BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY DEC. 19, 2018) — Not to ruin the Christmas season for anyone, but Pittsfield and North Adams need to brace for even more gang activity, this spurred by the infamous MS-13 group. This revelation comes in the wake of a report in The Boston Globe that reported the group’s presence in the Hub area has been all but eliminated. Good news for the Athens of America, bad news for Springfield and Berkshire County — South County excluded, of course.

THE PLANET presents this except from the Globe report published last week:

“MS-13, the deadly international gang the Trump administration has held up as justification for its hard-line stance on illegal immigration, has been effectively neutralized in the Boston area, the state’s top federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

“’MS-13 is one of the biggest success stories of the last year,’” Andrew Lelling said during an hour-long discussion with reporters on his first year as the US attorney in Massachusetts. “We have all but eradicated MS-13 in the Greater Boston area. We’re running out of MS-13 targets.”

THE PLANET informs Lelling that if he wants new targets to “Go west, young man,” because that’s what the gangs will do. Along the way, he might want to send a message by carrier pigeon to incoming Berkshire County district attorney Andrea Harrington and her top assistant, the newly minted Rich Dohoney, that the MS bunch has big plans for the area. Part of Lelling’s off-the-record comments indicate that his success in Boston may well lead to problems in the western fringes of the Commonwealth.

“Groups [like MS-13] don’t simply go out of business,” a Globe colleague told THE PLANET. “Stop [them] out here, and they move someplace else. They’re looking for new territory, and one of the hot spots on their radar will probably be out your way.”

That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the fact that local law enforcement and criminal justice officials basically admitted at a recent community meeting (translate: “Photo-op”) that they are overwhelmed, can’t keep up with local crime and violence, and don’t know what to do. Just this past Sunday, we got a taste of how the game works: Gunplay, usually on the West Side, a male teenager shot, and then he goes D&D (street talk for “deaf and dumb”) to the cops. A local law-enforcement source told THE PLANET he believes the kid was shot in the leg “as a warning.” That’s how the gangs play. Next time, it will be “two in the hat.” Or take the holdup at gunpoint at the dollar store in the 600 block of North Street Tuesday afternoon. Please.

Such events put up a billboard for MS-13 that read, “Welcome to Pittsfield.”

It’s not clear when the full impact of this move will take place, although you can count it as a certainty that neither officials in the county’s two cities nor local mainstream media, particularly The Boring Broadsheet, will admit that the tide is coming in, relentlessly. It’s another Pulitzer-worthy story sitting right under The BB‘s nose that it won’t investigate because it will take time and the commitment of resources, to say nothing of going against its sworn narrative that “everything’s hunky dory.” It’s too bad, because if the local daily would devote itself to such stories, the glare of publicity might be enough to get gangs and other criminal elements to think twice about The Berkshires. Instead, it chooses to once more fail the community.

MS-13, which originated in Los Angeles, is not an international group. In fact, it’s relatively small. One estimate puts the members at 10,000. It seems to have focused on the coasts, spreading from its LA roots to move out across the Southwest before heading east to Long Island, New York City, and Boston. It has a history of extreme violence. The gang feeds off of Hispanic communities in cities, concentrating on high schools and neighborhoods. The recent brawl at Taconic High School and other less- or unreported incidents of violence in local schools provide another preview of coming attractions.

THE PLANET  thinks of the prophecies of our good friend Chuck Garivaltis during his mayoral bid in the early 80s. He warned officials then that if they didn’t take proactive measures, what we see unfolding today would occur. They refused to listen. Well, guess what. Garivaltis was spot-on, and now the city finds itself flying Mach 3 with its head on fire.

———————————————————————————————————–

“Trendy is the last stage before tacky” — Karl Langerfeld.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. All users of this website — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else making use of its information hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.