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This case tells the story of how the city of Boston, faced with a plague of drug-related gang violence and youth murders in the early 1990s, succeeded in dramatically reducing the violence and breaking the back of organizedgangs. Far from instituting a centrally-directed approach, however, the city benefits from the key law enforcement insights of individual police officials. Particularly crucial is the effort of a police anti-gang unit to join forces with anhistorically distant ally: the state department of probation. By targeting known gang members, many on probation, and working jointly with probation officers, the police identify and imprison gang ringleaders. Their efforts are complemented by parallel, on-street efforts by social service youth workers. This leadership and organizational behavior case allows for discussion of the forces that spur parallel public organizations to cooperate, as well as those forces that divide them.