The most important gang bust in New York Metropolis historical past occurred in Connecticut, no less than for Kraig Lewis. Again in April 2016, SWAT groups got here knocking as he was on the doorstep of finishing his MBA program on the College of Bridgeport.
Lewis by no means graduated. As a substitute, he ended up prosecuted as one of many “Bronx 120” beneath the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (RICO). He finally pled responsible and spent two years in federal jail regardless of no prior report or bodily proof in opposition to him. After coming residence, Lewis realized of his inclusion on the NYPD gang database. But, he was by no means really accused of gang participation.
“You don’t essentially need to be John Gotti [to face a RICO charge]. The gang database [is] surveilling completely different neighborhoods,” mentioned Lewis. “My neighborhood, as an example, Eastchester Gardens, the gang database goes to stigmatize it… you can be a musician representing your neighborhood and never commit against the law, however because you’re on that database and also you’re representing this neighborhood by way of your music, you’re extra subjected to be arrested.”
His story begins within the northeastern Bronx because the son of a nurse and an engineer. What the legislation enforcement noticed as a lethal battleground between rival gangs, Lewis known as residence. Naturally, he frolicked with different younger males across the neighborhood. And he made music about it. That was possible sufficient for the NYPD to enter him within the gang database. However vocationally, Lewis eyed a future in legislation and boasted grades at Mount Saint Michael Academy to again up such aspirations.
Discovering a job after jail was robust. Ending graduate college was not financially tenable. Lewis painfully got here to grips with by no means turning into a lawyer and as a substitute targeted on music. His lyrics had been used in opposition to him so he rebranded his stage identify from KayMurda to Bbo Flock and pivoted away from selling violence.
However as he was determining his personal life, he supplied others with solutions. Lewis ended up working within the anti-gun violence world by way of a bunch named Launch the Grip. There, he helped kids dealer peace. And within the course of, he additionally helped rehabilitate himself. He left such an impression that college students depicted him on a mural. Then layoffs occurred. So Lewis returned to music.
Authorized Help Society later picked him up as an organizer. The position quickly normal Lewis as a outstanding champion in opposition to the NYPD gang database. Even immediately, the police software stays and a probe confirmed 99% of entrants are Black or Brown. These on the database will not be knowledgeable when they’re entered with out submitting a public data request and little is thought in regards to the NYPD’s formalized methodology for figuring out what qualifies as gang participation.
For some time, Lewis discovered himself heart stage empowering kids in opposition to racial profiling by way of the nation’s oldest public protection group.
“I used to be throughout New York doing the lessons, educating them in regards to the gang database, Know Your Rights [and] youth mobilization, and what that appears prefer to get a bunch of youth collectively and combat for change,” mentioned Lewis. “, go to Metropolis Corridor conferences, provide you with a plan, converse on the press conferences. And that additionally rehabilitated me.”
Then, his work with Authorized Help additionally fell by way of. Right now, Lewis continues mentoring kids and advocating in opposition to the gang database in a extra unofficial capability. He additionally runs a radio present the place he platforms younger artists, hoping to steer them in direction of a greater future.
And thru all of it, he continues to pursue his personal musical profession. Whereas a few of Lewis’s contemporaries ended up with comparable plights, others made it massive time. He laughs, recounting a time when a then-unknown Cardi B appeared on his music video. Nonetheless a younger man, however with a lifetime price of experiences, he stays hopeful.
“In case you see somebody with some potential, and also you see them in a nasty spot, simply don’t quit on them,” mentioned Lewis. “I’m hanging [in there] to have a Kraig Lewis success story down the road. It may not be proper now, it may not be subsequent yr, however I’m not going to cease working in direction of that. And anybody that should hear from me, I’m open to talking, and I’m open to serving to, and I’m not searching for pay to assist.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public security for the Amsterdam Information. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps preserve him writing tales like this one; please take into account making a tax-deductible present of any quantity immediately by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
