Street Gang

On the West Side of San Bernardino, most everyone knew Johnny and Gilbert Agudo. They'd grown up in the tight-knit barrio. Handsome and charismatic, they were the presidents of two cliques of the West Side Verdugo street gang: Johnny, 31, of 7th Street Locos and Gilbert, 27, of the Little Counts. United, they led their gangs in feuds with rivals from other parts of town. But then things took an unexpected turn.

Gang investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have arrested a Lynwood city official on suspicion of felonies, including being an accessory to robbery and possessing a stolen handgun, a department spokesman said. Autra Adams, special assistant to the Lynwood city manager, was arrested at her home Thursday morning, said department spokesman Steve Whitmore. According to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, Adams was arrested in connection with a case targeting the East Coast Crips street gang.

The gang cop rolls through the Jungle, a warren of apartment buildings in Southwest Los Angeles notorious for violence. "Wassup, Spidey," he calls out, cruising past a man he identifies as a crack dealer. "Yo, White Man," Spidey replies. Then the Los Angeles Police Department officer, Ryan Whiteman, turns down an alley where a gray-haired man in a maroon velour tracksuit is standing in a carport. "Rudy, I know you don't live here," he says. "Why are you over here?"

Federal prosecutors Wednesday announced two grand jury indictments against 13 members of the Grape Street Crips, a street gang suspected of manufacturing and distributing large quantities of the drug PCP throughout Southern California.

Another 18 suspected members of the Florencia 13 street gang have been arrested and charged with racketeering, conspiracy and illegal weapons possession, the U.S. attorney's office announced Tuesday. The arrests are connected to two indictments unsealed Tuesday, charging 41 suspected members of the Latino gang and street dealers they allegedly used to distribute drugs, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors closed their case against a Santa Ana street gang with the conviction Wednesday of a man who could get a life sentence for racketeering, murder and other violent offenses. Francisco Rodriguez, 22, was found guilty by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana after a six-week trial. He was the last of 11 members of the West Myrtle Street Gang convicted after a two-year investigation by Santa Ana police and federal agents.

I TALK TO a lot of gangsters in my line of work. A lot of them are like child soldiers, both dangerous and pathetic, at once sharpened and blunted by years of constant predation and grief. Still, I liked this guy last week. He was watchful and laconic, like a lot of cops I know. He got jumped into a gang around the time I became a cop, said he'd done it for the health plan -- figuring it was healthier to get jumped in than to keep getting jumped on.

Reaching a grim milestone, city prosecutors announced Tuesday that they have obtained a permanent court injunction against their 50th Los Angeles street gang, this time the 300-member Highland Park gang, which allegedly uses violence to protect a major drug sales operation specializing in methamphetamine.

Members of a Harbor Gateway gang accused in the racially motivated slaying of 14-year-old Cheryl Green later killed a man who witnessed the attack, fearing he would testify against them, prosecutors charged Friday. Five members of the 204th Street gang allegedly stabbed 21-year-old Christopher Ash 80 times and cut his throat before dumping his body in the middle of a Carson street Dec. 28, according to the L.A. County district attorney's office. Lt.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have pulled online job recruitment advertisements that mistakenly appeared on websites with links to a prominent Los Angeles street gang. Canada's renowned police force removed the ads after it learned the RCMP brand appeared alongside "inappropriate material that belonged to the 18th Street gang," Sgt. Martin Blais, a media spokesman for the Mounties in Ottawa, said Monday.