Thread: CA: Gangs push rural communities into civil war

Gangs push rural communities into civil war
By David Castellon
Staff writer


EAST OROSI — For years, small northern Tulare County towns have been Norteño country. Most of the street gangs were affiliated with the Norteño gang confederation and clashes with rival gangs were rare.

No more.

Cheap housing in small rural towns, even cheaper than in Visalia and Tulare, lured people north from Southern California.

Among them were people with southern-affiliated or Sureño gang ties, or undocumented immigrants willing to join or "click up" with gangs for protection because they don't want to deal with police and risk deportation.
Now, Cutler is Norteño territory, and Orosi, barely half a mile away, is Sureño territory.

"There is a constant struggle between Cutler and Orosi gang members," said Tulare County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Cotton.

The two towns are so small and so close together that gang members can't help but pass through turf boundaries and encounter each other.

And those encounters — which sometimes are intentional — often result in violence.

That's what happened on Jan. 7, when southern gang members pulled up near a party on Ralph Road in Cutler. Sheriff's officials say that some of the partygoers had northern gang ties and started throwing bottles at the southerners.

Then somebody pulled out a gun and fired, fatally shooting 18-year-old Vincente Mondragon, who was caught in the line of fire.

That has made people such as Joe Ruiz, who lives in east Orosi, uncomfortable.

Ruiz says he used to feel safe in his neighborhood. Now he doesn't.

He remembers when gang problems seemed distant. He heard and read about what was going on in Visalia and other large communities, but it didn't seem to affect his neighborhood or nearby Cutler and Orosi.

"Here in east Orosi, it's not too bad right now," said Ruiz, 59, "but in Orosi, it's bad. You see three or four kids out in front of the store [at night], you can't stop. They just start hassling you. I mean, they just give bad looks at you and [stuff] just to rile you."

In addition, Ruiz says he's seeing more graffiti and hearing about more thefts in the area.

"You can't leave anything out of any value," said Ruiz, who's had problems with people stealing parts from the pickup parked in his yard, so last weekend he began constructing a chain-link fence around his home.

Ruiz has good reason to be concerned, Cotton said.

"Cutler and Orosi have always [had] gang activity," he said. But "in the last couple of years, the level of gang activity, gang members, has slowly increased."

That rise in activity has included more assaults with firearms, shootings into homes, robberies and graffiti, said Cotton, supervisor of Tulare County's Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Team (MAGNET), a cooperative effort launched in August by the county sheriff's department, the Visalia Police Department and other agencies to fight gang problems.

Years ago, Cotton said, "you would only hear about drive-by shootings happening in the bigger cities — Los Angeles. .... Just over the recent years, it's become almost common in this area to respond to a report of a shooting at an inhabited dwelling."

Cotton said the Cutler-Orosi area has become a priority target for his MAGNET unit.

But Cutler-Orosi isn't alone in its rising gang problem.

Goshen is dealing with similar problems because of northern- and southern-affiliated gang members living in an even more concentrated area.

Steve Martinez, 11, was killed in Goshen on Jan. 14, caught in the crossfire of rival gang members while he was in a car leaving another child's birthday party.

But it's not just the increase in the number of southern-affiliated gang members in the area that's adding to the problems. Visalia police Officer Jason McWilliams, a MAGNET member, said the southerners are bringing with them more violent attitudes.

"You've got a lot of kids who are more apt to attack somebody. They call it 'making their bones,' " he said, adding that law enforcement in the county is seeing an increasing number of southern gangsters shooting at northerners.

"It's a sad trend," McWilliams said. "The Norteños seem to want to jump out and fight fist to fist. A lot of these southerners jump out with a knife or gun, and it immediately turns into a deadly confrontation without any physical altercations [beforehand]."

The stakes could be getting higher.

McWilliams said that recently gang officers have encountered members of MS-13 —"Mara Salvatrucha 13" —which a recent Newsweek article called "the most dangerous gang in America." He said the group was started in the United States and has spread across several states.

Gang enforcement officers say there are other reasons for increased gang activity in such places as Cutler-Orosi, Goshen, Earlimart, Pixley and some of the rural areas around Porterville:


Large concentrations of impoverished and single-parent families in rural areas, both of which can be factors that contribute to youths getting involved in gangs.
"All you have to do is plant a cancer, like a gang, and when the parents are out working and doing what they need to do to make money to support their households, these kids have got to find something to do," Cotton said. "They're unsupervised."


Working parents who may not be in a position to direct their children away from gang influences.

Familiarity that can give gang members inroads to influence potential recruits as well as to make for stronger bonds with fellow gang members once they've joined.
"It seems gangs thrive in these little communities, and because a lot of these kids — they've all grown up together — they know each other because they all went to the same little schools," McWilliams said.

"And a lot of gang members will tell you they joined because they were looking for love, looking for acceptance."


A large number of youths with extensive family and generational ties to gangs, with parents, siblings and even grandparents who have been in gangs, so there is a family acceptance of the gang lifestyle.
"I've seen pictures of a 2-year-old flashing gang signs," said David Alavezos, a supervising deputy district attorney for the county.

And Carol Turner, an assistant DA, said she's even heard of parents throwing a child a gang-themed birthday party.

But as daunting as the growing gang problem here appears to be, Cotton said there are ways to curtail some of the illegal activities.

MAGNET's saturation details, which have focused a lot on the rural areas and known gang members wanted on warrants as well as conducting parole and probation checks on members, have, at least, taken several gangsters off the streets, Cotton said.

And the public seems to be noticing, based on the many waves from residents as the MAGNET members drove by them last weekend.

Arturo Ruvalcaba, owner of Ruvalcaba's Meat Market in Cutler, said that while the streets of the town can be scary because of gang concerns, law enforcement does seem to be having an effect.

He said he doesn't see the "little huddles" of gang members on street corners that he used to see.

And residents can do a lot to help fight the gang problem, even those scared to speak out openly on the issue or to talk with police because they fear retaliation, Cotton said.

"People in gang-infested neighborhoods should never give up," he said. "Never give up. Once they have, they've lost the battle."

One thing they can do is call the sheriff's department tip line to anonymously report gang crimes or offer leads on locating suspects in gang crimes, Cotton said.

"We have the tools and the resources," he said. "We need more information than we have to try to begin eradicating this."

Sometimes investigators just need a name or direction on how to find somebody to solve a crime, Cotton said, noting that even murders have been solved because of anonymous tips.

"And that's what it's gonna take," he said. "It's going to take not only law enforcement."

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/p ... /704140363

Large concentrations of impoverished and single-parent families in rural areas, both of which can be factors that contribute to youths getting involved in gangs.
"All you have to do is plant a cancer, like a gang, and when the parents are out working and doing what they need to do to make money to support their households, these kids have got to find something to do," Cotton said. "They're unsupervised."

You are correct.

They must find something to do back in their home countries. Maybe GO TO SCHOOL?

Steve Martinez, 11, was killed in Goshen on Jan. 14, caught in the crossfire of rival gang members while he was in a car leaving another child's birthday party.


What is happening in our country now is just a sin.
There is just nothing worth all of this.

"I've seen pictures of a 2-year-old flashing gang signs," said David Alavezos, a supervising deputy district attorney for the county.

Isn't that cute? Little babies make gang signals with their hands, before they learn how to talk. I wonder if these same parents are the ones that taught these tots to urinate in public places.

firecracker, you are a product of your enviornment. The solution, deport the illegal members, and the American counterparts can be jailed for subversive behavior, as that's what's being promoted.

Is this all more of their family values. Please do not compare their family values with that of the United States of America, I guarantee you these are not our family values.