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GREENSBORO — The leader of North Carolina's Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, a Chicago-based gang, has called on other gang leaders to channel their members' energy away from violence and into a struggle for justice against racism.

Jorge Cornell, who goes by "King J," and lives in Greensboro, said he has spoken with members of other gangs, including local groups of Bloods and Crips, as well as the leadership of his gang in Chicago, about his ideas.

At a news conference Monday, seated with Nelson Johnson, pastor of the Beloved Community Center, and Gregory Headen, president of the Pulpit Forum, Cornell called on all gang members to unify to fight against policies such as 287-g agreements, which give local law-enforcement jurisdictions broader authority to deport immigrants charged with crimes.

"Racism is still here and it is serious in the South," Cornell said. To combat it, its victims - the same poor and minority people who often populate gangs - need to work together, not fight over petty rivalries, Cornell said.

"Our goal is to bring peace to the streets," Cornell said. "Put your weapons down and come to a table to talk peace."

Cornell, 31, said he is the "Inca" or leader of all members of his gang in North Carolina and had clearance from national gang leaders in Chicago to "build something beautiful out here."

Capt. John Wolfe, commander of the Greensboro Police Department's gang enforcement unit, said Cornell had never been in touch with the gang unit about his goals, but Wolfe supports what Cornell says he is trying to achieve.

"He says his mission is for peace and nonviolence, he wants people to lay down their guns, that's exactly the same as our mission," Wolfe said. "If his intention is legitimate, we're going to support him."

"He is the state leader as far as I know," Wolfe said. "If he is, then he certainly is the person who can affect change."

In the 10 months between July 1, 2007, and May 17, police categorized 690 crimes as gang-related. Of those, just under a third are vandalism, mainly including graffiti. Police investigated 33 aggravated assaults, 37 robberies of individuals and two homicides as gang-related incidents, according to data from the gang unit.

But any gang-on-gang violence that has occurred since the formation of the gang unit has not been reported to police, Wolfe said. The unit depends primarily on reports from hospitals - which report all gunshot wounds to police - or victims.

Before the gang unit was formed in October, there were incidents of small sets of Bloods acting out on small sets of Crips - two primarily African American gangs, Wolfe said.

But since then, there isn't evidence of gang-on-gang violence in Greensboro, Wolfe said. "I can't give you an incident where MS-13 and Latin Kings have perpetrated violence on each other."

The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is similar, but unrelated, to the Latin Kings, another Chicago-based gang, according to an April report by the U.S. attorney general.

Cornell and Johnson met Wednesday after Cornell called Johnson for spiritual counsel. Cornell said Monday that last week, police had targeted him and harassed other members of his gang, claiming to have a warrant for his arrest that Cornell said doesn't exist.

Police had a legal reason for all of their contacts with Cornell, Wolfe said.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com