Huge sweeps target Latino gangs that allegedly attacked blacks

Federal authorities said they would announce today a huge sweep of Latino gang members allegedly responsible for violence against law enforcement and racially motivated attacks against blacks.

The announcement followed the arrests of dozens of suspected gang members during raids early this morning. A news release from the U.S. attorney's office called it the "largest gang takedown in United States history."

U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien, along with officials from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is scheduled to speak at a news conference at 11 a.m. at the Lakewood sheriff's station. 

The indictment is the latest of several investigations that found gangs participating in race-based violence. Federal prosecutors two years ago charged members of a Latino gang with a violent campaign to drive blacks out of the unincorporated Florence-Firestone neighborhood that allegedly resulted in 20 homicides over several years.

In the Harbor Gateway district of L.A., police launched a crackdown last year on another Latino gang accused of targeting blacks, including 14-year-old Cheryl Green, whose death became a rallying point. In 2006, members of the Avenues, a Latino gang, were convicted in federal court for a series of assaults and killings in the early 1990s targeting blacks in Highland Park. 

-- Scott Glover

Photo: Weapons confiscated during this morning's raid. Credit: Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Regular American]

Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson????

[thetruthurts]

blacks are always victims, get real!

thetruthurts

[Steve Jordan]

Sounds to me like the gangs are profiling. . .

[fed up]

for too long the most desperate and hopeless members of both the african american and latino communities have been allowed to speak for their entire community. not all blacks have problems with latinos, not all latinos have problems with blacks. these thugs don't represent all latinos!

it is good to see that these thugs who prey upon citizen bystanders and don't even obey the rules of their own game (gangsters are only supposed to go after other gangsters) are getting what they deserve: jailtime in a federal prison with no possibility of parole.

[SamuelBerg]

This is what becomes of a city that allows illegal immigration to go unchecked, whereby one ethnic group is allowed to grow so out of control that it tries to physically force out another group of people in our once-proud city.

Antonio Villaraigosa loves bending over backwards to appease his constituency as long as he stays in office. I'm sure as heck not going to vote for him as Governor seeing what has become of our city. It once was a great place to raise a family but he has allowed illegal immigration and gang violence to ravage the city.

[pedro213]

ALL SHOW

[LongGone]

Hear that silence? That's because anyone with any sense has already moved out of California - home of the illegal invaders.

[Brad]

Say what you will about white supremacists, but they can always find their way to the comments section of an internet article. It never fails.

[KC]

Finally the Feds got involved. The state wouldn’t do anything.

[confucius]

Too little too late. Gangs are out of control. Mayor is afraid to touch the subject. Just trying to look like he's doing something about it. But it is the Feds who comes in, not the state or city... sad. LA used to be the envy once... now just a toilet.

[Warren]

Villaraigosa is pro Mexican; pro illegals. He'll never get my vote.

[Helpyrself]

PBS had a great show about what happened to blacks in LA.
I mean really, these poor people never get a break, and then get huniliated on welfare. BUT finally they have realized they have to parent thier children and fight to get an education. This anger and drugs only gets them in jail and killed. One must educate themselves and move out of the getto.

[Genesis]

What i find surprising is what people say on these things, yes there are some Latinos that are immigrants, but not all are involved in gangs. Most of them are trying to stay out of view so they do not get deported.I will agree that we are given a bad name because of headlines such as these....but lets get mature people, immigration and gangs are different. Most of those gang members are legal....

latino,black, white, etc...
gangs are gangs and we have to try harder to clean
our streets of them...

The mayor does all that he can
soo please leave your ignorance on the side
act your age and realize the facts..dont try to play the immigration card on everything.

[thecanimalshusband]

Who is worse, the gang member who commits the crimes or his girlfriend/wife who breeds more gang members? The poor offspring of them have a couple of good teachers, their parents, to use as role models to become future criminals.

