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drinks, the bangers would let the boys
get something for themselves. Playing, watching or fetching was the
regular routine after school in the spring and fall, and all-day in
the summer. They progressed into decent players as they rolled
through middle school, but not stellar. Davis admired the bangers
most of all. While Davis dreamed of becoming a “ big boy ” (a
member of the gang’s upper echelon), Bobby reluctantly participated
in a citywide Mathematics Bee at the urging of a not-yet-burned-out
middle school teacher. No one except his teachers reinforced
academic achievements in his neighborhood. He hoped that no one
would find out about the math competition. Davis spilled the beans
and the gang poked fun at Bobby for a long time.
    The cousins began attending the local high school.
Chicago Public Schools had an open enrollment policy and so the
cousins could have gone to most any city-run high school with the
exception of the hard-to-qualify magnet schools. In the absence of
the magnet school option, they chose the local secondary school a
couple of blocks away. At least there, they knew who ran the
neighborhood. Both boys made the freshman hoops team but played on
the “B” team. Skilled or tall players played on the “A” team. Bobby
and Davis had some skills but were too short to play much further.
It soon became apparent that they could not play at a higher level
than freshman ball.
    By the end of Bobby’s first year, his grandmother’s
health was failing. She could not control Bobby, nor could she
leave the house. He took care of her basic needs such as picking up
groceries, emptying the garbage, and minor apartment cleaning. By
now, he was staying out all night long, sleeping until noon, and
she suspected both cousins were dabbling with drugs. She was
correct.
    “Hey dawg,” Davis said. “The veteranos of the block
club jammed me up for a little discussion today.”
    “Yup, they’re leanin’ on me too. The guy told me
that they we can earn some decent scratch for joining in,” replied
Bobby.
    “If we take this route, there’s no turning back,
bro.”
    “I gotta be thinking 'bout me.”
    “Are you being straight with me?” asked Davis. “I
didn’t think you were ready to sign up.”
    “You know in order to gang bang with these brothers
we have to court in ?”
    “What the fuck does that mean Bobby?”
    “I think it’s some kind test, a ritual. Two maybe
three guys beat on you for 30 seconds.”
    “Can you fight back during the ritual?” asked
Davis.
    “Sure, but they pick the biggest and strongest mo
fo’s .”
    “Look Bobby. You are my Ace. You know I’ve got your
back. We’ll take care of each other. Let’s sign up.”
    “I’m in. What else we gonna do – become doctors?”
Bobby concurred sarcastically.
    The gang’s indoctrination started out with the courting in ceremony. The biggest guys knocked around the BG’s (baby gangsters) for 30 seconds to establish a loyalty
that is just as irrational as a college fraternity hazing. The
cousins made it through the short beatings with some aspirin and
bags of ice. Nonetheless, they survived, and soon were on the
payroll. Gangs operated with the efficiency of a Wall Street
investment bank. The BG’s were assigned simple jobs at first such
as lookout, cleaner and other manual labor. Later after tests of
loyalty and subordination, the cousins progressed from guest to
associate member.
    Each associate of this gang earned a customized
handgun. Some time ago, one of the gang’s brethren knocked over a
gun and range store. The gang stole several hundred Baretta
Semi-Automatic 9MM pistols. Each gun had a legal capacity of 15
bullets in the clip and one in the barrel. It weighed about two
pounds with deadly, short-term accuracy. Securing these guns was a
big deal to the gang because they were unregistered - without any
ballistic testing traces. The gang contracted a carpenter to
replace the dull black factory handles on the pistols with a