life in this once idyllic community now being dictated from the barrel of a gun!

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