Thread: 61 gang members, associates indicted on drug, weapon charges

61 gang members, associates indicted on federal drug, weapons charges

October 21, 2010 | 11:02 am

Federal and local law enforcement officials announced Thursday that they had arrested and indicted dozens of gang members or their associates suspected of distributing weapons as well as large quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine.

The members of different gangs -- 61 people in all -- were named in six different federal indictments aimed at breaking the back of the distribution network of illegal drugs and weapons. Most of the suspects face between 10 and 20 years in federal prison if convicted of all charges.

The operation was centered in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles as well as Long Beach and La Puente, where federal authorities allege that members of at least 10 gangs acted as suppliers for gangs in other parts of Los Angeles and Southern California.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Immigration Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Los Angeles Police Department arrested at least 40 gang members or their associates in coordinated pre-dawn raids, according to Thom Mrozek, spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office.

More than 800 federal and local law enforcement officers were involved in Operation Red Rein.

The largest of the half-dozen indictments targeted members of the Eastside Pain gang suspected of trafficking in kilos of cocaine. Members of Puente 13 were involved in the distribution of 55 pounds of methamphetamine, according to the indictment.

Also named in the indictments were members of East Side Wilmas, North Side Wilmas, Harbor City Crips, Compton Avenue Crips, Fruit Town Piru, El Monte Flores and Primera Flats.

The operation carried out Thursday morning was an outgrowth of arrests two years ago targeting street gangs in the "ghost town" area of Wilmington, authorities said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... arges.html

Dozens Arrested in South L.A. Gang Sweep

(KTLA-TV)
LOS ANGELES -- More than 1,000 Los Angeles police officers and federal agents arrested dozens of suspected gang members in a crackdown on the "Rolling 40s" gang early Thursday morning.

Authorities swarmed 47 locations in South Los Angeles with warrants for 75 individuals, according to Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. By early morning, some 46 people were in custody, he said.

The suspects, believed to be leaders of the violent street gang, were wanted primarily for drug and gun crimes.

Officers say they seized several weapons during the sweep, which began before dawn.

The arrests are the result of an 18-month investigation.

Officers were concentrated in the neighborhoods served by the LAPD's Southwest and 77th Street stations, including Exposition Park, Crenshaw, Jefferson Park, West Adams, Baldwin Village, University Park, Athens Park, Gramercy Park and Hyde Park.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-g ... 7169.story

Police, feds join in huge Wilmington drug sweep

By Larry Altman and Donna Littlejohn
Staff Writers
Posted: 10/21/2010 08:25:05 AM PDTUpdated: 10/21/2010 01:13:41 PM PDT

The Los Angeles Police Department along with federal agencies served arrest warrants to 60 locations in Wilmington and surrounding areas Thursday before dawn. A woman stands in the early morning air with her bathrobe and zip-tie handcuffs as SWAT searches her house on Baypoint Avenue, near 248th Street, in Wilmington. October 21, 2010. Photo by Steve McCrank. (STEVE McCRANK)PHOTO GALLERY

Hundreds of police officers raided about 60 homes and arrested dozens of suspected gang members early today in a quest to dismantle the cocaine trade in Wilmington.

About 250 Los Angeles police officers and federal agents from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Immigration and Customs Enforcement served arrest and search warrants at homes in Wilmington, Carson, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Compton, Long Beach and cities as far away as Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

By 7 a.m., 20 people were in local and federal custody, with the numbers rising to 41 later in the morning. Twenty suspects were

The Los Angeles Police Department along with federal agencies served arrest warrants to 60 locations in Wilmington and surrounding areas Thursday before dawn. A search of a home on E. 223rd Street in Carson yielded a duffle bag filled with marijuana. The bag was found on a search warrant and the owner was arrested. October 21, 2010. Photo by Steve McCrank. (STEVE McCRANK)still being sought as of 11 a.m.
"Operation Red Rein" was designed to target the midlevel drug suppliers for about 10 violent street gangs, primarily in Wilmington. Among them: East Side Pain, Waterfront Piru, East Side Wilmas, North Side Wilmas, Harbor City Crips, Compton Avenue Crips, Fruit Town Piru, El Monte Flores and Primera Flats.

Altogether, 800 federal and local law enforcement officers were involved in the action.

The result was six federal indictments, including two major cases for conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.

The three-year operation was expected to take hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illegal drugs off the streets of the South Bay and Harbor Area,

officials said later at a news conference at the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division station.
The "massive takedown," in the words of Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Unit, will have a lasting impact.

Gang members, he said, were funneling "hundreds of thousands of dollars of substances a month" onto the streets.

