Boston Gang Leaders Earn $400 Weekly to Push City Toward Zero Gun Deaths

James Rodriguez returned to his home in Dorchester in 2025 after serving three years of a 42-month federal RICO sentence. He had no job, no housing, and only $20 to print his GED certificate. Rodriguez, a gang member since his teenage years, faced a choice between returning to drug dealing or finding a new path. He joined a program that pays him $400 a week to talk about violence with other men.

The program is run by Uncornered, a nonprofit founded in 2016 by Mark Culliton and Michelle Caldeira. The organization started at Settlement House in Boston, where the founders sought to engage disengaged neighborhood influencers in education. Gang members initially refused participation, citing the demands of street life. When Culliton and Caldeira asked what it would take to change that, the men consistently asked for $20,000 a year. The founders accepted that figure, recognizing it as a modest cost for reaching those most involved in violence.

Uncornered currently operates in Boston, Kansas City, and Providence. It employs 10 full-time staff and provides stipends to 140 men, with 300 more in its broader network. The group does not partner with law enforcement and does not require participants to stop shooting or leave their neighborhoods. Instead, the men meet several times a week to discuss recent shootings, map gang power structures, and share personal histories. The goal is to model behavioral change for other men in their communities who look to these leaders for cues.

In Boston, gun homicides dropped to 31 in 2025. Culliton says the organization aims for zero deaths, arguing that violence will return if the goal is merely reduction. "Unless you get to these most violent guys, you won't get to zero," Culliton said. "And unless you get to zero, the violence will come back." Danny Ramos, an Uncornered staff member in Kansas City, noted that participants are often struggling to survive rather than earning large sums. "The reality is, all the guys we work with are struggling every day just to survive," Ramos said.

Melesa Johnson, the first Black woman to serve as prosecutor in Kansas City's Jackson County, supports the model. She stated that Uncornered fills gaps in trust between police and communities. "Uncornered is bonafide prevention: The more we can stabilize people's lives and show them a different way, the better," Johnson said. A team of researchers from Notre Dame University is currently studying the link between Uncornered's work and violence reduction in specific areas.

The organization is almost entirely privately funded. Culliton and Caldeira say the most critical task is helping participants understand the patterns of violence in their areas. This process encourages men to consider responses that do not involve guns. As one participant puts it, when one man decides to go back to school, others often follow, sending new messages to their peers. The program treats this social influence as the primary tool for change.