PHONY FLYER OR THE REAL THING?
This flyer has been circulating in neighborhoods. Nobody's sure if it's for real, a fake, COINTELPRO or what. I've seen this on a number of web sites but I think it originated with Eric Leonard, the KFI crime guy. The number on the flyer is registered to a NOI mosque in LA and has apparently been disconnected.

Let's hope this is a big, fat fake. If not, we're in some problems in our fair city.

On another note, we're not going anywhere this weekend for a number of reasons. One, we're way too busy writing. The other is we hate crowds. And the third is we're doing our little bit to save gas. The best way to bring prices down is to create a gas surplus. And the way to do that is to just keep driving down to the essential minimum.

And hey, it didn't take me three weeks to post another item. I ain't lazy. Just effing busy. Have a great weekend. More to come tomorrow.

POWER PLAY IN COUNTY
It's nice to see the blog carrying on without much input from me. Reading the debates and discussions in the comments section is like hanging out on the street and listening to the OGs talking. No anger or harsh words. Just strong opinion backed up by experience and tempered by time.

I like the idea expressed by a commenter that this place is like buffet. You don't have to like everything on the table. But there's a lot to choose from. And you'll never go away hungry.

Here's something to munch on. I won't mention names, but some of you are plugged in enough to figure it out. It seems that the balance of power in LA County jail is being upset by a recent arrival -- a shot caller from San Fer. The guy has been kicking up dust, rearranging collection conduits and has put at least one guy we know for sure in the hat over a nothing deal. Prior to his arrival, the center of gravity was located around a couple of EasLos and Northeast brothers who seemed to run County along traditional lines -- low profile, smooth and professional. The money flowed up without too many beefs and the only people who had to watch their backs were the Mayates and tax resistors. This new arrival seems to be brooming the established order, disrespecting some solid camaradas and just throwing muscle around not because he has to but because he can. There's a rumor that a senior resident from the BAY was even sent to County on a bogus subpoena just to check this guy's play. Can't verify that one but it's out there being discussed.

All of this leads me to ponder a notion that was brought up by TJ Jailer in one of his recent comments and then remarked upon by other readers -- the notion that the brotherhood's internal politics will keep it from ever growing into the sort of organization on a par with the LCN, at one time the gold standard of criminal enterprises. There's no denying that the LCN had a great run for a long time and they made a lot of money and achieved a tremendous amount of legitimate and quasi-legitimate power and all of it without putting too many bodies in ditches.

To date, the brothers don't seem able to pull off anything remotely similar to the LCN template. A large part of that, I suspect, has to do with the inability to shake off the street gang mentality and replace it with something more structured. Basically it means that people who don't like being told what to do have to start learning to do what they're told. Which is a big obstacle for people who are essentially anti-authoritarian. To implement that sort of change will probably require a charismatic visionary. A gangster version of Mao, Che or Fidel. Okay, I'll concede that Mao, Che and Fidel are (were) gangsters but you can't deny that they got a lot of people to pull the cart in the same direction. Even if that direction was over a cliff.

The potential is there. There's a huge street organization already in place. What's lacking to push the entire enterprise to the next level is a leadership that's less concerned with back stabbing and politics and more focused on a bigger picture.

CIs, INTEL AND THE CONSENT DECREE
Today's LA TIMES ran a story about a policy change regarding use of informants by LAPD uniformed cops. The story is a little cloudy on the facts. Apparently the LAPD asked the federal monitor Michael Cherkasky for permission to let uniformed gang cops develop informants. The DOJ, Cherkasky and US District Court Judge Gary Feess gave the LAPD permission to do so.

What's not mentioned in the article is whether this permission slip will allow uniformed gang cops to pay CIs for information. The truth is, with or without permision from authorities, uniformed gang cops have never stopped using street informants. It's part of what they do as gang cops. Developing gang intelligence would be next to impossible without informants.

It's no big secret that within hours after a gang-related shooting or a homicide, gang cops usually get strong leads on the shooter(s) and the motive from contact with informants. The key to a filing is whether informants have first-hand knowledge of the incident or whether it's hearsay and thus inadmissible in court. The other obstacle is whether the informant is willing to come forward and testify in court in a case where he or she has first-hand knowledge of the crime.

The LAT article mentions that the ACLU has concerns about this "new" CI policy. The fear is that street informants or cops could put a case on a innocent party out of personal retribution or internal gang squabble. This is a genuine concern. I just witnessed a case where a CI made up a story out of whole cloth and basically framed a defendant in a murder case. It turns out the defendant was guilty anyway and eventually copped a plea in exchange for a reduced sentence. But the fact remains that the CI was lying and will probably be charged with perjury. So the danger is there. You can see where the possibility exists of an innocent guy being set up and framed not necessarily by police, but by his own crimies.

We know how slick some players can get. It's not out of the realm of possibility that three of four criminals conspire to kill somebody, agree to finger some guy they want out of the picture to clean up their books and conspire to put the case on him.

The use of CIs can cut both ways. It can make huge cases like the Aguirre and Detevis federal RICO cases but it can also take cases completely off the rails and make LE look like fools and maybe send innocent defendants to jail. Street cops may not like it, but the solution is to impose rigid guidelines, provide close supervision and evaluate the validity of information at every step of the process right up to a DA's filing. We've seen first-hand how the best intentioned investigations conducted by straight-arrow, ethical cops can go completely sideways based on believable but ultimately bad information. It's rare, or course, but all it takes is one bad case to put the entire issue back on shelf and remove a potentially valuable tool of law enforcement. The Perez case was a once in a lifetime incident and look what it do to the city. We're still paying for it.

INSANITY AT THE BORDER
While I was away, a regular reader sent me an item from the July 28 issue of the Tucson Citizen. According to the article, Police Commander Jesus Zamora of San Luis Colorado, a Mexican town just across the border from San Luis, Arizona, will "work with a local gang" in exchange for an "end to what they [the gang] say is police harassment." There are so many things wrong with this that it's tough to know where to start.

According to the Arizona cops, the gang (which goes un-named in the article) is responsible for smuggling drugs and illegal border crossers and committing at least two homicides. Police Commander Zamora's deal is nothing more than a declaration of unconditional surrender. Coming on the heels of the chaos in Nuevo Laredo, this item rates as small potatoes. But it underscores Mexico's freefall into anarchy. Last week the NY TIMES ran a very long and well-researched story on corruption south of the border that claimed the heart of the rot starts right in Vicente Fox's office. It's no surprise then that Commander Zamora, manning a lawless border outpost threw up his hands and basically said, "Whatever."

The concept of coming to some kind of detente between a criminal organization and legitimate authority is a seductive one that pops up regularly and flames out in a death spiral every time it's been tried. It doesn't work. It has never worked. It will never work. We need only to look at the track record of these misguided attempts.

Let's start with the LCN during WWII. After the NORMANDIE was torched in NEW YORK harbor, the US NAVY and the FBI made a deal with mob boss LUCKY LUCIANO. Because the Cosa Nostra controlled the docks, Lucky would make sure the troop ships and cargo heading for Europe would get loaded on time and only a tolerable level of theft would be allowed to happen. In exchange, Lucky would be released from prison at the end of the war and deported to Sicily. Bad deal.

The LCN didn't suddenly become Mother Teresa. The deal gave the LCN total control of the docks and the longshoreman's union and made a lot of wise guys wealthy beyond their dreams. The deal legitimized the LCN in the eyes of a lot of people who should have known better.

