JNS Blog Reader Contributes A Bit Of North Minneapolis Crime Family History With A Story About The Bobo Family...

Contributed photo, police (and possibly FBI) raid on 3851 Emerson 
Ave. N., blog post by John Hoff

Though former city councilman (and current Minneapolis School Board Member) Don Samuels was not elected Mayor, the campaign issue of half a dozen "North Minneapolis crime families" continues to resonate. The issue especially resonates with residents who live the reality, daily, of a small number of families being disproportionally involved in neighborhood crime.

A sidebar on my blog solicits stories and information about these crime families and recently a reader contributed that very type of information, as follows...

I used to live across the street from the duplex at 3851/53 Emerson Ave. North. You did a couple of blog posts about the duplex [...] years ago because it was raided by MPD with the apparent assistance of FBI. 

(JNS blog says click here, here and also here for those stories)  

In summer of 2010, I called the police about street dealing in front of the duplex, and went back to puttering around the house.  I had a configuration of windows and doors open that was both safe from intrusion and effective for air, but the officer who rolled down the street half an hour later thought it didn't look right, so he pulled into the back and knocked on the door.  We chatted a bit about what I had seen.  

Apparently, my call had come in during shift change and this officer was from NE, but he responded to the call as he had worked a time in North and was familiar with the terrain.  I gave him a plate number, which I thought was from out of state because it wasn't the usual MN configuration, and he drove away.  

The officer called me back from his squad car, and asked if the plate could be a drunk plate, describing what one looks like; I agreed that's what it probably was.  He said the car was owned by a fellow named Damon Bobo, and rattled off the physical description of a middle aged African American male.  The description didn't match anyone I recognized from the duplex.  The officer suggested I inform North Minneapolis CERT that this fellow's vehicle was around the duplex and that I had also seen street dealing.  He repeated the suggestion twice more during our conversation.  I made a comment about the fellow's last name being the name of a clown, and the officer said Damon Bobo was a "bad dude" and I should avoid confrontation.    

I googled "Damon Bobo" and found a Facebook page for someone quite a bit younger than indicated by the officer, and who was one of the young men who frequented the duplex but did not live there - as of last summer, I would still see him there once in a while when I was over at my house.  I did a search on the district court database; Bobo the elder had a typical string of convictions for a chronic miscreant.  I don't remember how I found it, but I found out Bobo the elder had an address somewhere around the 42nd block of Fremont or something like that.  Bobo the younger had some issues too, but he wasn't much over 18 at the time, so there's that.  Bobo the younger still has a Facebook page (StaccorStarve), but besides seeing a photo, I don't have access to anything else, as Facebook is not something I use.

So, I called North Minneapolis CERT and left a message.  An officer from CERT called me back and was also uncharacteristically conversational.  

All of this is a very long winded way of saying "Damon Bobo."  There are two of them.  Law enforcement keeps tabs on them.  Perhaps you will come across the name again. 

Since someone has linked the name Bobo tangentially to the Bloods I would also note that several weeks before the tornado ripped through North in 2011, there was a homicide in the alley more or less behind the duplex.  I was home when it happened, and while I didn't see the shooting, I heard the shots and also saw a group of young African American men come from the alley, through the church parking lot, to the street in front of the duplex.  Others from in the duplex came out, and still others from the other end of the street joined the crowd.  I think there must have been 20 or so young men in the street and in the yard of the duplex.  They were all peeling off hoodies and jackets to reveal red t-shirts.  One such young man also was shouting "I killed the fucker" repeatedly.  

I don't specifically recall if Bobo the younger was part of the crowd.  The older of the two women who own the duplex loaded many of the young men into her vehicle and drove away as the sirens of responding squads approached.

JNS blog says: I don't remember what North Minneapolis homicide that was. There are just too many to keep track. 

I will note that MNCIS shows a Damon Marcus Bobo, DOB 6/2/89, and a Damon Marcus Bobo, DOB 4/15/67. The name "Vincent Alexander Moorman DOB 4/20/68" (seriously!) comes up as a false name used by the "elder" Damon Bobo. These names and DOB's may correspond to the "elder" and "younger" Bobos in the story by my reader. 

Or might not. The process of fleshing out the history of the half dozen or so North Minneapolis crime families is an ongoing process.