Читать книгу Hard White - Shannon Holmes - Страница 6

prologue

In New York City’s most northern borough of the Bronx, lies the second biggest Housing project in the city, the infamous Edenwald Houses. Its brownish-red brick buildings stand out ominously like an eyesore against the urban landscape. The enormous project buildings can be seen from near and far. Just like its high visibility, Edenwald project’s reputation, for murder and mayhem, exceeds itself. Edenwald’s dark side lives in infamy. The mere mention of the name, Edenwald projects seems to threaten the tranquility of the surrounding neighborhoods. Some residents from the criminal element are fond of saying, “Edenwald is loved by few, hated by many, but respected by all.” That statement is by no means a stretch of the imagination.

The Edenwald housing area is a city within a city, an occupied territory, a breeding ground for lawlessness, and is impossible to police for extended periods of time. Since construction was complete, the projects have been a thorn in the side of the 47^th police precinct. It’s a place where outsiders dare to venture, due to Edenwald’s penchant for violence. Inside this urban maze is a place where poverty, hopelessness and ignorance, could set in at any moment to create a murderous climate. Edenwald is a place that seldom offers happy endings, success stories are rare. There is a black cloud that seems to hang over Edenwald project and it’s called negativity. Here everyday young lives are up for grabs and any given day could be your last.

Inside the confines of Edenwald projects there lies an inescapable hunger, an unquenchable thirst of the have-nots, for the finer things in life. Some residents are willing to risk it all, life and liberty, in an all out pursuit of the American Dream. The drug game offers residents their only viable option and gives them a glimmer of hope. Selling it, however misleading it might be, there’s always a slim chance for overnight success. The ever-present allure of fast money is, in most cases, way too easy to resist.

In this day and age the drug game may be played out for many, resulting in stiff penalties handed out by the law. The drug game is alive and well twenty-four-seven in the Edenwald projects. It’s a never ending cycle that only changes with faces and names. Here a drug profit is willingly exchanged for a lifetime of despair. In Edenwald projects this process repeats itself hundreds of times, from dealer to fiend.

Despite the drug raids and sweeps by local and federal law enforcement agencies that have been deemed successful. Temporarily put an end to the drug crews that once ruled the projects with iron fists. Nowadays, younger, brazen and even more dangerous criminals seemed to have sprouted up overnight. For all intents and purposes the end of the crack era marked the birth of a new generation of thugs, killers, stickup kids and would-be drug kingpins…

Welcome to Edenwald... Come in peace or leave in pieces.