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Racial 'Cleansing' in L.A.
Federal prosecutors say a powerful Latino gang systematically targeted
rival black gang members and innocent black civilians in a reign of
terror.
By Andrew Murr | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 24, 2007 | Updated: 3:10 p.m. ET Oct 24, 2007
Related:Crips Street Gang Los Angeles Lee Baca
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A south Los Angeles Latino street gang targeted African-American gang
rivals and other blacks in a campaign of neighborhood "cleansing,"
federal prosecutors say. Alleged leaders and foot soldiers in the
Hispanic gang Florencia 13, also called F13, are being arraigned this
week on charges stemming from a pair of federal indictments that
allege that the gang kept a tight grip on its turf by shooting members
of a rival gang-and sometimes random black civilians. The "most
disturbing aspect" of the federal charges was that "innocent citizens
.... ended up being shot simply because of the color of their skin," U.S.
Attorney Thomas O'Brien told reporters in announcing the indictments.
No one is sure what started the war between F13 and the black gang
known as the East Coast Crips in the Florence-Firestone area of
unincorporated L.A. County. Simple neighborhood demographic shifts
played a role, as formerly black areas have become majority-Latino.
The two gangs are also rivals in the lucrative drug trade. Much of the
F13 indictments lay out a conspiracy alleging that gang members
controlled drug houses where they sold large amounts of cocaine, crack
and methamphetamine. Some say the killings began after the Crips
pulled a large drug heist against F13 several years ago. Whatever the
causes, L.A. Sheriff's Department statistics chart the war's violent
toll: 80 gang-related shootings in the past three years, including 20
murders.
The federal charges name 61 alleged F13 members in two indictments.
The gang-violence charges came in a 53-count RICO (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) indictment against 24 alleged
gang leaders, charging them in a conspiracy to sell drugs, possess
weapons illegally, and assault and kill black gang members and
civilians. In the second indictment prosecutors charged the rest of
the men on federal drug-distribution charges. More than 40 of the
defendants pleaded not guilty at arraignments Tuesday, according to
prosecutors. Michael Khouri, an attorney for Luis Aguilar, 35, says
his client left the gang "several years ago" and served recently as a
gang negotiator. "Mr. Aguilar will plead not guilty, and he is not
guilty," says Khouri. Fifteen of the accused remain fugitives.
The indictments provide a telling snapshot of the changing nature of
gangs in south L.A. According to federal prosecutors, F13 has grown
into a tightly controlled gang of 2,000 members in 30 cliques led by
convicts and parolees who are members of the prison-based Mexican
mafia. It's a far cry from the '80s, when the black drug gangs,
including the Crips and the Bloods, predominated, mining the crack
epidemic with ruthless efficiency. Compared with looser Latino gangs
that were seen as turf-conscious fighters, the black gangs were
organized and disciplined. "The stereotype was that [the black gangs]
were all about the [drug] business," says gang researcher Cheryl
Maxson, an associate professor of criminology at University of
California, Irvine. With the black gangs, "there was a millionaire in
every neighborhood" perched at the top of the crack distribution
pyramid, adds gang expert, who edits streetgangs.com.
Now it's the Latino drug gangs that seem tighter and more highly
controlled. "The Hispanic gangs like F13 were incredibly regulated,
from the street level to the leadership in the prisons," says Olivia
Rosales, a hard-core gangs prosecutor for the L.A. district attorney's
office who prosecuted F13 and Crips homicide cases for two years. She
now heads one of the DA's satellite offices. "The East Coast Crips
weren't as organized."
Top-down organization in F13 aided the assaults on black gangsters.
The federal indictments charge that Mexican mafia leaders "make sure
that all the F13 cliques were participating in the assaults of African-
American rival gang members." But the assaults went beyond rival
gangs; they "target[ed] African-American individuals for assault,"
according to the indictment. Gang leaders even allegedly instructed
foot soldiers in how to hunt blacks in the most efficient manner, the
feds maintain. A wiretap cited in the RICO indictment reveals that one
gang leader allegedly told an underling that "when he went looking for
African-Americans to shoot, only a driver and a shooter were needed."
...............................................
I changed my mind....leave the illegal mexicans alone.
Racial 'Cleansing' in L.A.
Federal prosecutors say a powerful Latino gang systematically targeted
rival black gang members and innocent black civilians in a reign of
terror.