With Lucky free to operate in Sicily, he traveled to Cuba with Meyer Lansky and established cordial relations with corrupt president Fulgencio Bautista. The math is simple. LCN + corrupt Bautista = Fidel Castro. Gee, all the government wanted was to make sure the beans and bullets got to the Western front. What we got was the Russian missile crisis and 50 years of the lights going off every night at 8:00 PM in Cuba. Plus the gulags for AIDS patients and firing squads for "counter-revolutionaries."

In post-war Sicily, Mafiosi no longer worked in the shadows as they had to when Mussolini was in power. They ran for office and became mayors, governors and national representatives. LCN controlled everything, legitimate and otherwise.

Fast forward to the Neopolitan Camora in the 1970s. The big money-maker for the Camora wasn't dope. It was cigarettes. In Italy, cigarettes are a state-owned monopoly. That means the government imports and produces all the smokes. There are no private sector cigarette companies. Which means no competition and therefore, the government sets the price.

At a time when smokes sold for 40 cents a pack in the US, Italian smokers paid over a dollar for the same pack with the government tax stamp on the bottom. The Camora saw this as a golden business opportunity. They bought up entire cargo ships of US smokes and parked them 20 miles off the coast of Naples. Every afternoon at 3:00 PM, squadrons of 35-ft power boats would depart from Naples harbor and lash up next to the mother ship to load up on roughly a ton of smokes per trip.

The boats would offload at a thousand little places on the coast. The smokes were ultimately sold on street corners by little old ladies and young kids. The illegal trade cost the government millions of dollars a year in tax revenue. The Finanza (Italian customs dept.) started cracking down on the fast boats. When the Camora felt the heat, they started killing cops and launched a wave of armed robberies, hijackings, assaults and tourist attacks.

To make a very long story short, the Camora made a deal with the cops. Let us run the cigarette business unmolested and we'll stop killing cops, robbing tourists and hijacking cargo trucks. The cops said okay.

When the Corsicans, French and Sicilians found out that the Camora was running in and out of Naples without so much as a raised eyebrow, they started piggybacking heroin, hashish and weed on the cigarette shipments. Naples became a main port of entry for every illegal substance known to dope fiend. The expected spike in murder, overdoses and fat dirty bank accounts ensued. Bad deal.

In the US, we have the examples of the Gangster Disciples. That social experiment, funded with taxpayer dollars, let the Detroit gangs "police" themselves. The end result was a trip to Lybia, a pact with Qadaffi, a rocket launcher, El Rukn assassination squads, more dope on the streets and more dead bodies in alleys. Bad deal.

To a lesser extent, we had the same situation with Project Get Going here in LA. A lot of you old timers remember that one and I'll leave you all to flesh out the details in the comments section.

The historical precedents to what Commander Zamora is doing in San Luis Colorado are clear. You don't legitimize criminal orgs by making deals with them. It's bad policy that will always burn society. Deals with individuals is another story that can bear untainted fruit. But that's a whole other discussion.

BACK FROM VACATION
Before I left for the ultra-montane serenity of the Grand Tetons, I was thinking of asking a guest blogger to carry on. When I got back, I realized you all kept the chatter going at a high pitch. Awesome! I didn't realize so many wise-guys checked in. I got huge laughs from the sniping and I didn't even mind the un-PC jokes. But then again, I've got a thick skin. I did a quick tabulation and it seems like every ethnic and racial group got its turn in the barrel. So I guess that makes it fair.

For those who wondered where I went, the answer is Wyoming. We kayaked, hiked, camped out, got rained on, sunburned, hailed on in Yellowstone, bitten by a zillion bugs, went into lakes cold enough to stop your heart, drifted down the Snake River, and had close encounters with moose, elk, marmots, bison, bald eagles, otters, ospreys, grouse and hawks. And no, we didn't witness or hear about any float-bys.

The biggest crime story in the papers the week we were there involved a streaker at the Jackson Hole demolition derby. Like Mutton Bustin' and greased pig wrestling, streaking the demo derby is some kind of annual tradition. Hey, it's Wyoming. And July is the only month when they don't get snow. This year, there was "huge" controversy when one of the streakers grabbed a fire extinguisher off the firetruck that was hosing down the dirt between demo heats. A Teton County deputy sheriff and a security guard tried to wrangle the naked guy. When it looked like nude boy was getting ready to spray the cop, the copper tased him with 50,000 volts. The crowd went nuts, booed the cop and threw beer cups and trash into the arena.

The streaker was arrested and released and could face a $750 fine for indecent exposure. A lawyer in the crowd volunteered to defend the guy for free. Chances are, that'll be the biggest crime story of the year. Nothing much happens in Wyoming compared to LA. The entire state has less than 500,000 residents. And at last count, there were 1,500 inmates behind bars in the entire prison system, and that includes juvi, half way houses, honor ranches etc. Barely enough to qualify as a decent sized single neighborhood in LA.

Vice President Dick Cheney flew into town the day after we landed. He's a resident and avid fly fisherman. A fishing guide told me that local anglers get bent out of shape when the Veep goes fishing. When he's on the river, Blackhawk choppers do security sweeps and that scares the crap out of the trout, ruining everybody's fishing.

With so much land and so few people, you'd think real estate would be a buyer's market. Think again. Raw land in "desirable" locations can go for a million per acre. A modest house in downtown Jackson will run you half a million to $600,000. Right on the corner of Cache and Broadway in Jackson, Sotheby's has a real estate office where you can look at ranch property on the Snake River that goes from 5 to 10 million dollars. Kinda makes Highland Park look like a bargain.

Gotta go. There's 143 emails I need to read and a pile of mail that needs sorting.

OFF THE AIR FOR THE NEXT WEEK
There won't be any posting until August 3. Ithehat is going on vacation. Until then, stay safe and catch me up in if anything happens while we're kayaking.

A HISTORY LESSON
There's a a lot of action that goes on in the comments section. I'm not sure that everyone who logs on takes the time to read all the comments. Some are just too good to leave there. I picked this one to run as a post because it's important and it's the absolute straight deal. You're not going to hear anything more authentic than this. It's from regular commenter TIJUANAJAILER. This is the gospel. Everything between quote marks is his. Enjoy and be edified.

