Gang crackdown targets part of Southlawn community

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Harris County authorities have targeted a 2-square-mile area of the Southlawn community for a gang injunction to ban individuals allegedly associated with the Bloods, Crips and other groups who are suspected of ongoing criminal activity.

A petition filed in September asked the court to prevent 92 men from entering the area – a large chunk of the 77021 ZIP code south of the University of Houston and Texas Southern University.

Late last year, some defendants agreed not to enter certain portions of the zone and, this week, more than a dozen men were banned by "default" after not responding to the lawsuit. A hearing on the suit is scheduled in April.

The effort by the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the County Attorney is designed to improve the environment for apartment complex residents, most poor and elderly, by officially prohibiting the presence of 92 people suspected of causing much of the area's crime, according to a petition and the application for permanent injunction.

"We are trying to target a large concentration of gangs and gang members," said assistant county attorney Celena Vinson, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit. "We want to bring some relief to the people living out there."

Activists and lawyers representing some of the men are holding a press conference on Thursday to condemn the sweeping ban as a violation of the basic constitutional rights of dozens of black men.

Police across the nation have increasingly pushed such measures to crack down on crime. However, critics have argued these bans unfairly target men of color in central city neighborhoods and don't improve safety.

In Houston, the latest petition states that a Texas Department of Public Safety regional threat assessment identified the Bloods and Crips as the largest and most active gangs in the southeast part of the city.

The lawsuit also says that Houston Police Department crime statistics reveal that "a large number of individuals documented as Bloods and Crips gang members or members of cliques and sets associated with the Bloods and Crips have committed gang activity in the proposed Southlawn Safety Zone."

The area includes 1,326 acres and is roughly bounded by 610, 288, Old Spanish Trail and Cullen. Besides a dozen complexes of apartments and townhouses, landmarks include Cullen Middle School, Yellowstone Park and the HEB at Scott and OST.

"Gangs are a significant threat to public safety in Texas due to their propensity for violence and significant amount of criminal activity," the petition states. "The traditional approach of charging the individual with a crime has not been effective in stopping the rise and spread of gangs in Houston and Harris County. ... Unless enjoined from engaging in gang activities within the safety zone, the defendants will continue to operate for an indefinite period of time as a public nuisance."

The petition defines a gang as "three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable leadership who continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities" such as terroristic threats, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, graffiti, weapons offenses and drug possession.

Certain sets and cliques were named in the lawsuit, including the Yellowstone Players, Southlawn Posse, Young Scott Block, 59 Bounty Hunters, 3rd Ward Players, Sunnyside Posse, Cuney Homes Brick Boys, Young Mob Gorillas and the Herschelwood Money Makerz.

Enjoined individuals are prevented from "entering, remaining, appearing, sitting, walking, driving, bicycling or being physically present" in the safety zone and cannot even be found in the geographical area "driving, riding about or being an occupant of a vehicle."

Houston defense lawyer Monique Sparks, who is among a half-dozen attorneys representing more than 50 of the defendants, said some of the men are "proud of their community" and show camaraderie with other men from the neighborhood by forming groups.

"These are people that maybe didn't go to A&M, they didn't go to UT, so them saying 'I'm a Southlawn Posse member,' they're considering that a dangerous gang," Sparks said last week, admitting that some of the clients "may have checkered pasts."

She also questioned if the defendants' rights were violated in the process of identifying them as gang members and proceeding with civil action.

"They served a lot of people who are in prison. They can't come to court. When they get out, they can't go home. They just can't go home," she said.

The area's council member, Dwight Boykins, said he allocated $100,000 of his budget to fund police overtime to fight crime in the area. He said he supports the effort, but not "discrimination" or racial profiling.

"My No. 1 concern is making the quality of life for my senior citizens - and the least and the last - a safe, comfortable environment," the councilman said.

Boykins said business owners also have complained about loitering and other activities.

"They want them off of their property. They're there late at night, early in the morning and disturbing the commercial stores," he said. "People are not going to the stores because they are afraid for their lives."

In interviews Wednesday, owners and managers at some of the businesses specifically identified in the court documents were surprised to find themselves on the list.

In 2009, Larry Harris opened up Larry's Auto Inspection at 6306 Cullen Blvd.

"I haven't had any problems here and I want it to stay that way," said Harris who added there are problems with street gangs a few blocks down the street that have resulted in burglaries, vandalism and narcotics trafficking. "It's all the things you don't want to see," he said.

Also on the list is Snaps Hardware owned by Alvin "Snapper" Johnson at 7203 Cullen. Although he takes reasonable precautions to protect his interests, such as iron bars on the doors and windows, Johnson also said he hasn't been the target of street gang crime.

"In this area, we haven't had any problems," the business owner said. "It's hard to talk about something like that (gang problems) if I haven't seen it."

Yellowstone Park near Scott and Yellowstone also was identified on the court documents. Amanda West, tending to her 4-month-old daughter Armani, fully supports any crack down on gang activity in city parks.

"A park is for kids to play. It's not for gang members," West said. "You shouldn't be here if you're not with kids."

NAACP Houston Branch President James Douglas said Wednesday that he met with some of the defense attorneys, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson, Boykins and lawyers from the county attorney's office about the injunction.

Douglas, who is an attorney and distinguished professor at TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law, said the proposed injunction is too broad.

"I've looked at the statute. It's a horrendous burden that they have to overcome to achieve their goal. If they don't overcome that burden, then they can't prohibit those young people from coming into the area."

The Southlawn Safety Zone is the county's third geographical gang injunction. The first ban in 2010 targeted Haverstock Hills, a massive housing cluster with 2,000 residents that was considered Houston's most dangerous complex. That was expanded to nearby apartments to encompass an east Aldine safety zone in 2014. The other safety zone covers an area called Brays Oaks near Sharpstown.

Haverstock residents in 2014 reported that the ban there cleaned up that perennially troubled complex and improved the environment by weeding out bad actors.

Mike Glenn contributed to this report