Lou 82 smiles. “Why am I part of it?” I had the choice between falling on the right or the wrong side. I chose the right one. ” Leaning on an iron railing in the Columbus Circle subway station, in the middle of Manhattan, the man awaits his accomplices. Lou 82 has black high boots to match his combat pants. Above all, it bears the distinctive sign of Guardian Angels: a beret and a red jacket with a huge logo on the back.
A rather hostile mayor
It is almost 7 p.m. The metro station is packed with people. EQ, Goldberg, Crazy Jay and KC, the only woman in the group, arrive in a dribble. The only thing missing is Curtis Sliwa, the founder. Suddenly, he comes out of a metro, with his Hollywood actor look, greets the whole team with a serious air, distributes flyers and improvises a Facebook Live to explain the mission of the day: to hunt down a sexual predator who is is rubbed against a 15 year old girl. Then he leaves almost as quickly as he appeared. We’ll patrol without him.
Curtis Sliwa, 64, founded the Guardian Angels in February 1979 in New York City. He was then the night manager of a McDonald’s in the Bronx. His Angels, all volunteers who patrol unarmed, make it their mission to fight violence and incivility in the streets and subways of the city. There are about ten brigades in New York, a hundred in all: the Guardian Angels have been exported to Japan, Israel and even Australia. When they were created, the mayor of New York Ed Koch took a dim view of the organization, while his city was plagued by gangs. He feared that the private militia, which trains its members in self-defense and martial arts techniques, would seek to replace the police. Then mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg reached out to him. The Guardian Angels are now tolerated by the police.
Heroic acts invented
The Angels made mistakes of youth. Curtis Sliwa had to admit in 1992 having invented heroic acts to advertise. 1992 was also the year the radio host was shot in a stolen taxi by two men. He sustained injuries to his groin and legs. Likely an act of revenge by the New York Mafia: Curtis Sliwa had made unfriendly comments on the air to the godfather of the Gambino clan, John Gotti. The son, John Gotti Jr, was suspected of being behind the attack, but due to lack of evidence no charges were brought against him. So much for the decor.
The man is dragging his reputation. “I was shot, I was stabbed. At the hospital you are told that your insurance pays you the costs. And now, I am told that this will not be the case under the pretext that it is cosmetics, ”he protested again in December, after having lost a tooth in a fight. His Angels have immense respect for him. He is also one of the few who makes himself known by his real name. Curtis Sliwa is a legend, a provocative vigilante with punchy methods. He did not hesitate, in the midst of the crack epidemic, to confiscate drugs from dealers. Today’s Guardian Angels seem to have calmed down. They wear their superhero costume with more modesty.
Almost military ritual
That evening, barely Curtis left, it’s KC who takes control. She is 47, is already a grandmother, comes from the Bronx, has ultra short hair dyed blonde and a Chinese tattoo on her neck. She proudly wears around thirty pins on her beret, ranging from “Kennedy for President” to “The future is female”. His brigade is that of «Perv Busters», or “pervert hunters”, in principle composed mainly of women. She also patrols the “Village” on the side of Christopher Street, with the idea of preventing homophobic acts. By day, KC works in security. She joined the Guardian Angels in 1998.
One man has to worry about: the one who appears in the dark on the A4-size wanted notices distributed by Curtis. A white man in his sixties. “We’re going to the Bronx, to the Line 6 stops where this pervert ran away, and then where he was seen a week later,” KC explains. “Locals must be aware of the danger.”
Head for the Bronx, then. You have to change the metro twice. The opportunity to observe how the Guardian Angels, more active in recent months, behave on mission. We follow EQ, the number 2 of the organization, a little talkative colossus who displays a sinister face, but who knows how to smile when he relaxes. EQ walks into a train car, looks to the right and left, a little theatrically, then positions himself as a stake in front of a sliding door, with his scowl and his arms crossed over his stomach. His colleagues do the same a few meters further. Commuters look at them, taken aback. When they get out of a metro, the ritual is more marked. It is almost akin to a military choreography. On the platform, legs apart, silent, the patrollers remain frozen in front of the metro, then turn in its direction of travel, to watch it go. “We are doing this to honor the Guardian Angels who have died. One, for example, was killed by a police officer ”, slips KC.
