Community leaders, nonprofits, government social-service agencies and businesses such as the Trail Blazers poured millions of dollars into Northeast Portland to attempt to knit back the fraying threads of society, create job programs, employ role models and give young black kids choices by creating alternatives to gangs in Northeast Portland. Neil Goldschmidt hired a full-time aide to combat Portland's gang activity. Mayor Bud Clark kicked off major reforms of the Police Bureau to tackle the problem. Officials in Oregon were slow to recognize the problem, but once they did-following Portland's first drive-by shooting death, of Joseph "Ray Ray" Winston in August 1988-the response was overwhelming. When you mention the topic of gangs in Portland, most people think of Bloods and Crips, the overwhelmingly black gangs that arrived here in the late '80s. "They are dying in East County," says Officer Rafael Cancio. But as one local gang expert notes, the deadly gang war on the east side of the city has hardly drawn a yawn from the media and the region's elected leaders. You'd think the violent deaths of three young Portlanders (one victim was 14) might be cause for alarm. He was the third Latino killed in a five-week span, a deadly spree that hints at a burgeoning Hispanic youth gang problem that has taken social-service providers-as well as Portland police-completely by surprise. Alexander, a suspected member of the Paso Robles Boyz, is believed to have been shot by a rival after leaving the Expo Center.
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