Trim homes on tree-lined avenues disguise an urban battleground where street gangs recruit ever-younger soldiers to commit acts of violence - this week turning an 11-year-old suspected killer into a victim.
The numbing mayhem is reflected in stories told by residents of Roseland, a South Side neighborhood that tallies a disproportionate share of Chicago's murders.The latest tale of senseless murder involves Robert Sandifer, a neglected and abused 11-year-old. Police say the boy last week was ordered by his gang, the Black Disciples, to shoot members of the rival gang, the Black Gangster Disciples.
Three days later he was silenced by members of his own gang with two bullets in the back of the head.
"It's a rarity for any 11-year-old to be a shooter - we've seen them 13 and 14, but not 11," said Police Commander Don Hilbing of the gang crimes squad.
Those charged Friday in Sandifer's execution - who confessed they misled the boy into believing he was being taken to safety out of town - are themselves brothers only 14- and 16-years-old.
The tragic series of events began last Sunday, when police said Sandifer went on a shooting spree, opening fire on a 16-year-old boy and severely wounding him in the spine. Two hours later, Sandifer shot into a crowd of boys playing football, wounding one in the hand and killing 14-year-old Shavon Dean, a girl who was watching the game.
Sandifer, who had already compiled a lengthy arrest record, was killed a few days later because gang leaders believed he would bring too much heat, or attention, onto the gang and implicate them, police said.
Money and security are the twin lures used by the gangs on ever-younger recruits, experts say, although some would argue that gangs also promise a sense of family that may be missing.
The gangs' money comes primarily from dealing drugs, and security is sometimes needed from those same gang recruiters.
Chronic battles over drug-dealing territories have pitted various factions of the Black Disciples and Black Gangster Disciples against each other, gang police say.
Older gang leaders are known to enlist young members to commit crimes because the juvenile court system does not deal as harshly with minors, police say.
The young members carry out the orders because they want to be accepted and respected, police and experts on gangs say.
The accused triggerman in Sandifer's killing, 16-year-old Cragg Hardaway, was described by some who knew him as a bright kid gone wrong.
Hardaway, who has been charged as an adult and could spend many years in prison, suffered from a behaviorial disorder that required medication, school authorities said.
A teacher at his former grammar school, the Alfred David Kohn school, said Hardaway had ingested lead-based paint as a child, which is known to cause brain damage and can lead to violent behavior. Hardaway was a fast reader who would finish a class assignment quickly then often disrupt the class, the teacher said.
The teacher, who declined to be named because of a general fear of the gangs, described how another boy died in his arms after being shot in the schoolyard.
"That's the way it is around here: Some make it, some don't. Some go to college, some end up . . ." he said, nodding toward the spot marked by graffiti where the boy, named Roy, died.
"Stomping," or a severe boot-kicking, is the disfiguring punishment often meted out by gangs nowadays, and those who refuse to join up can end up victims, residents say.
Several people in the neighborhood spoke of being chased home from school until they agreed to gang membership.
The proliferation of weapons often cited by police only heightens the violence and raises the death toll, which had reached 633 in Chicago this year at the end of August.
Sandifer was one of six siblings, all of whom showed scars from abuse. Child psychologist Kathleen Kostelny, of the Erikson Institute, said Sandifer may have exhibited behavior associated with abuse victims and prisoners of war.
"They identify with their aggressors," she said. "The gang helps them feel power and control, instead of feeling helpless and victimized, so they can gain some mastery."