MELTDOWN IN MEXICO
As if to underscore my Nov. 22 post about Mexico's lack of cooperation in sending wanted fugitives back to the U.S., the local and national media have covered an unbelievable story coming out of Mexico City. It appears three undercover Mexican federal cops were staking out some drug dealers in Tlahuac, a suburb of Mexico City.

The local citizens mistakenly thought that the three cops sitting in an unmarked car with binoculars and a video camera were child abductors. The word went out through the neighborhood and 2,000 residents descended on the three cops. The cops were beaten and two of them were doused with gasoline and burned to death. The third cop was rescued by some 300 riot cops who responded to the radio call for help. All three cops might have been saved if it hadn't taken the riot cops 3 hours and 35 minutes to respond. The arriving cops said that heavy traffic kept them from responding sooner. Nice try. You have to wonder how reporters and news crews got there hours before the cops and broadcast the incident live on national TV.

The responding LEOs arrested some 22 residents after spending all night sweeping house to house looking for suspects.

This Fallujah-like torching illustrates how deeply the average Mexican citizen distrusts law enforcement and feels completely powerless in the face of rampant lawlessness. After decades of gangsters, drug dealers, murderers, child molesters and corrupt officials skating on charges after paying off cops, judges and politicians, otherwise law abiding Mexicans feel they have no alternative than to administer some vigilante justice. They don't trust the government to keep them safe.

Given this level of police incompetence it's not a stretch to imagine how easy it would be for hard-core Islamists to smuggle a radiological or biological device into Mexico and across the tissue-thin U.S. border. As some far-sighted national security experts warned years before 9/11/01, "Not if, but when."

EME AND ITALIAN MAFIA CONNECTION
A reader asked if there has ever been a connection between the Mexican Mafia and the Italian Mafia. The short answer is, yes. The closest tie I'm aware of involved the late JOE MORGAN, widely regarded as the GODFATHER of the Eme and an Italian mobster named JIMMY COPPOLA. Coppola was reputed to be tight with CARLO GAMBINO, the New York mobster whose family eventually came under the flag of JOHNNY BOY GOTTI.

Morgan and Coppola had some dealings in the heroin business, the exact nature and extent of which is unknown to me. From the sketchy, but so far reliable information I have, Morgan had a heroin pipeline to Mexico and was bringing it across the border in RVs piloted not by homies but by otherwise innocent looking vacationers. Coppola went in on some of the heroin deals.

What prevented this long-ago coperation from blossoming into a full-fledged alliance was the difference in style and culture between the Italians and the Mexicans. While both did business employing the accepted tools of murder, violence and intimidation, the Italians came to see the Mexicans as being too high profile and lacking in the sort of discipline that made the Italians into a criminal empire.

The Italians have traditionally tried to move through society as average citizens. No tattoos, no shaved heads and no standard uniform of the day. In short, nothing to raise suspicion. Even low-level Wise Guys just making their bones look like any other guy getting on the subway in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn or Bayside, Queens. The crew bosses and capos, in three-piece suits and alligator shoes, looked like prosperous lawyers and businessmen.

The same can't be said for the Hispanics. They fly the gangster flag proudly and don't seem to care that even to an untrained eye, the clothes, tattoos and attitude just scream SUSPECT.

The differences go beyond appearance and extend to organizational and operational structures.

The Eme was founded on the principle that there would never be leaders. It was and remains an orqanization of equals. One man, one vote. A true democracy perhaps, but as its history has shown, it often leads to chaos and personal agendas that undermine the growth of the organization as a cohesive group.

In LA COSA NOSTRA, the org chart is rigid. There's the national council, the family heads, capos, crew chiefs and soldiers. Areas of operation as clearly defined and transgressions, as we've seen in countless movies, are settled by meetings. The result -- murder -- is often the same, but the means of getting there are different and they're harder for law enforcement to decode and make sense of.

Unless there's a major change in the way these entities do business, the connections will probably never develop into anything significant.

FORGETTING STREET BEEFS IN PRISON
We recently got an email question that's probably on the minds of many inthehat readers. It has to do with homies leaving behind their street beefs once they land in prison. Why is it, for example, that members of rival neighborhoods with long and bloody feuds, call a cease fire once they land in la pinta?

To answer that adequately, we have to first come to some understanding of who and what we're talking about with regards to sets, set loyalty within the larger structure of prison gangs and, of course, race.

The situation on the streets is uncontrolled chaos. You've got set rivalries within and outside racial gangs. You've got black on black, brown on brown, asian on asian and to a lesser degree, white on white. And then of course you've got all the possible combinations and permutations of the above. You've got decades-long feuds, for instance, between Hispanic Compton sets and Black Compton sets. Same goes in every other part of the city and county. And you've got Hispanic neighborhoods like The Mob Crew constantly at war with other Hispanic neighborhoods like T-Flats and Cuatro Flats.

You also have to keep in mind the various tax-free, resistance neighborhoods like MS which is always verde on the Eme books, and the occasional Maravilla crews that are sometimes in the hat and sometimes not.

What a homie does in prison will ultimately depend on what he did on the outside and who he cliqued up with.

If you're from LOWELL let's say and you've had one of your homies lit up by AVENIDAS over something that was strictly business, you've got to pretty much drop the beef when you land in prison. There are several reasons for you to not to want some get even -- at least while in the joint and under direct control of the brothers.

Regardless of how tough you are, you're going to need friends and backup in prison. Few are those that can survive in prison completely alone. Without some kind of backup, you're just fish on the line and prey to every convict who wants your property.

The brothers don't want you wantonly assaulting other Hispanics, even for good cause while on the street, because it causes dissension in the ranks. And dissension leads to fragmentation and to a loss of power. If set beefs go unchecked, instead of having let's say 100 Surenos who go with the Eme program, you've now got 10 different cliques with 10 people each beefing with each other. Having that many sets feuding just means fewer soldiers in the ranks. To use a military analogy, other groups, especially the NF, can now divide and conquer and take out one set at a time until there's no one left to oppose them. Ultimately, it's in your best interest to check the vendetta at the gate and go with the program for the simple reason that you need the brothers and the protection they provide.

This is not to say that once you put your revenge aside, everything is rosy. To use another military analogy, the Eme is like the US Marine Corps: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy. It operates under a completely different code of ethics, of course, but the motto applies nonetheless.

If you toe the Eme line, do what you're told, don't politic, and back up Surenos against other prison gangs, you can count on some measure of protection. If you buck the system and start taking out Surenos without permission because of something that happened on the street, then it may be greenlight time. There are always exceptions, of course. But for the most part, it's in your best interest to let the past go until you're back on the street.

On the other hand, non-Surenos and long-time Eme enemies are free-fire zones. Taking care of a few of those will earn you points with the brothers and maybe an invitation to join.

Of all the prison gangs, the Eme and NF are the best organized and clearly dominate the prison system. There is no comparable Black, Asian or White gangs either in terms of numbers or in the amount of power they wield in the prisons or can project to the streets. And none of them have the intelligence and information network of the brothers. So basically, if you're from a Sureno neighborhood you really don't have much choice other than to mob up. If you want to survive, that is.

NEVER TOO OLD TO START CAPERING
RED ROUNTREE died yesterday two months short of his 93rd birthday. He died in the Federal pen in Springfield, MO where he was serving a 12.5 year term for bank robbery. What makes Rountree unique is that he didn't start robbing banks until he was in his eighties. Up to that time, he'd been living a crime-free life. You can just imagine poor old Red beating a hasty retreat with his walker and oxygen bottle and a dye pack billowing green smoke behind him. Apparently, he didn't need the money. He robbed banks because he said it made him fell "good, awful good." I guess it beats watching the soaps and playing shuffleboard at the rest home.

A BAD NEIGHBOR TO THE SOUTH
Local readers may already know all about the escape hatch provided to criminals by the Mexican Government. International readers on the other hand, (we seem to be popular overseas) are probably not aware that Mexico has dug in its heels and refuses to extradite US fugitives wanted on a variety crimes, including murder.

At one time, Mexico refused to extradite fugitives who were facing a possible death sentence in US courts. Mexico has no death penalty and it believes the US shouldn't have one either. But then, Mexican politicians went one step further and refused to extradite fugitives who were looking at a possible life sentence in the US. Apparently, Mexico doesn't believe in life without parole (LWOP) either.

As a result, Mexico is now home to some 3,000 wanted US fugitives. Despite political efforts at the national level, Mexico isn't giving them up. Los Angeles County District Attorney, Steve Cooley, decided to put some grass roots pressure on Vicente Fox and the dubious Mexican criminal justices system by launching a website -- www.escapingjustice.com. It covers a number of the more celebrated and heinous cases.

Mexico is neither a model of prisoner rights or of proactive, corruption-free law enforcement. Local and regional Mexican cops, despite some straight-up heroes, can be bought. The heroic cops are usually either killed or driven out of the force. And a few media heroes who took a shot at corruption in print were assassinated.

The average Mexican citizen, caught between official corruption and rampant crime, has frankly had enough. Earlier this year, over 100,000 citizens marched in Mexico City demanding better police protection and aggressive prosecution of murderers and kidnappers. Buying off judges and prosecutors is commonplace. It's the elephant in the living room that nobody wants to acknowledge.

Check out the escapingjustice.com website and you'll get a sense of the scope of the situation as well as the personal stories of the survivors.

WE CONNECT THE DOTS FOR YOU
Last week, the PRISON LAW OFFICE got the CALIFORNIA YOUTH AUTHORITY to sign a consent decree to change the way the CYA handles its wards. In the recent past, there have been reports of abuse, inadequate supervision, beatings and two suicides that could have been prevented. For more insight on the CYA, its troubles and its successes I can refer you to an excellent blog -- yukonst.blogspot.com. It's run by an ex-offender who turned his life around decades ago and went on to become a college professor. Good stuff and worth your time.

The CYA consent decree articles have run in all the usual media -- LA Times, LA Daily News, Fresno Bee, and Sacramento Bee. You can read them on their sites.

The suit was filed by the Prison Law Office on behalf of MARGARET FARRELL, the aunt of a CYA ward who was locked down in solitary for months and fed "blender meals," a vile concoction that's as tasty as it sounds. A whole meal is put in a blender and fed to the ward. This is intolerable.

