Police Investigations Los Angeles

A long-running and racially tinged feud in a Mid-City community has spilled into the Los Angeles Police Department, prompting an internal investigation of allegations that an officer and his superiors have shown favoritism toward black Muslims accused of violence and threats against their Latino neighbors. The central figure in the inquiry, Wilshire Division Officer Cartez C.

Authorities asked for the public's help Wednesday in finding a partially paralyzed man who is suspected of stabbing his 80-year-old father to death. Hector Manuel Palma, 51, is suspected of killing Gorgonio Palma, said Deputy Bruce Thomas of the sheriff's headquarters unit. Neighbors found the elderly man's body on the living room floor at 715 S. McConnell Ave. shortly after 10 p.m., Tuesday, said Deputy Elisabeth Sachs. They became concerned after not seeing the victim all day, Sachs said.

The suspect has eluded him for 17 years: A man calls a woman, posing as an attorney for a loved one facing trouble with the law. Then he tricks his victims into giving him money or sex. It was John Metcalf's first case when he became a Los Angeles Police Department detective trainee in 1982. And the now-veteran detective continues to track Richard Alan Minsky, whose victims stretch from Southern California to Massachusetts to Florida to Washington. "I never forgot the guy," Metcalf said.

The suspect has eluded him for 17 years: A man calls a woman, posing as an attorney for a loved one facing trouble with the law. Then he tricks his victims into giving him money or sex. It was John Metcalf's first case when he became a Los Angeles Police Department detective trainee in 1982. And the now-veteran detective continues to track Richard Alan Minsky, whose victims stretch from Southern California to Massachusetts to Florida to Washington. "I never forgot the guy," Metcalf said.

The suspected hit-and-run driver sought in connection with the weekend death of a 5-year-old boy surrendered to authorities Monday night. Reynaldo Chavez Manso, 21, is suspected of driving a 1983 Toyota Camry that struck the child Sunday and then with failing to stop. Police said Manso walked into the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Station with his family about 10 p.m. Monday and was taken to the Van Nuys Jail, where he was being held on a $60,000 bond.

In a barrage of angry criticism Thursday night, residents told a special commission set up to study the Police Department's response to the Los Angeles riots that police officers lost touch with the community long before the riots broke out. In the third public meeting held this week in areas most affected by the spring unrest, about 40 residents gathered at Adams Junior High School, near USC, to describe their encounters with police.

The police were stymied. They had a murder victim, five eyewitnesses, an offer of a $40,000 reward--and no suspect. So they did what any red-blooded, television-watching Americans would do: they staged a re-enactment of the crime--the carjack murder of Chatsworth resident Naghi Ghoraishy--and invited the media. "A lot of crimes have been solved through re-enactments" on television shows like 'Unsolved Mysteries' and 'America's Most Wanted,' " said Los Angeles Police Capt.

A man's body was found Sunday morning sprawled on an embankment along the northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar, police said. The victim was a Latino male believed to be about 25 years old, said Sgt. Gordon Wade of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division. Police said a hitchhiker noticed the body lying face down about 20 feet from the top of the brush-covered embankment and contacted authorities on a call box about 8 a.m.

Authorities asked for the public's help Wednesday in finding a partially paralyzed man who is suspected of stabbing his 80-year-old father to death. Hector Manuel Palma, 51, is suspected of killing Gorgonio Palma, said Deputy Bruce Thomas of the sheriff's headquarters unit. Neighbors found the elderly man's body on the living room floor at 715 S. McConnell Ave. shortly after 10 p.m., Tuesday, said Deputy Elisabeth Sachs. They became concerned after not seeing the victim all day, Sachs said.

Many of us have been in workplace feuds, but none with the intensity of those waged by the Los Angeles Police Department's high command. At times, according to documents filed in federal court Tuesday, the battling sounded something like the last days of the Ceausescu regime in Romania, with Parker Center, police headquarters, full of an odd combination of prayer, conspiracy and paranoia. It's all detailed in sworn statements by several present and past top Los Angeles officers.

The suspected hit-and-run driver sought in connection with the weekend death of a 5-year-old boy surrendered to authorities Monday night. Reynaldo Chavez Manso, 21, is suspected of driving a 1983 Toyota Camry that struck the child Sunday and then with failing to stop. Police said Manso walked into the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Station with his family about 10 p.m. Monday and was taken to the Van Nuys Jail, where he was being held on a $60,000 bond.

A man's body was found Sunday morning sprawled on an embankment along the northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar, police said. The victim was a Latino male believed to be about 25 years old, said Sgt. Gordon Wade of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division. Police said a hitchhiker noticed the body lying face down about 20 feet from the top of the brush-covered embankment and contacted authorities on a call box about 8 a.m.

The police were stymied. They had a murder victim, five eyewitnesses, an offer of a $40,000 reward--and no suspect. So they did what any red-blooded, television-watching Americans would do: they staged a re-enactment of the crime--the carjack murder of Chatsworth resident Naghi Ghoraishy--and invited the media. "A lot of crimes have been solved through re-enactments" on television shows like 'Unsolved Mysteries' and 'America's Most Wanted,' " said Los Angeles Police Capt.

The police were stymied. They had a murder victim, five witnesses, an offer of a $40,000 reward--and no suspect. So they did what any red-blooded, television-watching Americans would do: They staged a re-enactment of the crime--the carjack slaying of Chatsworth resident Naghi Ghoraishy--and invited the media. "A lot of crimes have been solved through re-enactments" on television shows like 'Unsolved Mysteries' and 'America's Most Wanted,' said Capt.

In a barrage of angry criticism Thursday night, residents told a special commission set up to study the Police Department's response to the Los Angeles riots that police officers lost touch with the community long before the riots broke out. In the third public meeting held this week in areas most affected by the spring unrest, about 40 residents gathered at Adams Junior High School, near USC, to describe their encounters with police.

A meeting called to discuss police responses to the Los Angeles riots degenerated quickly into a series of bitter shouting matches Wednesday night as activists seized the opportunity to promote their own disparate causes. The first to grab the floor was Joey Johnson, a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Brigade, who denounced the panel created by the Los Angeles Police Commission last May after the worst civil disturbance in the nation's history.

A meeting called to discuss police responses to the Los Angeles riots degenerated quickly into a series of bitter shouting matches Wednesday night as activists seized the opportunity to promote their own disparate causes. The first to grab the floor was Joey Johnson, a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Brigade, who denounced the panel created by the Los Angeles Police Commission last May after the worst civil disturbance in the nation's history.

The police were stymied. They had a murder victim, five witnesses, an offer of a $40,000 reward--and no suspect. So they did what any red-blooded, television-watching Americans would do: They staged a re-enactment of the crime--the carjack slaying of Chatsworth resident Naghi Ghoraishy--and invited the media. "A lot of crimes have been solved through re-enactments" on television shows like 'Unsolved Mysteries' and 'America's Most Wanted,' said Capt.

A long-running and racially tinged feud in a Mid-City community has spilled into the Los Angeles Police Department, prompting an internal investigation of allegations that an officer and his superiors have shown favoritism toward black Muslims accused of violence and threats against their Latino neighbors. The central figure in the inquiry, Wilshire Division Officer Cartez C.

A group of former law enforcement officials, politicians and celebrities called Thursday for a grand jury investigation into alleged "willful and corrupt misconduct" by the Los Angeles Police Department in the handling of the investigation of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. The group is led by Paul Schrade, a former Kennedy aide who was wounded in the kitchen of Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel June 5, 1968, when Kennedy was shot.