1988 SPECIAL REPORT: GANG STREET

A shooting victim dead in the street, bullet holes through a window, the hysterical sobbing of a grieving relative. Over the past several months, local TV news viewers have come to know the fleeting, violent images of Los Angeles’ gang problem all too well. Tonight, KCBS-TV Channel 2 will attempt to go beyond those sensationalized video pictures by devoting its entire prime-time schedule to an examination of what is behind this city’s escalating gang violence and what, if anything, can be done to end it. “We all know about the violence,” says Erik Sorenson, Channel 2 news director. “We know the number of drive-by shootings each week. We see the body bags in the street, the police crashing through the door of a rock cocaine house. Images are what television does well. But it’s very difficult for television news to put those images into perspective. Where did all this violence come from, why is it happening now, what can be done about it? “What we’re trying to do is provide a platform to get at the issues, to put them in some sort of context. People need a framework for understanding the violent images; otherwise, they’re just filled with anxiety.” Focusing primarily on Los Angeles’ two largest and most treacherous gangs, the 3-hour evening begins at 8 with an installment of CBS News’ “48 Hours” called “On Gang Street.” KCBS will then scrap the remaining two hours of CBS’ prime-time schedule for an in-studio discussion on “L.A. Gangs,” with 50 community leaders--including Sheriff Sherman Block, City Council members Gloria Molina and Nate Holden, law enforcement representatives from Pasadena, Inglewood, Compton and Los Angeles, and Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. The “48 Hours” program was shot in May when CBS, in response to the growing number of gang-related killings, sent seven camera crews to the streets of South Central Los Angeles to spend a Friday and Saturday around Los Angeles’ two largest street gangs. The result is a series of stories about the killers and their innocent and not-so-innocent victims, the young men trapped in a vicious cycle of hopelessness and murderous bravado, the cops who battle them and the few optimistic individuals fighting to effect some change. The program, which will be broadcast nationally, covers vast emotional territory--including following the funeral procession of a 13-year-old girl accidentally gunned down on the sidewalk near her home. Perhaps the most chilling moments come from the teen-age gang members themselves, who, surrounded by their fellow “homeboys” on the street, declare that their whole reason for being in a gang--and by extension their sole purpose in life--is to kill a rival gang member whenever one of their own is gunned down. Later, when cornered in a quiet moment alone, some of these same ruthless killers concede that they would like nothing more than to be free of the gang--and of their constant fear of dying before the day is out.

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