What the usual media didn't mention is that this Margaret Farrell is the same woman who was indicted by the US Attorney in Los Angeles in 1999 in a RICO case along with some 40 other individuals. Those individuals included legendary Eme carnal BEN "TOPO" PETERS, Peters' wife SALLY and other associates and brothers.

Farrell was charged with passing messages from locked up homies and shot callers to Southern Soldiers on the street. The indictment claimed that at least one of the messages passed by Farrell resulted in a homicide. The charges against her were ultimately dropped. It's unclear whether a deal was struck or what.

For crime history fans, there are interesting connections here. For one, the Prison Law Office has its roots in the Sixties. It began as the PRISON LAW PROJECT and was created as a prisoner advocate organization by another legend in the annals of crime and justice -- FAY STENDER. Stender was a lawyer who took on the case of GEORGE JACKSON, the BLACK PANTHER field Marshal, and that of the SOLEDAD BROTHERS. You regular readers already know that JACKSON started the BLACK GUERILLA FAMILY in the '70s, a prison gang that exists to this day and has spawned other black prison gangs and splinter groups.

According to the literature, JACKSON had asked Stender to smuggle him a gun into SAN QUENTIN. His plan was to escape, make his way to Angola, build a revolutionary army, invade the U.S. with it and bring down the "system." He was nothing if not ambitious. Not to mention delusional.

Stender, though dedicated to THE CAUSE, was no idiot. She refused to get him a gun. And she began to distance herself from the prison and revolutionary movement. Eventually, she was paid a visit one night by persons unknown, but apparently known to her, and shot five times. She survived but was paralyzed from the waist down. Fearing for her life from the Panthers, she moved to Europe. Broken and disillusioned she eventually committed suicide.

Other connections. EDWARD BUNKER tells a story about Fay Stender at then time he was housed at San Quentin. One of Bunker's crimies, a white guy, was also represented by Stender. He told Bunker that Stender wanted to know why the white inmates weren't assaulting and killing prison guards like the blacks. There had been dozens of serious assaults and a half dozen prison guard killings at the time and Stender wanted that increased and she wanted the white inmates to step up and take some action like JACKSON and the PANTHERS were doing. Bunker, as did most white and Hispanic inmates in Quentin, considered her a Marxist loony who didn't care how many guards, or inmates, were killed as long as the "movement" continued to stir up agitation.

A significant branch of these connections leads to STEVE BINGHAM, a lawyer who ran in Fay Stender's circles. He was accused of smuggling the gun to GEORGE JACKSON, the ultimate step of committment to the cause that Stender refused to do, triggering the bloodbath that resulted in the death of San Quentin guards and a couple of inmates, not to mention Jackson's death from two rounds fired by a gun guard. Bingham obtained phony travel documents through his friends in the San Francisco undergound and lived in Europe for 13 years as a fugitive. He came back to face the music and was found not guilty of the gun smuggling charge.

Yet another connection leads to ANGELA DAVIS, the one-time revolutionary. A year before George Jackson's failed escape attempt with the gun Bingham smuggled in, JONATHAN JACKSON, George's younger brother, tried to bust out some of George's homies. The place was the Marin county Courthouse. These were the days before metal detectors and pat downs in all city buildings.

Three of George's crimies were on trial in Judge Harold Haley's court. Jonathan Jackson came into the courtroom carrying a satchel full of guns, one of which was a .30 cal M1 carbine. He flashes the carbine, disarms the bailiffs and hands out the guns to defendants RUCHELL McGEE, JAMES McCLAIN and WILLIAM CHRISTMAS, all associates of George Jackson. They took the Judge, the prosecutor and three female jurors hostage and walked out of the courthouse. There was a shootout in the parking lot and only the female jurors, the prosecutor and Ruchell McGee survived. Judge Haley had his head taken almost completely off by the shotgun that Jackson had taped and wired around his neck. The prosecutor was paralyzed by a round in his spine. The carbine and ammunition Jonathan Jackson used in the breakout attempt was purchased by Angela Davis at a San Franciso sporting goods store. She became a fugitive for a while but they name things in Universities after her now.

There are further connections that extend like a root system from the PRISON LAW PROJECT and George Jackson to the Eme, and include such disparate names as Bruce Dern, Tom Hayden, Candace Bergen, Robert Scheer, Mundo Mendoza and a wild cast of characters and events that would make a pretty good epic novel. Or film.

What's the point of all this? Just that it pays to know your history if you're going to read the paper or watch a news show with any kind of critical mind. Or read a blog for that matter. Nothing exists in a vacuum. It's been said that what we see in the news is a snapshot in time. I prefer to think of it as a couple of frames from a reel of film. And the reel is big and goes back a long, long way. I'm just trying to run you some frames from an earlier screening. Enjoy the show and watch for coming attractions.

THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OF THE LA TIMES
One of the reasons the LA Times may be losing circulation is that they keep running stories like the one that appears in this Sunday's (11/21/04) magazine section. It carries SARA CATANIA's byline, and it's titled THE LOVE COURT. The court in question is the Compton branch and Catania's woolgathering makes you wonder if she's ever been in any of LA County's courthouses.

The Compton branch is one of the busiest courts in the county with more than its share of murder, assault, drug and gang cases. Catania's point in this puzzling piece is that the Compton court has a "less-celebrated reputation -- one of tolerance, humor and humanity." The evidence she uses to prop up this argument is that a lot of the people that work there have developed a sense of community, the bailiffs make small talk with public defenders about family problems, idiosyncratic behavior is tolerated and humor sometimes breaks out in a murder proceeding. Absolutely none of this makes Compton unique in the LA County court system. People have been known to act like people in every court in the county. And to a greater or lesser degree, they do so in every court in the country. THE LOVE COURT makes you wonder how much time Catania has actually spent in court.

For instance, I've seen a defense attorney asking a DA if he could help him find the guys that broke into his house. I've seen a judge talk to a defendant about the judge's college football career like a couple of sports fans who had nothing more between them than a shared passion for the pigskin. I've seen a bailiff chatting amiably with a multiple murder defendant about the Knicks. I've had a detective ask me to do him a favor and run down the street to get a confidential witness a favorite meal that the courthouse cafeteria didn't carry. I've seen a defendant's uncle ask a coroner's forensic expert advice about a back problem. And I've seen a super macho DA break down sobbing after talking to a murder victim's sister prior to her taking the stand. This guy had been on the job for 30 years and, surprise, he was still a human being who cared about the victims and the survivors. Hang around a courthouse, any courthouse, long enough and you see it all.

In terms of people acting humanely and even cracking wise in the midst of a blood curdling murder trial is not unique to Compton. What is unique to Compton is the high percentage of hung juries and not-guilty verdicts. A prosecutor told me that it's hard to find a juror who doesn't have some sort of connection to a street gang or a convicted felon. Which may be the reason that the subhead in Catania's piece states that "the public defenders love the juries." Prospective jurors lie about their connections to criminals during voir dire and there's no way on earth that a prosecutor can check the background of every single juror. Occasionally a prosecutor will get lucky and a gang cop in court to testify as an IO or expert witness will spot a gangster's uncle, sister, cousin or girlfriend sitting in the jury box. Which may the reason that Steve Kay, the DA in Compton, is quoted that working there is "siege-like," and "Fort Apache: The Bronx."

The only thing I've ever seen in Compton court that I've never seeen anywhere else was a case of defense misconduct that by all rights should have resulted in the public defender losing her license. This was a case involving a COMPTON VARRIO TORTILLA FLATS gang member facing a murder charge. This guy had CVTF tattooed on the knuckles of his hands, one letter to each knuckle. Just like the L O V E and H A T E tattoos Robert Mitchum had on his knuckles in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. This TF homie rolled up on two black men sitting in a car, pulled out a gun, stuck the gun through the car window and started blasting. He killed the driver and severely wounded the passenger.

The passenger was in court to testify. From the discovery, the defense attorney knew that the witness would ID the shooter because he saw the CVTF tattoos three inches from his face. So before the morning session starts, the defense attorney goes into the lockup to see her client and she brings along some makeup. She applies the makeup to her client's knuckles and covers up the tattoos.

The session starts and the prosecutor looks over at the defendant and realizes that the tattoos are gone. He asks the judge to ask the defendant to show his hands. The man refuses. The judge makes a bailiff wipe the makeup off the knuckles to reveal the CVTF tattoos.

The jury is sent out of the courtroom and the female defense attorney starts bawling like a baby, pleading for the judge not to throw her off the case and not to hold it against her client. The judge reams her a new one but surprisingly, does not take the next step to have her license yanked. In fact, she went on to greater things and is now a supervisor in the public defender's office.

That's a story unique to Compton. For some reason, Catania didn't mention it in her piece. Probably because it doesn't fit her idea of a LOVE COURT.

COLLECTING UNDER FALSE PRETENSES
There's a case going through the system right now involving a brother from SAN FER. I'm posting it because it illustrates some truths about life in the neighborhoods and as a tale of caution to EME pretenders. I won't mention names because the case hasn't even gotten to the prelim stage and I don't want to be poisoning a jury pool or making assertions that have yet to be proven in court.

Let's call the Brother Bobby. He's been validated and a bona fide shot caller in the North End of the San Fernando Valley. Bobby got a call one night that a street dealer was going around North Hills claiming to be a full blown carnal and he was collecting in the Eme's name. It takes Bobby no time at all to figure out who this impostor is. Bobby then grabs one of the impostor's associates and forces the associate to take him to the impostor's apartment. As soon as the impostor opens the door, Bobby blasts him and takes off with the impostor's associate. Although wounded severely, the impostor survives.

That same night or sometime later, Bobby takes the impostor's friend who ratted him out to Lake Los Angeles. Bobby tries to strangle the guy to death but the guy breaks free and takes off into the neighborhood.

Bobby is now facing attempt murder, kidnapping and other charges. A witness to all this is already dead and several others are missing and presumed hiding out.

The lessons here are clear. To anyone thinking of making a fast buck by collecting under false pretenses, you're better off just shooting yourself in the head. The brothers have a zero tolerance policy on this, as they do on most other infractions. Don't even think about it. It's suicide. One way or another, your criminal career is over. Not to mention your life.

