Editing Harlem (section)

==Police and crime==
[[File:Police Area 6 148 St jeh.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|NYPD Police Service Area 6, which serves NYCHA developments in greater Harlem]]

Central Harlem is patrolled by two precincts of the [[New York City Police Department]] (NYPD).<ref>{{cite web |title=Find Your Precinct and Sector – NYPD |website=www.nyc.gov |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/find-your-precinct.page |access-date=March 3, 2019 |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304213813/https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/find-your-precinct.page |url-status=live }}</ref> Central Harlem North is covered by the 32nd Precinct, located at 250 West 135th Street,<ref name="NYPD 28th Precinct">{{Cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/28th-precinct.page |title=NYPD – 28th Precinct |website=www.nyc.gov |publisher=[[New York City Police Department]] |access-date=October 3, 2016 |archive-date=June 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616053035/http://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/28th-precinct.page |url-status=live }}</ref> while Central Harlem South is patrolled by the 28th Precinct, located at 2271–2289 [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]].<ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct">{{Cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/32nd-precinct.page |title=NYPD – 32nd Precinct |website=www.nyc.gov |publisher=[[New York City Police Department]] |access-date=October 3, 2016 |archive-date=July 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708205331/http://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/32nd-precinct.page |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 28th Precinct has a lower crime rate than it did in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 72.2% between 1990 and 2021. The precinct reported 2 murders, 9 rapes, 172 robberies, 245 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 384 grand larcenies, and 52 grand larcenies auto in 2021.<ref name="NYPD 28th Precinct CS">{{cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-028pct.pdf |title=28th Precinct CompStat Report |website=www.nyc.gov |publisher=[[New York City Police Department]] |access-date=March 14, 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103064425/https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-028pct.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 28th Precinct had a rate of 1,125 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the boroughwide average of 632 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000.<ref name="crime map"/><ref name="sevenmajorfelonies">{{cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2019.pdf |title=Citywide Seven Major Felony Offenses 2000–2019 |publisher=[[New York Police Department]] |access-date=March 23, 2020 |website=www.nyc.gov |archive-date=February 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217164041/https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2019.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sevenmajorfeloniesbyprecinct"/>

The crime rate in the 32nd Precinct has also decreased since the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 71.4% between 1990 and 2021. The precinct reported 16 murders, 18 rapes, 183 robberies, 519 felony assaults, 168 burglaries, 320 grand larcenies, and 54 grand larcenies auto in 2021.<ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct CS">{{cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf |title=32nd Precinct CompStat Report |website=www.nyc.gov |publisher=[[New York City Police Department]] |access-date=March 14, 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103064429/https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 32nd Precinct had a rate of 1,042 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the boroughwide average of 632 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000.<ref name="crime map">{{cite web |url=https://maps.nyc.gov/crime/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |title=NYC Crime Map |website=www.nyc.gov |publisher=[[New York City Police Department]] |archive-date=February 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219132509/https://maps.nyc.gov/crime/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sevenmajorfelonies"/><ref name="sevenmajorfeloniesbyprecinct">{{cite web |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-by-precinct-2000-2019.pdf |title=Citywide Seven Major Felony Offenses by Precinct 2000–2019 |publisher=[[New York Police Department]] |access-date=March 23, 2020 |website=www.nyc.gov |archive-date=March 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319015709/https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-by-precinct-2000-2019.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{asof|2018}}, Community District 10 has a non-fatal assault hospitalization rate of 116 per 100,000 people, compared to the boroughwide rate of 49 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 59 per 100,000. Its incarceration rate is 1,347 per 100,000 people, the second-highest in the city, compared to the boroughwide rate of 407 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 425 per 100,000.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|8}}

=== Crime trends ===
{{main|Crime in Harlem}}
[[File:Harlem riots - 1964.jpg|thumb|Police hit a man on the ground with [[Baton (law enforcement)|batons]] during the [[Harlem riot of 1964]]]]