By Andrew Murr | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 24, 2007 | Updated: 3:10 p.m. ET Oct 24, 2007
Related:Crips Street Gang Los Angeles Lee Baca
Type Size Print
Email RSS
Social Networks
Email To A Friend Please fill in the following information and
we'll email this link.
Your Name Your Email Address Recipient's Email Address
Separate multiple addresses with commas
Message (optional):
Sphere It!
Digg It!
Newsvine
Del.icio.us
A south Los Angeles Latino street gang targeted African-American gang
rivals and other blacks in a campaign of neighborhood "cleansing,"
federal prosecutors say. Alleged leaders and foot soldiers in the
Hispanic gang Florencia 13, also called F13, are being arraigned this
week on charges stemming from a pair of federal indictments that
allege that the gang kept a tight grip on its turf by shooting members
of a rival gang-and sometimes random black civilians. The "most
disturbing aspect" of the federal charges was that "innocent citizens
.... ended up being shot simply because of the color of their skin," U.S.
Attorney Thomas O'Brien told reporters in announcing the indictments.
No one is sure what started the war between F13 and the black gang
known as the East Coast Crips in the Florence-Firestone area of
unincorporated L.A. County. Simple neighborhood demographic shifts
played a role, as formerly black areas have become majority-Latino.
The two gangs are also rivals in the lucrative drug trade. Much of the
F13 indictments lay out a conspiracy alleging that gang members
controlled drug houses where they sold large amounts of cocaine, crack
and methamphetamine. Some say the killings began after the Crips
pulled a large drug heist against F13 several years ago. Whatever the
causes, L.A. Sheriff's Department statistics chart the war's violent
toll: 80 gang-related shootings in the past three years, including 20
murders.
The federal charges name 61 alleged F13 members in two indictments.
The gang-violence charges came in a 53-count RICO (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) indictment against 24 alleged
gang leaders, charging them in a conspiracy to sell drugs, possess
weapons illegally, and assault and kill black gang members and
civilians. In the second indictment prosecutors charged the rest of
the men on federal drug-distribution charges. More than 40 of the
defendants pleaded not guilty at arraignments Tuesday, according to
prosecutors. Michael Khouri, an attorney for Luis Aguilar, 35, says
his client left the gang "several years ago" and served recently as a
gang negotiator. "Mr. Aguilar will plead not guilty, and he is not
guilty," says Khouri. Fifteen of the accused remain fugitives.
The indictments provide a telling snapshot of the changing nature of
gangs in south L.A. According to federal prosecutors, F13 has grown
into a tightly controlled gang of 2,000 members in 30 cliques led by
convicts and parolees who are members of the prison-based Mexican
mafia. It's a far cry from the '80s, when the black drug gangs,
including the Crips and the Bloods, predominated, mining the crack
epidemic with ruthless efficiency. Compared with looser Latino gangs
that were seen as turf-conscious fighters, the black gangs were
organized and disciplined. "The stereotype was that [the black gangs]
were all about the [drug] business," says gang researcher Cheryl
Maxson, an associate professor of criminology at University of
California, Irvine. With the black gangs, "there was a millionaire in
every neighborhood" perched at the top of the crack distribution
pyramid, adds gang expert, who edits streetgangs.com.
Now it's the Latino drug gangs that seem tighter and more highly
controlled. "The Hispanic gangs like F13 were incredibly regulated,
from the street level to the leadership in the prisons," says Olivia
Rosales, a hard-core gangs prosecutor for the L.A. district attorney's
office who prosecuted F13 and Crips homicide cases for two years. She
now heads one of the DA's satellite offices. "The East Coast Crips
weren't as organized."
Top-down organization in F13 aided the assaults on black gangsters.
The federal indictments charge that Mexican mafia leaders "make sure
that all the F13 cliques were participating in the assaults of African-
American rival gang members." But the assaults went beyond rival
gangs; they "target[ed] African-American individuals for assault,"
according to the indictment. Gang leaders even allegedly instructed
foot soldiers in how to hunt blacks in the most efficient manner, the
feds maintain. A wiretap cited in the RICO indictment reveals that one
gang leader allegedly told an underling that "when he went looking for
African-Americans to shoot, only a driver and a shooter were needed."
...............................................
I changed my mind....leave the illegal mexicans alone.
