Word: gangly
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What he learned bore out his suspicions. Says Hull: " 'Dropping the flag,' or quitting, is considered almost a capital offense." Every gang has a de- initiation ceremony that usually involves a vicious ritual beating -- occasionally to the point of death. Ex-members who stay in the neighborhood -- and few can afford to leave -- are subject to repeat beatings by their former comrades and by rival gang members who don't know or care that they've quit. "It takes an unbelievable amount of courage to walk out," says Hull...
With his crazy stare, massive knuckles and tattooed biceps, Jimmy T. looks like an urban grenade with a faulty pin. The five-alarm face fits nicely with his career as an up-and-coming member of a Chicago gang called the Vice Lords. But when his face relaxes and the baby fat sinks back in place, a different visage emerges. Disarmed of weapons and bravado, Jimmy is a terrified 16-year- old who did something very, very stupid one hot summer night this past June...
Only thing was, Jimmy wanted nothing to do with the big time. Like most kids in his West Side neighborhood, he just sort of fell into gang banging at 14. Then things got crazy, and now he wants...
...muggy Saturday night shortly after 11. Jimmy is driving around in a stolen 1987 Honda Prelude, a 9-mm TEC-9 under the seat. "I'm thinking, ohhh, man, this sain't for me. I'm just tired of this gang banging, and I'm, like, real scared." A semiliterate high school dropout, Jimmy grapples with the ghetto's version of a mid-life crisis. He drives around for 40 minutes, carefully obeying every traffic signal as he furiously works through his options. Definitely don't want to be stopped by the police, really don't want to fire this...
Days later, he tries to explain why he did it. "Damn, man, don't you know what would happen to me if I just told my gang I want out? That I'm scared...