Chicago politicians are seeking help from gangs. Chicago is going to look like Colombia or worse. Gangs will end up controlling the city council. Money is also flowing from gangs to politicians.
The gang representatives were interested in electing aldermen
sympathetic to their interests and those of their impoverished wards. As
for the politicians, says Baskin, their interests essentially boiled
down to getting elected or reelected. “All of [the political hopefuls]
were aware of who they were meeting with,” he says. “They didn’t care.
All they wanted to do was get the support.”
While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not
limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely
seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the
ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can
provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of
chores patronage armies once did.
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