In the early 20th century, Harlem was a stronghold of the [[Sicilian Mafia]], other [[Italian organized crime]] groups, and later the [[Italian-American Mafia]]. As the ethnic composition of the neighborhood changed, black criminals began to [[African-American organized crime|organize themselves similarly]]. However, rather than compete with the established mobs, gangs concentrated on the "policy racket", also called the [[numbers game]], or ''bolita'' in East Harlem. This was a gambling scheme similar to a lottery that could be played, illegally, from countless locations around Harlem. According to Francis Ianni, "By 1925 there were thirty black policy banks in Harlem, several of them large enough to collect bets in an area of twenty city blocks and across three or four avenues."<ref name="ianni">Francis A.J. Ianni, ''Black Mafia'', 1974</ref>

By the early 1950s, the total money at play amounted to billions of dollars, and the police force had been thoroughly corrupted by [[bribe]]s from numbers bosses.<ref>"Inside Story of Numbers Racket", ''[[Amsterdam News]]'', August 21, 1954</ref> These bosses became financial powerhouses, providing capital for loans for those who could not qualify for them from traditional financial institutions, and investing in legitimate businesses and real estate. One of the powerful early numbers bosses was a woman, Madame [[Stephanie St. Clair]], who fought gun battles with mobster [[Dutch Schultz]] over control of the lucrative trade.<ref>Cook, Fred J. [https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/the-black-mafia-moves-into-the-numbers-racket-the-numbers-racket.html "The Black Mafia Moves Into the Numbers Racket"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209100432/http://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/the-black-mafia-moves-into-the-numbers-racket-the-numbers-racket.html |date=December 9, 2017 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 4, 1971. Accessed December 28, 2016. "In those days, Madame Stephanie St. Clair became known as the "Policy Queen" of Harlem.... Once Dutch Schultz discovered this potential gold mine, he moved in, gang guns blazing. Madame St. Claire, who survived to become a big property owner and business woman in Harlem, fought Schultz from 1931 to 1935."</ref>

The popularity of playing the numbers waned with the introduction of the [[Lotteries in the United States|state lottery]], which is legal but has lower payouts and has taxes collected on winnings.<ref>Wilson, Michael. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/nyregion/numbers-runner-a-rarity-is-arrested-in-harlem.html "Relics of the Bygone (and the Illegal)"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229034032/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/nyregion/numbers-runner-a-rarity-is-arrested-in-harlem.html |date=December 29, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 22, 2013. Accessed December 28, 2016. "Several years later, with the state lottery offering a similar game, runners and numbers bankers openly protested in Manhattan. They feared the legal game would wipe out the rackets and their jobs. They were, for the most part, right.... The few numbers joints that survive do so in part because the payouts are often better than the lottery, the police said."</ref> The practice continues on a smaller scale among those who prefer the numbers tradition or who prefer to trust their local numbers bank to the state.

Statistics from 1940 show about 100 murders per year in Harlem, "but rape is very rare".<ref name="look1940">"244,000 Native Sons", ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' Magazine, May 21, 1940, p.8+</ref> By 1950, many [[White flight|whites had left]] Harlem and by 1960, much of the black [[Middle class in the United States|middle class]] had departed. At the same time, control of organized crime shifted from Italian syndicates to local black, Puerto Rican, and Cuban groups that were somewhat less formally organized.<ref name="ianni"/> At the time of the [[Harlem Riot of 1964|1964 riots]], the drug addiction rate in Harlem was ten times higher than the New York City average, and twelve times higher than the United States as a whole. Of the 30,000 drug addicts then estimated to live in New York City, 15,000 to 20,000 lived in Harlem. [[Property crime]] was pervasive, and the murder rate was six times higher than New York's average. Half of the children in Harlem grew up with [[Single parent household|one parent]], or none, and lack of supervision contributed to [[juvenile delinquency]]; between 1953 and 1962, the crime rate among young people increased throughout New York City, but was consistently 50% higher in Harlem than in New York City as a whole.<ref>''Poverty and Politics in Harlem'', Alphonso Pinkney & Roger Woock, College & University Press Services, Inc., 1970, p.33</ref>

