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August 13, 1999/1 Elul 5759, Vol. 51, No.45
Police, town council: Gilbert gang violent, but not anti-Semitic
CHRIS GARIFO
Staff Writer
Jewish residents don't have any particular reason to fear what has been reported to be a white supremacist gang in Gilbert, town leaders and police officials say, because the gang so far has not targeted Jews, but rather seems to engage in random acts of violence.
The Devil Dogs, police say, is a gang of 15 to 30 teenagers that has been implicated in at least two fights this year. Gilbert police Detective Michael Sanchez says that although some members of the gang espouse white-supremacist attitudes, "I haven't seen anything from the Devil Dogs really pertaining to Jews or anything like that."
"Maybe some of the comments they might make would be derogatory (to Jews)," said Sanchez, "but I haven't seen any violence upon anyone in the Jewish community."
Although the gang was earlier reported to be called Devil Dogs White Power, police said Devil Dogs is a subgroup of White Power.
Sanchez suggested that Jewish residents face a greater risk of being in a traffic accident than they do of being victims of the Devil Dogs. He said that, while gang members use some Nazi symbols, such as swastikas or the salute, most do so because "they think it's cool" without really knowing what such symbols mean.
The Devil Dogs is the only gang reported to be operating within Gilbert, down from the 18 to 20 gangs that infested the town four or five years ago. Town Councilwoman Maggie Cathey said the recent media attention focusing on the Devil Dogs is ignoring the success the town has had against criminal street gangs.
"I'm real proud of Gilbert," Cathey said. "Going from 20 or 18 gangs to one gang and (with) our growth rate, which is off the wall - one of the fastest in the nation for a community - that's a real success story and we've been doing a lot to combat gangs."
She said that Gilbert is not an anti-Jewish town, and the actions of a couple dozen teens from one or two high schools do not reflect the attitude of the town as a whole.
Although it was previously reported that the Devil Dogs had more than 300 members, police said that is actually the potential number the gang could get together for a fight by calling friends of friends.
Councilman Mike Evans also pointed to the town's success in reducing the gang presence, but stressed that the town has to continue its efforts.
"I want to make sure they're (the Devil Dogs) stamped out," Evans said.
Evans said he fears that Mayor Cynthia Dunham's continuing efforts to proclaim a town Bible Week may be fostering an atmosphere of exclusion within the town that could make extremist groups feel welcome.
"(The Bible Week issue) basically cost my friendship with (Dunham)," Evans said. "It does in my mind very strongly promote that kind of an attitude (of exclusion)."
Cathey, however, disagrees.
"For one thing, the way (Dunham) has addressed it, she's not been exclusionary," Cathey said.
Dunham was on vacation and unavailable for comment.
Federal District Court Judge Roslyn O. Silver is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the Bible Week proclamation next week, in a case brought by the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.
A number of the Devil Dogs gang members face criminal charges in separate assaults earlier this year, one at a Taco Bell and another at a party at a private residence. Attorneys and parents of the alleged gang members claim the Devil Dogs are not really a gang at all. They say the teens have done nothing more than get into the sort of trouble caused by a mixture of "too many raging hormones and too much beer."
Sanchez, however, disputes such claims.
"If this was a Hispanic gang or a black gang, then immediately they would say that's a gang," Sanchez said. "Because they're (mostly) white, it makes it easier for them to say it's just a group of kids having fun."
He said he is most concerned about the violence that the gang is capable of committing.
"The potential is there (for somebody to get killed)," Sanchez said. "The violence potential is very high, especially when you get four or five people on one person."
Sanchez said the police can attribute fewer than five crimes, ranging from graffiti to aggravated assault, to the Devil Dogs, but he said that number represents "less than a fingernail's thickness" of what the gang has actually done.
He said the gang frequently looks for fights on weekends, goes into other East Valley communities such as Tempe and Mesa, and even goes down to Rocky Point in Mexico to fight.
With the Devil Dogs, Sanchez said, members never go into a fight one-on-one, but always bring in other gang members to outnumber their victims.
Though the FBI is aware of the gang's existence in Gilbert, none of the Devil Dogs' activities have reached the threshold that would initiate an FBI investigation, said Supervisory Special Agent Jody Weis, who heads up the FBI's civil-rights program in Phoenix.
"If anything materializes on this, I know the county attorney would call us and get us involved," Weis said.
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