Source: Oakland Tribune Contact: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 FBI SHOULD CONTROL GANGS Am I the only one who objects to the FBI spending millions of dollars to convict one reputed gangster on the word of an admitted murderer? It will cost millions of dollars to support John Gotti in protective custody. Gotti may have has his fingers in many things, but not in my eye or a gun pointed at me. Why doesn't the FBI use the RICO Act, to control the youth gangs that are terrorizing California cities? They are the ones who burglarize and mug us. South America is said to be the source of the drugs that give these street gangs power and money. Why is it some elderly, gray haired black lady in East Oakland, who tries to save her neighborhood from these gangs for the future generation, usually dies for her efforts and everyone feels terrible, but the resistance dies with her? We don't have enough police or prosecutors to do an effective de-infestation of our cities; we need FBI assistance, no matter what their mission regulations are. The Mafia shoots business partners, business partners have hunting accidents, in California, they O.D. Its a self-contained world we need never enter. But we do have to enter our streets. The drive-by shootings that kill us and our children have to be stopped. We shouldn't be prisoners in our own homes. Sandi Singer Oakland - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)