Just two weeks before Saturday’s mass shooting on Claiborne Avenue, members of the NOPD's street gang unit were transferred to another department as part of a shift in how the department combats gang-related violence.
Police Superintendent Michael Harrison declared that the Saturday massacre is being investigated as a gang incident because one of the three people killed, 30-year-old Jeremiah Lee, was considered an affiliate of the notorious 3NG drug gang.
Of the 11 members of the gang unit, seven went to the Special Operations Division, which operates under the same command as the eight police districts and other uniformed patrols. Four other officers were moved to units away from their former colleagues.
The former gang commander, Lt. Salvatore Caronna, is now assigned to the First Police District. His former second-in-command, Sgt. Derek Burke, was transferred to the Second District. Two other members were moved to the major narcotics unit.
While the transfers leave the gang unit with four fewer officers, Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said the move should help make the unit more pro-active.
“This was a better coordination of delivery of deployment to make sure that the pro-active units wearing uniforms in marked cars are in synch and being pro-actively deployed the same way,” Harrison said.
The gang unit will now work closely with SOD’s “TIGER” unit, an elite squad that was formed to combat strings of armed robberies and car jackings, and has since expanded to investigate non-fatal shootings.
“It's all coordinated in a very efficient way,” Harrison said. “They’ll be working under our TIGER unit. So we know where they're working. It's a force multiplier.”
Another major anti-gang initiative out of City Hall, NOLA for Life, has gone quiet in recent months. The program was launched by former Mayor Mitch Landrieu and served as an umbrella concept for many diverse strategies to reduce violence, ranging from a midnight
basketball league, gang member “call-in” sessions as well as stepped up police enforcement.
Former U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite was the chief prosecutor of several sweeping federal indictments of violent drug gangs, including 3NG, which derives its name from the Third and Galvez intersection where the group had its base of drug-trafficking operations.
Polite said that while many aspects of the old NOLA for Life program have gone dormant, a new strategy is in the works.
“I know that our new mayor is taking a hard look at what is the next strategy that would be appropriate to come out of City Hall,” he said. “I know some of the individuals that she's consulting with in trying to develop that strategy.”
Polite believes Saturday's bloodshed, in which seven people thought to be bystanders were wounded, may accelerate the timetable.
“I suspect that this shooting will spur some additional action there,” he said.
Polite said that to get a meaningful reduction in gang-related violence, state and federal agencies also must remain committed.
“This NOLA for Life multi-agency gang unit strategy requires a level of commitment of time, effort and personnel not just from local law enforcement, from state police, from our other law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Mike Perlstein can be reached at mperlstein@wwltv.com.