Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press
A man not suspected in the investigation watched on Tuesday as officers entered a Los Angeles County house.
Published: August 1, 2007
LOS ANGELES, July 31 —
More than
400 police officers and federal agents took part in predawn raids on
Tuesday, arresting 43 people suspected of being members of the Eastside
Pain Bloods gang in a narcotics and gun trafficking investigation,
federal and city officials said.
Local and federal
prosecutors said a joint task force would follow the sweep with
property seizures and eviction orders at eight houses and two motels
where gang members are accused of selling or stashing drugs and weapons.
Los Angeles prosecutors said they were also planning to file child
endangerment charges against several of the suspects. The prosecutors
said child welfare officials were holding 15 minors found during the
sweep.
Officials said the operation was the conclusion of a
six-month undercover investigation in a 12-block area known as Ghost
Town during which undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
and confidential informants bought several thousand dollars’
worth of crack cocaine, marijuana, assault weapons, rifles and handguns.
Police
officers said Ghost Town, on the border of the San Pedro and Wilmington
neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, had long been a haven for the
Eastside Pain Bloods gang. The police said the raids focused on nine
families they believe led the gang.
“Today A.T.F. is
reinforcing the message that we will not put up with armed gang
violence and the drug trade that fuels it,” said John A. Torres,
special agent in charge of the bureau in Los Angeles. “We are
warning all gang members that if they don’t stop terrorizing our
neighborhoods and cities, the combined weight of federal, state and
local law enforcement will come after them.”
The use of
property seizures and forced evictions is the latest prosecutorial
strategy in the city’s antigang efforts. In 1987, Los Angeles was
the first city to use injunctions barring two or more gang members from
congregating in a public area.
Gang members in Los Angeles also
face harsher prosecution; misdemeanors can be charged as felonies, and
sentences can be lengthened by as much as 10 years for some crimes.
Powered by ScribeFire.
::Tullycast:: 