Police warn gangs - in person

During the 90-minute meeting at West Roxbury District Court, federal and county prosecutors warned the nearly 50 purported gang members attending that they could face lengthy sentences in federal prison if they continued on a path of violence. Religious leaders spoke of the trauma that violence can inflict on a community and families. A mother told of the pain of losing her son to street violence.

The goal, said law enforcement officials, was to make sure the gang members would tell their friends what they heard.

"We wanted to make sure the message . . . was getting across the city that if you are involved in guns and violence, we'll pull all the levers available to us," Boston Police Superintendent Daniel Linskey, who spoke at the meeting, said yesterday evening.

The meeting, organized by the state probation department, was rare because of the risks in bringing together so many different groups. Law enforcement officials sometimes meet with members of a single gang or with two gangs that have been feuding, but not with so many gang representatives at once.

The gathering took place at a time of increasing unrest and growing concern about the approach of summer, when violent crime generally rises. There were 92 nonfatal shootings in Boston through May 31, up 48 percent compared with the same time last year.

Officials reviewed intelligence reports to make sure that none of the gangs represented at the meeting were currently fighting with each other. Half a dozen officers from the Boston police department's gang unit sat outside the courtroom where the meeting took place. Outside, about 10 patrol officers and state troopers stood sentry, waiting for the meeting to break up.

Yesterday's warnings of long federal sentences were reminiscent of the tactics used successfully in the late 1990s as part of the Boston Miracle, when the city gained national attention for dramatically reducing homicides. Prosecutors from the US attorney's office and the Suffolk district attorney's office were at the meeting.

Commissioner Edward F. Davis has said that the spike in violence is a result of recently released felons who are returning to their old neighborhoods and going back to crime.

But other law enforcement officials said they have also seen some gangs form alliances to gain an advantage over other rivals, a development that extends the reach of the gangs and can fuel more violence.

The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who attended the meeting, said it was crucial to gather such a large group.

"Part of the problem is that you can talk to one or two groups about something that you want to happen citywide, but if you can't get to a large cross-section of people, your message will get lost," Brown said. "To hit them all at the same time with the same message is critical."

Inside, the attendants, men between 17 and 21 years of age, sat in a courtroom. Many have been arrested for firearms offenses and in some cases have been shot at, according to law enforcement officials. They were ordered to attend the meeting as part of their probation.

They were shown a short video called "Mandatory Sentence," about a young man in a rough neighborhood whose desire to be respected by other gang members lands him in jail.

They were warned they could end up like Kelly Smoak, a 36-year-old Dorchester man who last week was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for crack cocaine distribution. They were told the city is trying to provide them with more social services.

When the men came out of the meeting, dressed in jeans, T-shirts, and baseball hats, they were mostly quiet. Some lit cigarettes as they left the courtroom. Others talked to the officers gathered outside.

Asked what officials said at the meeting, one young man smiled and said, "Stay out of trouble. Do the right thing."

One 21-year-old who declined to give his name said the message he received was mixed, with some officials asking how the city could help them escape the violence while others threatened jail time.

"One half wanted to help. The other half was making threats," he said. "I already turned my life around. I'm just doing this to wrap [probation] up."

Kim Odom, whose 13-year-old son Steven was fatally shot in 2007, said she went to the meeting because she wanted those there to understand the emotional aftermath of violence. She read to them passages from Steven's journals that talked about peace and asked them if they had ever experienced the pain of losing someone to murder.

"I told them I still cry," Odom said. "I still cry because my son is no longer physically with me because of something that could have been prevented."

Looking out at the crowd of young men sitting in the courtroom, Odom said she was not sure if her words had any effect.

"I don't know. I don't know," she said. "I'm believing that there were some that heard, that it did make a difference, that I caused somebody to think about the choices that they're making."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.