From the outside, Rico’s crib looks like any other in his St. Paul neighborhood: aluminum siding, wooden porch, chain-link fence, windows shuttered tight. But inside are gathered half a dozen young men–sturdy, hungry–repping the colors of several rival street gangs. It ought to be a tense scene, but Rico’s house is a demilitarized zone, a delicate combination of womb and time bomb–and perhaps the only place these boys feel completely safe. No one is acting reckless tonight. Theyre here to shoot pool, scoop soffrito rice and beans from steaming pots, drink Coronas and E&J brandy from the bottle, and smoke blunts in grape cigarillos on his couch.
Gangs of St. Paul
Apr 24 2008 — 2:00am
12 Reader Comments
11:26 am
Another sign of the growing evolution of Metro magazine from glossy lifestyle pub to something a little meater.
My wife is a subscriber, so I have already read this.
12:38 pm
I’d have to agree 110% with Rico’s statement at the very end of the article about gangs being the biggest problem in America.
1:00 pm
If I were president, the first thing Id do is go to war against the gangs, he says. He calls them the biggest problem in America. I would attack every thug in the country. I would use the National Guard to clean up these damn neighborhoodsinstead of sending them to Iraq to fight a war we aint got no damn business fighting.
Someone make this guy mayor.
5:02 pm
The biggest problem in America is the attitude of the people leaving comments on this fake a** story, the precious founding fathers of this god forsaken country killed, raped, and maimed to establish what most hold out to be such a glorious state of freedom. The same government that gane the natives small pox and alcohol and guns in exchange for knowledge of the land. Pump the guns and drugs into the black, latin, and native communities and then point there cameras at the reult to keep people from looking at the hell they are making of this country. If you can not see the root of gangs in america you are either bling, just damn dumb, or the cause!
9:06 pm
If you can not see the root of gangs in america you are either bling, just damn dumb, or the cause!
If gangs are using that as the basis of their existance, then THEY are either bling, just damn dumb, or the cause! Maybe they should have read a book or something before opening their vein to become blood brothers with such human debris, yo.
9:28 am
I just read this article, and it was excellent. Actually, this entire METRO issue may be the best I’ve read, and I’ve read them all.
11:19 am
As long as it isn’t in my neighborhood, I don’t really care that they kill each other. It’s cheaper that they kill each other than it is on my tax dollars to house them in jail for life and use the legal system. They are a self cleaning oven working their way to undergo extinction. Just keep them confined to East Saint Paul and North Minneapolis. I have no reason to be in either of those areas.
11:22 am
Just an FYI, gangs aren’t only in East Saint Paul and North Minneapolis. South Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park/Center, Richfield, etc. all have problems with gangs.
But continute to live in your fantasy world, it probably IS nice there.
11:24 am
The problem with your statement, burbs, is that often innocent people get caught in the crossfire, so they’re not just killing each other.
11:26 am
I don’t really care that they kill each other
Things are nice over here in the suburbs , except you know, the people.
11:29 am
And at the end of the day these are people too. At what point do your write somebody off? I would wager that many of these kids are salvageable and can become full members of society, provided they got some stability in their life. But we never take kids out of bad homes until it’s too late. The law is on the side of the parent not the child.
12:09 pm
It’s cheaper that they kill each other than it is on my tax dollars to house them in jail for life and use the legal system.
I can’t tell if that’s a joke or simply the worst comment I’ve ever read on MNSpeak.