"Before people get their feathers ruffled any further it is important to understand that the EME, AB, BGF and NF (California's AXIS of EVIL) does not care about ethnic pride. From Day One, EME began exploiting fellow Chicanos. According to one former EME member's description: "they are an Equal Opportunity Exploiter". End of story. The NF formed out of their being abused by EME and they evolved into a criminal cartel with NO regard (I repeat NO regard) for their people, be they campesinos or northern California gang members. If anyone is being "punked" (as many posters are fond of saying), it is the north AND south gang members by these two groups. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
The AB started out as biker "types" and white racist, black-hating warriors. They too evolved into gangsters who could care less about white supremacy and more about the green almighty dollar. The BGF, led originally by James "Doc" Holliday has long since surrendered its
anti-establishment ideology for good old capitalist living. I doubt that the proceeds from their meth labs go back to furthering the "Black Cause".
There are two historical components to the EME-AB alliance and the NF-BGF alliance. There is the racial component and the power component. In prison, it was well known that the blacks and whites were "natural" enemies. Due to the color of their skin, this "natural" racial divide would always separate these groups.
When the EME emerged, they were into power and control and they didn't care who you were nor what color your skin was. Domination, exploitation and terrorizing (there's that dreaded word again) the main population was what they were about. Their power struggle was one that was fresh from the CYA, county jail facilities and wherever Chicanos and Blacks were housed together. The fact that they shared similar social plights on the outside was not a relevant factor on the inside. They never thought about the fact that they indeed shared common dilemnas.
So understand this: EME and southern gang members never really hated blacks because of the color of their skin but more because of the numerical threat they represented. It was about power. Those of you who have done time for many years (especially those of you who were "state raised") will attest to the fact that a handful of Chicanos could confront a large group of blacks and send them "running" like a stampede of cattle by just blinking their eyes.
Then you had your "cream of the crop". The BGF and hard core radicals. They actually respected and admired EME members. In fact, when George Jackson, Hugo "Yogi" Pinell & company decided to take over the San Quentin Adjustment Center, who was there fighting alongside them: Luis "Bala" Talamantez and Louie "Rock On Lou" Lopez, two fierce EME enforcers. In an unholy alliance, they "teamed up" to execute three (3) prison guards and left a stack of injured guards in a cell presumably dead. Read the following link for some interesting stuff: http://rwor.org/a/v20/960-69/969/talam.htm
There is a strange bond (sealed in blood) that unites the EME and the BGF. Their old timers could probably swap some very interesting war stories.
Their unique power struggle was joined by two other groups with axes to grind. The AB loved the fact that the EME's power struggle with BGF (mostly in the CDC's lock-up units) dove tailed perfectly with their "racial" struggle against the black militants. They became EME's natural allies in this battle. Then the NF entered the scene. Their agenda was to resist EME's exploitation of "farmers" and oppressed raza and the flag they initially flew was the flag of ridding oppressed people from the tyranny of La EME. Of course, they found a natural ally in the BGF. Once the NF found themselves effectively separated from EME members, their agenda changed to organized criminal endeavors and this North-South thing became a way of keeping the proverbial pot stirred for the purpose of maintaining control over nortenos (NF) and surenos (EME). And life became a "beautiful" thing for these groups.
There was no real "love" between EME and AB, just a common "business goal". There was no real "love" between NF and BGF, just a self-serving and common "business goal". The prison administration played a major role in "divide and conquer" (as the convicts liked to say) but it was really "divide and control".
Had the prison administration not succeeded in separating these groups there is absolutely no doubt that EME and AB would have run the Yards today and life in prison (if you think it is a horrible experience today) would have been sheer misery.
For all the posters (farm workers specifically) who become offended at the "farmero" label, you should not. First off, Northern Farmers (NF) was a derisive term which originated in late-1970 at San Quentin. EME and NF had a prearranged "cease fire" at that time. A then future EME member by the name of Ramon "Mundo" Mendoza (aka: Machine Gun Mundo) from VNE in Boyle Heights (East L.A.) began referring to them by this term. This wasn't a secret thing as he actually addressed NF members to their faces on the upper yard. It was Mundo's hope that they would get angry enough to break the truce since he could not "fire the first shot" and get the EME upset.
The NF put up with Mundo's abuse and he later would be responsible for the killing of (5) NF members and (2) BGF members both in and out of prison before he defected.
Through the years, EME and its allies have succeeded in getting under the skin of Northern Cal gang members by referring to them as "country yokels", farmers, fruit pickers, etc. Now you know that this is not a literal insult but a continuation of the derisive and disrespectful behavior directed at what EME has always and will always consider an inferior breed of Chicanos. Although we all know this is not true, this is their attitude guys.
With no axe to grind, I hope this enlightens some who maybe needed to see some of this in some organized perspective.
Peace."

There you have. Lots to think about and consider. Many thanks to TJ JAILER. Keep 'em coming.

WILSON MURDER FINALLY HITS PRINT
I've gotten a few emails since last Thursday asking me to comment on the LA WEEKLY story on the racial murders committed by Avenues gangsters in HIGHLAND PARK. I've got a few issues to resolve with certain parties before I feel free to comment.

As regular readers of INTHEHAT know, I started a campaign almost three years ago trying to get the LA media interested in Wilson's homicide and the racial homicides of close to a dozen other blacks in HP and other parts of the County. Check out my September 4, 2004 posting about this saga.

RED DOGS GO "UNCENSORED"
File this one under "What the hell were they thinking?" Last week, 23 FRESNO BULLDOGS were taken into custody after they appeared in a DVD called "FRESNO UNCENSORED." In the DVD, they showed off tattoos, flashed signs, handled weapons, dissed cops, barked like dogs and showed off dope. Stuff like this doesn't look good in your parole report. On July 13, six DOGS appeared in court for a prelim to determine whether there's enough evidence to hold them for prosecution. Anybody up there ever hear of self-admission?

HYBRID GANGSTER TO BE DEPORTED
On July 8, the Houston Chronicle ran a story about the deportation of LESTER RIVERA PAZ. He's the MARA shot-caller who escaped from a Honduran jail and hot-footed across the border to the U.S. He was caught on February 10 in Falfurrias, Texas after shooting up a busload of innocent civilians around Christmas in Chamelecon, Honduras. PAZ and his crimies executed 28 men, women and children to send a message to the Honduran government that he was stone serious and that LE should back off.

There's been discussion on this site in the past as to whether street gangsters and prison gangs could be considered terrorists. I've maintained they're not. Some disagree and they certainly have strong arguments. There was an interesting exchange in the comments section between STILLNOSCRIPT and TIJUANA JAILER. Worth reading. My point has always been that what separates a gangster from a terrorist is a political agenda and the cold-blooded taking of innocent life.

Street level thuggery like drug taxation, witness intimidation, set tripping and the rest of it is, in one way or another, connected to "business." And the business doesn't involve bringing down a government, changing government policy or taking revenge on innocents in response to political oppression, whether real or imagined.

If everything PAZ is accused of is true, this is one homie that crossed the line into political posturing and wholesale slaughter. In other words, a hybrid gangster who would logically fit into the category of terrorist. Let's hope there aren't a lot more like him out there.

KILROY ACCIDENT CONFIRMED
The rumor of Kilroy's traffic accident has now been confirmed. Here's the note from a guy who has first-hand knowledge.

"Ernesto (Kilroy) Roybal is alive but not well right now. He owns a trucking business, is active in a local church, does speaking engagements with Art and others who are or have been affiliated with Victory Outreach. He was in a terrible accident and is in a trauma center and is expected to recover. Please keep himn in your thoughts and prayers as he goes through this difficult time. He is a survivor and as he would say.."with God's grace I will survive this as well."
con respecto..."

TRUTH OR RUMOR?
I've now heard from two separate sources that KILROY ROYBAL was involved in a very serious car accident. I haven't been able to confirm this so it may be one of those rumors that feeds on itself. Still, it's worth finding out and either put it to rest or veerify it. If anybody out there knows "for sure" let's hear about it.

I'll be off the air for the next few days on some business but I'll be checking emails and comments frequently. Until then, celebrate safely and hang out that flag.

THE SUMMER OF RICO
We haven't seen this level of LE activity in ten years. First we had the big SANA bust in the OC. Following quickly on the heels of that, we've now got a RICO case on the VINELAND BOYZ. US ATTORNEY DEBRA YANG has clearly been a busy lady and the TASK FORCE has been working at what the military calls a high operational tempo.

Just before dawn on June 21, 1300 Federal and local cops brought the big fist down on 36 Vineland soldados and shot callers in North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Simi and the Antelope Valley. Most of them were arrested in their underwear or PJs.

VINELAND last made a big noise in 2003 when one of their soldiers, DAVID GARCIA, killed BURBANK police officer MATT PAVELKA. Garcia escaped to Mexico where hundreds of other suspected murderers and criminals have found a safe haven and protection under Mexico's vile judicial system. Mexico won't surrender fugitives if they face a death sentence or even LWOP in US courts.

