The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Boston Police Department, the FBI and the Department of Correction deserve JP’s thanks for the investigation that appears to have gutted the brutal Boylston Street gang. The band of killers and dope-slingers has been a menace to our neighborhood for far too long.
It is notable that most of those arrested live miles away from Boylston Street. Like any other multinational corporation engaged in evil business, the drug ring has poisoned and exploited local youths while siphoning the profits far away.
As welcome as this crackdown is, it is only a temporary peace. Other gangs now have elbow room, and local gang culture isn’t going away while kids live in two very different versions of Jamaica Plain.
In one JP, streets turn into playgrounds on weekends for local kids to roam freely; in another JP, kids have to avoid certain streets or get stabbed or shot. In one JP, people openly deal drugs on the street; in another JP, people discreetly use drugs behind attractive walls.
JP as a whole offers youths a lot of opportunities, alternatives and safe harbors. But clearly, still not enough of them.