Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

A different breed: 311 Boyz are unlike other gangs

WEEKEND EDITION: Sept. 28, 2003

To a gang expert like Metro Police Sgt. Dave Stansbury, the 311 Boyz are anything but normal.

To a sociologist like UNLV professor Terry Miethe, the situation is a bizarre puzzle.

To a parent like Seaneen Defoor, it's a nightmare.

Metro Police say alleged members of the 311 Boyz are unlike almost any other gang they investigate: the members are white teens, they mostly come from good homes in an affluent area in the northwest valley, and they videotaped each other in brutal fights.

Police say the current or former Centennial High School students are connected to a string of violence this summer, including several fights caught on videotape.

With the indictments of several alleged members of the gang in brutal beatings, the 311 Boyz have posed a series of troubling questions for the community.

"What is happening in our (school) district, in our community?" Clark County School Board member Larry Mason asked. "What happened to tolerance? Did these young men do this because they thought it was cool, or did they do it because of some perceived threat? What are they seeing, reading, who are they talking to that put this idea out there? Was it a person, an event, a book, the Internet?

"If we try to answer these questions, maybe we can start to have some real discussions about how to keep these kinds of things from happening again."

So far, there haven't been any simple answers.

Experts and others close to the case say that there are any number of things that contribute to such behavior -- lack of parental involvement, boredom or the need to be part of a group.

But many in the community are questioning how the 311 Boyz got to this point.

Chris Hernandez, a lifelong resident of the northwest valley whose daughter goes to Centennial, was horrified by the videotape.

"Every time they flashed on the news, I wondered just where did these kids' parents think they were that night," she said. "A lot of this is just poor parental supervision. Sometimes people are too busy chasing the almighty dollar to care about their kids."

Police are still investigating. They say there's no question the group was a gang. They say the violence and the attitude behind the behavior are shocking. Investigators allege the gang shares symbols with racist groups, including a name that allegedly means KKK and the Iron Cross, which is associated by some to Nazi Germany. Incidents linked to the group are violent.

Nine teens have been charged in District Court in connection with Hansen's injuries: Chris Farley, 18; Scott Morse, 18; Jeff Hart, 17; 16-year-old twins Anthony and Brandon Gallion; Ernest Bradley Aguilar, 17; Steven Gazlay, 18; Dominic Harriman, 19, and Matthew Castello, 17. Each teen faces 13 felony charges in District Court. Those charges include attempted murder, coercion and mayhem, all with use of a deadly weapon.

Adam "Taz" Henry, 23, was also charged with battery in this incident. Police say Henry started the fight by knocking Quinn to the ground. Police say after Henry knocked Quinn down, Quinn was attacked by Gazlay and other members of the 311 Boyz. Henry entered into negotiations with prosecutors. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor; he was given probation and ordered to pay $200 in restitution.

Hart and Brandon Gallion also face felony battery charges including attempted murder in this case. Prosecutors in Juvenile Court are trying to get these two teens' case transferred to the adult system.

Hart was charged in Juvenile Court in connection with the robbery, but his attorney announced Friday morning that the charges had been dropped. Prosecutors said school records from Centennial High School proved Hart was in school during the time the robbery took place.

Police have not found a new suspect.

Hart initially faced seven felony counts, including robbery, burglary and assault, all with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident. Now he only faces charges in the attack on Hansen and the fight in which two teens were injured.

The mistake regarding Hart is likely to fuel the defendants' lawyers' complaints that police have made the teens' actions out to be more than they were and have "overcharged" the teens. They say the teens are not in a gang, and they say the fighting in the videotapes was consensual.

The teens have said they were nothing more than a "party crew" that went out to have fun. Their attorneys have argued that the name is taken from the name of a rock band and have said that the symbol many of the boys sport on clothing and tattoos -- the Iron Cross -- is nothing more than a popular symbol among skateboard and motorcycle enthusiasts.

Defense attorneys believe that prosecutors have overblown the charges and one said the prosecutors are trying to "manipulate" the system with videotapes.

Stansbury, a sergeant with Metro's Gang Crimes Section, said there is no question in his mind the 311 Boyz are a gang -- albeit far from the norm.

'Very rare' case

"This is very rare for us -- something we do not see on a day-to-day basis -- gang members from upper scale homes in gated communities," he said.

