The Organization for a New Eastside is what the abbreviation means. I've spoken of it before, quite a while back. It seems appropriate to bring it up in these tumultuous times.
It was essentially a group of people of people on the near eastside of Indianapolis who had had enough of the drugs and violence associated with it in their neighborhood. The area encompasses a lot of folks who are below poverty level, many working class folks and a burgeoning collection of what we used to call yuppies or middle class to even some upper middle class types. The various blocks have everything from run down to vacant houses, rentals (a constant source of trouble as they usually house the very druggers people wish to expunge), decent honest blue collar dwellings and gentrified old houses. My ex's house is an interesting 200 year old place whose history I'll skip, though her family has owned it for many decades.
O.N.E. spotlighted drug houses, where either the stuff was made or more popularly, places where the product was stored, distributed and sometimes sold. They also highlighted specific perpetrators who often had long rap sheets and just as often cruised through the revolving door of the jail and court system.
There were also 'drug house marches'. Each Friday evening, O.N.E. members met and walked to a particular drug lair, replete with spotlights, loudspeakers and pics of perps. This wasn't railroading. These people and places were busy and violent.
My then wife and I became involved in what was a typical way. Just south of us were two doubles, vacant and often rented to said drug dealers. We chased out several bunches over a long period. This included drug lab operations as well as the usual depot activity of sotring buying and selling. To say the least, we were targeted by this criminal element.
I had several friends and associates on the Indianapolis Police Department, as well as Marion County Sheriff's Department. I think I stretched some of those relationships pretty thin, but we lived in literally deadly times. Crime in the area had risen steadily.
Due to our efforts and those of many others, crime started to decline in the 'hood'. The drug business was taking a major hit. When such business is threatened, there are repercussions.
The story of what happened to many of us and how O.N.E. was compromised could be a book and movie. Hmmmm.
The story entails corruption of course. Payoffs bribes threats all the trimmings of mid and higher level criminal activity came to play.
IPD has been investigated by the FBI more than once over the years for corruption, particularly involving the drug trade. Several of us were targeted by the crooked cops, the dealers and those who ran the operation, many of whom lived in the Geist Reservoir area among others. That's not to mention the gang and cartel influence/involvement, which can be for another time.
All of this can be chalked up to what one would expect under the circumstances. The disease has taken over the body. When something is introduced to stop it, the disease treats the remedy like a malady itself.
Various 'remedies' were employed by the bad guys to rid themselves of us. Bribery and intimidation played an all too common part.
Mike Evans, the 'community organizer' (heard that lately -s-?) was investigating addies and was accused of 'brandishing' a weapon. He'd got to carrying a 38 snubbie as a result of the threats against us. It was not true, but police arrested him. In lockup and the jail, he was intimidated and threatened to the point of having to defend himself behind bars. His case was drawn out for months with the results of plea bargaining and his leaving the state. Efforts to contact him have been fruitless. Mind you, this was several years ago. But it's all fresh in my mind.
Others were jumped and beaten. Cops called to the scene arrested the O.N.E. members for assault and resisting arrest! Some fought the charges and beat the system in court interestingly enough. Others caved and either backed off or compromised their efforts with a watered down organization.
Success in court boiled down to the kind of lawyer they obtained. A weak wishy washy guy failed, right after a strong confrontational one had won his case. Two clients. The first a son. The second his parents. Don't settle for anything with a shingle. And be bloody sure they are above it all.
They tried a similar tack with another member. He was assaulted on his porch! The cops came yada yada. What saved him was his Masonic tie. I haven't taken a poll recently, but cops used to be heavily Masonic. It ended there for him.
Oh, us? My ex and I were in the bad guys' sights, literally. A neighbor/moke accused me of pointing a gun at him vis avis Mike Evans' pickle. It was a night during a drug house march, from which we opted out.
I came out on the porch and saw them near us this one night. When this idiot actually pointed his finger and yelled,'Hey stop pointing that gun at me'. Of course, I wasn't. I said if he were going to accuse, go get some of the cops who always escorted the marches, to come to the house. He did -s-.
They disarmed me and took me inside to question me. In their fervor, they were leaving my pistol on the porch. I insisted they bring it in, as the neighbors were thieves and drug dealers. The designated retriever seemed to have trouble comprehending what one in the chamber meant. I walked him through clearing it (Sheesh!).
After schooling these guys about the dubious activities of our folks next door, I insisted they call the County Sheriff, whom I knew. Gave em the names of a couple of cops to boot.
The result was the cops left, we remained unharmed and the neighbors moved within a few days.
I reasoned accurately the 6-8 cops (!) at my house would be a mixture of good and bad. I was right. The one twisted and turned, wanting so badly to run me in as they had done to my fellow O.N.E.ers. I remained on the surface as poker faced as they. I knew a lot of cops over the years. Almost became one myself. It helped that night. And the gamble NOT to have a lawyer present was a calculated risk. I don't ordinarily recommend it. But, these were unusual times.
Not so unusual were the cops who, on the surface, applauded our efforts, while underneath, they resented us 'interferring' in what they considered the purview/territory exclusive to them. Only ones hating O.N.E. -s-. This was a motive as well as the downright corruption. The martinets who wanted so badly to stop us carrying in self defense and stop our efforts because it was none of our business, according to them.
Together with cops in the pocket of the drug cartels etc, they outnumbered the officers who actually appreciated us and realized it was a real partnership. It wasn't hard, at least for me, to determine who was who. It was part of the reason we survived, literally and figuratively.
Interestingly, this was NOT the end. The disease continued. O.N.E. was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. The bigwigs in police, gov and Geist etc breathed easier. But we just did NOT quit. I guarantee our being armed saved us numerous times. And we, minor victory it was, got scum out of our neck of the woods.
Enough for now.
And you might ask what relevance this has for the current situation in these united States?
One by one. Divide et impera. Who, how, what to do.
Figure it out.
