Globe gang coverage: unintended consequences?

Published Nov 29 2006, 12:32 PM by Adam Reilly

The title of the story the Globe's Suzanne Smalley wrote about a truce between Boston's Heath Street and H-Block gangs earlier this month--"2 gangs find real peace, in secret"--raised an obvious question: would the aforementioned peace be jeopardized by being made public?

Now, following yesterday's killing of an H-Block leader in Roxbury, it's worth asking again.

To be clear, Smalley wrote that the truce might not last past Labor Day. And as today's coverage of Jamhol Norfleet's murder notes, Norfleet was killed exactly one year after the murder of Heath Street's Carl Searcy. That said, the original Globe story may well have made it more difficult to keep the truce alive through the fall.

Take another look at this no-comment from then-acting police comissioner Albert Goslin, which accompanied Smalley's story and was delivered via spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll: "Commissioner Goslin believes that it is premature to engage in public discussion about this ambitious initiative. Disclosing details is potentially detrimental to the mission, which is decreasing gun violence on the streets of Boston."

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3 Comments

John Bannon said:

It's easy to blame the media. Especially when you are a weekly rag that survives on prostitution ads and you're jealous the Globe got a good scoop. If the Phoenix had had the truce story, is there any doubt you would have printed it? Of course not. But that's besides the point, which is that it's absurd to blame journalists for doing their job.

November 29, 2006 9:34 PM
Bill R said:

Oh dear, I'd missed Goslin's comment in the original piece. Odd to mention "after Labor Day" in a piece run in early November too. Was it perhaps written earlier and embargoed? I don't believe I've said "Welcome" yet, so Welcome. Bill R

November 29, 2006 10:30 PM
Adam said:

Bill R: interesting point about the possible embargo. And thanks. John: Leaving aside the Phoenix's "adult" section and my possible jealousy issues, do you think it's theoretically possible that Smalley's piece destabilized the truce she was writing about? I'm not saying the Globe piece shouldn't have been printed--just that it may have had that effect.

November 29, 2006 11:39 PM