The other lesson is that the intelligence system on the streets and in the prison/jail system operates extremely well. Nobody is ever slick enough to fly under the Eme's radar or ever pass out of the Eme's memory. Once there's a mark on your record street justice will be administered -- right now or sometime down the road. There have been cases of brothers waiting ten years to settle scores.

Another lesson might be to never become a witness. That, however, is sometimes impossible because if you're in the life, you never know when the straps are coming out and homies start throwing down. Needless to say, a witness is always viewed with suspicion by shooters and their crimies. The ultimate lesson here is that if you don't want to be a wit, don't clique up. Easier said than done.

As with a lot of these cases, there's some fallout that impacts other cases. More on that as Bobby's beef makes its way through the system and details become public knowledge.

THE HOMIES' OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
California has the reputation of being the nation's windsock. Trends, both good and bad, start here and before you can say "De donde eres?" tribesman in the Kalahari are wearing Nikes and doing the robot. So it's no surprise when towns a lot closer to LA start seeing some of our street culture.

Case in point is two towns in Idaho -- Caldwell and Nampa. Over the past few years, LE in these towns has seen something totally alien to that part of world -- drive bys, gang homicides, placasos and inked up pelons.

According to the local jura, the shooters and scooters are a combination of homegrown talent and a few shot callers imported from So Cal and other parts of the Southwest.

The bangers are replicating the same dynamic we see here in California. In Nampa, for instance, the homies have split the town into North and South. The North side flies the Catorce (14) flag while the south side, naturally, marshals up under the magic number of 13. Some of the sets claim 18th Street while others call themselves TINY TOONS and LOMAS. North side sports a red rag while Surenos go with blue.

But breaking with SOCAL tradition, the sets have an open enrollment program. You'll find hispanics, whites, blacks and some native americans in the same set. This is something most So Cal neighborhoods would find unacceptable.

Although there are a handful of validated brothers in the Idaho prison system and on the street, street dealers have yet to feel the sting of taxation and tribute. But that may change since LE has recently come in contact recently with some freshly arrived Texas Syndicate and Eme shot callers.

Idaho LE has yet to create its version of the CALGANGS database, so there's no state wide estimate on the number of homies, but Nampa PD has gang cards on 482 individuals who they claim are active. Which is quite a number in a town with 70,000 residents.

The serious students in the audience probably already know that the NUESTRA FAMILIA's bank was, and may still be, located in Boise, Idaho. That bank account was controlled by Cuete Rubalcaba, a member of the Mesa and supremo NF shot caller.

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR CLOSEUP?
In The Hat has a surprising number of UK readers so this next item won't be much of a revelatioin to them. With money provided by the Hollywood Entertainment District, the LAPD will be installing 64 video cameras in certain crime-riddled sections of Hollywood.

Civil libertarians are disturbed. As they should be.

Video monitoring was hugely successful in lowering the crime rate in MacArthur Park this year. When the cameras went up, the drug dealers, hookers, scam artists and gangsters un-assed and found other areas to torment the citizens. The city is hoping for the same result in Hollywood.

The ACLU's reaction was weirdly schizoid. As reported in the LAT, Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was okay with the cameras in MacArthur Park, but called the cameras on Hollywood streets, "creeping, Big Brotherism." Of the cameras in the park she said, "This was a park that families couldn't use because of the pimps, the drug dealers. In that particular situation, we felt maybe the public safety issue did win out." On the public streets, however, she said, "the Police Department shouldn't be able to monitor everybody's comings and goings."

This is an intellectually indefensible argument. Not to mention stupid. The park is no less public than the street. And isn't it just as likely that families can't use the streets of Hollywood because of the dealers and gangsters? If she had the courage of her convictions, she would oppose cameras at both locations. A public space is a public space. If you're going to espouse certain principles, stick to them. This is one of the problems with the causes the ACLU decides to adopt. They seem to be motivated more by politics than principles. In New York, they forced the school system to provide special rooms for Muslim students to pray. The same organization is suing LA to remove the crucifix from the mission church pictured on the City's seal. If it were operating on pure principle, the ACLU would sue to ban all prayer in schools everywhere. Then they wouldn't appear to be schizophrenic when it comes to the cross on the LA seal.

An equally strange response on the camera issue came from Jan "Ban the Fast Food" Perry. In a famous example of prying into the lives of private citizens, she got city money to "study" the health effects of fast food on her constituents. She felt that it was the city's job to examine, comment and maybe even pass laws that would regulate the fat and carb content of the food her constituents eat. What she was advocating was, essentially, restraint of trade by trying to limit the number of fast food outlets in her district. But of the cameras she wants in her part of town, "I think it's great," she says. Maybe her ultimate agenda is to be the town busybody -- catch people eating burgers and fries on camera and send a sternly worded note to their doctors.

And then of course, there's the racial aspect. There's always a racial aspect in LA, isn't there? MacArthur Park is overwhelmingly Hispanic. Jan Perry's district is largely Black and Hispanic. Couldn't the argument be made that the cameras are singling out and targeting minorities? Racial activists are always complaining that their neighborhoods have too big a police presence anyway. Now they'll have a lot of cops and a lot of eyes on the lamposts. Just think of the word fest Mike Davis would have on this issue. It might go something like this. "What Daryl Gates' armored cars and stick-wielding, helmeted Panzergrenadiers couldn't accomplish will now be executed with the brutal efficiency of an electronic distant early warning system poised to suppress the first inkling of any popular resistance to a white oligarchy that is toxic not just to the citizens it suppresses but to the very alluvial and earthquake wracked soil it claims as its birthright." I just saved you the $25 bucks you were going to spend o his new book.

Ripston's argument is correct. This is creeping Big Brotherism. She should demand the cameras in MacArthur Park be taken down and the ones in Hollywood be stopped from going up. She should demand that crime be stopped the old fashioned way. Cops on the beat.

JOHN MILLER TURNS IN HIS GUN AND SUV
While going through the unread material that piled up while out of town, the LAT and Daily News reported that LA's commissar of Homeland Security, John Miller, turned in his LAPD-issued .38 revolver and his city-issued SUV. The SUV was equipped with lights and siren and, no doubt, all the comm gear you would expect in a police car. Why a civilian would need all that is beyond comprehension. He may fancy himself as JOE FRIDAY, but he's NOT a cop.

This was in the aftermath of Miller accidentally toting a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage at LAX. He still gets to keep his civilian carry permit which allows him to carry a concealed handgun. Two-tiered justice here. A "non-connected" civilian would have had his permit yanked in a heartbeat. That is, if a non-connected civilian would ever have a snowball's chance in Fallouja of getting a carry permit from the LAPD in the first place. LAPD, like most police agencies in left-leaning Claifornia, only issues permits to "friends" of the department (Miller, Dianne Feinstein, Sean Penn) or to people who hire lawyers and spend thousands of dollars in litigation with the city. Since my last posting on this issue, a reader informed me that an average civilian CAN get one of those rare LAPD carry permits (my reader has one) but you'll need a lawyer, money and patience. Which of course, no longer makes that civilian "average" because most people don't have the money and time to sue the city.

If Miller really wants to play cop, he should follow Chief Bratton's lead and take the P.O.S.T. courses and the exam. This is an issue that goes beyond simple fairness and equal representation. There's a huge liability issue as well. If Miller decided to go on a Code 3 run for some reason and takes out a mini-bus full of kids, imagine the lawsuits and the pay out. It's crazy to issue specialized equipment like a full-on emergency response vehicle, like the SUV, without the proper training and credentials.

BACK HOME AND CATCHING UP
We're back after a productive trip out of state but getting set to leave again next week. Love the research, hate staying in motels. Crime research, especially when you're visiting places like Mule Creek, Corcoran and Blythe, isn't exactly destination travel. You don't have much choice in lodging. It's either the motel next to the truck stop or the one next to the feed lot. Every time I check into one of these, I can't help but think of the story of a couple who complained about the lumpy bed in their room and discovered that the previous guest had stuffed a body between the box spring and the mattress.

Motels, or motor lodges as they were known in the days before nipple rings and suicide bombers, have long been popular hide-outs for criminals. In WHITE HEAT, Cody Jarrett hid out in several with his wife and his mother. Cody's mom rubbed his neck when he got those awful headaches. His wife smoked cigarettes and looked bored.

In HIGH SIERRA, Roy Earle and Marie Garson (and their adopted dog PARD) hopped around motels from the San Fernando Valley to Lone Pine. In the world of non-fiction, everyone from the Barrow gang to badland couple of Charley Starkweather and Caryl Fugate copped Zs and watched the parking lot for the heat in motels.

In the modern age, motels aren't just for hiding out from the cops or the spouse anymore. They've become forward deployed bases of operation. The 13 EME meetings that the FBI videotaped and used as evidence in the US vs. Aguirre RICO trial in 1995 were all conducted in the same motel in Rosemead. Unknown if the brothers got a frequent user discount. The CARL'S JUNIOR nearby was frequented by both TASK FORCE coppers and Carnals, sometimes just minutes apart.

Always versatile, the modern motel room has now become a handy chem lab for amateur and professional meth cookers. Recent advances in meth production have reduced the powerful chemo smell, but not the toxicity, so a seasoned cook can whip up a batch and be gone before the neighbors complain about that weird odor next door. OSHA should look into the toxic hazards motel cleaning crews might face after a meth chef decamps.

So the next time your travels compel you to stay at your typical NO TELL MOTEL and you feel a funny lump in the bed, a weird smell or some bizarro stain on dresser, be alert for what the previous occupant might have been doing. Of course, you could just sleep in the car.

INTHEHAT WILL BE OUT OF TOWN.
Posting will be suspended until October 28. We're going out of town on a combined fact-finding mission and holiday. There won't be a chance to post. But for those of you out there who keep an eye out for stories and regularly contribute, keep sending those emails. We'll catch up when back in town.

DECONSTRUCTING MURDER
This weekend, 14-year-old Byron Lee was shot to death while riding his bike near Stanford and 81st Street in South LA. There were two shooters. According to witnesses, the shooters moved up on Lee after he was down and continued firing as he was on his knees and apparently pleading for them not to shoot him anymore. He was hit eighteen times.

