One night after dinner, Joel objected when Eddie announced that he was going to step outside. It was dark, and they generally tried to stay off Langdon Avenue at night. Crime was one risk, but it paled beside the threat of the anti-gang police squads that patrolled the streets in full force. Residents had come to believe that the officers arrested whomever they could, often nabbing innocent people because they lived alongside gang members in the same housing units.
