Leroy Bean’s own past as a young man, a later conversion to Christianity and the killings of several people close to him, spurred him to counsel troubled youths in a bid to address social ills.The founder of anti-gang organisation CARTEL told The Royal Gazette that he had worked with troubled youths long before the formal start of the organisation in 2009.“I always seemed to be working with the population that was troubled and downtrodden. And with those that were involved in bad behaviour,” he said.“I personally had a life like that. I came from a single parent home and was exposed to such behaviours.”Such “behaviours” included experimenting with drugs and firearms.When the 1977 riots broke out, his mother, a housekeeper tried to rescue him from a downward spiral into criminality by sending him off to boarding school — Fryeburg Academy in Maine, a small independent secondary school with a diverse student body and liberal credentials. But while his roommate (Michael Weeks, now a ruling party MP) made it through successfully, Mr Bean spent quite a bit of his free time selling weed, smoking and drinking. He was kicked out, as he had been at Whitney Institute, just before he was scheduled to graduate.But his conversion to Christianity, which he credits to his mother, helped him to overcome his troubles and even led to him forgiving the man who killed the man who raised him.Years after the killing — and a verdict of manslaughter — the two ended up working at the Corporation of Hamilton together.“I saw him, we were talking and I told him who I was,” Mr Bean said.“We talked and he was a little apprehensive. I basically told him I forgive him and I held nothing against him and I wished him well.”Bean returned to Bermuda after Fryeburg Academy and got himself a job as an insurance agent, but he soon left that industry and secured a job with the Corporation of Hamilton as a painter, primarily because he wanted to make more money to return to school.He managed to go to college — Warner Southern College in Florida, where he enrolled in biblical studies. “I stayed a couple of years and came back and bought a piece of land — I already had a baby and other responsibilities here.”Mr Bean later got several other qualifications — a Bachelor's degree in Christian Counselling (Addiction) and a Master’s Degree in Christian Counselling (Family) from Freedom Bible College & Seminary. Both were online programmes. In 2007, Mr Bean received a Master's Degree in Government Law and Public Policy from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia a distance learning programme, he said.Mr Bean was asked by a number of gang leaders to represent them in police organised talks in 2003.“They saw the life that I came from and they trusted me. So they invited me into meetings,” he explained.“There was still a lot of rivalry going on between gangs and at that time many were denying that Bermuda had gangs.”He says the gang talks would have gone well were it not for the “opportunists” who were there simply to “make a name for themselves”.“It actually dwindled away as the individuals involved began to put up walls.”He kept in contact with a few of the gang leaders, some of whom changed their lives around and even came into the church, he said.“I was still working with that population. A lot of them were involved in drugs. And I played a major role in trying to redirect them.”As to why he decided in 2009 to create a formal organisation to address the gang problem, Mr Bean said a series of family tragedies in close succession were key motivators.“My younger brother was shot at Swizzle Inn. I had a nephew that was shot at RA club. Two twin cousins were killed,” he said.“Many family members were affected by the gang activity. And no one was doing anything.”CARTEL, which stands for Challenging and Reclaiming the True Essence of Life, began to hit the headlines almost instantly. They bought in former members of the notorious Los Angeles gangs the Crips and the Bloods to hold sessions with Island youth. That decision was strategic and pioneering — police had warned four years earlier that local gang members were boasting affiliations with the deadly Los Angeles gangs. By 2009, the links were firmly established.Craig Winters-Dixon, a 28 year-old former Crip, and Jeff Osborne, a 22 year-old former Blood and 43 year old Pepe Montenegro of Mexican gang The Avenues, visited schools, prisons and community forums to give their personal stories about living the gangster life. The three captivated young and old alike with their testimonies aimed at deglamourising the lifestyle and urging people to make healthier life choices.“The sessions went well but it seems that Bermuda was not interested in participating in the preventive mechanisms that was needed to actually stop a lot of what we are seeing now,” lamented Mr Bean.The former gang members have been back on the Island since the 2009 presentations, but Mr Bean does regular presentations at schools himself, namely, CedarBridge Academy, Berkeley Institute and Sandys Middle School.His presentations are one aspect of CARTEL’s mission — prevention and redirecting young people to healthier life choices.Children as young as six attend CARTEL’s annual Youth Empowerment summer camp on White’s Island — the first of which started last year and attracted about 50 participants on daily basis. Attendance at this year’s camp is considerably less — with about a dozen children in attendance daily. The length of the camp has also been cut — from 11 weeks last year to six, due to funding challenges.Less public are CARTEL’s mediation and intervention work which Mr Bean says he does on a regular basis with some success.“Sometimes you redirect them. That’s not to say it wouldn’t flare up but at least for the present time you can keep things cool and peaceful.”Another aspect of CARTEL’s work is relocating those who are “entrenched in gang activity and want to get out.”“We found that people were at risk and their lives were in danger so we started to relocate them,” he said.Over the years, he says, he has helped relocate between 30 and 40 people to the UK where a key contact, a former client, ended up running an addiction centre.Even that programme has its challenges, he explained. Some young man have been known to opt out of the nine-month programme only a few weeks after arrival.Another major challenge for CARTEL is funding. A corporate sponsor whose identity he declined to reveal, had provided a substantial financial donation but that relationship ended, Mr Bean said.And he is critical of Government for not living up to its promises of assistance.“We had promises from Government that never came through. To be honest with you, I have been disappointed with the support that I believe Government could give this particular initiative,” he said.“I don’t think we should play politics with people’s lives.“When you’re dealing with gang activity I don’t see politics. I just see lives.”One Minister he went to see for assistance kicked him out of his office telling him not to come back unless he changed the name of the organisation, Mr Bean shared.He estimates that his programme would cost about $3-400,000 “at the low end of the scale” if it was run on a full-time basis.Mr Bean says he is regularly contacted by agencies like Family Services and The Family Centre and is confident that his work is having a significant impact on the lives of hundreds of Bermudians.But CARTEL does not appear to have established formal working relationships with the agencies.Bermuda Youth Counselling Services, a government agency, has a high risk intervention team which handles young people with gang involvements. The agency conducts risk assessments of individuals and families and determines the type of help needed, referring them on to appropriate services. An official there said that BYCS, which is one of Government’s newer agencies, has not had any dealings with CARTEL.The Family Centre’s director Martha Dismont also confirmed that her organisation had not had any formal dealings with CARTEL.“The Family Centre has not yet referred any individual or family (to CARTEL) on a formal basis,” she said. “He (Leroy Bean) is an associate in the field and we look forward to having the opportunity to find out about the specific services that he provides because we need a good network of service providers.”There are indications that Government may be distancing itself from CARTEL.. Mr Bean shared an e-mail from an official saying that negotiations with CARTEL for a contract to run the Government’s StreetSafe Bermuda programme will not proceed because of a lack of funds.CARTEL’s own funding currently comes from churches, including his own Transfiguration Ministries, and individuals. He relies on proceeds from the collection plate at his small Hamilton Parish church for his own subsistence, he says.“We’re not a charity that makes a whole lot of money. We don’t charge money like some people do,” Mr Bean said.He added: “It’s a thankless job. But I guess the exciting thing is when you see somebody change from something negative to something positive.”