Lee, like the shooters, was black and cops suspect that this was gang related, even though Lee's mother says he wasn't ganged up. It hardly matters. These guys wanted him, or somebody else, dead. And they clearly didn't care all that much if he was the intended target.

This shooting reminded me of an incident in Kody Scott's book MONSTER. Kody mentions that he once shot a kid off his bike but doesn't reveal the aftermath. He doesn't mention if he killed the kid or winged him or crippled him for life. Scott also states that he shot a lot of "civilians," his term for people who were not ganged up or associates. And Scott never expressed much remorse.

If Lee's killers are ever caught and decide to write a best seller about shooting people, you have to wonder if they'll receive the same level of acclaim that Scott gets from academics and the media. His book is on the reading list of Race, Class and Gender classes all over the country. The LA Times called Monster, "one of the most disturbingly authentic triumphs of the human spirit ever executed in print."

The same weekend that Lee was executed brought the news that Jacques Derrida died of cancer. Derrida was the father of Deconstructionism, a "philosophy" much in vogue among university professors. The basic belief of this philosophy is that nothing can be known. Certainty is an illusion. It's impossible to pass judgment because reality is nothing more than personal narrative and subjective experience. The personal narrative of the shooters is as valid and free of disapprobation as that of Byron Lee's. In the world of intellectual discourse, shooter and victim are neither guilty or innocent.

The wide acceptance of Monster and other criminal confessionals is rooted in the nonsense of Deconstructionism. A clever professor could prove to Byron's mother that her son wasn't executed while begging for his life. It's just her subjective experience of the event. That professor can also prove that true justice could never be dished out to the shooters.

You could dismiss this nonsense if it were merely isolated to the classroom and lecture hall, the modern equivalent of ancient religious scholars discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The truth is, a lot of this Decon attitude permeates the media, the babbling class and even the criminal justice system. It leads to some horrific consequences. Defense lawyers leaking information to their clients about potential prosecution witnesses. Or academics being brought in as expert witnesses to prove that a visual ID of a shooter is beyond the capacity of the victims. And it even leads to defense lawyers covering up a shooter's tattoos with makeup during a trial to foil a positive ID. After all, guilt is a social construct that exists merely in the unenlightened mind. Intellectuals know better.

These true believers in the absolute impossibility of guilt or innocence, good or evil also show up on juries and are playing merry hell with criminal cases. More on that at another time.

A SPRITE, BAG OF DORITOS AND TWO DIME ROCKS OF YOUR VERY BEST CRACK, PLEASE.
The SILVER EAGLE MARKET in SACRAMENTO was apparently doing more than selling snacks and six packs. In a raid by narco cops pursuant to an undercover buy, Sacto cops found a gang of chronic and crack behind the counter all bagged up and ready for sale. They also found $370,000 in cash. When they raided the home of the owner, HIRENDRA SHARMA, they found an additional $40,000 in cash. Sharma wasn't home or at the store and is now a fugitive. I bet this guy didn't give a crap if you stood there and read the magazines all day long or boosted the occasional Litle Debbie.

DUDE, WHERE'S MY GUN?
In a story in today's LA TIMES, we get some more details on LA's anti-terror point man, JOHN MILLER and his remedial gun carrying problem. It appears that the gun Miller left in his carry-on luggage was NOT one of the guns on his carry permit. One important piece of information that the Times left out was that California carry permits will only allow the permit holder to list THREE guns on the permit. Some states have no restrictions on this point. You can carry any type of handgun that can be concealed. When the permit is issued, the Make, Model and serial number are typed righ on the permit by the folks on the 5th floor, LAPD's Gun Detail. And you can only carry what's on the permit.

What Miller had on his Bratton-issued permit were two .45 ACP Glocks and what the Times describes as a .38 caliber Beretta. We don't think Beretta makes a .38 caliber handgun. The .38 is a revolver round and Beretta does not produce revolvers. What the article probably meant to say that it was a .380, a entirely different type of round despite the similarity in nomenclature. Beretta does make handguns chambered for the diminutive .380 semi-auto cartridge.

The gun in question was apparently a Smith & Wesson chambered for the .38 caliber round, a revolver round. This gun was apparently issued to Miller by the LAPD. Or so the article says. We're wondering what the hell the LAPD is doing by issuing civilians handguns. From what we know of the law, police agencies do not issue guns to civilians, even if they're department employees.

If this is the case, then Miller was illegally carrying a loaded concealed weapon because according to the laws covering concealed carry, you can only carry one of the three guns spelled out on the permit itself.

If Miller had been a plain old civilian, chances are his permit would have been pulled immediately and he would probably never be issued another one. But he's not. He's in the privileged tier of the two-tiered system that governs concealed carry permits. Chances are, he'll keep his permit and get away with nothing more than a cool glance from his sponsor and friend, Chief Bratton.

Did Miller commit a crime? It sure looks like it. If not the crime of intentionally trying to carry a gun aboard an aircraft, then at least that of illegally carrying a loaded concealed weapon -- that S&W .38 that was NOT on his permit. We're looking forward to how this turns out.

OPERATION BLACK WIDOW WINDS DOWN
This week we saw the final installment of OPERATION BLACK WIDOW in NORCAL. Eight shot callers of the NUESTRA FAMILIA took a guilty plea to federal racketeering charges and will be spending time in the federal prison system far from California. Five of the Familianos got life sentences while three got 10-year terms.

The five who'll be spending life in a Federal penitentiary are Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, James Morado, Cornelio "Comi" Tristan, Joseph Raymond "Pinky" Hernandez, and Tex "Terrible T" Hernandez. These Familianos could be considered the NF's board of directors and ran the organization's business from prison.

The three with 10-year sentences are Daniel "Stork" Perez, Alberto Larez, and Henry "Big Happy" Cervantes.

Like LA's Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Crime, Operation Black Widow in Norcal was a combined Federal and local LE venture that targeted the leadership of organized crime syndicates. And like LA's Task Force, the investigation and prosecution would not have happened wihout the cooperation of confidential informants. From the LE point of view, it's impossible to crack organized crime without snitches. In the case of Black Widow, the most prominent snitch was ROBERT GRATTON. In LA's Task Force, LE had Ernest "Chuco" Castro that got the ball rolling and resulted in three huge RICO cases.

While there are a lot of similarities between the Norcal and Socal cases, there are a number of distinct differences. In Socal, the "business" was conventional street-oriented crime like tax collection and murder. Up north, the NF showed a remarkable capacity to morph into legitimate and/or semi-legitimate operations.

Gratton, with Gerry Cuete's blessing and support, founded NORTH STAR RECORDS, a rap label that launched the career of NORTENO rap star, SIR DYNO. The first CD, G.U.N. (Generation of United Nortenos), was a huge hit and was even carried in the racks at Sam Goody's. North Star was then used to launder drug money. As a result, Gratton was putting $5,000 a month into the NF's bank account in Idaho.

Other quasi legal businesses owned or controlled by Norteno shot callers included auto customizing shops, nightclubs and tire stores. Life was sweet and money was pouring in. That is until Gratton was put in the hat for being a little too independent. He was becoming too visible to LE and the media, and the Mesa, NF's board of directors, decided to check him.

In the end, Gratton cashed in his chips and ratted out the entire organization.

With the shot callers now scattered throughout the Federal prison system, it will no longer be as easy for them to communicate with the street as it was in Pelican Bay. At least that's LE's contention.

It remains to be seen if this latest blow to the NF will create a leadership crisis and a power vacuum that the Eme will try to exploit.

BRATTON IS NOW SWORN
LAPD chief Bill Bratton is no longer a civilian. After studying and training for months, the Chief passed his P.O.S.T. tests and is now a sworn California peace officer and no longer needs his self-issued civilian permit to carry a concealed weapon. Lest you might think they bent the rules or made the tests easy to given Bratton his certification, former Chief Willie Williams never did pass the P.O.S.T. Williams tried four times and failed. LA cops no longer need to feel funny about saluting a civilian.

DAILY NEWS GANG SERIES
For out of town readers, the LA Daily News is publishing an 8-part series on street gangs. The first installment ran on Sunday. You can read it and the rest of the series at dailynews.com.

So far, there's very little new information. At least new to us. Lots of stats and personal stories but not a whole lot of analysis or the kind of juicy stuff we like to read. We're curious to see if they run anything at all about the Wilson, Bowser, Hightower, Haggins etc. racially motivated homicides. The Times and DN have both done a great job of ignoring these killings and the motivation behind them.

JOHN MILLER GUN BUST
KABC TV news reported this afternoon that LA's Il Duce of anti-terror, John Miller, was stopped at LAX security for trying to carry a loaded gun onto a plane. The gun was in his carry-on luggage and apparently he just forgot it was there. Dumb!

From what we know, Miller has one of those nearly impossible to get LAPD permits to carry a concealed weapon. Miller, like William Bratton, is not a sworn peace officer. They're both civilian employees of the LAPD. Therefore the only way they can legally carry a gun is to obtain a civilian carry permit, something denied to the average law abiding Angeleno. The funny thing is, as chief of police Bratton had to apply to himself to get a permit. Naturally, he gave himself one. And Miller has one as well. They're pals and go back a long way and hey, what are friends for if you can't get a carry permit out of it?

Bratton comes from the New York City old boy network of permit patronage. In New York City, you're not even allowed to own a handgun in your house, let alone carry one, without a permit from the NYPD. Traditionally, any well-heeled and connected New Yorker has always had an easy time getting a permit to carry. New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, a big time anti-gunner, has one. So does Howard Stern, comedian Pat Cooper and dozens of business people and celebrities. In our own fair state of California, the same rules apply. Notorious anti-gun advocate Dianne Feinstein for years had a permit to carry, but said she gave it up. So does/did James Caan (he might have had his revoked, we hear). And of course, Robert (I forgot my gun in Vitello's) Blake. It might surprise a lot of Angelenos how many anti-gun Hollywood celebrities have permits to carry while they contribute to anti-gun groups like Sarah Brady's HCI. Sarah herself got into hot water when she bought a gun under her name and gave it to her son as a birthday present. Under one of the many laws she favors, this was an illegal transfer and she should have gone to jail.

