And full of these a parents Worst Nightmare that they live on top of them to stick so cool in chicago it happens every day. Sometimes it just seemed to float like a river a month of the deadliest cities in the u. S. Most victims all children. Came through here one to help the city to the other. This man builds crosses for each use lost to the epidemic of Gang Violence here its almost can do to just stay alive we know fibrosis and we have to this is not to make it so 7 people weve lost to violence here in the city of chicago. Clifton bloom up founder is a loving grandfather back in the day he used to be a leading gang member he spent 27 years in jail for crimes ranging from assault to 1st degree murder after half a life behind bars others had filled his place and taken over the block once part of the problem moonie now spends his days as a gang intervention coordinator his porch is practically his Office Without him it would be too dangerous for us to film here. Is north already here his word carries weight it takes a courageous person. To stop this speak to the kids they see a group of kids in the study now going through on this big deal walk a mile. And that make thats the difference in me and this person because i go to class but try to make an honest living here it often takes holding down several underpaid jobs of once this man has been cleaning cars for 30 years 10 dollars each. But if youre looking for fast cash you sell drugs for the street gangs. Thats a hard job to convince them to stop selling. And they go get a legitimate job the only thing that can tell them that theres a lot of tar i get try to get them to see the law which is not that its difficult. Because its to be the. A short life in the fast lane for most here thats all theyve ever known. Most of their fathers were absent in jail during a childhood their moms barely able to make ends meet. Growing up here often means falling for the wrong heroes. It takes says several days on the streets before we meet gang members willing to talk to us. You want to be a part is like you see what we do and we hustle and we do it honestly it is your choice you can be a part so you see the reason that weve taken every risk that we take it is to wait do you think you get your choice if you mess around out if. You want to keep the reds im choosing to take the risk because of like fix my. Car drives up they negotiate a price and hand over the drugs thats how it is here hustling instead of homework. What might look like just a couple of friends hanging out can quickly take a turn for the worse almost everyone here is armed jonathan started selling drugs at the age of 13 his to tuesday tell the stories of friends he lost by allen g. Who was killed in front of his school when he was just 16 like real this has a chicago it was a payday a bad life yes it does it doesnt mean if i. Get hurt i know my brother im a big brother no go get that for me. This has been a lot of theres been a lot of it going no no no the best the best revis ive ever put through it. All he told me after me that the whole world will bless. At 57 boonie again watches over his streets but this time its different hes no angel but life has made him wiser he still does manage to get through to everyone i couldnt even imagine life without gangs hanging in a cool is the life that you chose at the end of day because we had no choice you no choice in the matter feeling the love no matter who it is a what if from a body had a choice in a life we go. To the point well we had no choice we had to get out do you. And for many that means hanging around old day. Young people here have lost their faith in life having anything better to offer than the streets. In the gangs they try to be the family they never had for each other. The last december like it was some time this is looking good this is the allegation how for this music i dont know will not be of snow but so what we gain by with it we really have family over why we all kill for each other over the by we dont do we not well be from under their belief as though their sins though they gave a will we lose we theres nothing to hide i never go on the sea hope. Hes the one who builds the cross and for chicagos lost children greg zane is a retired carpenter for each life taken he sets up another cross together they form a growing memorial on the west side. Greg himself suffered the tragic loss of 2 family members he knows what its like to have a loved one stone and from me and. The time to. Let her go making the crosses is also a way for greg to be able to work through his own trauma. My nickname tribe. Heard this hard in my shop i cry a lot marsha. Is this. Ive i feel like im bad to these people because ive had that loss. And. It all seems like nobody wants to talk about it to them i do. Nobody wants to have a loss no one noticed that mother that loved their game or like their face on or. She loved him to a certain point something when. Once hes finished making a cross greg leaves it behind for the family of the deceased to take with them like tyrone blake sr. Even as a Police Officer he was unable to stop his own son from being drawn into the maelstrom of gang life and getting killed. They have no more they have you know. This is just hard to talk about is this. No regard for human life you. Know structure. They have no leadership so. I. Just i dont know right. Now very least. Time rambling. Junior did not live to see his 26th birthday. Paula points office fully rigged with than 10 i am radio scanners and monitors this is where he tracks Police Dispatches night by night listening in on police radio is not only legal in the us for the point its a crucial part of his work hes a freelance photojournalist who specialized in Police Operations the material he gathers he sells to local television stations for their crime related news. He has a range of contacts across the city he can send them to collect footage and he also hits the road himself every night. Here in chicago just like it can be anywhere where people are shooting at each other you know i were. Asked for added protection. Some nights seems a little more dangerous than others some nights i dont wear it but it certainly helps make me feel a little bit safer when were out there and the violence has ticked up in chicago so. Trashy Downtown Chicago with its imposing skyline is worlds removed from the chicago lapointe works and he covers stories from the toughest. One that is rarely caught on camera hes been on the job for 20 years now and seldom sleeps more than 5 hours a day if that get there soon as promise of. A cup of coffee sounds good. Local t. V. Stations pay between 150. 