Louis - How's the 72-hour cease fire going? I was absolutely amazed to read about it. And I do know that it is confined to just a small part of the city, most of the rest of Baltimore seems to be rather peaceful.
Cease fire... that won't work. Like everything that has been tried before it the cease fire is doomed to fail. We have had "stop and frisk", we have had "increased tolerance", special police task forces and dozens of other programs and policies since the war on drugs began. Nothing works because the money to be made is too great. The biggest problem a successful drug dealer has is what to do with all the cash.
They imposed a rule that any cash purchase of over $10000 has to be reported to the FBI. Good idea, but now they pay $9,999 for used Cadillac SUV's then pay installments weekly for "upgrades". The entire deal is paid for upfront, but car dealers don't report it that way. I know of several used car dealers that are used for money laundering, the police know as well.
You see stores and shops with very few or no customers at all. A good place to launder money. They are smart enough to put these shops and stores in out lying neighborhoods, not in the "ghetto".
How many truck loads full of cash have been caught at the border? How many container loads of cash are shipped everyday? The money is astronomical, you would not believe. I would not believe it if I had not seen it for myself with my own eyes.
I grew up with these guys, I was tempted myself. I even feel into the weed trade. Until I found out how blood thirsty the people you have to deal with are. They are not happy go lucky hippies, trust me. I've seen bales of weed covered in blood. They could see I was wondering what happened by the look on my face. I was told "you don't want to know". I knew it was time to stick to honest work. Only reason I got out clean was because I always kept my eyes and ears out of their business. I would often say "I don't want to know". Curiosity can be deadly. There is no such thing as harmless weed.
There was a time when you owed the dealer and were late to pay; they cut you off, now they cut your throat.
The guys I grew up with are dead or MIA. I don't know of a single one still living. Many of the overdose deaths are planed killings. Add a little too much of this new synthetic stuff and they die every time. Many last words were "I promise I will pay after this last one" Only to be found dead of an overdose. Only because some dealers don't have the stomach to shoot people. Most junkies know too much to be cut off and left alive. Once their habit gets out of control they are a threat. They might go to rehab and decide to turn over information.
I've seen police who are on the pay roll and how can you blame them? They start at $24000 a year plus over time. The dealers pay thousand a week for information and even more for protection.
The Maryland legislature and congress sit in beautiful halls and pass laws that will never work. These young guys don't care what the penalties are, they think they will never be caught, at least not alive. "just say no" my friends heard that and laughed, they said "just say yo, pass it here"
Good public transportation would help, a little. Some are just trying to feed their families. Sons and daughters supporting addicted parents and or feeding their younger siblings by selling drugs or their ass. Many would love to have full time jobs instead, but there is no work they can get in their neighborhoods and no transportation that covers the night shift that they have to start with.
Others don't want work, they want to be gangsters and get rich. They are too young to be wise and too old to be reformed. They end up using or being killed trying to protect their corner "drug store".
Most of the murders are battles for turf or debt collection. Dealers have so much cash they don't care if they get the money. It's more valuable to send a message.
God help an innocent citizen that tries to testify against them. The Police can't protect themselves, they are out gunned. I can't tell you how many AK-47s I have seen.
Organized crime has given up on the streets of Baltimore, they have to stick to white collar crime in Baltimore. The young gangsters can not and will not be controlled. Gangs like they have in other cities are insignificant. Baltimore's gangsters are independent. They kill the gang members who try to recruit them or compete with them. You won't see gangs showing their colors in Baltimore, it makes them a target. Even MS13 covers their tattoos in Baltimore.
The young gangsters don't call the city Baltimore, to them it is Bodymore, dead body that is.
The latest wave of increased murder was caused by all the narcotics stolen from drug stores during the riots. New "entrepreneurs" are getting into the trade with the inventory they stole. That has set off a new war on the streets. Less than a dozen pharmacies had enough dope stolen to keep the entire city high for over a year, why? Legalized drug dealing. Everybody wants a cut of this action.
When I was young heroin cost a minimum of $40 and was less than 50% pure, now the same size bag costs $10 and is over 90% pure. The war on drugs is a complete failure.
The only way to stop the killing is to take away the profit. The only way to do that is to have the government control the sale and distribution of drugs. I think it might be too late. The trade routes are established and they are almost the same routes they used to transport alcohol during prohibition. New designer drugs will take over if they legalize heroin and cocaine. I bet a dollar to a doughnut there are dozens of chemists all over the world cooking up something new in a bathtub right now.
Human nature is to get drunk or high and there is always somebody greedy enough to fill the demand.
What was the murder rate in Chicago during prohibition? Greed overrides compassion for others with many people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4akn6e59TQ
Somebody say fair warning? Lord strike that poor boy down.
The poor folks play for keeps, down here there the living dead.
This is home, this is mean street.
