Gang Sweeps

When I read about teen-age boys releasing their frustration, anger, and confusion by killing each other, I know that the sins of the fathers (read society) have truly been visited upon their sons. And when I read that Gates calls them "rotten little cowards" (Part I, April 3), I know that the well-cultivated soil of the ghetto that grows such virulent hatred is still being well-fertilized. Someone should remind our police chief that calling people names does not generate peace, nor does the use of violence teach respect for the law. GALE LOOF Malibu

A gang sweep dubbed Operation Garlic Press this week struck another blow at an intricate crime network that stretches along Interstate 5 and small-town back roads from the Mexican border to the Bay Area. At a Friday news conference in the farming community of Gilroy, known for its annual garlic festival, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris announced that agents had made more than 100 arrests after an 18-month operation. This sweep — which covered Alameda, Santa Clara, San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties — comes on the heels of a Central Valley sweep in June in which authorities said they arrested high-ranking gang leaders living in tiny farm towns, directing a web of human, gun and drug trafficking.

More than 1,100 Los Angeles police officers and FBI agents arrested nearly four dozen Rollin' 40s gang members and associates early Thursday morning in a coordinated roundup that was hailed by community activists as a much-needed strike against violent gangs in Southwest Los Angeles. The massive sweep culminated an 18-month investigation involving wiretaps, informants and surveillance. The group, according to the LAPD, is among the city's 10 most violent gangs. "This was a consistent problem gang for generations," said Police Chief William J. Bratton.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers took part in a massive sweep against the leadership of Riverside's most notorious gang Wednesday, making 50 arrests and confiscating armor-piercing bullets, assault rifles, knives and two caged rattlesnakes. "The weapons you see are a small sample of what is out there on the street," said Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach, standing by a table displaying guns, machetes and bullets at a Riverside news conference. "The gangs don't run the streets, the citizens do."

Four men arrested in one of the largest gang sweeps in Orange County history pleaded guilty Friday to dealing drugs, officials from the Orange County district attorney's office said. Miguel De La Riva Lopez, Robert Gariby, Shane Diaz and Peter Medrano were each charged with one count of selling drugs. None of the four had previous felony convictions or gang affiliation, said Jeff Ferguson of the DA's office. The four were sentenced to probation ranging from six months to a year.

In the wake of one of the worst gang-related shooting incidents in the city's history, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates angrily announced Saturday that he is preparing plans to flood the streets of South-Central Los Angeles with 1,000 additional officers on random nights in order to control "the rotten little cowards."

Police conducted the most extensive gang sweep in the city's history, authorities said Monday, arresting 51 people and confiscating eight handguns. "We wanted to send a message to the gang members that, at least as far as Garden Grove is concerned, if you're going to be a gang member, then we're going to use zero tolerance. We're trying to prevent any violence, and gang members create violence," said Sgt. Bruce J. Prince, head of the city's gang unit.

More than 1,100 Los Angeles police officers and FBI agents arrested nearly four dozen Rollin' 40s gang members and associates early Thursday morning in a coordinated roundup that was hailed by community activists as a much-needed strike against violent gangs in Southwest Los Angeles. The massive sweep culminated an 18-month investigation involving wiretaps, informants and surveillance. The group, according to the LAPD, is among the city's 10 most violent gangs. "This was a consistent problem gang for generations," said Police Chief William J. Bratton.

Nine members and associates of a Bell Gardens street gang, including a suspected hit man for a Mexican drug cartel, have been arrested on drug trafficking and weapons charges, federal officials said Friday. The suspects -- six U.S. citizens and three illegal Mexican immigrants -- were arrested Thursday as agents served search warrants in Bell Gardens and Los Angeles, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. Their arrests culminated a nine-month investigation by the agency of the Barrio Evil 13 street gang.

Federal authorities on Wednesday announced the arrests of 11 additional members of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens street gang, which is at the center of a massive racketeering case dubbed Operation Knock Out. At least 16 members and associates from other gangs wanted on state and federal charges were also taken into custody in what federal officials said was the second phase of the operation.

As Ramon Huerta stood shirtless and shivering in the frontyard of the Pico Rivera house he's called home for more than four decades, the 64-year-old retired chef struggled to comprehend the questions being shouted by the heavily armed police who began pounding on his front door some time before dawn. Where are the guns, they wanted to know. Where are the drugs?

A year-long investigation into a dangerous gang resulted in 26 arrests during an early morning sweep Wednesday that officials said "dismantled" the gang's organization. Prior to Wednesday's sweep, authorities had arrested 71 suspected gang members in other operations. Authorities said Tory Larson, known as Casper, led the Lancas 13 gang and was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 14 felony counts of conspiring to sell narcotics, among other crimes. The other suspected gang members were arrested throughout the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita areas.

Law enforcement officials from nearly three dozen agencies have conducted a major gang sweep in this Riverside County town. Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco said Friday that the sweep was the largest in the county's history and involved nearly 700 officers from local, state and federal agencies. Officials made at least 120 arrests and conducted 185 probation searches and 100 parole searches, according to preliminary numbers from the Desert Sun newspaper. Police also served two gangs with a gang injunction notice.

A sweep by city police and federal agents Tuesday resulted in at least 30 arrests in an operation targeting illegal weapons possession and drug dealing by South L.A. gang members. LAPD officers and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed 17 warrants against reputed Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips gang members, confiscating 26 firearms, more than 800 rounds of ammunition, drugs and $27,500 in suspected proceeds from drug deals. Authorities allege that the gang members were involved in residential burglaries to steal money, drugs and guns.