00 and 300. 00 for the footage he delivers although there are plenty of cases to cover poorly as hes known by police and gang members alike as to what song for his money hes the citys Number One Police reporter and after all these years hes still passionate about his job. Here. Is that. If you have fear you cant you cant properly cover the city of chicago i dont know if you have fear its like if you were a war correspondent if you were assigned to afghanistan or iraq this is the similar assignment at the end of the day every day someone is being shot in my life. So it is not much different than being a combat journalist that many times tonight is a quiet night and we already have several people shot. A quiet night in most cities around the world theres nobody shot but in chicago that is a couple of people shot. In his car lapointe has 7 scanners tuned in to all the different Emergency ServicesRadio Systems covering Emergency Services. 47 hes divorced with 2 grown up children of his own his son also works for him and like him is on the road night after night. Hallies 1st stop of the evening a woman on a man was shot and injured his movements are routine he wastes no time setting up his camera. The police have already roach off the area but even though theyve known poorly for ages they make sure to keep him at a distance. Make sure i look good one officer calls out to him. Once the police have wrapped up wholly packs away his camera and continues on his journey the next crime scene is already waiting for. Your. Good as it gets warmer. Bullets fly more violence as more the aggravation level is increased as you increase the temperatures people just get crazier and crazier. When the hottest summer days when you get the most shootings people are just. That the numbers in chicago have been really bad at that time that weve had weekends where we had 50 people shot a dozen killed and that happens more frequently than people might think and its unfortunate for pauli but night is far from over. A new day dawns in chicagos west and south sides and reveals just how rundown these neighborhoods really are. People who grow up here a crammed into underfunded schools and have few opportunities for Career Development any welfare and Education Programs are quickly discontinued if they fail to deliver the expected results fast. Crumbling buildings landscape its the exact opposite of the american dream. Unemployment is rife the middle class moved out years ago poverty here is selfperpetuating. St welcome boonie is one of the few people local youngsters respect hes disappointed with the meager funding being provided to tackle the overwhelming problem. Is facing the community. Its worse it is serious. And afghanistan every day its shootings and killings in his community and its not out sad for us anymore its in sad and because this weapon tree is so assessable now m. R. Community you can go get a god quicker than you can bat barlow juice. Chicago proud to be home to barack obama the countrys 1st africanamerican president and. Tourists flock to its magnificent glittering downtown area most children from the west side have never even had a glimpse of this picture perfect part of the city the gulf between black and white rich and poor is deeper here than in most other places in america one more reason why chicago is plagued by so much violence. Back on the west side boonie doesnt take his eyes off his granddaughter he couldnt see his own kids grow up he was in jail. On. The Street Corner where bernie buys treats for a little rain is known as the most dangerous in the area. And when temperatures rise so does the violence and with it the death toll on just 2 days in july and 2800 over 100 people were shot 15 fatally many victims were innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the gangs im a baba my mother got her i got bob i was not. An old acquaintance from the neighborhood here every. Corner where do you care if youre in the gotta go bomb r r he seems intimidating at 1st but soon its clear he has Mental Health problems and needs help it will ruin our city good shes go some good see good out of food oh he. Is going to shoot up luckily its just a colorful personal. No no one. Here man. Otherwise the guns people carry here a real loaded and lethal. But this is this is an issue if i could meet with him and hes seriously mentally ill and if he did drugs dont mess is my so hes mentally ill and he out in the street just that im all that normally a person he approached like that when he got physical the them up a hard on daily violence is the sad norm 3 blocks down theres been a real shooting only the shell casings remain strewn across the street as silent witnesses the victims 3 teenagers the shots were fired from a moving car in the afternoon just a school ended and the students were going up the stairs to my house and i heard the kinds of semenya my kids would drop to the floor it was a very scary says hes always there with a boy and a saturday night. Live saturday kids got to stand how they can come outside and play with their benches away so. Its in a neighborhood the top hat no money. We would like to go somewhere where i have no money. Some residents are paralyzed by fear for their childrens lives others have become numb to it whoever lives here has learned to survive. You stay aware but you dont feel scared oh you would never come up the house. Just around. This that this would come to this watch is so wow moments i mean my models always there are positive people say from negative people who dont have nothing going on in a life that nothing to live for. Just keep it moving i really dont try to associate with a lot of people just outside the streets where. The target of the state is so thats