Gang Leader for a Day

Times elapses, and its been three years that Sudhir has observed JT and others in the BKs and in the Robert Taylor Homes. In discussions with his adviser Bill Wilson, Sudhir agrees to “expand” his project as a way of understanding how the BKs control and affect the gray-market economies of the projects. To do this, Sudhir resolves to begin asking more pointed questions of JT about how finances work in the gang, and how money moves from group to group throughout the Homes.

Sudhir listens to JT talk frequently about how he is the “CEO” of a group of people. But Sudhir believes that JT barely works, instead delegating most of his responsibilities to others. He says this to JT and JT, half-angry but intrigued, tells Sudhir that he can be “gang leader for a day,” only one, to see what exactly JT does. Sudhir agrees, with a major stipulation: that he not be directly involved in any criminal activity. JT agrees to this, and they meet in a diner the next morning: JT, Sudhir, T-Bone, and Price.

Sudhir immediately has to reckon with several problems. Some tenants in Robert Taylor have thrown a party without cleaning it up, bothering other tenants, and Sudhir has to assign foot soldiers to deal with the mess. Price then tells Sudhir that he, the leader, has to figure out a place for the gang to meet on a weekly basis. Pastor Wilkins has offered a church room to the BKs, but JT and the lieutenants caution that Sudhir might not want to be indebted to Wilkins for so big a favor, since Wilkins has his own agenda. Sudhir realizes just how detailed the gang’s business is, even before they’ve left the diner.

Sudhir then drives with T-Bone, Price, and JT to meet with Johnny, who owns a corner store near Robert Taylor. Johnny pays the BKs “protection,” like many businesses. But Johnny is visibly upset at this extortion, and voices his frustration to JT. (Johnny also wonders why Sudhir is talking so much, but JT does not explain that Sudhir is “gang leader for a day.”) Johnny agrees to stop raising prices for BK members in the store, which he has been doing out of retaliation, and JT and his lieutenants agree to rein in members of the gang who are brazenly stealing from the shelves while Johnny is present. Sudhir and the BKs leave, the quarrel largely resolved.

Next, Sudhir must resolve a quarrel between two low-level foot soldiers, Billy and Otis. Sudhir knows them both: he respects Billy’s desire for self-improvement, and is afraid of Otis, who once threatened him after Sudhir refereed a BK basketball game and ejected Otis for excessive fouling. Billy, Otis’s sales superior, accuses Otis of stealing some of the profits from recent sales. Otis essentially admits to this, but claims he was stealing because Billy wasn’t paying him his full cut to begin with. JT and Sudhir walk away, and JT asks Sudhir what he would do to resolve the dispute.

Sudhir says that, because both Billy and Otis have broken the rules, their punishments should “offset,” like in the NFL—neither is then punished. JT thinks this is “smart” reasoning, as do the lieutenants, but JT also tells Sudhir that Otis should be punished for stealing (JT agrees with Sudhir, that they can’t prove Billy was withholding wages). JT and the lieutenants beat Otis as punishment, and though Sudhir is upset at this (and does not participate), JT justifies his actions, saying that people must pay the consequences when they openly flout the hierarchy within the BKs.

To round out his day with the BKs, Sudhir rides with JT to various “street groups,” where “directors” report to JT what they’ve sold, in what quantities, and to whom. The directors also detail police activity and any other problems with staff or customers. Sudhir notes that JT has “informants,” often homeless or otherwise under-employed people in the neighborhoods, who can corroborate what the directors say.

Sudhir is shocked to learn, during these rounds, that many people “rip off” JT to an extent in the handling of normal drug-selling. For example, “mixers” who bake the crack cocaine occasionally “dilute” the mixture and pocket the difference. Similarly, salesmen on teams sometimes skim from the till. Occasionally JT will threaten or beat (or have others beat) salesmen who do this. But other times, JT accepts that this skimming is part of an illegal business—a way to keep his sales teams happy and keep the cops away.

At the end of his day as gang leader, Sudhir is exhausted, and realizes just how much JT has to keep track of—nearly all of it in his head, as JT is worried that any written record of his doings could be incriminating if he is ever caught by the police. Sudhir ends the chapter noting that, although he can return to being a researcher after the day is done, JT must return to the gang leader job, one that Sudhir has very clearly underestimated in its complexity and demands.