Injecting [[heroin]] grew in popularity in Harlem through the 1950s and 1960s, though the use of this drug then leveled off. In the 1980s, use of [[crack cocaine]] became widespread, which produced collateral crime as addicts stole to finance their purchasing of additional drugs, and as dealers fought for the right to sell in particular regions, or over deals gone bad.<ref>"Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance." Wintz, Cary.</ref>

With the end of the "[[crack epidemic|crack wars]]" in the mid-1990s, and with the initiation of aggressive policing under mayors [[David Dinkins]] and his successor [[Rudy Giuliani]], crime in Harlem plummeted. Compared to in 1981, when 6,500 robberies were reported in Harlem, reports of robberies dropped to 4,800 in 1990; to 1,700 in 2000; and to 1,100 in 2010.<ref>[http://www.reform.co.uk/filestore/pdf/How%20NY%20cut%20crime.pdf "How New York Cut Crime"], ''Reform Magazine'', Autumn 2002 p.11 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308165611/http://www.reform.co.uk/filestore/pdf/How%20NY%20cut%20crime.pdf |date=March 8, 2008}}</ref> Within the 28th and 32nd precincts, there have been similar changes in all categories of crimes tracked by the NYPD.<ref name="NYPD 28th Precinct"/><ref name="NYPD 32nd Precinct"/>

Despite reductions versus historic highs, Harlem continues to have a high rate of violent crime and one of the highest rates of violent crime in New York City.<ref name="crime map"/> This crime is largely correlated with high concentrations of poverty. Illicit activities such as [[theft]], [[robbery]], [[drug trafficking]], [[prostitution]] are prevalent. Criminal organizations like street [[gang]]s are responsible for many of the [[murder]]s and shootings in the neighborhood.

===Gangs===
There are many gangs in Harlem, often based in housing projects; when one gang member is killed by another gang, revenge violence erupts which can last for years.<ref name="Buettner2013">{{cite news |last=Buettner |first=Russ |title=63 Gang Members Indicted in East Harlem Shootings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/nyregion/63-in-e-harlem-gangs-indicted-in-revenge-shootings.html |access-date=June 15, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=May 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503085053/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/nyregion/63-in-e-harlem-gangs-indicted-in-revenge-shootings.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the [[East Harlem Purple Gang]] of the 1970s, which operated in East Harlem and surroundings, was an [[Italian American]] group of hitmen and heroin dealers.<ref name="LLC1979">{{cite journal |title=New York Magazine |website=Newyorkmetro.com |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44 |volume=12 |issue=19 |date=May 7, 1979 |publisher=New York Media, LLC |pages=44– |issn=0028-7369}}</ref>

Harlem and its gangsters have a strong link to [[Hip hop music|hip hop]], [[Hip hop music|rap]] and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] culture in the United States, and many successful rappers in the music industry came from gangs in Harlem.<ref name="AdjayeAndrews1997">{{cite book |last1=Adjaye |first1=Joseph K. |last2=Andrews |first2=Adrianne R. |title=Language, Rhythm and Sound: Black Popular Cultures Into the Twenty-First Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGIRAq5w4ngC&pg=PA135 |access-date=June 14, 2013 |year=1997 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre |isbn=978-0-8229-7177-1 |page=135}}</ref> [[Gangsta rap|Gangster rap]], which has its origins in the late 1980s, often has lyrics that are "misogynistic or that glamorize violence", glamorizing guns, drugs and easy women in Harlem and New York City.<ref name="Ray2013">{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Michael |title=Alternative, Country, Hip-Hop, Rap, and More: Music from the 1980s to Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRDMpGVCkjoC&pg=PA78 |access-date=June 14, 2013 |year=2013 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61530-910-8 |page=78}}</ref><ref name="AdjayeAndrews1997"/>