At one point in late July, the case was about to be closed as a single incident involving the one boy who had been critically injured in the rock-throwing incident. But with the confiscation of video of the alleged illegal activities of the group, the gang unit was brought in to further investigate.

"We found a bunch of punks who got a thrill out of beating up people with fists, crowbars and rocks," Stansbury said.

"If you didn't do your part as a member of the gang you felt the wrath of the gang. We know of one boy who did not participate to a satisfactory level. They held a kangaroo court and threw him out. We don't know his identity so that may have been the best thing that could have happened to him."

Stansbury said the 311 Boyz are believed to have 37 members or "associates." All are white. Two have Hispanic surnames.

While few would argue that the alleged actions of the 311 Boyz are not brutal, many disagree with police labeling them a "gang." A gang, by definition, involves three or more people coming together to commit criminal acts to further the gang.

Stansbury said the 311 Boyz are a gang, but he noted it's not what people typically think of as being a gang.

"We are talking about rocks vs. guns," he said.

Still, police and prosecutors believe the gang was violent because it committed severe beatings.

Police believe the group planned to sell its video footage to produce a tape similar to "Bumfights," a video that made national headlines with its scenes of homeless people fighting. Investigators and prosecutors say the alleged plan satisfies the requirement of a gang benefiting financially from crime.

Randy Shelden, professor of criminal justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and author of the book "Youth Gangs in American Society," questions whether the 311 Boyz are a gang, noting that by definition gangs are close-knit and have a defined leadership. The 311 Boyz "are ratting each other out and appear to have little or no cohesiveness."

There is a fine line between a gang and a group influenced by mob mentality, he said.

"With the 311 Boyz, you had a party that apparently got out of hand and someone got seriously hurt," he said. "Individuals committed acts in the heat of the moment and in a context of mob mentality. But that does not make them a gang."

Using that definition "we can stretch gang labeling to such ludicrous points to include calling our ex-county commissioners a gang," he said, referring to the political corruption case in which a current commissioner and three former commissioners are allegedly being investigated.

"People getting together in groups is the normal process," Shelden said. "We join groups for social activities and for a collective identity. And there is a desire by kids at puberty to separate themselves from their parents in favor of their peers. It is their peer group they most want to impress, not parents."

Miethe, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociology professor and an expert on gang violence in society, also questions whether the 311 Boyz really is a gang.

"What you have here does not jibe with the reality of what gangs are," Miethe said, noting that a group of friends in a clique is not necessarily a gang.

Whether or not the group is classified as a gang, it's tough for many to understand why an affluent group of teens could be involved in such a series of incidents.

"With any youth, rich or poor, you have the same frustrations and volatility," Miethe said. "It's tough being a kid whether you are black, white, fat or skinny. Then you add to that boredom or a desire to get wild and crazy."

Brad Garrett, senior child intervention specialist with the Clark County Juvenile Court, sees the most violent of youth offenders. He said it may be a sign of the times.

"Today, kids tend to be a little more aggressive -- quick to react and use aggression to resolve a situation," he said, noting that television shows and movies reinforce that behavior.

"We see more violence in the home and more violence toward parents -- kids threatening moms with knives," Garrett said. "And while this is more prevalent in lower socio-economic areas, we are seeing it across the board at all levels, including with females."

While not downplaying the violence, a few sociologists say the 311 Boyz may be a byproduct of adolescence.

"I was a delinquent who never got caught stealing and vandalizing, and years later I looked back and asked myself, why did I ever do that?" Shelden said. "The majority of kids who do illegal things never get in trouble or have to answer for their actions in court. Through maturational reform -- the simple act of maturing or growing up -- we just change our ways."

For the last seven years Garrett has conducted the certification process to have youth offenders tried as adults but did not do so in this case. He said many youths today do not fear the consequences of their actions.

"Some youths get away with a lot and, over time, what some of them learn is that standard consequences no longer affect them," he said.

"They're not afraid of their parents because they realize their parents are limited in what they can do to them. They are not afraid of being expelled from school. At that point, control is lost. Sometimes the only way to get it back is for the system to get involved."

Neighborhood, parents

The neighborhoods the teens come from aren't typically associated with gang activity.

