Ghetto Blasting

Yamaguchi says he had already met with Holder weeks earlier and couldn't believe his eyes when he read the memo's injunction to "do something" about the state of crime in the projects. "I thought, 'Wow, this is great. This is exactly what should be done.' "

He says he immediately contacted the regional heads of the relevant federal law enforcement agencies. One quick shift could occur with FBI agents assigned to the Unabomber case rotating into federal anti-gang activities to work closely with S.F.'s street cops. On July 18, the chief HUD inspector general, Susan Gaffney, met with Holder in San Francisco for a briefing on the project. Impressed, Gaffney pledged money "to keep it alive," says Yamaguchi.

Last week, Lau, Holder, Yamaguchi, and Pifer took their case to the district attorney, asking him to assign a single prosecutor to take on all HEART-related cases, from trespassing citations to felony arrests. (Hallinan already has a prosecutor in mind, Floyd Andrews, an experienced Superior Court trial attorney.) Hallinan's office is likely to begin demanding that defendants agree to stay away from housing projects as a condition of probation. The same tactic has been used for more than two years in S.F. to coerce prostitutes from returning to regular corners.

Soon, police plan to pad their 17-member housing project squad with support from the department's uniformed tactical unit and motorcycle squad. District captains will be asked to assign officers as "community liaisons" to each project. Lau calls the effort "real community policing."

Mary Dunlap, director of the Office of Citizens Complaints, the civilian police watchdog in S.F., calls the diplomacy behind HEART vintage Lau. "I am impressed with his ability to get all factions and people together," she says. "I am confident he will keep me appraised [of the public housing effort]. So far, I have been readily and helpfully included."

All of which brings an understandable smile to Holder's face. "A window of opportunity," he says of the local-federal cooperation, "the first time I've seen it." He's been working housing project crime for more than 10 years, and notes that several of the tools to be employed are not new. For instance, the U.S. attorney will make use of authority granted federal prosecutors under the Bush administration, which calls for using federal gun laws as a way to pull defendants arrested on state offenses before the federal courts, where sentences tend to be heavier. "Everyone has had the same vision, but we weren't coordinating it," says Holder.

As evidence of progress, Holder points to the Housing Authority, under federal management since March. In past years, he says, cops' requests to kick out problem tenants went unheeded. "Now," he says of the authority's willingness to prosecute such petitions, "they have 500 claims for eviction pending."

Additional reporting provided by George Cothran and Malcolm Garcia.