Garcia wasn't as lucky as the rest. For reasons I still don't understand, Mexico gave up Garcia. I posted something after his arrest wondering aloud if Garcia's return was the beginning of a new Mexican policy. Apparently not. It looks like Garcia's give-up was one of those non-recurring phenomenons. Since Garcia is also named in this recent RICO indictment, chances are he'll get yanked from County and taken into Federal custody.

It doesn't take much imagination to figure out why VINELAND was targeted by the TASK FORCE. After Officer Pavelka's murder, that neighborhood got an awful lot of LE "attention." Something Vineland resented. Instead of taking their lumps and laying low, the BOYZ went on the offensive and even declared open season on LE. Bad move. A loser move. Especially since TASK FORCE headquarters is right there in the SF Valley. Vineland is in the TF's back yard.

So here we are 18 months later and VINELAND is practically no more. When you murder cops and then openly challenge them, you're just begging for it. What would have been shorter County or State time for low level beefs is now longer Federal time someplace far, far away. The Feds have the manpower and money to sustain the long-term surveilance and investigation that local cops can only dream about. Local cops clock out at the end of their shifts. Not because they want to or they're lazy. It's just impossible to get enough bodies assigned and overtime pay approved. It's a mundane matter of city budgets. The Federal Task Force on the other hand never sleeps. It's also a lot easier for the FBI to get wiretap authority than local LE. Plus they've got better security and relocation programs for CIs. All of which adds up to bad news for anyone who gets in their crosshairs. VINELAND found that out the hard way.

OC REGISTER OFF THE RAILS
I don't want to beat the "clueless reporter" thing to death but I was just made aware of the OC Register's story on the SANA bust. The reader who sent it to me underlined the relevant sentences. The reporters, LARRY WELBORN and RACHANEE SRISAVASDI, are talking about SANA and his past.

"Once, the repeat criminal tried to turn away from crime. In 1992, Ojeda unsuccessfully tried to broker a gang truce among local street gangs to stop a spree of drive-by killings."

I have no idea how they came to this bizarre conclusion or who they talked to, but it's clearly bogus. It will probably stand uncorrected and eventually cited as gospel by someone down the road.

On another topic, I want to send out props to everyone that comments. I've noticed the haters have either decamped to other sites or changed their confrontational manner to one that's more respectful. I'm even more gratified to hear from people in the neighborhoods and those who have been through the county and state systems. You're helping make this site what I want it to be. Namely, a place to get the straight deal without the filters.

LAT FINALLY GETS IT RIGHT
In a follow-up story to SANA's bust in OC, Sam Quinones makes a couple of startling but long overdue admissions in the LA Times. For the first time, the LAT finally cops to the fact that the famous EME gang "truce" way back in 1992 was a "ruse." Anyone familiar with the subject knows that it was never a truce. It was merely a change in the rules of engagement. The edict from Sana, Chuco and Boxer was not "no more killing." It was "no more drivebys." A big difference. If somebody needed to be checked, it was going to be up close and personal. They said as much on FBI surveilance tapes which have always been available to the public after they were used as evidence in the big RICO cases mentioned in my previous post. The Times never bothered to look.

For years after the 1992 "park meetings" the LAT has held the opinion that LE was making the violence worse by taking "peace keeping" shot callers off the streets. The Times would back up that contention by quoting the usual suspects like Malcolm Klein, Diego Vigil, Greg Boyle and more recently, Tom Hayden. Hayden, in fact, repeated the "peace keeper" myth in his book "Street Wars." And like an echo chamber, the myth was picked up from that book and repeated in other media. If the Times writers were at all familiar with the dynamics of the relationship between the Eme and the neighborhoods, they'd know that a shot caller doesn't need to be on the street to control activity. They can do it from the SHU or anywhere.

The Times has also never written about the other items on the park meeeting agenda: taxation and organizing SOCAL gangs under the Sureno flag. This piece by Quinones finally sets the record straight.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but I think this article is the first major media acknowledgement that Boxer has debriefed. I follow this stuff as closely as I can, but I don't recall ever reading about Boxer debriefing prior to this piece.

Quinones went to some savvy guys for his piece: Rich Valdemar, Leo Duarte and Al Valdez. The collective knowledge of those three is encyclopedic and anyone who has worked with them or watched them testify as gang experts knows they go deep and way back. They all get props from both sides of the street for being fair and even-handed in their assessement of crimes and criminals.

SANA BUSTED
Just when you thought that the FBI was too busy chasing terrorists in the US to worry about ORGANIZED CRIME, here they are taking out the legendary PETER "SANA" OJEDA and 23 of his alleged crimies.

On Wednesday, 300 coppers served 40 warrants after a 2-year investigation on Orange County soldiers and shot callers. Ojeda and the other 23 were charged under RICO statutes, making it the first Eme RICO prosecution in Orange County. But not the first in the state.

To us, this looks like the latest installment of an ongoing FBI campaign to rattle the Eme's and NF's cages and get shot callers off the streets. Students of history will recall that similar RICO prosecutions were initiated in NORCAL in OPERATION BLACK WIDOW against the NF. RICO prosecutions also resulted in three major EME trials in LA COUNTY, US vs. AGUIRRE, US vs. DETEVIS and US vs. MARTINEZ. The FBI never gave the LA County prosecutions a butch name. This one in Orange County was apparently called OPERATION NEMESIS.

Eme/NF watchers will also recall that all those cases were made possible by the testimony of confidential informants. OPERATION BLACK WIDOW's informant was ROBERT GRATTON. In the Aguirre case ERNIE "CHUCO" CASTRO wore a wire and rolled on his brothers. In the Detevis case, there was John Turscak who cooperated with LE. And Max Torvisco was the CI in the Martinez case. So you have wonder if there's a snitch in this case as well. There probably is. It's almost impossible to make big cases like this without a guy on the inside.

I know a little bit about SANA's history. But I know for a fact one or more of you readers out there know a lot more than I do. Let's hear about it. This bust is a significant event in Eme history. And now is the time to comment. In fact, I'll take any significant comment and put it up as a regular posting so everyone can read it without going to the comments section.

JEFF HIGH HEAD ROLLS
After three incidents of violence at Jefferson High School, school supe. Roy Romer has replaced its principal, Norm Morrow. The new principal will be Juan Flecha who will move from his current position at Eagle Rock High School. Something about this smacks of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Despite what mayor-elect Antonio V. said about Morrow ("My sense, frankly, is that things are out of control," and "I don't get the sense that anyone was in charge.") my sense is that the problems facing Jeff High and other schools are beyond the capacity of a single individual to fix. Morrow was the sacrificial lamb, a head rolled out for public consumption to create the appearance that "something" was being done. Let's off the principal and maybe the problem will go away.

If only it was that easy.

In addition to changing the principal, JHS will also get 90 (count 'em ninety) surveillance cameras, three more school cops, a new coat of paint and graffiti removed from the campus. A new high school will also open its doors in July to handle 700 students from JHS.

The simple truth is, the fights didn't break out over the lack of fresh paint or overcrowding. The problems go deep into the neighborhoods and beyond. For example, the homicide of Cabrillo HS student DEMETRIUS "BEAR" WILLIAMS in Long Beach back in February had nothing to do with the school environment. Cabrillo is a brand new, $45 million school chock full of programs. It has the highest ratio of computers to students of any major urban school on the West Coast. It's got advanced programs for media, animation and computers, a pre-engineering magnet program, a college prep magnet program, and an academy of finance and information technology. So no one gets left behind, Cabrillo also has a "recovery" program for kids falling behind to help them catch up. Plus there's dance and music, drug and gang counseling, mentoring programs and gang diversion. The Greater Long Beach National Conference for Community and Justice supports an on-campus group called Jaguars United whose purpose is to promote interaction between racial groups. They sponsor events like movie nights, peace rallies and "fishbowl" lunches where students are encouraged to socialize with members of different racial groups. All this was in place way before Williams was killed. If ever there was fertile ground for peace and harmony, Cabrillo should have been it.

