Experiment in Infiltration

In Manhattan's Harlem prowl some of the nation's most vicious teen-age gangs, and neither police watchfulness nor the usual type of social work has done much good against them.* Three years ago, the privately financed Welfare Council of New York City started a simple experiment in infiltration. To four of the worst gangs in Central Harlem--the Jay Bees, the Gay Blades, the Royals and the Knights--it assigned four young social workers, three of them Negroes. By last week, the council was able to tell, in a 162-page report, what its social workers had learned, and what they had accomplished by seemingly casual steering.

One of the council's conclusions: the four gangs had been started out of aggravated notions of self-protection. "The Rompers used to come around here," explained one JayBee, "and just pick on us, punch us in the mouth . . . They knifed us in the behind and everything . . . We decided to get together."

"A Crazy Time." Each gang had a president, a vice president, a war counselor who arranged the time & place for gang "rumbles" (wars), and a "light-up" man in charge of the arsenal. The boys spent their time in endless bull sessions at their "hangouts"--a candy store, bar or front stoop. They played hooky, smoked marijuana, stole, carried knives, revolvers and zip guns. They saw nothing shameful in forcing neighborhood girls into sex relations, often with several members of the gang.

The council social workers used the slow approach. They began by loafing near gang hangouts, gradually drawing the boys into conversation, playing the jukebox with them, letting them cadge occasional cigarettes. As distrust faded, the council men identified themselves, proved that they were not cops and not out to nag, report the gang members or break their gangs. On the contrary, they were available for advice, an occasional two-bit loan, or help in arranging for the use of a gym or a place to hold a dance.

As the weeks passed, the council men persuaded the boys to organize basketball games, hikes and picnics. The Knights were amazed to find they could share the same gym floor with the Redskins and still not have a "rumble." The JayBees were just as amazed to find that they could go on a camping trip with members of the Knights ("I had a crazy time, man--nice guys"). The Gay Blades even helped the police to distribute Christmas baskets.

"Yeah, Man." In three years, the workers became a part of almost every boy's life--Jerry, who once had to be talked out of blowing up the Sabers with a hand grenade; Pluck, who smoked reefers ("When you are high you can look across the way, which is littered with garbage cans, and everything looks fine"); and Wilfred the truant ("If I could go regular-like for a week, then I'd go all the time, but I just can't go that week").

The council men were not able to solve all the boys' problems, or keep them from drinking and gambling. But by the time the experiment ended last March, they had stopped gang warfare in the four groups, discouraged sex offenses ("Yeah, man, that's old stuff now") and, to a large extent, stealing. They persuaded some truants to return to school, helped dozens of other boys to find jobs. Concluded the council: if only four men, working within the gangs, could do this much, a permanent group of workers might go far in solving the gang problem for Harlem once & for all. "Our project must not be the last of its kind."

* For one delinquent's version of the reasons, see NATIONAL AFFAIRS.

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