Gang Violence = Terrorism
Written on December 29, 2004
Yes!! It’s about time that somebody took this step!
New York Gang Member Faces Trial as Terrorist:
Morales faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder as a terrorist act. A New York grand jury returned the charges against him in connection with the shooting death of 10-year-old Melanie Mendez, who died from gunshot wounds two years earlier.
Morales plans to plead innocent, said his attorney, Lewis Alperin. No date has yet been set for his trial.
Morales is the first gang member in New York to be indicted under the state’s terrorism statute, which became law shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
…
The 70-count indictment said the gang members conspired to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population.”
It included a long list of crimes cited as evidence they terrorized a city neighborhood, including allegations they harassed and robbed customers of a local restaurant, fired guns into a crowded park, shot a teenager in the face and slashed someone’s throat.
The mother, of course, is playing the “not my baby!” card, claiming that her son is nothing like Osama bin Laden.
Terrorism isn’t confined to Islamic radicals bent on destroying the West. When you deliberately engage in acts of violence and murder with the intent to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” — even if it’s only a neighborhood — that’s terrorism.
The last line says it best:
But Eve Santana, owner of a bridal shop, said while maybe not on the scale of bin Laden, “of course they are terrorists.”
“They do terrorize neighborhoods. Innocent bystanders die … and they have to pay.”