The 2002 Census says that the neighborhoods in which all but one of the indicted youths live offer more educational and economic advantages than the average neighborhood in Clark County.

Census Tract 32.03 in Clark County is practically the same as the school district's designated boundaries for Centennial High. Those boundaries generally are Mount Charleston to the west, Kyle Canyon Road to the north, Rancho Drive to the east and Cheyenne Avenue to the south.

According to the Census, nearly 90 percent of the residents in the area are white and 98.8 percent of the population live in single-family homes. In Clark County, about 70 percent of the residents are white and slightly more than half of the families live in single family homes.

The area is more affluent than the average Clark County neighborhood and residents are better educated than average, according to the Census.

But affluence, Miethe said, has its consequences.

"Maybe the parents were too busy chasing the elusive dollar and not dealing with their kids -- but I don't know that for a fact," he said.

"People who are affluent do have options such as hiring babysitters and nannies. But so often delinquency results in a lack of supervision of youth, and that has no class boundary."

Miethe said that "while the 311 Boyz may be economically advantaged that does not mean they are socially advantaged.

"I have two teenage boys and I live somewhat affluently," he said. "I worried about them way before this."

D.J. Stutz, president of the Nevada PTA, said it's a mistake to believe groups similar to the 311 Boyz can't pop up in more affluent areas.

"Just because a parent has money doesn't mean they're good parents," said Stutz, who has a son who attends Centennial High School where eight of the nine indicted 311 Boyz either currently go to school or have attended.

"I've seen kids from great families turn out rotten, and kids from rotten families turn out great. But I also know kids make a lot of their own choices, and sometimes they make the worst decisions despite the best efforts of their parents."

Stansbury said that while the 311 Boyz are in many ways different than gangs from poorer neighborhoods, in many ways there are similarities.

"In poorer neighborhoods we enter houses that are small, crowded and not clean," he said. "We find a single mom raising several kids, working two jobs to put food on the table and barely keep what little they have. As a result, there is no supervision, yet she is surprised to find her son is in trouble."

"In this case, we entered large, clean homes with multi-car garages. Mom and dad work long hours to maintain their high status. As a result there is no supervision, yet they are surprised to find their son in trouble."

The reactions from the parents of the 311 Boyz were typical, Stansbury said.

"Some defended their kids, some were in denial," he said. "Most were in absolute slack-jawed shock -- stunned and embarrassed. Mom and dad were just not aware. Some did not know who their kids were hanging out with."

Questions were not asked of the teens' activities and the teens certainly did not admit to their parents what they had been doing, Stansbury said.

"Some parents looked the other way -- stuck their heads in the sand," he said. "They figured if their kid had come home OK and they had not heard from the police, everything was all right. Many of them just did not want to know."

Shelden said although "there can be instances of sloppy parenting, most parents care and do not want their kids to end up in trouble."

"Kids go to incredible lengths to hide their actions from their parents," he said. "Most parents are honestly shocked when they learn the things that were hidden from them."

The details of the group's activities have left students such as Centennial High School junior Brad Massanari wondering about the young men's families.

"Home life matters a lot," Massanari said. "If your parents let you stay out all night and just roam around and never check in, you're probably going to get into trouble. That's obvious."

Hernandez, the mother of a Centennial student, said she sees an unpleasant logic to the 311 Boyz.

"If you have a gang of wealthy kids that would be the premise of their belief system, that they're privileged and superior to everyone else," she said. "It starts out with money being the measure, then it moves on to race.

"They have the attitude that their dads can afford the best attorneys, so nothing can happen to them because they'll get out of trouble."

But to what extent can parents discipline their kids? Does sparing the rod, indeed spoil the child?

'Just a myth'

"That's just a myth," Shelden said. "Our prisons today are filled with men and women who as children were severely abused and beaten by their parents. Those beatings did not straighten them out.

"The answer is for parents to impose rules on children and enforce them."

Attempts to interview parents of the indicted youths were not successful. Attorneys for the boys and their families either declined or did not return phone calls in response to requests for interviews.

The mother of one indicted boy, reached by cell phone, said she could not speak without the approval of her attorney. She said, however, that she and other parents of the boys are not wealthy as has been portrayed in the media and that some of them are mortgaging their homes to pay for their kids' defense.

