31 suspects linked to Santa Fe Springs’ Canta Ranas gang arrested in morning raid

By Ruby Gonzales, San Gabriel Valley Tribune POSTED: 06/14/16, 10:25 AM PDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO

A multi-agency task force on Tuesday arrested 31 members and associates of a Santa Fe Springs gang on federal racketeering charges as part of a three-year investigation.

Members of the Canta Ranas gang, or “The Singing Frogs,” are suspected of killing a rival gang leader and trying to kill a Whittier police officer, according to Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Related story: Who are ‘The Singing Frogs’? Feds detail activities of the Canta Ranas gang

Mrozek said 28 suspects were arrested in the Los Angeles area, while three others were arrested in Northern California and Arizona, all part of the investigation dubbed “Operation Frog Legs.” Those arrested locally are expected to be arraigned on Tuesday in a Los Angeles federal court.

THE CHARGES

The 31 arrested were among a total 51 gang members and associates indicted by a federal grand jury on a host of charges. The indictment was filed last week in a Los Angeles federal court. The charges include:
•Conspiracy to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
•Murder
•Attempted murder
•Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances
•Possession with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances
•Possessing, brandishing and firing weapons in furtherance of a violent crime or drug trafficking
•Being felons in possession of firearms and ammunitions
•Conspiracy to launder money.
Mrozek said about a dozen of the suspects were already in state custody and are expected to be turned over to federal authorities. During the three-year investigation by the Southern California Drug Task Force, he said authorities recovered 51 firearms and seized drugs, including about one pound of methamphetamines.

‘OPERATION FROG LEGS’

Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said officers, deputies and agents went to at least 25 locations early Tuesday morning. Santa Fe Springs contracts with Whittier Police.

“We are very appreciative of the efforts of law enforcement in making our citizens more safe,” Whittier City Manager Jeff Collier said. Chief Jeff Piper notified him of the raid Monday night.

“Unfortunately these types of events have to take place every so often,” Collier said. He was kept up-to-date, periodically by Piper, over the investigation’s three-year period.

Whittier police partnered with federal agencies to target the gang, which has an estiamted 150 members. The gang members’ activities met the federal racketeering charge, according to Piper.

“They’ve been there a long time and we dealt with members of the gang for years,” Piper said. “We figured a high intensity investigation and utilizing federal partners is an efficient way to address the issue. It was a very efficient and effective way to address the issue.”

THE CANTA RANAS ORGANIZATION

A Mexican Mafia member only identified as “D.G.” in the indictment is the alleged leader of Canta Ranas. D.G. is in Pelican Bay state prison serving a life sentence without parole and was not indicted in this case. He allegedly has run the gang since the late 1980s with his intermediaries, including his designated shotcaller, 37-year-old Jose Loza of Whittier, who is also known by the moniker “Pumpkin Head or “JC”.

Gang members allegedly sent money to D.G. in prison — his cut for masterminding the gang’s activities from his cell.

Loza’s position as shotcaller meant he enforced the orders of the gang’s leaders, generated money through crimes and enforced the gang’s codes of conduct, authorities said.

The indictment alleged that Loza and another defendant, 21-year-old Leonardo Antolin of Whittier, fatally shot a Mexican Mafia member who wanted to expand his influence and challenge the authority of Canta Ranas’ leader over street gangs in the San Gabriel Valley. Dominick Gonzales, 38, of Palmdale was killed and his alleged bodyguard wounded during a shooting outside a restaurant in the 13100 block of Valley Boulevard in Bassett on April 19. A woman who was eating at the restaurant was shot six times in the lower abdomen.

Two other defendants, Frankie Vasquez and Rene Pantaleon, are accused of shooting a Whittier Police detective in his unmarked vehicle while he was conducting undercover surveillance for a drug investigation on July 11, 2013, according to the indictment. Piper said the officer wasn’t injured in the shooting, which occurred in another community in Los Angeles County.

Mrozek said Vasquez and Pantaleon are fugitives.

HOW CANTA RANAS OPERATED

Gang members used Facebook and text messages to advertise drug sales, make threats, plan attacks and negotiate transactions involving firearms and ammunition, the indictment alleged.

While at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2015, defendant Steven De La Paz allegedly posted on Facebook: “Chillin like a villain drug dealing.”

He wasn’t so blatant two months later. Authorities alleged he used coded language on March 6, 2015 to say he was selling meth at a Motel 6 in Los Angeles.

Canta Ranas controlled drug trafficking within its territories and took a cut of the proceeds from those who sell drugs. Federal officials said the gang also taxed others who commit crimes in its turf. Anyone who won’t pay could be subjected to fines, robbery, kidnapping and violence, according to authorities.

The gang allegedly distributed and sold methamphetamine and heroin. In addition to drug trafficking, authorities alleged the members committed murder, attempted murder, assaults, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking, extortion, credit card fraud and identity theft. The gang is also accused of selling weapons and using the money to buy drugs and more guns.

The indictment details crimes that span from 2004 to 2016. The earliest crime mentioned was the attempted robbery of a group of high school students near Los Nietos Park on April 26, 2004,

About 400 law enforcement officers participated in Tuesday’s arrests. The participants included Whittier Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Office of Correctional Safety, Special Service Unit.

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