Thread: Police arrest 19 members of LA-area gang

Police arrest 19 members of LA-area gang

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, The Associated Press
4:11 p.m. July 9, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton says officers have arrested 19 members of one of the city's most violent gangs.

The arrests Thursday by Los Angeles and suburban Glendale police were the result of a 10-month investigation of the Toonerville gang.

After a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang was gunned down on Interstate 210 last October, Glendale police used a wiretap and discovered key evidence that led to the arrests.

Police say four murder suspects, four attempted-murder or assault suspects and 12 drug suspects were arrested in the early morning raid.
Police found 48 guns in one house and 63 guns in all.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=129522

They need to do more gang sweeps in South Florida.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/v-fulls ... 29143.html

12 shot at birthday party in Overtown

BY JOSE PAGLIERY AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com
Twelve people were shot shortly after midnight Monday when gunfire erupted at a birthday party in Overtown.

Several people are now in the hospital, some barely clinging to life, as Miami police search for three shooters responsible for the mayhem that occurred at 12:45 a.m. outside a home in the 500 block of Northwest Fifth Street.

Some at the block party were gunned down as they ran. Others were shot as they sipped their drinks and listened to rap music. Most were teenagers.

Four people were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition and six others were taken to Jackson, according to Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll. Two people remained in critical condition Monday morning, police reported.

Kedricka Hughes, a 16-year-old who attended the party, said there was a peaceful atmosphere all evening. More than 200 people were at the block party, put together for Lawrence Smith's 20th birthday, according to several friends. He had advertised it on MySpace and had even hired a disc jockey.

Miami police officers had stopped by the house early in the evening, responding to a ''loud music'' complaint, and everything seemed calm.

But as the night progressed, things got out of hand.

A 19-year-old woman, who withheld her name out of fear, said she saw a big boy in a white T-shirt and jeans light a TNT bomb. Another man, maybe in his 20s, was holding an assault rifle, she said.

Two sisters, who also wished to remain anonymous, said that more than a dozen teenage boys from two different gangs convened near the disc jockey just before 1 a.m. They were huddled around an AK-47 that was leaning against the home's wall, the barrel pointing up.

When one sister saw that, she slowly walked away from the home.

''Everything was fine,'' Hughes said. ``And then they just started shooting.''

People were screaming and crying, running in several different directions. Bullets sprayed the crowd from different angles.

As one sister ran, she heard the stinging sound of bullets striking cars. Both sisters said it resembled a shootout.

''I thought I was fixing to get shot, too. I was running away from bullets,'' said the 19-year-old woman who withheld her name. ``They were shooting everywhere. It was a lot, a lot.''

Almost 10 people were sprayed with bullets and one person was hit by a car, according to police.

One of those shot was Michelle Coleman, 23, a business administration student at Florida A&M University, according to her family. Larry Coleman, her uncle, walked out of Ryder Trauma Center on Monday morning with a somber look on his face.

''She's not going to make it,'' he told reporters.

Michelle was shot in the chest, kidney and liver, he said. Doctors told him the chances for her survival were slim.

''It's a tough day, I tell you,'' he said. ``A tough, tough day.''

He said his niece had returned from college in the spring to help her mother, who was struggling financially.

Barking dogs and bursts of gunfire alerted Rose Godbolt McFarlane to the shooting. Several kids ran to her porch, begging to come in.

''They rushed in, about eight kids, teenagers,'' she said. 'They said, `Thank you, thank you.' ''

The teens were crying, she said.

''It was like we were in Vietnam,'' said McFarlane, 58, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years.

McFarlane said she held the hands of one of the shooting victims, who was bleeding and lying by a truck. She tried to calm him down until rescue workers got there.

'I said, `If you're alert, squeeze my hand.' He was struggling. I said, 'God will give you a second chance.' ''

Investigators believe the shooters had a specific target, according to Miami police Chief John Timoney. But that person was not among those sprayed by bullets. He was interviewed by detectives Monday.

Dispatchers were flooded with 911 calls about 12:45 a.m. Miami firefighters arrived at the scene about five minutes later, but they had to set up far from the home and wait for police. They could still hear gun shots ringing in the distance.

''It was a massive scene for a couple of blocks,'' Carroll said.

The day after the shooting, evidence of the mayhem was scattered everywhere. Yellow police tape roped off several blocks around the area, a complex of one- and two-story buildings in Overtown.

A ''Happy Birthday'' sign and pink, blue and green balloons outside the home served as a backdrop while crime scene investigators tagged more than 100 spots in the area.

Bullet casings that littered the block led detectives to believe at least one AK-47 and two 9mm pistols were used in the shooting, Timoney said. Evidence suggests the shooting continued north of the original location, close to Northwest Sixth Street, where police believe there was a shootout.

''Obviously, from the debris, lots of people were running,'' Timoney said. ``Hats were thrown off as people were fleeing the scene. It looks like a couple dozen people were there at the time.''

Mayor Manny Diaz called it ''a senseless shooting'' and continued his criticism of assault rifles.

''Until we have a federal government willing to do something to get these weapons off our streets, unfortunately we're going to be right back here or somewhere else talking about the very same thing,'' he said.

Clay Adams, 72, was sitting on her porch near the home and watched as partygoers began arriving. When she saw such a big crowd, she got nervous and went inside shortly before midnight. She had her great-grandchildren, age 3 and 1 ½, with her.

When she heard shots, she dropped to the floor.

The sound of the people running was like the clamor of horses, Adams said.

She stayed on the floor for several minutes. When she went outside, she saw people being taken away on stretchers.

''I'm still nervous in my stomach,'' she said. ``Jesus. It's like it was a dream.''

Cheyanne Wimbley, 21, said she was inside her nearby home when she heard a large boom, followed by dozens of ''rapid fire'' shots.

''I got down and I hoped nobody got hurt,'' said Wimbley, who has lived in the neighborhood about five years.

''It's devastating,'' she said. ``You can't have fun in Overtown any more. I don't want to be here any more. It's just sad.''

Anyone with information may call the Miami Police Department's homicide detectives at 305-579-6530 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 (TIPS).

Gang sweep nets 20 suspects

7:35 PM | July 9, 2009

In a sweeping series of raids Thursday morning, law enforcement agents arrested 20 people they allege are members of one of Los Angeles’ most violent gangs.

The operation, which targeted the Toonerville gang, involved officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Glendale Police Department and other agencies. Four of those arrested are murder suspects, four others were wanted in attempted murder cases and a dozen more were arrested on suspicion of drug or weapons violations, police said.

The arrests culminated a seven-month investigation that was launched after a 2008 murder in Glendale. Surveillance and wire taps used during that investigation tied members of the gang to other shootings and other crimes, said LAPD Cmdr. Patrick Gannon.

Since the 1950s, the Toonerville gang’s mostly Latino members have claimed a largely middle-class area of northeast Los Angeles that includes business warehouses and homes north of Los Feliz Boulevard, between San Fernando Road and the Los Angeles River.

Last year, Los Angeles and Glendale won an injunction against the 450-member gang.

Along with Thursday’s arrests, 20 other alleged members of the gang had been arrested in recent days. On Thursday, police seized 58 weapons, nearly all of them found in one location, police said.

LAPD Chief William J. Bratton touted the crackdown as a significant step forward in the department’s effort to hit at the core of the city’s most violent gangs. Last year, LAPD gang officers launched a similar raid in the Glassell Park neighborhood, rooting out leaders of the Drew Street clique, a part of the Avenues gang.

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