And after a few years of friendship, J.T. challenged Venkatesh academically, pushing him to think more clearly about urban poverty in America. had a college degree, he left corporate America to run a drug operation that made him up to $100,000 a year. Venkatesh's guide during his research was J.T., the leader of the Black Kings who took an interest in the budding academic and showed him the ropes inside the projects. Venkatesh's new book, Gang Leader for a Day, captures his years inside the projects and how residents and gang members interacted, coexisted and raised families.
He befriended the leader of the Black Kings, one of the country's largest and most violent crack-dealing gangs, and led the group for a day. Now a professor of sociology at Columbia University, Venkatesh ventured into Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes housing project in the 1990s to do research for his doctorate. Then he would return to the tony neighborhood of Hyde Park, where he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. Read an excerpt about the day Venkatesh became a gang leader.įor seven years, sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh led a double life.įor days, Venkatesh stayed inside one of Chicago's worst housing projects living with poor families and hanging out with gang members.
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