"What this shows is that law enforcement at all levels is committed to continuing the effort to

The Los Angeles Police Department along with federal agencies served arrest warrants to 60 locations in Wilmington and surrounding areas Thursday before dawn. A man is arrested as a search warrant is served by SWAT at his house on Baypoint Avenue, near 248th Street, in Wilmington. October 21, 2010. Photo by Steve McCrank. (STEVE McCRANK)dismantle these networks," Arnold said. "We're here to stay."
"It's going to have a significant impact on them," said Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes, Harbor Division commander.

One of the targeted gangs, East Side Pain, is a violent drug-dealing organization targeted in a massive operation in 2007 in the Ghost Town area of Wilmington.

"This is all but going to eliminate the crack cocaine dealing network" in Wilmington, Arnold said.

John Torres, special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said, "We were able to arrest many, many gang members" in the 2007 raids. "We'll continue that effort. ... We're back."

The raids Thursday were described as a spin-off of the 2007 operation, when some 500 local police officers and federal agents served warrants at 22 homes and motels in the Ghost Town neighborhood.

East Side Pain controlled the area bounded by Sandison Street, Drumm Avenue, Pacific Coast Highway and Sanford Avenue, which even police found unsafe.

Forty-three suspects were arrested, and officers seized caches of guns, drugs and more than $14,000 in cash. Most went to federal prison, knocking down the crime rate, police said.

Many of those arrested today were not targeted three years ago, when mostly street dealers were taken to jail. Los Angeles police Lt. Bob Long described the suspects as "people we thought needed to be targeted that we missed the last time."

Those arrested today are suspected of acquiring cocaine and methamphetamine from dealers in Mexico and distributing it to the Wilmington street dealers, who Arnold said make as much as $200,000 a year. Most face a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted.

"We've done an investigation into the midlevel to high-level narcotics dealers," Long said. "We're going after the ones who got knocked out but are still doing criminal activity."

The coordinated raids this morning were set in motion at 4 a.m. with the word "initiate" announced over law enforcement radios. The operation was dubbed "Red Rein" because it was designed to rein in Bloods gangs, known for their red colors.

At one house at 248th Street and Baypoint Avenue in Carson, a special weapons team pulled out a man and woman in their bedclothes and searched the house, which had been fortified with steel.

Through the morning hours, police were using saws to cut through gates blocking entrance to the house.

LAPD Deputy Chief Patrick Gannon said the law enforcement partnership reached far beyond city and county limits, sending a message to gang members and drug dealers throughout Southern California that police will not relent.

In the end, he said, it is about making communities safer.

Also as part of the ongoing operation, officials confiscated 17 illegal firearms, most purchased by undercover officers.

"I don't care if it's one or 17 or 100, if we get that gun off the street that's going to kill your family member, we've done our job," Torres said at the news conference, where the firearms were on display.

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said his office also filed a nuisance abatement charge against the 47-unit Harbor Inn residential hotel in Wilmington, a hangout and stronghold for gang members over the past 20 years.

East Side Wilmas gang members have rented and used the premises for illicit activities, he said at the news conference.

"If we have to come back again, we'll come back with a bulldozer," Trutanich said. "This is just the beginning of what we're going to do to make these neighborhoods safe."

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn praised the effort, saying all of the physical improvements that the city has made in Wilmington over the years are for naught if families don't feel safe in their own neighborhood.

"None of that mattered when they weren't safe, none of that mattered when gunshots were heard, when kids didn't feel safe to go play in the park," she said.

larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com

http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_16396499

I.C.E.News Release

October 21, 2010

Los Angeles, CAFeds indict 61 in multi-agency drug probe focusing on Los Angeles-area gangs

Operation "Red Rein" targeted gangs' key meth and cocaine suppliers

LOS ANGELES - More than 800 federal and local law enforcement officers fanned out across the Southland Thursday morning in a massive takedown capping a three-year, multi-agency investigation that targeted major methamphetamine and cocaine suppliers to some of the most violent street gangs based in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and La Puente.

As of mid-morning, 40 of the suspects facing federal charges in the case were in custody.

A total of 21 are still being sought. Additionally, one other individual was detained on a state parole violation. Besides the arrests, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed a civil "abatement" lawsuit Thursday to shut down drug trafficking activities at a notorious hotel used as a hangout by a Harbor Area gang.

Thursday's arrests come after a federal grand jury returned six indictments that name a total of 61 defendants, many of them documented gang members, who allegedly trafficked in large quantities of cocaine and meth that various gangs resold. The charges in the indictments include conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine as well as firearms violations. The federal defendants were expected to be arraigned in United States District Court Thursday afternoon.

"This collaborative law enforcement action began as an investigation into drug trafficking in Wilmington and expanded into a case that charges members of 10 different street gangs," said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. "A federal grand jury has charged key players involved in the distribution of crack cocaine in Wilmington, large-scale methamphetamine dealers in La Puente, and gun traffickers."

