For those who live in, frequent or hang out on the East side of the Mississippi River, there’s an old expression that “crap is just allowed to go on.” Apparently U.S. Attorney Stephen “Marshal Dillon” Wigginton and St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan “Festus” Kelly received that memo and have taken some proactive measures to reverse that perception.
In a high-profile drug sting targeting rampant drug dealing in East St. Louis, Washington Park, Alorton and Brooklyn over the past three months, Kelly has announced the recent arrests of about three dozen people and brought charges against 58 suspected drug dealers.
Describing it as a “state of lawlessness” which “occurs with impunity” and is “the hallmark of a failed state,” “Operation Wild, Wild West” – an investigation run by the Illinois State Police and the undercover Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southern Illinois – began in May with funding from a $150,000 federal grant.
The sting resulted in charges including cocaine and heroin delivery, conspiracy, possession of illegal guns (about two dozen seized) and armed violence.
The arrests, many the result of videotaped drug transactions at ESL gas stations during daylight hours, as well as open drug sales near churches, schools and public housing, underscore the brazen nature of the East Boogie’s “open secret.”
ESL Mayor Alvin Parks chooses to describe the problem as “a state of challenges,” pointing to the need for more manpower, equipment and training for his understaffed police department of 55.
Kelly partially agreed, adding, “If you get the perfect cop, he can do great things, but in the face of this level of activity, this level of violence, this level of drugs that are flowing into the community, it’s very difficult for them to overcome that.”
But there’s also the sense of hopelessness that stems from a lack of jobs and economic opportunities among the residents of these targeted communities on the East Side and in “the hood” in general.
Gangsters, prostitution and a criminal subculture, have been a prominent part of the Metro East’s DNA for over a century, but working-class jobs in meat packing plants, factories, chemical plants or political patronage jobs historically provided a means of survival for the underclass.
Now that many of those jobs are nonexistent, illicit means of “hustling” as well as a permanent welfare culture have created a toxic mixture of dependency and a predator mentality that has become reckless, brazen and flagrant.
This problem is far bigger than any Metro East mayor, the state’s attorney, police or sheriff’s department. This problem is a federal one and is only exacerbated by the political obstructionism of conservatives in their efforts to neutralize President Obama at all costs.
And unless job creation and job training become a national priority, we will continue to write and talk about the “The Wild, Wild East,” which is only a symptom of a much larger national problem.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com Twitter@JamesTIngram.
