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.