Despite all these good intentions, racial tensions persist at Cabrillo. At the end of the school day, black students walk on one side of the street and Latinos on the other. Blacks go to the MacDonald's. Hispanics go to a taco stand. Racial taunts are commonplace. If anything, Williams had taken racial diversity to heart. He fathered an out-of-wedlock child. His girlfriend is a Latina. Instead of bridging the racial divide, his relationship with a Latina, cops say, got some people on both sides bent the wrong way.

Williams also claimed WEST COAST CRIPS, self-admitted on an FI card. The two accused shooters, according to LBPD, are WEST SIDE LONGOS. And there we are back at the neighborhoods.

While JHS hasn't experienced a BEAR incident, it's abundantly clear that video cameras, some new paint and a new principal aren't going to solve its problems. Antonio V., Romer and city leaders should do a little more than change the window dressing.

PROSECUTOR TURN OFFS
I've been hearing talk about this ever since ROBERT BLAKE's not guilty verdict and I frankly didn't put much stock in it. It seemed too easy an answer for a case that should have gone the other way. But now I've heard from enough people from all sides of the issue that there may be some truth to it.

Here's the story. During her closing arguments, DA SHELLIE SAMUELS used the word "bullshit." Not once. Not twice. But on five separate occasions. Samuels has a reputation for getting emotional in court. Which is fine. Righteous indignation and passion works when you're making an argument. What doesn't work, according to people who were really close to the investigation, is disrespect. Using "bullshit" five times was over the top, according to people I've spoken to, and turned off the jury. Jurors don't expect prosecutors to wrestle in the gutter. They're expecting class and decorum. Samuels gave them potty mouth.

Close observers also mentioned the famous Limousine Rapists case in Long Beach. The DA on that one was BOB FOLTZ. FOLTZ essentially alienated everybody by his disrespectful antics. He pretended to fall asleep during defense cross examination. He also made a big show of doing a crossword puzzle during defense arguments. He basicaly acted like an ass.

The result was not guilty verdicts on all 23 counts. Foltz hung himself like an old salami by the dopey theatrics.

I didn't follow the Blake case closely so I can't speak with confidence about the "bullshit" prosecution. But if anybody out there can expand on it, let's hear about it.

NORTH SOUTH BRAWL
I can't verify how much of this is true but the Monterey Herald ran a story on May 31 about a SUR vs NORTE brawl at a LAKE SAN ANTONIO campground in MONTEREY COUNTY. From the sketchy reporting, apparently a group of NORTENOS were camping when they were invaded by a large group of southsiders. A fight broke out involving some 50 people. A 17-year-old who claimed Southside was arrested for ADW and 4 others were arrested on outstanding warrants. Unknown affiliation on those four.

Nortes were wearing red and tatted up with XIV and NSC (NORTH SIDE CASTROVILLE). SURs flew blue. At least that's what the paper said.

Although no one was shot, LE found a bunch of spent shell casings on the grounds.

What's interesting is that Salinas officers from the county's JOINT GANG TASK FORCE, according to the news story, "were working in the area at the time." Coincidence? We think not. I think what that really means is that the TASK FORCE coppers had the whole area under surveillance at the time the fight broke out. Which might also mean video tapes of the event exist somewhere. And that might mean more arrests may come down once the TASK FORCE has the chance to view the tapes and make positive IDs. Just speculation, of course, but highly probable. Monterey Sheriff's just got a multi million dollar Federal grant for the task force and it seems likely surveillance gear would be high on the shopping list.

I haven't been able to verify any of this yet. So if anybody out there knows what's what, I'm sure we'd all like to hear about it. But please keep the comments on an appropriately elevated level. We're not here to throw fat on the fire.

BIKE GANG GOING HOLLYWOOD
Thanks to a couple of readers on this one. In 1998, an ATF agent named WILLIAM QUEEN went undercover with the Mongols and operated behind the lines for 28 months. He went by the name of BILLY ST. JOHN. The operation ended with a bunch of indictments and prison sentences. Queen wrote a book about it, UNDER AND ALONE. You can find it on Amazon.

The book is a fast but ultimately not satifying read. He didn't go into enough detail to satisfy the truly curious mind. He didn't explore a lot of areas that I know are out there waiting for exploration. Maybe he was holding back not to screw up future or ongoing investigations. Nonetheless it's a decent enough book and worth the price.

A few readers sent word that the book got some interest from the film business. Apparently it's now official. Mel Gibson is attached to the project, as they say in the biz, and he'll play the Queen/St. John part. Queen scored a $1 million payday for the film rights. He'll also be tech consultant.

While we're always hoping for the best, the movie business has a lousy track record when they turn a "true life" story into a screen product. Especially when it involves crime. In the process of transforming a good story into a movie, the real life aspects are clipped and pruned along the way until most of them are left in the script writer's drawer. What you often see on the screen is nothing like what happened on the streets.

The most extreme example of this happened in 1992 when Edward Olmos made AMERICAN ME. As originally written, the script was an accurate history of the early days of the Eme. The story goes that even Cocoliso blessed the project because it told the truth. But when Olmos decided to make a "few changes" the reality went out the window. The scriptwriter walked away from the project. Unofficial and unpaid "advisors" (Eme dropouts) told the producer that the "changes" would piss off the carnals. Apparently artistic vision took a back seat to the truth. And people paid with their lives.

By the time the dust settled, bodies fell, Olmos was targeted for termination and the movie public was short changed. Even people who knew the real life story walked out of the movie wondering what the hell they just saw on the screen. It was a mess. As it turns out, a deadly one for the official tech advisors.

Hopefully, Gibson won't go the same way Olmos did. But in that business, anything is possible. By the time it's over, it could turn out to be "Biker Gangs from Venus Want Earth Women."

On a related topic, I heard from a pal in the movie business that Tony Scott, brother to Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner etc.) is doing a remake of THE WANDERERS. If you young guys out there haven't seen it, rent it. It was an over the top "street gang" movie set in Manhattan. By modern standards, the gangs in that movie were as hard core as Vanilla Ice.

Scott plans on shooting it in LA and we'd love to be there for the open casting calls. Advice: don't cover up those tattoos yet. They'll need hundreds of dressed down homies. Hollywood is comin' to the 'hood so practice up on your mad dog look.

PLEASE SHOW THIS SITE SOME RESPECT
The free exchange of opinions and observations is one of the reasons I started this site. I'm especially gratified to see that a number of the comments to the posts come from people who have come up in the neighborhoods and been through the system. For the most part, the comments are informative and provide the sort of insight that can only come from those who have been there and back. I'm grateful to people who can contribute without resorting to profanity and don't throw fat on the fire of north/south, black/brown animosity. Or for that matter, advocating any form or violence or prejudice.

I've noticed a battle going on in the comments that has no place on this site. I'm not a prude and I'll tolerate a certain amount of profanity. Especially if it's clever and used like a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer. What won't happen here is hate.

If you claim a neighborhood and want to put that in your comment, go ahead. But I won't allow challenges and cyberspace mad dogging. Keep the fights off this site. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can do that. Frankly, they're boring and do nothing to further the outside world's understanding of what's what.

Please don't ruin this place for everybody else. If you've got something to say, do it the right way. Speak your mind but don't add to problem. Don't put me in the position of being a censor. There's already enough of that.

YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WE HAVE ANSWERS.
The email below asks an important question that resonates deeply into every neighborhood in LA. I'll answer in a very general way. I could go into specifics but I don't want to become the free information library for some LA media types that don't know how or won't do the research. Here's the question.


"Has there been a greenlight issued against so-cal blacks in the los angeles area because of a payment that has not been made to the EME after there was a purchase of narcotics? Some one was telling me that greenlights were issued at any black individual that appears to be bangin no matter their affiliation, if they look the part they are a target. I just wanted to know if this was true."

I'll take the second part of the question first. Nobody (that includes blacks, whites, asians) banging in an established neighborhood needs a greenlight to be regulated or corrected. The reader seems a little confused on terminology. Banging has nothing to do with business or politics. It's street level warfare and it could be brown vs. brown, brown vs. black, black vs. black etc. Banging is keeping your neighborhood free of incursions from rivals with no distinction made on the basis of color. It's a matter of, "This is ours, you can't be here. Period. Trespassers will be dealt with."

Neighborhoods don't issue greenlights because strictly speaking, greenlights come from shot callers. At the neighborhood level, there's always a de facto greenlight on trespassers because that's what neighborhoods do. It's understood from before you get jumped in that it's every homies' responsibility to keep out enemies.

As to the specific brown on black warfare, that depends on a number of factors and those factors vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. Some neighborhoods have shot callers that are more interested in business than warfare. They'll tolerate black dope dealers as long as they pay their taxes and don't start up sets to challenge the established authority of that neighborhood. The question implies that somebody got burned on a dope deal. I'm not aware of any specific big burn but you don't have to be black to get killed over a deal gone sideways. And you don't have to be black to have your whole neighborhood greenlighted.

Other neighborhoods don't tolerate blacks of any kind. They don't care if you're a banger, a dealer or an ordinary civilian that isn't even clicked up. These neighborhoods will not allow a black dealer to set up shop even if he's willing to pay taxes. They won't even tolerate black civilians living next door or down the block. In these neighborhoods, being black is all you need to be to get harassed, driven out or even terminated. I've come across a lot of cases like that and they ain't pretty.

What often determines the racial tolerance of the neighborhood is the personal bias of the shot caller. The shot caller establishes neighborhood policy. If he doesn't like mayates, then they don't live in that neighborhood. If he's the type that puts business above race, then some allowances are made.

As a general rule, the brothers don't do business with blacks. Also as a general rule, brothers don't like blacks moving into the neighborhood because it reflects badly on them. If the neighborhood isn't pure, or nearly pure raza, it's perceived by other neighborhoods as not being in total control. It's seen as slipping. And if you're slipping in that area, you may be seen as weak in others. And weakness is a sign that your forces are standing down and maybe the fortress has some crumbling walls.

Brothers are not big proponents of diversity or multi-culturalism. They're down for the brown and we've heard that some of the brothers won't raise their hand for somebody who isn't 100% raza no matter how much work he put in.

Before signing off, here's a story that goes back to the riots. In the famous chopper footage from Florence and Normandie, DAMIAN "FOOTBALL" WILLIAMS was seen dragging a male hispanic from a car, beating him and then spray painting him. When the brothers saw that, WILLIAMS was greenlighted. Personal hard candy. I've heard he's in PC, but I wouldn't swear to it. If anybody knows for sure, I'd like to hear about it.

Some time down the road, I'll get into the brown on black high school beefs that the big media doesn't seem to know how to report.

WEAK REPORTING
Since I've been getting a lot of emails on my opinion about that CNN report, HOMICIDE IN HOLLENBECK, there's obviously some interest. Yes I did see it and frankly, I didn't think it was very good.

The problems and weird reporting illustrated in that CNN story is actually one of the reasons I started this blog. As my knowledge and understanding of LA neighborhoods grew, the more I realized that the big media way way off the mark in terms of understanding and simple factual truth. All they want is some dramatic footage of tattooed homies flashing guns, a heart-broken mom standing on the flower-laden street corner where her child was killed, a talking-head cop with some sound bites about how bad things are and a politician promising to pass some a law that'll "stop the violence." It's bullshit.

I've seen first-hand how the electronic media works. The lack of depth is staggering. One of my readers asked how come that program concentrated on EL SERENO when there's so much else going on in Hollenbeck. She was asking if somebody at CNN or LAPD had a hate on for El Sereno. The simple answer is no.

To the people who produce this kind of programming, they wouldn't know the difference between El Sereno, Blythe Street, Rancho San Pedro or a jar of Vick's. It's all the same to them.

The way they work is fast, furious and cheap. A field producer parachutes in from New York or Atlanta or Chicago and hits the ground making phone calls on the way from the airport. They work off a formula: street-wise cop, crying mom, hard core homies with tats and cuetes, a politician and, if they get lucky, a fresh dead body they can roll on as the cops are laying out the yellow tape.

That's it. If a producer can hit the required numbers, they can put the meathead "reporter" on a grimy corner for a stand-up and they can cut the whole package back home and make it look like they've "been there" and told the tale. It's pathetic really because for most news viewers, all they're ever going to learn about neighborhoods is what an out of town field producer can put together in under three days. The footage is king. The "reporting" is just the audio background noise to give your ears something to do while your eyeballs are glued to the blood, tears and footage of a cop drawing down on suspects.

There are some rare exceptions. In LA, we've got Chris Blatchford who has done some deep digging and some really good reporting. His two part story on the Mongols was terrific. But that kind of reporting is rare.

The multi-part saga that the LA DAILY NEWS did last year on gangs was a dissapointment. With that much space and all the resources the paper threw at the issue, they basically did a TV style job. They did it by the numbers. This was a case of tissue-thin TV reporting influencing the print media. Instead of aspiring to something deeper, they did a paper and ink version of the TV approach.

It's not all bad news, however. Some great stuff can come out of the most unexpected places. The single best piece ever written about THE BRAND, for instance, came out of the NEW YORKER about a year ago. And I've seen some really good documentaries on cable, most notably the one on the Latin Kings that still airs on occasion.

For the most part, don't expect the media to ever give you an accurate reflection of what's going on in the barrio or la pinta. If you want to find a nugget of gold in that mountain of slag, read and view the big media with caution. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, "They can't handle the truth."

CLANTONEROS IN INDIANA
I'm back!
As regular readers will see, I haven't posted for a month. I haven't lost interest. I'm running into time and scheduling crunches that have kept me on the streets and off the computer. Lots of interesting postings to come as a result.

Thanks and a big shout out to all the readers who wondered what happened to INTHEHAT. It's nice to be appreciated and I'm happy that so many people in the blog world find what I write of some use.

I just picked up on a homicide that happened in Indiana. The victim was a validated CLANTON homeboy found in the trunk of a car. I won't go into all the details, but it had to do with 400 pounds of weed and a major drug operation.

For students of the LA neighborhoods, this is a singular event. We've reported in the past on the spread of 18th Street and the MS as far away as CANADA, FLORIDA, BOSTON and lots of places in between. For the most part, these are considered newer neighborhoods that don't have really deep roots in LA and therefore the cultural and historic connection to geography is weaker. These are trans-national barrios, if you will, more fluid and able to operate far from the home office. CLANTON, on the other hand, is one of the oldest LA neighborhoods dating back to the turn of the 20th Century and traditionally hasn't strayed far from LOS.

This vic indicates that CLANTONEROS aren't staying close to home anymore. Two factors seem to be driving the expansion. One is the that shot callers that got rolled up in Federal cases are in Federal lockups all over the Midwest. That means they're recruiting and organizing right where they live. The other is pure economics. Dope is cheaper in LA and more expensive in the heartland. Moving cheap LA dope into places like Indiana can double or triple the profits. It's a proposition no dealer/tax collector/shot caller can resist. If this neighborhood continues to expand south and eastward, they may have to change the motto from "RIFAMOS POR VIDA" to "RIFAMOS POR VIDA Y'ALL."

