Funeral Homes Refusing Service to Prevent More Death

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Posted to Business on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 05:59:28 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Sixteen year old John Mendoza was found bludgeoned to death in a South Side of Chicago alley, during what police describe as a possible gang-related incident. The story did not get much attention past the metro area until his uncle tried to get him buried. The problem is funeral homes are becoming hesitant to bury victims of gang violence due to fears of retribution against their business or retaliation during the service itself.

Despite a recent switch in schools due to gang problems by Mr. Mendoza and the type of killing highly suggestive of gang violence, guardians of the sixteen year old strongly denied he was involved in a gang. They claim funeral directors are refusing service to their family because the homes fear "gang retribution." The Mendozas state they contacted two funeral homes and two flatly refused to bury John, and another would only do it if they agreed to an abbreviated early morning service. The uncle diplomatically summarized the situation as "these people are being boneheads."

The three homes mentioned by the Mendozas were contacted by the Chicago Sun-Times. One funeral director said violent deaths usually have wakes scheduled in the morning to discourage gang activity during the service, because most of the thugs prefer to operate in the evening. He also denied that his home refused service, but said that violent deaths are an extra hassle. His business needs to pay $2,000 in security services to serve as a deterrent to people who may want to disrupt the service and that cost is passed on to the family. The funeral director also took issue with the notion that the victim was not involved in a gang: "Most families aren't going to be honest with you. Most families don't know what their children do."

A past-president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association says he would never insist on a daytime wake and wouldn't charge extra for security. In cases where violence is possible he would ask the police to provide free coverage.

You would think that if a funeral home had some security concerns, they would call the Police Department [in advance] and the Police Department would dispatch someone.

Unfortunately funeral arrangements are a hot-button issue for everybody. One staff blogger for the Chicago Sun-Times said the Mendoza situation borders on outright racism. He claims that the Mendozas had been affluent the funeral parlor would be glad to have the business and the police should provide free security in such an event because the "cops provide traffic assistance at most big churches."

Sadly, fears of funeral service gang violence are not related just to the Mendoza case or confined just to Chicago. Funeral directors report gunfire at the gravesite, murders during or after the funeral, and even multiple gunmen showing up to target family members of the elderly who had died of natural causes. Mr. Swann, a successful Cincinnati funeral director who has had family in the business for over a hundred years, is thinking about retiring. At age 37. The reason? A horrible experience at the funeral of a murdered drug-dealer. Mr. Swann claims the decedent's family & friends started drinking and smoking heavily in the chapel and a brawl erupted with people from the outside pinning him down and assaulting him and family members.

Another director, Ms. Kellom, recounted how a riot with firearms broke out at a service for a murder victim. The police were called and over 30 armed officers showed up to dispatch the crowd. Luckily, she had prepared for these type of events by designing security systems that put the building into "lockdown" with the press of a button and had security on hand. This problem is not uncommon. Other funeral directors report getting concealed carry permits, buying expensive security systems, publishing fake routes for the hearse to travel, and announcing fake times and dates of services in the newspaper. Still, shenanigans occur such as when family members begin operating their cars in an extremely unsafe manner or start altercations with rival mourners.  

Unfortunately the problem of violence at the graveside or in the church is not going away anytime soon. Gang crime has become so rampant that prepayments of funeral services --- something usually confined to the elderly or infirm --- is being done by the families of gang members because they know eventually they will have to bury their wayward sons and daughters.