LA celebrities don't get their permits from the LAPD. Like Blake who established a paper residence in Culver City while living in the Valley (LAPD jurisdiction), a lot of the elites establish residence in permit-friendly jurisdictions. Ted Cooke, the retired chief of Culver PD was very liberal in doling out permits and looking the other way on the issue of residence. That's where Caan got his. Edward James Olmos got his from the LASD. Permits are issued locally but are good all over the state. So if you have a second or third or fourth home somewhere in a rural permit friendly county, or Culver City, you're good to carry in Bel Air or Malibu.

But getting back to the John Miller incident. Miller's permit is only good in California. California carry permits are not recognized by any other state because California does not recognize any other state's carry permits. This means that when Miller landed in New York, merely being in possession of a gun without a local permit to carry or own would have put him in flagrant violation of New York City weapons laws. After all, he's no longer a New York resident and that disqualifies him from owning or carrying a gun or even being in possession of a handgun in New York City. What the hell was Miller going to do with his piece when he got there? It is illegal to bring a handgun into New York City. Motorists from other states have been arrested in the Big Apple and their guns confiscated merely for carrying unloaded guns in the trunks of their cars while passing through town. Same with Chuck Schumer's New Jersey.

The truth is, the New York cops would probably give Miller a pass and let him carry. After all, there are two sets of laws in the U.S. when it comes to personal defense. One that applies to the rich and mighty. And one that applies to the rest of us whose hides aren't worth as much. The right of self defense is one reserved for the elite and not us mere proles.

WAS THIS INEVITABLE?
One of my out of town readers just sent me an item from the Brownsville, Texas paper, The Herald. On September 3, Emma Perez-Trevino wrote about contacts between AL-QAIDA and the MARA SALVATRUCHA, a street gang with sets in Los Angeles, Texas, the US-MEXICO border and as far away as Virginia, New York and Boston. Just so you know, MS has a lot of sets, some of whom operate under the Sureno flag. Others don't. Look for the MS13 placa to determine if they're Sureno. Non-affiliates drop the 13.

The information on this possible alliance came from the U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security. According to a member of that committee, Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, a Democrat from Texas, "We have been in contact wtih El Salvadoran officials and they have verified that Al-Qaida has been active in these gangs."

Ortiz, along with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Rep. Jim Turner, both Texas Democrats, have asked for more cooperation between the Border Patrol, the FBI and the CIA. All three pols called the OTM policy (Other Than Mexican), "nothing more than a conduit for terrorists." Apparently, 80% to 90% of the 25,000 OTMs arrested on the U.S. side of the border are released on their own recognizance with nothing more than a promise to appear for a hearing. Guess how many actually show up.

For the complete story, a Google search for the Brownsville Herald will take you to the site. I don't do links.

The concept of streets gangs making alliances with foreign powers is not new. In 1987, four members of Chicago's El Rukn gang were convicted of accepting $2.5 million from Lybia to plan and execute terrorist attacks in the U.S. That same year, Jeff Fort, founder of the Blackstone Rangers traveled to Lybia where Muammar Qaddafi presented him with a rocket launcher. The FBI intercepted the weapon and arrested Fort. Louis Farrakhan made the introductions and accompanied Fort to Lybia. More recently, Jose Padilla, a Chicago street gangster was arrested for trying to organize a dirty bomb attack in the U.S.

On the other side of the coin, Italian mobster Lucky Luciano made a deal with the Government during the war. In exchange for his help in gathering intelligence and putting friends on the ground prior to the invasion of Sicily, Luciano was allowed to leave prison and deported at the end of the war. Even without the aid of the internet and satellite phones, Luciano had no trouble calling the shots to his New York crime family from his villa in Palermo.

We'll see what develops with the MS.

BERNARD PARKS DOESN'T LIKE THE SHIFT SCHEDULE
It's been fairly well established by now that Bernard Parks, the former LAPD police chief, is attempting to gain some political capital by focusing on the current homicide spike. He posed for the media with the families of homicide victims and blamed the spike on the LAPD's 3/12 shift schedule. His claim is that the new schedule puts fewer cops on the street and that contributes to the rise in killings. Never mind that some of the victims were killed under the old schedule.

Parks wants to be mayor. And he wants to heap some blame on his successor, William Bratton. For you non-Los Angeles residents who may not be up on LA politics, James Hahn, the current mayor is the man who made the decision to get rid of Parks and replace him with Bratton.

During the ramp up to Bratton's appointment, Parks' strongest political ally was former council member Nate Holden. Holden term-limited out and was succeeded in his council seat by Parks. Holden was nothing if not an old-school strong arm meister. In his lobbying for Parks, Holden pointed fingers of blame for Parks' failure as a chief in every direction.

Despite the fact that rank and file cops gave Parks failing grades as a chief, Holden maintained that Parks was an effective leader. Parks was being sabotaged by a mostly white command structure, Holden said. When the city council pointed to the awful academy recruitment record under Parks, Holden blamed a thriving a economy for siphoning away qualified candidates into the private sector. And when the council and others pointed to the rising crime rate under Parks, Holden used the peculiar logic of a lousy job market as a reason for the rising crime rate. So in Holden's view, the economy was simultaneously good and bad. Mr. Greenspan should look into this.

When it became clear that Bratton was going to be annointed chief, Holden encouraged Parks to sue the city for not renewing his contract. Parks was smart enough to pass on this suggestion. And when Bratton was confirmed as Hahn's choice, Holden promised that Hahn would "pay" for his "betrayal."

In Holden's view, the people Hahn betrayed was the black community. It was obvious at the time that Holden believed skin color was more important than effective leadership. Parks is a good guy in every sense of a word. But he's not what you'd call an inspiring leader. He was a micro-manager. A from-the-top down, command and control, rigidly structured operator who wouldn't let subordinates exercise any personal initiative. It was his way or the highway. Rank and file morale plainly sucked under Parks. At least two coppers put in their jackets that if they were killed in the line of duty, they didn't want Parks at their funeral. Nothing like that has happened under Bratton's watch.

While Bratton may not be as popular with the blue suits as one of their own might have been (Mark Kroeker comes to mind), he's gained big points for letting subordinates become pro-active and creative. The Valley's Motel Six squad recently reported on by Jason Kandel in the Daily News is just one example. It's yielding results and Bratton is blessing the operation for use in other divisions. That came from the bottom, not the top. Ideas like that come from the bottom because that's where the eyes and ears are. You don't see known felons walking in and out of motels on Sepulveda Boulevard sitting in Parker Center. Educated eyeballs like that can only come from street cops. And it takes a flexible command structure to see the value of a good idea and give it the proper resources, even if it's Not Invented Here.

As the mayor's race spools up, you have to wonder if Parks will continue to work the rising homicide rate as an issue. You also have to wonder how much advice he's getting from Holden. Is Holden sitting in his Marina condo nursing his "betrayal" and working to leverage a little payback on Hahn? Will Parks take Holden's advice? Will Holden ever get beyond the skin game? It should be an interesting race.

A DUBIOUS ANNIVERSARY
For those who keep track of these things, yesterday, Sept. 16, is a day that the NUESTRA FAMILIA celebrates as something akin to their day of Independence. It also happens to be Mexican Independence day.

According to NF lore, Sept. 16th, 1972 is the day that RUDY "CHEYENNE" CADENA, an EME brother was assassinated by FAMILIANOS on the second tier of PALM HALL in CHINO STATE PRISON.

There's a backstory to this. The Eme and NF have been locked into a no-win war since the NF first started organizing in 1965. But CADENA was a true believer in the concept of a Hispanic supergang that would supersede the geographic loyalties of the Eme and the NF. He had a vision of a united La Raza uber-gang that would stop the brown-on-brown war and stop wasting the energies and depleting the manpower of both gangs. There's also reason to believe that CADENA ultimately wanted to use that base of power to gain some social and political capital outside of prison.

Although he was counseled not to do so by some of his brothers like JOE MORGAN, CADENA went ahead and set up a meeting with NF shot callers. The meeting took place in CHINO.

By all accounts, CADENA's intentions were honorable. He wanted a genuine truce that would eventually evolve into a full blown alliance. The NF, however were suspicious. They thought it was a set up and CADENA was actually there to hit the NF shot callers. He never got the chance to prove otherwise.

Before a single word was exchanged, three Familianos (FRANK "JOKER" MENDOZA, JUAN "MANSANAS" COLON, and BOBBY "CRACKERS" VINDIOLA) shanked and beat CADENA and threw him off the tier. When he landed, another Familiano was there with a shank to finish CADENA off. CADENA was stabbed at least 50 times.

It's supposed to be a red letter day for the NF and certainly a black one for the Eme. There's never been another attempt to unite the two factions. Needless to say, they've been at war ever since.

Last month, for instance, Folsom was purged of all Nortenos by the CDC for reasons that remain not fully explained. Folsom is now apparently a 100% Eme controlled institution. Eventually, I'll tell you what's going on in Folsom. But now is not the time. We'll wait for the dead tree media's version of this situation before we comment.

The CADENA killing was portrayed in AMERICAN ME, the Edward James Olmos movie. In the film, however, the character based on CADENA was killed by his own brothers. This was something that the EME found outrageous. And we don't blame the brothers for being upset. The truth is interesting enough. It doesn't require embellishment or outright fabrication to make it dramatic or compelling. Not to mention that it's a slap in the face to the brothers who tried to talk CADENA out of the sit down with the Familianos. As a result, Olmos was allegedly greenlighted and is said to have paid his way out of it. And we know what happened to ANNA LIZARAGA.

The irony of the CADENA assassination is that while the NF celebrates that hit on Sept. 16, the killing actually happened on December 17, 1972. Nations don't always celebrate events on the date they happened. So it's not that odd that any other organization should do the same.