As always, thanks for stopping by.

WHERE'S THE FACT-CHECKING AT THE LA TIMES?
In today's LA TIMES (3/28/05) ANDREW BLANKSTEIN wrote a profile of ROBERT BLAKE'S defense attorney, GERALD SCHWARTZBACH. For those who didn't already know, Schwartzbach has been an activist bay-area lawyer for decades. In his piece, Blankstein mentions one of Schwartzbach's most famous cases, defending STEPHEN BINGHAM, another activist bay-area lawyer. Bingham had been accused of smuggling a gun in a tape recorder to the infamous GEORGE JACKSON who was in San Quentin's Adjustment Center at the time awaiting trial for the murder of a prison guard.

Jackson used the gun in an escape attempt and was killed by gun rail guard. Blankstein says, "Six people, including two prison guards, were killed during an escape attempt in which prisoners used the weapon." In actual fact, three prison guards were killed, not two. For the record, they were JERE GRAHAM, FRANK DELEON and PAUL KRASENES. Two other guards, BRECKENRIDGE and RUBIACO nearly bled to death and might have died if COs hadn't blasted their way into the adjustment center to rescue them. Two other inmates (KANE and LYNN) were also killed that day, but not by guards. They were two white inmates who were delivering food to the cells when Jackson pulled the ASTRA 9 mm pistol and took over the tier in the adjustment center. Jackson and his crimies killed the two inmates just because they were there and they were white.

According to the surviving witnesses of that afternoon on August 21, 1971, Jackson personally shot Graham execution style with one round to the back of the head after saying about the gun, "Let's see if this thing works." DeLeon and Krasenes died a slower, more painful death. They were first beaten, then stabbed and then their throats were cut from ear to ear. They bled out over a period of half an hour.

KANE and LYNN, the white inmates, were hogtied with bedsheets and basically slaughtered with razor blades and shanks. You would think that Jackson, described by BLANKSTEIN as "a leader of a black prison rights movement," would have had some compassion for inmates who were trapped in the same "prison industrial complex" he condemned in his books.

In the Blake case, Schwartzbach, according to Blankstein, "steered clear of the media." "The media, Schwartzbach believed, had already tried his client."

In the Bingham case, for those who remember, Schwartzbach went the other way and courted the media in the runup to the trial. A Bingham Defense Fund was set up and donations solicited through the usual channels. The Defense Fund was run by the same people that provided Bingham with a false passport, identity papers and thousands in cash when he fled the country. House parties were organized where Stephen spoke about his upcoming trial and his 13 years as a fugitive. Selected media, which is to say sympathetic media, was invited to these events. The ground was being softened. Doubts were already planted in the public's mind about Bingham's reason for hiding out in Europe for 13 years. The story for public consumption was that Bingham was afraid he'd be railroaded by a vindictive justice system for the murder of three prison guards. The friendly SF alt press went out of its way to concoct and postulate other possible scenarios for how the gun might have been smuggled to Jackson. These included wild theories that prison officials had actually given Jackson the gun in order to have an excuse to kill him. That it was all part of a larger conspiracy to break the back of the Black Panthers. Never mind the fact that Jackson and Huey Newton were at war at the time of his escape attempt and Newton got a triple bonus from Jackson's death. He gained a martyr to the cause. He got rid of a rival for control of the Party. And he now had complete control of the profits from Jackson's best-selling book, SOLEDAD BROTHER. And never mind the fact that Penny Jackson, George's sister went to the Panther headquarters in Oakland immediately after the escape attempt and railed at Vanita Anderson and the other Panthers in residence that they were responsible for the death of her brother.

Ultimately, Bingham, like Blake, was found not guilty. In both cases, however, common sense would say otherwise.

A BLACK EYE FOR MAJOR CRIMES
We don't usually comment on celebrity cases. Frankly, they function more as public entertainment than a criminal process whose goal is the search for the truth. As Steve Cooley and LA prosecutors are scratching their heads wondering what the hell happened to an otherwise slam dunk case, the LA TIMES this morning pointed to one possible reason for the case going south. The Times calls it the "CSI EFFECT." Thanks to shows like CSI, movies like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and countless police procedural novels, juries have become armchair sleuths. They come into cases thinking that they probably know as much as any detective or prosecutor about evidence, the law, forensics, the motivation of the defendant and, most worrisome, a large doubt about the professionalism of the police and prosecutors.

Actually, this is nothing new. It's been happening far less visibly, to the public at least, for years. One prosecutor who used to work in Compton told me years ago that it was getting harder and harder to get guilty verdicts out of juries. The problem, as he saw it, was that juries were expecting the sort of forensic magic they see on TV -- hair samples, fibers, miniscule blood spatters, anal swabs, a fingerprint lifted from an eyeball and the sort of esoteric evidence that only a fiction writer would concoct.

Reality is as lot more mundane. In most murder cases, the forensic evidence amounts to nothing more than some shell casings and bullet projectiles. Most of the time, the gun or the murder weapon is never recovered. On CSI, for instance, you've got a team of criminalists armed with everything from print kits to gas chromatographs and computer systems that recreate crime scenes in full color and 3D imaging. They have databases that would put the CIA to shame. With a few keystrokes, they can call up everything from a prior arrest to a suspect's fifth grade math test. Evidence is processed at lightning speed and they operate in a world of unlimited manpower and budgets.

The reality is that in LA it can take six months to get a ballistics report from the crime lab. Homicide investigators rarely get a single criminalist assigned to a crime scene. And in busy divisions, IOs are working from three to ten cases simultaneously and loaded down with maybe another ten cold cases. This is not to imply that the IOs in Blake's case did a less than thorough job. They pulled together everything that homicide detectives could realistically gather. It's just that the evidence did not seem to meet the jury's TV-inflated expectations.

The Blake jury's biggest obstacle seems to be that the prosecutor could not place the gun in Blake's hand. They wanted GSR (Gunshot Residue), prints on the gun, a tidy, airtight timeline, some blood spatter on Blake's clothes when he pulled the trigger -- who knows, maybe even a photo from a spy satellite that happened to be passing overhead at the time of the killing. The kind of "he's so screwed" evidence "as seen on TV." Something so compelling and irrefutable that even Courtney Love on Nembutal would have no trouble deciding guilt. Basically, this jury, and juries in other cases, left common sense at the door and were misled by their expectations of modern crime-fighting techniques. What they don't know is that the LAPD and the DA's office is woefully understaffed, under-funded and still living in the steam age in terms of high-tech gear and people required to operate it.

In the courtroom, juries have also come to expect drama and "Aha" moments, a "You can't handle the truth" tipping point where the suspect hangs himself with his own words. In real life, it doesn't happen.

For the most part, murder trials are as stimulating as an afternoon of ice fishing. Maybe less so because you can't drink beer in court.

Dumb juries aside, there's no avoiding the fact that the DA's Major Crime Unit couldn't make the case. There was some talk early on that the case should never have been filed because it was weak to begin with. But to a thoughtful observer, the case looked good enough for a filing. Besides, with the widespread public opinion that Blake did it, not filing would have made Cooley look like the weakest crime-fighter since Barney Fife. Or at least gun shy after the humiliation of the OJ case.

If the jury wasn't dazzled by the sort of evidence they see on TV, it's possible they might have been convinced by a better courtroom performer. If you can't enthrall the jury with techy evidence, maybe they'll be captivated by the person presenting the evidence. If you can't give the jury CSI, maybe you should send forth Tom Cruise.