Defoor, the mother of one alleged member of the 311 Boyz, told the Sun in a previous interview that she tried to do everything she could to straighten out her son. She said her son was arrested several times and she tried asked for help and even pleaded with judges to give her son longer sentences.

"As a parent you can only do so much," she said.

Stansbury said listening to "gangsta" rap music and wearing baggy pants and tank tops might be red flags that kids are leaning toward joining a gang, but he said they also could be just a preference of music or a fashion statement.

"What parents should be looking for is more of a change in attitude," Stansbury said. "You have to stay on top of kids, know who their friends are, where they are going and what they are doing. You have to keep in touch.

"Some of the 311 Boyz played organized sports and went to church but trouble still found them."

Stansbury said that despite the fact that most of the 311 Boyz went to Centennial last year -- and likely began their friendships there -- the school is not a major player in the issue of the alleged criminal activity.

"Everything that we know of was done was done over the summer and away from the school on their free time," Stansbury said.

Leonard Paul, superintendent of Northwest Region schools in Clark County, said people are quick to blame schools as a breeding ground for the gangs, when school statistics show there is little if any gang influence on the campuses.

Centennial freshman Shondell Ross II, who moved to northwest Las Vegas this year from near Long Beach, Calif., said he has seen no signs that gangs are active at his new school.

"If they're here, they're keeping it undercover pretty good," Ross said. "My last school was way more violent. This is the lap of luxury compared to that." Centennial students, including Massanari, say they first heard talk over the summer of a group of guys calling themselves the 311 Boyz staging fights around town.

"I thought they were just doing it to get attention," Massanari said. "I never thought they would actually go around hurting people. A lot of what we're hearing is kind of hard to believe."

Gang signs

Police have alleged that there are troubling signs with the symbols the gang used. Investigators say 311 stands for the Klu Klux Klan -- K is the 11th letter in the alphabet, and the name is pronounced "3-11" for three Ks.

Defense attorneys and members of the group say the argument is nonsense. They say the group is named after a band, and the cross is used by a skateboard manufacturer.

Allen Meads, a junior at Centennial, who is black, said the 311 Boyz "are not what you expect out here."

"I've never had any problems with anyone," he said. "As far as school goes, everybody's nice."

The allegations of racism surprised some students such as Massanari, who knows one of the indicted boys.

"I didn't know what 311 meant until someone told me," Massanari said. "There are (other) guys who drive around with confederate flags on their trucks and things like that, but it's never been a big issue."

Recently, principals at Centennial and Cimarron-Memorial High School instituted a ban on the Iron Cross symbol -- angering a number of students.

Two years ago, Josh Lynch, now a senior at Centennial, burned an Iron Cross into his bicep using a lighter and a belt buckle. He's angry that he must now keep his arm covered or risk detention.

"I'm not a racist, I just like bikes," Lynch said.

Paul, who backs the principals' decision, said, the ban was "done to prevent a disruptive environment." He was quoting school district policy that allows principals to take action to address fads that can spark problems on campus.

The district has also put the teens who are accused of crimes in connection with the incidents in home-schooling programs to avoid problems at school.

Clark County School Board President Sheila Moulton said for years she has seen groups of teenagers jump out of cars at the county park near both her home and Las Vegas High School, roughhouse in noisy groups and then pile back in before pealing away.

"What I've never seen are the physical beatings, the enticements to damage and do harm to other human beings that we see on those videotapes," Moulton said. "I don't think everyone is taking this as seriously as they should. I know kids will be kids, but this goes way beyond that. This is a kind of violence that puts fear in me."

The videotapes have made the specter of gangs more real, Moulton said.

"There's a big difference between your kids telling you there are groups that like to pick fights and seeing it for yourself," Moulton said. "I'm hoping this is going to be a wake-up call, not just for the families of those young people on the videos but for all of our parents. This is an opportunity to get reconnected to our children and our communities." While the 311 Boyz are capturing the headlines for their alleged antics, police warn that their demise will do little -- if anything -- to make a dent in gang violence.

Shelden said he believes eventually the 311 Boyz fracas will "blow over" in the court system, that because a number of the youths are first-time offenders there will be a lot of plea bargains to lesser crimes.

"The reason this case is being so well-publicized is not so much because of the gruesome nature of the attacks but because those attacks were committed by kids from affluent families," Shelden said.

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