IT'S NOT A HATE CRIME UNTIL THE BIG MEDIA SAYS IT IS
Regular readers of INTHEHAT probably already know about the racially motivated homicide of Kenneth Wilson. It happened in Highland Park in April of 1999. The shooters all claimed Avenues, 43 to be specific. I first mentioned the Wilson killing in a February '03 post even though it's been in the files for longer than that. I sat on the story until '03 for a couple of reasons. For one, I was putting that killing together with the killing of Christopher Bowser and Robert Hightower. All three black victims were targeted because of their race. They had absolutely no gang affiliation whatsoever. They were civilians. As it turned out, I dug up quite a few more racially motivated murders and assaults against other blacks in other parts of LA County. And there are at least three more I'm aware of that might go that way if and when the investigations bear fruit. These victims, like Wilson, were also civilians with no gang affiliation. All of the verified assaults and murders were committed by neighborhoods with strong ties to the Brothers.

I also sat on it because I was trying to bring the work of INTHEHAT to a different audience. I wanted to get the Wilson, Bowser and Hightower murders into the print media. Those killings, unlike the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas, never got a single mention in the Los Angeles big media. This situation struck me as odd. The Byrd murder was an isolated act carried out by individuals out of personal racial hatred. Once the evil people who killed Byrd were in jail, the threat to other blacks in that town was basically over.

The Wilson et al murders, on the other hand, were committed as part of a larger ongoing criminal enterprise. The fact is, the Brothers have issued orders to keep blacks out of neighborhoods they control. And we're not talking just black gangsters. We're talking black citizens who are doing nothing more nefarious than breathing while black. By any standard you care to use, this declared war on blacks by the Eme fulfills every definition of ethnic cleansing. There's no other term for it. Unlike the Byrd killing, when the people guilty of killing Wilson, Bowser and Hightower are put away, there will be others, many others to carry on the work. Other blacks will be harassed, intimidated, assaulted and probably killed.

What amazed me, was the total lack of interest in this story by the big media. The LA Times, LA Weekly, Citybeat, Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Sacramento News and Review, The Atlantic, New York Times, you name it, they all turned down my proposal to do a story bout these killings. Frankly, I didn't get it. But then there are a lot of things I don't get about the media. So the story stayed in the files until someone, somewhere might show some interest in it. That was two years ago. I posted the Wilson incident and pursued other stories for INTHEHAT.

Occasionally, new information would emerge on the Wilson case. Last year I learned, for instance, that the US Attorney in LA was putting together a Federal hate crime case against Wilson's killers. That was interesting to me because of the complicated and unbelievable back story that culminated in the Federal prosecution. I won't go into that because it took me months of effort and interviews to put the whole sequence of events in place. And I'm not giving it away for free anymore. Frankly, I'm tired of having stories poached. I won't name the dude, but a local TV guy has poached at least two stories that I broke on INTHEHAT. So, no more soup for you.

Unfortunately, that means you readers aren't getting all the "deep" stuff. I'm willing to share information with other writers and journalists, but I'll draw the line at getting robbed by lazy assholes who are paid to dig up this stuff but prefer to boost it without payment or even attribution. I got more respect for a homeboy who pulls a cuete and tells you to give it up than this dude. At least it's a stand-up robbery and you know you're getting boosted. But on with the Wilson case.

Five years after the fact, the LA Times finally got around to mentioning the Wilson homicide. It was in the August 20, 2004 issue. I guess the Times was forced to acknowledge Wilson's killing because that was the day after the US Attorney's office unsealed the indictment against the shooters and accomplices. And as the paper of record in LA, they can't ignore a Federal indictment involving racial hate crimes that happened just a few miles from Spring Street. The most interesting thing about the Times piece was all the stuff that Times readers were not told. Sometime in the future, I'll share it with all of you. It's a tale that's stranger than fiction. A week later, the Times ran another brief item regarding the Wilson case. This one announcing a $20,000 reward by the FBI for information about one of Wilson's alleged shooters, Merced "Shadow" Cambero. He's been on the loose since the chilly morning of Wilson's execution on Avenue 52. We'll wait and see how the LA media will cover the Federal trial, if at all, and how much of it gets told correctly. It will be amusing.

Few need to be told this, but the media in this country needs a major cojones transplant. The next time you pick up your favorite paper or tune in to TV or radio news, be aware that the media have gatekeepers. There's a person at a desk that will decide what you see and what you hear. And if this person doesn't think you need to know, in the days before the internet, you'd never know. In terms of this little part of the world that I know a little something about, I can tell you straight up that you are being under-served and under-informed. And as far as the average LA citizen is concerned, the Wilson, Bowser and Hightower killings never happened until the big media says they happened. Practice safe news reading. Use www.

AMERICAN INDIAN NEIGHBORHOODS
This has to be the strangest iteration of the gang phenomenon I've ever come across. According to a cop up in Bellingham, Washington, the Lummi Nation, an Native American tribe officially has a gang problem. The strange thing is that this problem was apparently a bootstrap operation where the reservation residents and the local white boys decided to form up gangs. Prior to that, there had never been any kind of friction between the Indians and the white kids. They've been getting along just fine for generations.

The whole gang scene emerged the same way friends choose up sides for a game of touch football. The young people were so hell bent on emulating the attitude, dress and music of LA gangsters that they went out and got themselves the clothes, assumed the position and started representing. The white kids decided to represent Bloods while the Native kids picked the Crips. These kids are nowhere near being the hard core shooters and slangers of LA fame but the local cops expect that one of these days, the friendly rivalry might blow up into some serious trouble. The drugs aren't quite there yet since the locals seem to prefer huffing to skonce or chronic.

For the sociologists out there who research this stuff, this sounds like fertile ground to study because none of the dynamics that exist in big cities seem to be present up there. Any jokes I can think of about kids in the past playing cowboys and indians for fun would be out of place here. But it sure sounds the Lummi (Crips) and White boy Bloods are doing just that. Except in this case, let's hope the "bang bang you're dead" doesn't get realistic.

THE GREENLIGHT GANG
The cold, and sometimes hot war between MARAVILLA and the EME has been raging since the early 90s. If you remember your EME history, EME brothers like CHUCO CASTRO and SANA OJEDA, were sent forth to organize all SOCAL neighborhoods under the SURENO flag. Part of the deal was that all SURENOS had to kick up taxes to the brothers under penalty of death. Most neighborhoods fell into line and kicked up. Some did it happily. Other grudgingly. But almost all of them got with the program. But there were holdouts who basically told the EME to pound sand. The MS was one of those that declared themselves tax-free zones and immediately felt the heat. MARAVILLA was another no-tax gang as was LOWELL. As result the EME declared these neighborhoods as ALWAYS VERDE, giving every SURENO the greenlight to take care of any member of these neighborhoods.

With open war declared, MARAVILLA and LOWELL didn't didn't fare well in prison or on the street. Some of the hard core tax resisters decided on some get even. Any MV or LOWELL member who raised his hand to take care of a SURENO or a BROTHER became known as a MARAFIOSO, a moniker of distinction. According to people connected with the scene, there are apparently 20 or so MARAFIOSI currently formed up in what they call a GREENLIGHT GANG. This get-even gang within a gang is essentially a secret society whose members are known only to each other. Over time, close to 20 EAST SIDE neighborhoods have contributed members to the GREENLIGHT GANG. Among them are EASTSIDE 18th STREET and EASTSIDE CLOVER. The GREENLIGHT GANG operates undercover and their business is kept secret even from the rank and file members of their own neighborhoods. As an extra measure of security, the active shooters in the GREENLIGHT GANG have pictures take of themselves together. This is to discourage defection from the GREENIES. If they try to defect and become SURENOS, there's always proof that they were once resisters. Which means they'll be subject to sanctions from the EME as well as the GREENIES.

If the existence of a GREENLIGHT GANG who puts SURENOS and BROTHERS square in its sights is true, (and there's no evidence at this point that the GREENIES don't exist) it sounds to us like a DAVID and GOLIATH struggle. SURENOS and Brothers have the numbers on their side. They control the prisons and most of the SOCAL neighborhoods. That's a lot of eyes and ears and firepower. On the other hand, a gang of hard-core shooters who can maintain a high level of secrecy and operate undercover, can become a problem for the BROTHERS. The GREENIES might even become the vanguard of a movement that may over time recruit enough members to openly defy the EME.

HO CHI MINH once said that a tiger can defeat an elephant. All he has to do is bite the elephant hard once a day and run. Time will tell if UNCLE HO's philosophy works in the world of neighborhoods and brothers.

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD CORPORATE LOGO
The mainstream press just "discovered" that the COLONIA CHIQUES in Oxnard has been using Dallas Cowboys shirts as identifiers. Part of the Oxnard gang injunction passed last month stipulated that CC members are prohibited from wearing the Dallas shirts and hats. The homies surgically delete the W from the logo, which would then read CO BOYS. The story was in the Daily News and LA Times and ABC TV news had an item on it this afternoon.

Since this is our beat, we couldn't let the story go without comment. As far back as Sleepy Lagoon days, neighborhoods have used cultural icons as identifiers. Back then, there was a neighborhood that called itself the P-38s and used the twin-fuselage fighter as its logo. In more recent times, Avenues has used the LA Dodgers cap with the simple L over A design to represent LOS AVENIDAS. And the West Boulevard Crips have used the WARNER BROTHERS WB shield logo for years. Same goes for the Fresno Bulldogs with the Fresno football team shirts. Just thought you'd like to know.

EME POLITICS ON THE CENTRAL COAST?
We got an interesting bit of information regarding Eme expansion into the Central Coast. According to what we heard, SOCAL shot callers have been given their marching orders to start organizing in places like Guadalupe, Santa Maria, Lompoc. Orcutt, Nipomo and Oceano. These areas have traditionally been tax-free zones but they may not stay that way for long. The goal, of course, is to collect street taxes and whatever else can make homies some bucks. One of the shot callers is from the Black Angels and another from Hawaiian Gardens. They now have a crew of about seven who are starting politics in these virgin areas.

From the law enforcement side, we know that Nipomo had two drive-bys in eight days, which is a lot for that town. So this may be an indication that some muscle is already being flexed. One of the drive-bys happened on South Oakglen Avenue in Nipomo. A 53-year old male was driving south on Oakglen at around 2:00 AM on July 8 when somebody opened up on him. He survived a couple of bullet wounds. Police are now looking for VICTOR "SPEEDY" GONZALEZ. During the investigation, they found a bunch of spent shell casings in SPEEDY's front yard and they're looking for him as a witness to the event.

