The beautiful pier walks at Maverick Landing, LoPresti Park, the fun events at Tallship with the World Cup watch parties, and Logan Airport are the face of East Boston. However this wasn’t the case 10 years ago which is still impacting how East Boston is seen now. This is how we got the false image of crime in East Boston.
Eastie back then was filled with crime, gang fights, and murders, but not anymore. Now due to this misconception the more rich sides of greater Boston like Newton and West Roxbury see the people of Eastie as animals. In reality, they are some of the kindest and most welcoming people you will come across in the Boston area.
This story goes back to the 1990s and early 2000s when gang crime was rising exceptionally not just in Boston but in the United States as a whole. This was a result of gang violence like the Blood v. Crips spreading everywhere and new genres of music like rap encouraging this behavior. The Blood v. Crips helped encourage more gangs to be made and claim territory, leading to tension building between other gangs. The worst part about this was that the youth played a primary role in the violence. Many rap songs and music artists were talking about and encouraging gang violence in their songs. Artists would brag about what they gained from gang life, like the women, the money, and the fame. This bragging made young people think that gang life was the best and they would do anything for it.
One day during the winter of ‘26, I was on the train with some of my friends. We weren’t causing any trouble, we were just cracking jokes at each other and laughing, obviously not personal jokes but just banter. A guy from the back of the train came up to us, not to start yelling at us or being rude, but he wanted to give us life advice and his backstory. He grew up in Eastie and was a teen in the 90’s. During that time being a gang member was painted as the best life, so that’s what he chased. He jumped people, got into fights, got chased by the cops, and would vandalize properties.
One day all of this caught up to him, when a rival gang member saw his pregnant sister and proceeded to attack her. She was rushed to the hospital with her and her baby’s life on the line. Thankfully she and her baby survived, but the man that was talking to me and my friends was in such a furious rage that he would hunt down the gang member who attacked his sister. One day he caught this man walking on the street and proceeded to kill him in an act of avengement. He was arrested and sent to prison for nearly 30 years. Now he is living his life on the low and is working at an unnamed establishment.
As I mentioned earlier, crime in the 90s was at an all time high especially in Roxbury and Dorchester and at one point barely any people under the age of 25 didn’t carry knives or guns on them. In order to start change the Police commissioner Paul Evans started being strict on areas where crime would show such as those areas.
Crime stopped in Eastie through more harsh attitudes and punishments towards gang violence like giving longer sentences with less warnings, and crime as a whole. Fixing the police system helped a lot and now Eastie has some of the most nice people you will ever meet and will treat you like their own.
