“Bully” and “Breezy” are well known in Austin.

Both men are from the area, and both work for the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, one of the city’s street outreach organizations aimed at reducing gun deaths.

Bully and Breezy keep busy.

Between the two of them they carry at least five cellphones, checking in regularly with a network of colleagues — more natives of Austin, men who’ve spent time in prison — who serve as extra eyes and ears, monitoring the entire neighborhood for problems that could lead to violence.

“We’re like ‘The Avengers,” Bully — born Marcus Simpson — told the Tribune last week. “We get everybody from every neighborhood to have a little fun and we come together. That’s how we got the violence down.”

Year over year, gun violence in Chicago has declined sharply — a

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