Last week, SAN LUIS OBISPO sheriffs arrested 20 meth dealers, most of whom were Caucasians, and seized a whole lot of crystal. Those bustees are being prosecuted by the US Attorney in Los Angeles. Ouch! That's a Federal beef and a lot of time could be had by all. But among those arrested for the crank was one homie with solid connections to the brothers. So we'll see how this shakes out.

Right now, LE in SLO, says they've seen no evidence of Eme involvement. Yet! But they've also said they wouldn't be surprised if a validated homie shows up in their investigation. One set that seems to be figuring prominently in the action is NIPOMO 13. Stay tuned for more.

THE OFFICER NEXT DOOR MIGHT BE SCAMMING.
It's not my intention to make this "beat on a cop" week, but you have to wonder what gives with correction cops. Last week we covered the four CDC officers that were fired for being SNOOP DOGG'S hired guns. Now a CYA officer will probably go to jail for scamming the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's "OFFICER NEXT DOOR" program.

Under this program, HUD would provide a 50% discount on a house to any law enforcement officer who moved into a low-income and/or high-crime neighborhood. The catch was the officer had to live in the house for at least three years before he could sell it or rent it. The goal was to put LE residents in these hoods and hopefully provide some sort of stability or security or set some kind of role model. Frankly, at the time this program was announced, it sounded like another government pie-in-the-sky social engineering experiment. The kind that usually crash and burn because nobody considers the unintended consequences.

On July 8th, CYA officer James Derrick Stewart, a Corona resident, took a guilty plea to submitting false documents to HUD about the house he bought at $50,000 off the asking price. Nice discount. It seems he never lived in the house. He rented it out.

Stewart agreed to pay pack the money but he could still face 5 years in prison. This is a federal beef and if he does the time it'll be in Lompoc.

This post is not to beat up on cops but to illustrate the point that government programs, no matter how well-intended, need to be made crook-proof. I've read that a full third of medical welfare money in California is lost to fraud. That's billions of dollars in the pockets of crooked doctors and scam artists.

The US Attorney caught this one cop in this one program. But there are thousands of programs with tens of thousands of recipients. Did you ever wonder why no matter how much they raise in taxes it never seems enough? Now you know.

THE TYRANNY OF WORDS.
Police Chief Bill Bratton is in a world of hurt these days for using three words he probably wishes had never been invented. The words were "tribal," "thugs," and "terrorists." He's also on the record for calling Najee Ali a "nitwit." Ali is an activist who is under investigation for a hit-and-run charge and for identity theft. Something which in fact may qualify him as a nitwit. Early on in his tenure, a heckler yelled at Bratton to control his cops. Bratton responded with, "Control your children."

After every one of these incidents, Bratton has apologized. But the apologies only seem to stoke the fires. If I were Bratton, I'd stop apologizing.

Yesterday, July 11, Bratton, David Cunningham and Andre Birotte (both on the Police Commission) attended a meeting in Leimert Park. Also present were Danny Bakewell, Councilman Bernard Parks and Tony Muhammad from the Nation of Islam. During the meeting, they showed the video of car-thief Stanley Miller being tackled and hit with a flashlight.

It was basically Bratton's turn in the barrel where the assembled citizens and activists vented their anger at the LAPD. Among the many unpleasant things hurled at Bratton was Muhammad's claim that Bratton had the mentality of a white supremicist and that the LAPD was rooted in racism. Muhammad also said the LAPD has, "no moral authority."

First of all, anyone from the Nation of Islam should be dis-invited to any future meetings of any kind. NOI is at heart a racist and separatist organization. The fundamental belief of NOI is that at one time, there was only the black race. A black scientist created a white man in his laboratory, the experiment went sideways, the white creature escaped and went on to procreate the white race that eventually subjugated its creators. In the U.S., you're free to believe any fantasy you want. And the rest of us are also free to believe you're full of shit. NOI also despises interracial marriage. And they reserve a special animosity for Jews. Louis Farrakhan has called Judaism a "gutter religion" and is full of interesting theories about Jewish conspiracies for world domination. You know. The stuff that played so well to packed stadiums in Germany in the 1930s. NOI also has proven ties to fun guys like Lybian psycho Muammar Qaddafi. In 1987 NOI leader Louis Farrakhan introduced Jeff Fort, leader of Chicago's Blackstone Rangers gang, to Qaddafi. As a token of esteem, Qaddafi gave Fort a surface to air missile which Fort smuggled back to Chicago. No doubt it was to help bring "peace" to the streets.

If I were Bratton, I would never appear on the same stage with the Nation of Islam. Their agenda is to separate the races. Their beliefs are the mirror image of the Aryan Nations and other white supremists. They both want a final "purifying" race war and the ultimate devolution of the U.S. into what? Tribal states segrated by race.

And if I were Bratton, I would not apologize for using those three words. I don't believe Bratton has a racist cell in his body. And let's face it, "tribal" "thugs" and "terrorists" is fairly apt. In his book ALWAYS RUNNING, Luis Rodriguez' first gang was called "The Animal Tribe." They not only considered themselves tribal but also less than human. And you guys reading this know as well as anybody the names homies choose for their sets -- Locos, Diablos, Killers, Assassins, Winos, Mob and even Crazy Ass.

As for Thugs, a lot of you guys reading this hang that name on yourselves with a certain machismo pride. Some guys I know would be insulted if you didn't think were thugs. Anybody remember THUG LIFE? And KNIGHTOWL has a romantic ballad with the chorus that goes, "Daddy I'm in love with a thug, don't be mad 'cause I'm in love with a gangster." Cool song by the way. But it's self-descriptive. Nobody hung that on him.

As to terrorists, there's no doubt that doing crimes in the neighborhood terrorizes the innocent and the law-abiding. Why do cops have a hard time finding wits after a homicide or a shooting? Because the wits are afraid. And another word for fear is terror. So yeah. It fits.

The word thing cuts both ways, however. There's plenty of name calling to go around on both sides of the law. There are special police units in this city and all over the state that give themselves macho names -- GRIM REAPERS comes to mind -- that don't look so good. My sense is that they'd be a lot better off if they stuck to simple stuff like SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT and OPERATION SAFE STREETS. I mean, who could find fault with SAFE STREETS?

I can appreciate the fact that high-risk door-buster units need to create unit esprit and a cool moniker helps build the necessary cohesion. There's no argument that law enforcement is a paramilitary enterprise and trigger pullers and dynamic entry teams need more than a paycheck to get their race face on and do a job that can get them killed. Let's be honest. Most civilians would not put their skins on the line every day for the kind of money cops make. You can make a lot more money in office work and never risk anything more serious than a paper cut. But at the same time, if a cop doesn't want to be called a storm trooper, it might be a good idea to drop the unit names that would imply that kind of mentality.

LIES, DAMNED LIES AND BERNARD PARKS.
Former police chief and current city councilman BERNARD PARKS said in a radio interview that he doesn't believe the LAPD's latest crime stats. According to all official sources, violent crime is down citywide and homicides have leveled off or dropped dramatically in some parts of the city. Parks doesn't buy it. His bizarre rationale is that when a homicide occurs, it affects the whole community. So, according to him, even if homicides are down, a single homicide still impacts the neighborhood. No argument there. But hey BERNIE! Violent crime is still down! And not just in the city, but statewide. Property crimes are rising modestly, but that's probably as much a reflection of the huge spike in the California population.

This isn't the first time PARKS has had doubts about LAPD crime stats. If you remember back to the days when Parks was fighting to keep his job, the crime stats were UP. While Parks couldn't publicly argue against the stats, he had his pal NATE HOLDEN (whose council seat Parks now occupies) go in front of the cameras and defend Parks' record. I remember this clearly because it was one of the most logic defying moments in recent city history.

There were three strikes against Parks at the time. One was that LAPD recruiting had dropped lower than a FALUJAH spider hole. At the time, half the LAPD academy classes had been cancelled. Two, his approval rating among rank and file cops was in the single digits. And three, the crime rate was definitely heading north.

While Parks couldn't come out and dispute the numbers, NATE HOLDEN, the DOODLES WEAVER of the Council who was on his last term, came out in Parks' defense. Holden claimed that Parks was an effective leader. And the drop in recruitment wasn't Parks' fault. It was the result of a superheated economy that was sucking away qualified candidates into the private sector. And furthermore, the crime stats were being fabricated by white cops to make Parks look bad. And even more furthermore, Holden said if the crime rate was going up, it was because of a bad economy and there were no jobs.

The contradictions in Holden's arguments were as evident as an AMBER ALERT. In his Orwellian doublespeak world, the economy was simultaneously good and bad. And Parks was such an effective leader that he couldn't even keep his own staff from printing bogus crime stats.

Parks now has Holden's old council seat. And it looks like he also inherited Holden's Bizarro logic. Clearly Parks doesn't want Chief Bratton to succeed. A steady rise in crime and a few more flashlight incidents would probably work to Park's advantage. Not that he'd want to see more bodies in the street, but frankly a crime spike would add to his "I told you so" political capital.

Look for the Parks rhetoric to get even more loonie as his mayoral campaign starts heating up. We can't wait for Holden to come out of his life-support chamber and go on the stump for Parks. I need the material.

IF SNOOP DOGG CALLS, HANG UP.
On July 6, four parole officers working for the CDC were fired for moonlighting as armed guard for the THA DOGGFATHER. These four goofballs came to the CDC's attention when they were stopped by local LA cops after the cops observed SNOOP's caravan with heavily armed men aboard. The cops found lots and lots of guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo in the vehicles. The armed dudes turned out to be these four parole officers.

This isn't the first time SNOOP used coppers to watch his back. Last year, eight Inglewood Unified School District coppers were also fired for working security for Snoop.

You can't blame Snoop for this. All he did was wave the money. They're the ones who ran after it like MICHAEL MOORE on a pork chop. Ethics, men. Ethics. Society gave these guys a badge, a gun and the powers of arrest. They took an oath. And although it's probably not spelled out anywhere, part of the oath is that you don't go for the easy money when a guy who publicly admits that he flames up an ounce of chronic A DAY calls up and asks you to cover his ass. When you pull this crap, you forfeit all moral authority. And you make it that much harder for the good cops who don't chase the dirty bills.

