{"id":5762,"date":"2014-08-27T20:59:13","date_gmt":"2014-08-28T03:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:59:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T03:59:13","slug":"fbi-agent-epitomizes-community-policing-dismantling-violent-la-gangs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762","title":{"rendered":"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob  Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\"><strong>LOS ANGELES \u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs, he doesn\u2019t think of himself as an outsider.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u201cMy father was a nightclub owner,\u201d he said. \u201cHe worked for the mob and ran nightclubs for the mob\u2014girls, numbers, drugs, that whole life. That\u2019s what my father did. He was murdered when I was 12 years old. I was the last one to see him alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BEymlKxW0uk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Clark is committed to dismantling violent gangs through rigorous law enforcement efforts. He is equally committed to helping young people avoid the gang life and empowering residents to take back their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Since coming to Los Angeles seven years ago, he has spearheaded several gang initiatives with community, civic, and law enforcement partners that go beyond merely arresting gang members and sending them to jail.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u201cI can relate so much to what these kids go through and the violence that they see,\u201d Clark explained. \u201cI was involved in some of that as a youngster, but I realized very early that it was not for me. Thankfully, I had some teachers that believed in me and made sure I stayed on the straight and narrow. They made sure that my life mattered.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">Growing up in a gritty section of Youngstown, Ohio, known then for its connections to organized crime, Clark\u2019s life could have gone either way. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>A college scholarship to play football got Clark out of Youngstown; after college, he became a police officer and eventually joined the FBI. \u201cI knew that my life had to count,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe impact my childhood had on me\u2014how I grew up and the things that I was able to escape from\u2014made me want to give something back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">He is now in a unique position to do just that.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u201cI recognize that I can influence young people in gang neighborhoods,\u201d Clark noted. \u201cMost of these kids have never seen an FBI agent, much less an African-American FBI agent. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">When they see me, I want to stand as an example and tell them, &#8216;You, too, can come from this environment and still succeed if you go to school and work hard. It doesn\u2019t matter what your situation is at home. It doesn\u2019t matter if mom or dad is not there, or dad\u2019s in prison, or whatever the case may be. You can achieve something.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u201cRobert takes great pride in his work and helping communities to heal and become whole,\u201d said Cheryl Nalls, a Los Angeles Police Department detective who has worked closely with Clark in some of the worst gang neighborhoods in South Central L.A. \u201cHe is a passionate advocate,\u201d she added, \u201cand it\u2019s important for people in these communities to see someone like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blackgraphtx\" style=\"font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;\">\u201cI come to work every day to make a difference,\u201d Clark said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u00a0&#8211; \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs, he doesn\u2019t think of himself as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,648],"tags":[570,834],"class_list":["post-5762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fbi","category-other-voices","tag-fbi-agent","tag-robert-clark"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762\"},\"wordCount\":499,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"FBI Agent\",\"Robert Clark\"],\"articleSection\":[\"FBI\",\"Other Voices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762\",\"name\":\"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=5762\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters","description":"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters","og_description":"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00","author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters","datePublished":"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762"},"wordCount":499,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["FBI Agent","Robert Clark"],"articleSection":["FBI","Other Voices"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762","name":"FBI Agent Whose Father Worked for the Mob Loves to Dismantle Gangs and Help Youngsters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-28T03:59:13+00:00","description":"LOS ANGELES \u00a0- \u00a0When Special Agent Robert Clark speaks to an inner city school group or residents who live in Los Angeles neighborhoods overrun by gangs,","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5762"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5762"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5768,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5762\/revisions\/5768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}