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Chris Wysocki
Caldwell, NJ
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Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Newark mayoral hopeful Ras Baraka wrote letters on behalf of notorious gang boss
Cory Booker sometimes hung out with Newark's drug dealers.
One of the guys vying to replace him goes one better. South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka is tight with Al-Tariq Gumbs, aka "Killer Reek," founder of the notoriously violent Brick City Brims street gang. How tight? Baraka wrote letters requesting leniency for Gumbs.
A councilman vying to replace Cory Booker as mayor of New Jersey's largest city has written letters used in motions requesting leniency for one of Newark's most notorious gang leaders, The Star-Ledger has learned.
South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka wrote the letters on behalf of convicted gang lord Al-Tariq Gumbs at his sentencing in 2010, the same year Gumbs was accused of plotting murders from a federal prison cell in Arizona, court papers obtained by the newspaper show.
That first letter was dated Nov. 10, 2010 — 10 months after Gumbs was indicted on the murder conspiracy charges. Baraka's letter was filed in support of a motion to reduce Gumbs' bail.
The second letter was used two years later in an effort to get Gumbs' sentence reduced after he pleaded guilty to some of the conspiracy charges from 2010, according to copies of the letters and court transcripts obtained by the newspaper.
Gumbs' attorney, Thomas Ambrosio, said the second letter was a plea for leniency.
"It was a general, 'Hey, please be lenient on him and I think he's turned his life around' kind of letter," Ambrosio said.
In the first letter, Baraka said he believed Gumbs could be integral to resolving some of the gang disputes that often lead to shootings and homicides in the Brick City.
"Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to communicate with (Gumbs) through mail and have been personally impressed by his writing and passion to self correct and be an asset to our community," Baraka wrote.
Why is Baraka trying to get Gumbs out of prison? To broker a "truce" between the gangs that have turned Newark into the murder capital of the universe.
"All the kids in this city know the legend of 'Killer Reek' in the community," Baraka said, referring to Gumbs' street name. "When you walk into a neighborhood and you say we're trying to put together a truce, and Killer Reek is a part of this truce, that holds a whole hell of a lot of damn weight."
It's the "pretty please stop killing each other" approach to crime fighting.
An interesting idea, until you think about it for more than 10 seconds. Brokering a truce implies tacit endorsement of the gangs' existence and raison d'etre, which of course is crime. Drugs. Prostitution. Robbery. Protection. Carjacking. All that stuff which makes Newark such a fun place to live and work.
It elevates criminal scum to equals of the city's elected officials, inflating their egos and emboldening their nefarious activities. Killer Reek is rubbin' elbows with the mayor man, so he's got juice.
"All the kids in this city know the legend of 'Killer Reek." That's gotta be the saddest commentary on life in Newark that I've ever heard. A murderous thug is a "legend?" In what sane universe?
But in Ras Baraka's universe, coddling gang bangers will be Job 1.
If elected, Baraka said, he would not shy away from writing similar letters. Newark will see its annual homicide total increase for the fourth straight year in 2013, and Baraka said it's long past time to take a different approach to crime-fighting, even if that means working closely with the criminal community.
Part of Baraka's public safety plan, dubbed "Project Chill," involves improved communication with gang members to stymie street disputes. The councilman has been touting his gang intervention plan all week, in the wake of a series of shootings that left several teenagers dead, including a 13-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet while taking out the trash on Christmas night.
I'd be beating the bushes trying to catch the killers. But apparently that's so last century, or something. Ras Baraka's kinder, gentler approach involves chillin' while drinking tea and singing Kumbaya and hoping the killers will mend their ways and take jobs delivering pizza.
Which I'm sure will work out just great.
Is it any surprise that Baraka is the front-runner for Booker's job? A guy
in the pocket of the street gangs could soon be mayor of Newark. My advice
to any decent people still living there is this — Get Out, get out
now, while you still can. Because Newark needs a man like Rudy
Guiliani. But they're getting another Nucky Johnson.
Posted at 10:18 by Chris Wysocki
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