what it feels. Like just bored with the work of the good hells thats valid. Small memorials for the dead a constant reminder of the ever present danger in chicago theres a shooting every 4 hours every 19 hours a fatal while there are more guns and fewer Police Officers here than in most other u. S. Cities and the police have a long standing reputation for racism its an explosive mix of factors. That happen but i had a guy by. A fellow named as a quick prayer before setting to work the police have asked boone and other social workers for their help the police still have boonie registered as a gang member and often treat him unfairly he says but here they work hand in hand the violence is too severe for anyone sign to solve on its own. I think you dont hear right here in his exam. I think. What you make enough of these things about the great work you know all right leave it to the People Living here trust the social workers more than they do the police. We could go to not brothers got shot one of them supplied with 30 year old in a 68. 00 you. Happen to know that we are you know what out. Of this other younger people to put the gun. When young kids and teenagers die in the neighborhood people are more open to the message to me and his colleagues friends. They work for a Youth DevelopmentOrganization Called bill which has been working to help at risk youngsters in chicago since 969. Part of a small team of experience thanks gang members street veterans he and his colleague carlos were both gang leaders in the past. But. In those days they could never have imagined working together with each other on the other side. Not how many not im in town with your friends the big there are no big deal for next year and i was here from arizona you know. We went in we were no we when it came together in our lives we actually we would have been a part of the problem you know with us it was the kids as least i report station you know that has a lot to do with it they know that were solving individual family or something and i look up to us here to try to change their lives and give them jobs yeah. Ive got a. Family i am from well i mean you know what they always go right but at the end of the day if the team meeting at the offices of bill mooney and his colleagues. Change ideas on how to get through to those they worry about most every day you know right. And carlos know all too well just how hard it can be to find a job after leaving jail. Its a given that all go well i build as workers from all walks of life from College Graduates turn social workers to people Whose University was the street. Mooney has his very own method he approaches everyone in the community including its youngest residents and talks to them for you so well with micah. He adds that he was out so he didnt see it right. Its important that the kids trust him so that they can talk to him everyone here knows bernie and he knows this is the only way to reach some of them especially those who arent ready yet for the other activities and programs build office. The Organization Also offers discussion groups for juveniles with criminal records there not his strictly voluntarily attendance as one of their parole conditions carlos leads the group today theyre talking about their mothers this. Is not easy what is the 1st thing. Is how to appreciate your mother. You know some feign this interest with others shift uncomfortably in their chairs talking about their emotions is something theyve never really learnt to do we can we can help you guide you but you guys got to give us you know what is it that you need so that carlos the former gang leader who spent 25 years in jail talks openly about his emotions and his mother she never failed to visit me she never filled a 2nd commissary money she never failed 70 pictures you know a family event she never filled to you know collect phone calls she was always. My home. 6 months into my bed yeah they looked out after. It was gone my girlfriends. Go. And thats the reality and thats why we do this you know to give respect to our moms you know to show them that we love you we care because you can have disagreements you can be straight. People even so his openness gets the boys thinking shell find a way to make stuff nice you know hes known by she always put. First so. This is my protect. And save because my mom was both my mother never. Seen a home even though she had a tough time raising me for both of us is to see always. Make sure you sort if you do go for a while i mean now she just got out of prison last more. I have seen her for 234 years and im saying every time our delusions every time i did she was all drugged up you know saying she was in the right mind. And the story is that they are reluctant to recall and that many are reluctant to hear carlos does listen offers the boys options but hes well aware that ultimately they will have to fend for themselves back on the street. For. The only protection greg zaniest needs is a helmet he souls and hammers away so that others wont forget chicagos loss kids. Its a labor of love that requires him to work every single day. And weve got the worst kind of cancer or any country could ever have gotten gun violence and just get. It escalating nobody said. There is no cure for cancer. There is no cure here i am going to be doing that. And i cant keep up with this. Its about a nation thats walked away from. Its about and im showing act of kindness you know im going there not just with a cross and a heart im i got to get a hug thats my page. 22 years ago greg found his father in law shot dead in front of him. Since that day hes not only been a carpenter but also a chronicler of those chicago has lost he researches their stories keeps lists and tries to push his own pain away just 2 months ago one of his daughters died suddenly of an overdose. Its difficult for him to talk about it. I guess a root think its a you think of my daughter not me and most of a lot more work to do how are you i think this country will heal quickly going to hell. In the 10 years the last 10 years has been special the last few years. Greg hes inconsolable yet he tries to console others with his crosses. The boy with a gentle smile w