Parkchester Avenue stop, everyone gets off. Outside, on the raised platform, it is -5 degrees. The Angels put up their posters and explain their approach to travelers. This way of pillorying people without factual evidence may come as a surprise. What if the whistleblower was a storyteller? What if the man hadn’t done anything? Inhabited by their mission to want to rid the city of its sexual deviants and aggressors, the Angels do not seem to ask themselves as many questions. But when they make an arrest, they are supposed to call the police immediately.
Read also: In the heart of Central Park, an ice rink that owes a lot to Donald Trump
Three stops later, same scenario. Again, despite the bitter cold, the Angels stick their wanted notices. Especially young Goldberg, a big talker who works in a supermarket during the day, Lou 82 and Crazy Jay. EQ and KC supervise and give orders. The hierarchy respects itself.
Recognized by passers-by
A young homeless couple approach them. They recognize the Guardian Angels. “It’s so important what you do. Someone tried to kidnap me when I was 21. I didn’t know how to defend myself, but I was able to escape by throwing my hot coffee in her face, ”the woman exclaims. At the same time, she shows her shopping cart filled with things that she has just recovered. The mere presence of the Angels seems to reassure her. This is also their role. Neither social workers nor police officers, they are simple citizen-vigilantes, who take their mission to heart. “When we can, we attend the trials of cases in which we have played a role,” says EQ.
In this small multi-ethnic group, everyone has their own character. Lou is 55 years old; 82 is the year he joined the brigade for two years, before returning to service in 2015. Like others, he does not work. He receives a disability pension because of a stroke. “My brain isn’t working very well anymore. I have memory problems, ”he slips, proudly showing off his padded gloves at the knuckles. They all come from humble backgrounds and often grew up in difficult neighborhoods. Stories of gangs, addictions, and misery are familiar to them. Lou 82 is not the only one to have been on the verge of falling “on the wrong side”. EQ, a faithful Guardian Angel since 1986, of Puerto Rican descent, lived in East Harlem, where his father, a pastor, was attacked. Gangs tried to recruit him. But he turned his back on them.
When you are at the head of a brigade of Angels, being from the neighborhood is rather an advantage. “Yesterday, young people fought in my corner. A kid took out his gun and injured a woman in the leg, ”said Crazy Jay. He shows us the scene filmed on his cell phone. “The cops had no information on these young people. I was able to quickly determine who they were and move the investigation forward. ”
KC talks about her mother, who was assaulted twice. Often it was personal stories that prompted them to join Curtis Sliwa’s militia. EQ immortalizes the gestures of his Angels with his cell phone. He is proud of it. How proud he is to be accosted thanks to his red beret embellished with five golden stars. The uniform provides a form of recognition with almost therapeutic effects. Because each Angel seems to bear his wounds. Suddenly, we forgive them their little staged a bit outdated. They also spared us the controls, among themselves, to ensure that nobody carries weapons before leaving on the maraud (we are in the United States…). They had done it for a journalist from Vice.
To become a Guardian Angel, you must be at least 16 years old, an ideally clean criminal record and not belong to any gang or group that distills racial hatred. But, Crazy Jay will slip on the way back, some ex-members of the ultra-violent MS-13 gang have been able to join a Guardian Angels patrol on the Long Island side. These repentants wear long sleeves to hide their tattoos.
We come back to the surface, to rush into a new subway three blocks further, towards Manhattan. The Bronx is sleeping. The pervert hunter squad has finished its mission. Lou 82: “It’s good, quiet evenings like this. I don’t want to end up in the hospital or the morgue. ” “Young recruits are sometimes looking for action. But we try to make them understand that we should be happy when nothing happens. Our mere presence can be a deterrent, ”adds Crazy Jay. The magical effect of the red beret, no doubt.
Predator hunting
It was in the midst of the #MeToo movement, in 2016, that Curtis Sliwa, always eager for publicity, chose to set up a group responsible for tracking down “pervs” and street harassers. This essentially female brigade helps to increase the visibility of the Guardian Angels, which are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. Curtis Sliwa hopes at the same time to restore his image, he who does not escape accusations of sexism.
–