There's no excuse for this. Thanks to the unlamented GRAY DAVIS, the CDC has one of the sweetest public employee deals in the state. Tons of overtime, full medical and a retirement plan that'll probably bust the state treasury one of these days. And even if they weren't well paid and looked after, getting down in the dirt with guys who they'd probably arrest if they didn't have a few million is still intolerable.

GANGSTERS IN LEAR JETS.
If you accept the definition of a gang as two or more indivduals who conspire to commit crimes for the benefit of a group, then KEN LAY, ANDY FASTOW and the rest of their crimies at ENRON qualify as gangsters. Yeah, I know, a posting about ENRON looks like it may be far afield from the main topic of INTHEHAT, but in reality, it's not. LAY and his scumbag homies probably robbed more money in a week than every gang in LA combined does in a year. While it made me feel good to see LAY cuffed up and doing the perp walk for the cameras, it would have made me feel even better if a couple of bluesuits cut loose on him with MAGLITE flashlights.

And did you notice all that polish and sophistication blow away the second LAY faced the cameras? He started squealing like a 12-year-old-girl at a Britney concert. FASTOW did it and LAY didn't know what was going on and he was just this innocent CEO who was betrayed by his homie. Sounds like any other neighborhood rata trying to lay off blame on somebody else. You can put them in suits and give them a gold pen instead of a GLOCK, but a criminal is still a criminal. MR. LAY, meet DIABLO your new cellmate. You'll be his bitch for the next fifteen years. And don't bother calling for the stafa because they're going to a union meeting.

LIBERAL GUN SAFETY.
I don't generally comment about national politics unles it has some connection to street crime. In a roundabout way, John Kerry holding a shotgun can be folded into the broader national discussion of guns, crime and politics. Click over to the DRUDGE REPORT or the AP news website and you'll see several images of John Kerry at a trap range in Minnesota. In one image, he's addressing the camera. The caption says he's commenting after missing a clay bird. (Surprised?) You'll notice, his finger is on the trigger. This is absolutely verboten. It violates rule number 3 of the four basic rules of gun safety. He is, after all, a combat vet and surely sometime during basic training some hard-assed gunny told him to, "KEEP YOUR GODDAMNED FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO SHOOT, YOU PUSS-BALLED MAGGOT!" But I suppose Kerry doesn't have much call to handle guns. He's got a security detail. The rest of us proles have to muddle through life without Secret Service protection.

A LITTLE BETTER
Okay. I got rid of the time share condo/guard tower image and I think I like this better. It will stay this way at least through the 4th of July weekend. I'm running out of time. There are beers to drink and grilled meat to eat.

JUST SCREWING AROUND
YIKES!
I'm trying to find some templates that will let me add a "COMMENTS" section to INTHEHAT. Well. I've now got a comment section but I don't like this look at all.

It will have to look like this for a while until I can figure out how to change it. That image to the left looks like either a prison guard tower or some dorky time share condo in Boca. Who picks this crap? Oh. It was me.

In the meantime. Feel free to vent and comment.

HOMICIDE UP IN THE VALLEY
Jason Kandel of the DAILY NEWS is fast becoming INTHEHAT's favorite crime reporter. Last week he broke the story on the capture of the infamous drug poobah, "HENRY." Genaro Rodriguez, (Henry) was this mysterious operator who apparently ran a huge smuggling and distribution operation in SOCAL. In the past Rodriguez claimed SAN FER, probably the oldest gang in the Valley. The article states that HENRY's wife EYDI GUERRERO, was murdered execution style during a home invasion robbery and HENRY was shot in the face and left for dead. He survived. The killing is attributed to EME trigger pullers who made off with $400,000 in cash that HENRY had at the house. HENRY at first fingered the shooters, but then changed his mind and is now refusing to cooperate in the investigation of his wife's murder. My sense is, this is just the tip of an iceberg whose large, unseen base is probably rooted in the SHU in PELICAN BAY.

In today's DN, Kandel reports that homicides are up 48% in the Valley, outpacing a very small increase in the rest of the city. The article quotes Valley City Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired LAPD Sergeant: "The problem is, we've got these worthless gang thugs that terrorize neighborhoods. We've got a very small gang unit. There's too many thugs and not enough gang enforcement. They're outnumbered." Hey Dennis, tell us what you really think.

You have to wonder if the murder spike in the Valley is in any way connected to HENRY's roots in SAN FER and the infusion of cash and drugs that his operation was funneling into the Valley. Just an idle hypothesis with no evidence at this point.

ANOTHER INJUNCTION
Today's LA TIMES (7/3/04) reports that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo just imposed another gang injunction. This time against 18th STREET and the ROLLIN' 60s. The purpose of this one is to prevent 18th STREET from recruiting new members. Godd luck on that one, Rocky. It's a dopey reason because recruitment doesn't happen on the street. The Times quotes their go-to guy, Father Greg Boyle. Boyle says this particular injunction is impossible to enforce and, "It's also not how people join gangs." They don't, "set up a recruitment table at high schools and an announcement goes out: '18th STREET is recruiting today.' " Boyle is absolutely right, of course. If the real purpose of the injunction is to stop recruitment, it's a non-starter. Recruitment happens in back yards and living rooms and it starts years before the kids become visible on the street as gangsters.

Boyle is on record as actually being in favor of injunctions. In the past he said that injunctions can work. In an LA WEEKLY piece he was quoted as saying that "The day after the injunction went into effect, my office was full of kids asking for a job." He described it as the "heat and light" approach. You apply the law enforcement heat and the kids see the light.

While the anti-recruitment aspect of this injunction may be dubious, the section that deals with preventing ROLLIN' 60s homies from driving together into enemy territory may have some value. I'll use the language of the activists on this one. "If it helps save the life of one child, then it's worth it." If it can stop one carload of knuckleheads from shooting up a street corner, let's put it out there and see what happens.

Of course, all injunctions can lead to police abuse. There probably isn't a single law in the penal code that can't be abused. The key to making injunctions work is to use them like a scalpel, not a hand grenade. And the way to wield that scalpel is with what the military calls "actionable intelligence." Street coppers have to know the names, affiliations, crimies, road dogs, drug connections, family connections and personal beefs of the shot callers and crew chiefs of the sets in their jurisdiction. It's a holistic approach that has to analyze every gang and set as a functional sub-culture. That sub-culture is closed and seemingly chaotic, of course and will resist analysis. But it can be teased apart and the pieces laid out for examination.

Despite the nasty rap CRASH got thanks to Rafael Perez and his crimies, the CRASH model can work. Unfortunately, thanks to the consent decree, SEU operators can't stay on that assignment longer than three years. Which means that by the time they get really good at the job, they're shipped out to other assignments. Which means there's no "corporate memory" and it's re-inventing the wheel every time a new copper joins the unit.

It's been my experience that solving gang murders, and in some cases preventing them, is a lot easier when the street cops and detectives know the sets, the players and the set politics as well as they know their own families. The really effective cops do.

One last thing. The LA TIMES piece states that 18th STREET has spread to Mexico and Central America. Just FYI, sets claiming 18th STREET are also in places like SALT LAKE CITY, BOSTON, VANCOUVER and TORONTO. Talk about imperialist hegemonic expansion.

A BLACK DAY FOR GREG BOYLE.
In what has to be a devastating blow to Fr. Greg Boyle's anti-gang work in East LA, one of Homeboy Industries' employees was shot and killed on June 24th while painting over graffiti in the 400 block of Breed Street. As far as I know, this was the first time one of HI's employees has been killed for doing his job. According to the LAPD, the victim, Miguel Gomez was killed at approximately 5:20 AM by several gunshots while Gomez was painting out BREED set graffiti. He was in the company of two other HI employees. Although there was only one shooter, he had two accomplices with him. If we know anything about the way trigger pullers operate, the shooter is probably far, far away right now. Maybe in Mexico. Maybe in the Inland Empire or the High Desert. The other thing we can infer is that more than a few people in that neighborhood already know who the shooter is. It’s all over the set. And the name of the shooter is probably already known to Hollenbeck SEU and homicide detectives. Of course, they're not saying. We'll know when they make the arrest or convince the accomplices to rat out the shooter and post a BOLO.

The way the law is written, you can be charged with murder even if you didn’t pull the trigger. All you had to do was be there. So if I were one of the crimies, I'd be hiding from the cops and the shooter. When you’ve got a murder case with special circumstances hanging over your head, the first one to cut a deal wins. Of course, we’re assuming here that the shooter was local. This may also have been greenlight, in which case, it could have been somebody from another neighborhood putting in work and earning a stripe. We’ll know in time.

Whatever the case, there ain’t a whole lot of pride in shooting a man armed with a paintbrush.

TOOKIE WILLIAMS vs THE EME "TRUCE"
I'm just back from five days in the Midwest and once again I've got a lot of mail and reading to catch up on.

A reader wanted some information on the difference, if there was any, between the Eme-sponsored "truce" and the one that Stanley "Tookie" Williams tried to launch from jail. From what I can tell, were was a big difference. The Eme "truce" was a combination of new rules of engagement and a policy of structural organization. It was the move to vertically integrate the street gangs into the Eme.

Tookie's truce had no such stipulations. Whether he called for a truce out of genuine concern or just a cynical way to get out of his death sentence, the fact is, there were no strings attached. The Eme edict was, "Follow the new rules or we'll kill you." It's the way the Soviet Union maintained control in places like the Balkans. The Soviet edict was, "Stop killing each other, or we'll be happy to do it for you." Tookie's truce had no stick. It was all carrot. It was a straight up appeal to stop the killing.

Should he be believed? The simple truth is, Tookie did not have the power projection of the Eme. The Black Guerilla Family, the Black prison gang, doesn't have the organization, intelligence gathering and information channels of the Eme. They can't call shots from prison because they just don't have the structure. And even if the BGF had an Eme style org chart, I've never seen any proof that Williams is or was affiliated with BGF. So Tookie had no stick to beat the Bloods and Crips into an enforced truce. So in that sense, his appeal to stop the killing has to seen as a genuine appeal, his motives nothwithstanding.

There are other instances, however, most notably with the Gangster Disciples in Chicago, where black truces were nothing more than an Eme style power grab. More on that later.