The investigation leading to Thursday's enforcement action, which was called Operation "Red Rein," was spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Operation Red Rein began in the wake of the multi-agency "Cruces" investigation, which in 2007 resulted in the arrest of nearly four dozen drug dealers and weapons traffickers in the Wilmington area. The law enforcement agencies involved in Operation Red Rein initiated the probe three years ago to identify the origins of the cocaine being distributed as crack by two Harbor Area street gangs -- the East Side Pain and Waterfront Piru. Focusing initially on street-level crack cocaine dealers, investigators identified traffickers who dealt pound quantities of methamphetamine and kilogram quantities of cocaine, much of which was converted into crack cocaine.

One federal indictment charges 40 defendants, many of whom are affiliated with the Wilmington-based East Side Pain street gang, with participating in a conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Using a variety of investigative techniques -- including telephone wiretaps, informants and surveillance -- investigators determined that gang members were responsible for funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crack cocaine a month onto the streets of the Harbor Area of Los Angeles. This indictment charges Trond Thomas Sr., an East Side Pain member, and Robert Lee Campbell Jr., a Waterfront Piru, both of whom allegedly purchased powder cocaine from defendant Jesus Lamberto Olea, who is a member of the East Side Wilmas. The crack cocaine indictment also charges Marcos Louie Gallardo, a Puente 13 member, with selling cocaine to Thomas, who allegedly converted the powder cocaine to crack cocaine.

During the investigation into cocaine trafficking in the Harbor Area, authorities learned that in addition to selling cocaine, Gallardo was also selling large quantities of methamphetamine in La Puente. This part of the investigation resulted in a second indictment that focuses on the Puente 13 gang and charges 18 defendants in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

The six indictments include defendants who are members of East Side Wilmas, North Side Wilmas, Harbor City Crips, Compton Avenue Crips, Fruit Town Piru, El Monte Flores and Primera Flats.

"As a result of this investigation and enforcement action, we've dismantled an entire drug trafficking network, from the street dealer to the actual supplier," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles. "We believe these defendants were responsible for funneling large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into our communities. With today's arrests, we've shut down that potentially deadly supply chain and cut off what was a key source of cash for some of the most ruthless and violent gangs operating in this area."

The six federal indictments charge a total of 61 defendants - 58 of whom face mandatory minimum sentences of either 10 or 20 years in federal prison.

"Today's operation is an outstanding example of the police partnerships working to successfully improve the quality of life in the communities we serve," said Los Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Pat Gannon, Operations-South Bureau. "This is the culmination of a long-term partnership with law enforcement agencies which significantly reduced the operations of a number of street gangs operating the Harbor Area of Los Angeles. Our message to gang members in LA is this -- don't underestimate the will of law enforcement to put you in jail. We will take as much time and effort necessary to make sure your criminal enterprises are ended."

"I am so very proud that even in these times of extraordinarily tight budgets, this broad coalition of law enforcement agencies was able to work together to get the job done and to provide meaningful help to communities like Wilmington, which for too long has been plagued by gang violence and drug dealing," said Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. "Our abatement cases against known gang hangouts will work in concert with the law enforcement action today in order to ensure these criminals are no longer able to find a safe haven from which to terrorize our citizens."

In addition to making the arrests, federal and local investigators executed federal and state search warrants Thursday related to the case at residences throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Those searches resulted in the discovery of a meth lab, more than 1.5 pounds of meth, five pounds of marijuana, nearly 100 marijuana plants, more than $20,000 in cash, and four firearms, including a shotgun. Prior enforcement actions in the investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 54 pounds of meth, more than six pounds of crack cocaine, more than five pounds of powder cocaine and 17 weapons.

"ATF is on the front line combating violent crime and will continue to actively pursue criminals that use firearms in their illegal activity as seen with today's arrests," said John A. Torres, special agent in charge, ATF Los Angeles. "This was a great collaboration by investigating the 'worst of the worst' which removed 17 firearms from the neighborhoods that were used in crimes of violence and as tools of the trade by drug traffickers."

The three lead agencies in the investigation received substantial assistance during the case and with Thursday's operation from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations; the U.S. Marshals Service; the California Highway Patrol; the sheriff's departments of Los Angeles and Riverside counties; and the Anaheim, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Costa Mesa, Fontana, Long Beach, Montclair, Montebello and West Covina police departments.

ICE's participation in this investigation is part of HSI's ongoing nationwide anti-gang initiative known as Operation Community Shield. Since Operation Community Shield began in February 2005, HSI agents nationwide have arrested more than 18,000 gang members and gang associates, including more than 3,600 here in the Los Angeles area.
Under Operation Community Shield, ICE HSI is using its powerful immigration and customs authorities in a coordinated, national campaign against criminal street gangs across the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov . To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1010/1 ... ngeles.htm