[OC POPO]

There is enough blame to go around for why these crimes took place, you can blame the economic times, the mayor or law enforcement but the bottom line is that criminal street gang members should go to jail. Don't make it a race thing against the officers because it isn't. These crooks attacked people because of their race. The men/ women officers, deputies and agents who conducted the investigations, dealt with the broken hearted family members and victims and completed the investigations come from all walks of life.

Who ever uses the term racial profiling for something like this is grasping for excuses and it's time these crooks are punished and their familias can be broken hearted and sad

[El Guapo]

Glad nobody has blamed whitey cuz we're soon to be the minority in this country as we already are in Los Angeles. It's seems clear to me that this article is misdirected by its lack of information. Racially motivated attacks, please...the handful of attacks that have occurred between then and now is nothing compared to what the reality is between gang versus gang. Gang members are not arbitrarily targeting randoms in neighborhoods around L.A. They're just killing other gang members, black, brown, illegal or not. And we should let them. =)

[bearson bear]

Hear that silence? That's because anyone with any sense has already moved out of California - home of the illegal invaders. I am with you ! Let the mexicans and Blacks kill themselves here,

Off to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[Bobby]

How could this have been allowed to get this far?? What kind of leaders does Southern California have? Why is crime taken as a given?? Californians need to start holding their so-called representatives accountable or just get rid of them. This state is full of gangsters, BOTH THE LEGITIMATE AND THE ILLEGITMATE TYPE, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

[Pat Brown]

It never ceases to amaze me that people loudly complain that the police don't do anything about these gangbangers but the minute they do take action they're called racist thugs out to racially profile anyone who isn't Anglo. If you want to blame people for this blame the spineless politicians and the media that write biased news reports and haven't told Angelenos the truth in years.

[VERNON BALMER JR.]

I hope, all those with right hearts and minds that perpetrate violence against no one because of color or culture, who should be in the great majority, even in LA, will get together to show a unified front against what is caused by competition for living space, cultural understanding, and even drug turf.

There are entities that would use these age old social problems to facilitate more sinister,insidious, and longer ranged goals that result in the harm of both Latinos and Blacks.

[Jenny]

"Allegedly"??? Boy, the LA Times own racism is showing. It knows damn well that Hispanic gangs are racist, it knows what the "KB" tattoo translates to, it also knows that it's much more than one gang. Many Hispanic gangs all across the state are killing black American citizens. It's no longer any surprise why the Times hushed up most debate about the murder of young Jamiel Shaw Jr., and provided cover from the corrupt city government's attempt to threaten, coerce the Shaw family, with an attempt at slander. This newspaper is a disgrace and should be shut down.

[NELA raised:./Drew Street's finest...]

the biggest deadliest gang in LA =LAPD

they've killed more minorities any other gang, except the kkk...

--Where are the jobs and opportunities for youth???
-federal agencies are making their moves, more over the chief is trying to take credit so is the Mayor meanwhile people of color and minorities, once again lose...(what are the options for youth?)

I remember a time when union jobs such as RALPHS and Lucky's Albertson's gave people a summer job...WHERE DID THEY GO?

Affirmative Action is also gone...The solution can not be punishing the urban dwellers...SHAME on the cowards for using this site for having small minds and being pendejos!

[flyonthewall]

Just more proof the people that cry racial profiling are the racists. If what they want is not given to them voluntarily, they will complain to the government and steal what is wanted, many times, at the cost of human lives. Sanctuary Cities are a breeding ground for this. As for Sharpton and Jackson, they tend to go where the money and publicity is rather than defending the people they claim to support. Call your lawmakers and tell them E-Verify and 287g nationwide. No Sanctuary Cities. Enforce our immigration laws. No Amnesty. The 14th Amendment does not apply to illegal aliens.

[steve rodriguez]

If we are not Black, I guess we are still in jepordy right?
Did they arrest these gang members because they targeted Blacks? Or because they committed crimes and assaulted people?

[gravytrain]

"Whatever your cause, it’s a lost cause without population control."
Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich

We are breeding ourselves into extinction.
Of course the most disenfranchised will fight and kill one another while waiting for their demise.