Phila. attacks seen as signs of gang activity

Authorities are warning that a beating this week of a teenager in Southwest Philadelphia and a killing blocks away in November - both over "gang colors" - are signs that the Crips and Bloods are expanding in the city.

The beaten teen, Vincent James, a 13-year-old student from Pepper Middle School, was attacked Tuesday by assailants who boasted about being members of the United Blood Nation, a violent gang that originated in California, police said. James and his cousin, Quintel Martin, said the assailants had targeted them for about a month after Martin had worn a blue hooded sweatshirt, a trademark of the rival Crips gang.

"My cousin wore a blue hoodie, and they said we were being disrespectful," said James, bruised and swollen yesterday afternoon after returning to his family's Elmwood home from an interview by detectives. "I didn't do nothing to them."

The November slaying of Antonio Quintin "Q" Clarke, 15, a Bartram High School student whose throat was slashed and his beaten body wrapped in plastic and dumped on a Grays Ferry loading dock, may also be a gang killing over colors.

According to the police and the youth's mother, Marie Clarke, in the months before he was killed, Clarke had taken to wearing red, the color of the Bloods gang. Although it was uncertain whether he was actually a Bloods gang member, in recent weeks Clarke had expressed fear about being targeted at school and had stopped attending, his mother said. Furthermore, school officials had warned her son about the dangers of wearing gang colors.

Homicide Inspector Joseph Mooney said that detectives had not confirmed that Clarke's killing was gang-related.

"He acted as if he was a member. He was a wannabe," Mooney said.

Gang activity is nothing new in Philadelphia. But unlike those in New York and Los Angeles, Philadelphia's gangs are largely loosely connected local sets that name themselves after their streets or neighborhoods.

In the last year, however, these groups have become increasingly affiliated with national gangs in order to protect the street-corner drug trade in South, Southwest and Northwest Philadelphia, said Police Capt. Charles Bloom of the Criminal Intelligence Unit.

"A lot of groups down there are flipping over to the Bloods," Bloom said, adding that its presence is getting increasingly violent.

"We get numerous reports of people representing themselves as Blood gang members," Bloom said. "We have verified Blood sets from Trenton and New York setting up in the city."

In recent months, police have noticed an increase in Blood graffiti or red cloth tied to local street signs, said Lt. John Walker of the Southwest Detective Division.

Last year, Walker said, a Bloods recruiter was picked up in the area and federal authorities were notified.

Malik Aziz, assistant director of the Mayor's Office of Reentry of Ex-offenders, agreed that gang activity directed from other cities had been increasing in recent years.

"You have outside influences, from Newark [N.J.], New York and Trenton, here for the lucrative market for drugs," said Aziz, a former gang member.

James, the Pepper Middle School student, was attacked on Tuesday as he got out of a bus at 65th Street and Paschall Avenue. He was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and treated for cuts, bruises and a concussion.

Yesterday, as about 20 of his classmates showed up at his door to look at his bruises and wish him well, he said he planned to stay at home for several days to recover. His cousin Martin, 14, was also there.

Walker said that James was attacked and kicked by at least six assailants and that detectives were trying to identify all of them. No charges had been filed by late yesterday.

Some of the assailants, Walker said, are known to brag about being "foot soldiers."

The families of both teens say they were frustrated that the police did not follow through on last month's attack on Martin, who was accosted for wearing blue.

"It took my cousin to get his face smashed into the ground before they took any action," Martin said yesterday.

Martin said the fights were ruining his reputation. He said he is a student vice president and takes pride in his good attendance record. He said many of the youths who are targeting him and his cousin had been expelled.

"That's why I'm so frustrated," said Martin. "When I snap out, they try to make it seem like I'm bad. But they keep coming back at me, so I have to defend myself."

Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District, said that any student associated with the attack on James would be suspended and that school officials were working closely with police, sharing information.

"These are unfortunate things that are happening in our neighborhoods that is spilling over into our schools," Gallard said, adding that metal detectors and X-ray machines are used to keep the schools safe. School perimeters are also patrolled.

"When folks are looking at us to solve the gang problem, we're saying this is beyond us," Gallard said. "This is bigger than us, and we need help with this."

Clarke, the 15-year-old who was slain, lived about four blocks from James. His killing remains unsolved.

The youth disappeared after becoming increasingly nervous for his safety, said his mother, Marie Clarke.

Clarke may have upset gang members by talking about an initiation or just pretending he was a member, authorities said.

"We received reports that some of the Bloods were angry at him, but we haven't been able to verify that," Bloom said.

Clarke's body was found Nov. 26 in the 1200 block of Napa Street in the Grays Ferry section of South Philadelphia. His throat was slashed, and he was beaten and stabbed repeatedly. Police said it appeared he had been tortured before his body was wrapped in plastic and dumped. His clothes were gone, possibly to destroy forensic evidence, Mooney said.

A community meeting sponsored by the police and the city's office of Town Watch Integrated Services is scheduled for 7 tonight at Bartram High School, 2401 S. 67th St.