As in any organization, the DA's office has the usual mix of colorless functionaries, political operators, bench warmers, loose canons and brilliant crime fighters. While the prosecutor in this case did an admirable job, maybe MAJOR CRIMES could have done a better casting job. To paraphrase the old saw of letting the punishment fit the crime, maybe the next time that unit gets a celebrity case, they should let the prosecutor fit the criminal.

ARENAS GETS LWOP
We originally posted the killing of CHP officer STEINER by 16-year-old VALENTINO ARENAS, a POMONA 12th STREET wannabe when it first happened. If you recall, ARENAS was intent on making a name for himself with his neighborhood and decided that the most dramatic and direct way was to kill a cop. It was an assassination pure and simple.

This week, ARENAS was sentenced to LIFE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE (LWOP). I was discussing this case with a reformed gangster and a retired cop, each of us musing about what can a free society do to keep teens like Arenas from getting to that point of insanity where he pulls the trigger on a cop just to impress a bunch of other teens.

We estimated that if Arenas lives to 70, each of his next 54 years in prison will cost California $36,000 for a grand total of $1.94 million to house, feed, clothe and keep healthy. I wondered what if the state had spent ten percent of that money, roughly $190,000, on him in some kind of intervention or diversion program. Could a kid like him, with a father already in prison, a caretaker aunt who had just come out of prison when the killing happened and a non-present mom, possibly be snatched out of that environment and set straight?

Oddly, it was the reformed gangster in our group who was the most pessimistic. Based on his own eperience with a terrible home environment, time in the CYA, County jail and ultimately State prison, his contention is that there's no government program that can give a kid what he needs and craves the most -- loving parents and a stable home. The most we can hope to do, he said, was the yank that kid out of the house when he was still an infant and either put him up for adoption or put him in an orphanage. That's illegal, to say the least. In a free society, I told him, you can't take kids away from parents on the basis of how they "might" be damaged by their own parents in the future. And besides, I said, there are plenty of kids in supposedly stable, well-off homes who go sideways and set off a COLUMBINE or pull off a drive-by. You yank those kids too?

The retired cop then brought up an example of something that happened in England this week.In this case, it was a 12-year-old who assaulted and raped his special ed teacher, stole her car and went on a cime spree. Like Arenas, he was sentenced to LWOP, something unheard of in England but something that they're learning to deal out. Apparently, the kid had been a professional smoker and drinker since the age of four and was encouraged to have sex by the time he was eight. By his alcoholic, drug-addicted parents.

The point that the cop went on to make was that in England, where they've got every social program known to man, where they've banned guns and the death penalty, provide free cradle to grave medical care, ultra-generous welfare allowances, free housing to the poor, and where you can't even give somebody the finger without being accused of a hate crime, even they can't seem to short-circuit the youth crime problem. Apparently, it's almost as bad there as it is in LA.

"It's the home," the ex-gangster said. "Definitely," the ex-cop said. "There's got to be a way," I said. "Yeah," the ex-gangster said. "But it would be illegal."

CODE TALKING
The recent killing of Federal Judge Joan Lefkow's family is a story we hope will prompt the media to continue focusing on white hate groups. Right now, the suspicion is that all-purpose hater Matthew Hale somehow ordered or at least suggested that one of his crimies or followers execute Lefkow's husband and mother.

The NYT today has a story today that Hale has been communicating with people on the outside through his parents and lawyer by means of coded messages. Hale's mother is quoted as saying that the coded messages was "the dumbest thing I've ever heard of." The lawyer said that Hale's mother made the lawyer write the message down verbatim and deliver it to one of Hale's people on the outside. The message was apparently not delivered.

As a result of all this, POs have cut off Hale from communicating with his parents. Surprisingly, the ACLU has yet to raise an objection about cutting Hale off from his family.

While code comms from prison may be something new to the average citizen, the fact is, codes have been around almost as long as prisons. The range of codes run from simple hands signals, ghost writing, one time pads, Aztec writing, lip reading, imbedded writing with signifiers and variations of all those.

For instance, one of the more common codes is the simple letter that appears innocent to the untrained eye. The key to the code in the letter lies in the salutation. If the salutation for instance is "HI, HOW'S IT GOING?" the recipient knows to pick out every fifth letter. A letter that starts with "WHAT'S NEW?" indicates that every seventh letter in the body is the coded message. All this, of course, is worked out ahead of time long before the inmate lands in prison.

Also common is what cryptographers call the one time pad. Again this is worked out well ahead of time and consists of a number of code guides. Every letter in the alphabet is assigned a random number or letter. The key as to which page of the code guide to use is somewhere in the code. By going to the correct page in the guide, the recipient simply compares the random number or letter in the message to its actual meaning.

The difference between this and a letter with a salutation signifier is that it looks like a code and therefore harder to slide by the POs in charge of reviewing communications.

The most secure avenue of comms still remains legal documents. By law, POs can't open letters addressed from prisoners to their lawyers and vice versa. These are confidential. Some lawyers, as was documented in the Lynne Stewart/Blind Sheik case that recently ended, knowingly cooperate in illegal communications from prisoners to the outside. Other lawyers aren't even aware that they're being used as a conduit.

So Matt Hale's mother's contention that Hale might have been communicating in code is anything but "dumb."

HUNTING THE SIMI VALLEY TIGER
By now, we've all heard and seen what happened to the unfortunate tiger of Moorpark. The big cat escaped from a private exotic animal breeder and spent a few days roaming the hills of Simi looking for a meal, a place to live or maybe just wondering what terrible thing he'd done in a previous life to end up in an overgrown suburb of LA.

If you've been watching the news or reading the papers, you know that animal control agents shot and killed the cat. The public reaction was typical. There were candlelight vigils, calls for investigations, piquant renditions of the The Lion Sleeps Tonight sung by heartbroken grammar schoolers and all manner of simpering sorrow over the shooting.

Animal lovers wanted to know why animal control couldn't tranquilize the tiger. Or throw a net over it. Or lure it into a cage. We wondered too.

Thanks to a connection at the Ventura County Sheriff's office we got to information that for some reason never made it into print in your local faux newspaper.

To begin with, the animal was not walking through wilderness. It was never more than a few hundred yards from schools, homes and stores. They found paw prints right at the edge of a basketball court and parking lots. Something had to be done quick.

From the point of view of liability, if the cat had hurt or killed someone, every public entity even tangentially responsible for capturing the cat would be looking at a major lawsuit. Every lawyer looking for a big payday would be handing out business cards like Free Pipe Bomb Day at a Gaza Soccer game.

The plan to trank the cat involved a helicopter and several ground units. Each ground unit was composed of three individuals -- a game control agent armed with a trank gun and two armed escorts armed with either a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with slug shot, an AR-15 with the standard .223 cal round or an M1-A1 loaded with 7.62 cal (aka .308 cal).

The chopper would spot the cat and direct the ground units to the location. Once the foot units were close enough they'd try the trank gun. The Game people had some reservations, however. Prior experience has shown them that there was only a 6 in 10 chance of hitting a moving animal with the dart. On top of that, the dart hit has to be in a muscle. A gut shot or lung shot would do absolutely nothing to put the tiger to sleep.

They also knew that even a perfect muscle shot wouldn't bring the tiger down for twenty minutes.

When the tiger was eventually spotted from the air, three ground units were directed to converge on its location. Thanks to the heavy brush, the ground units couldn't see the tiger as they advanced. As they and the tiger moved through the brush, the chopper pilot also lost sight of the cat.

The chopper swooped low hoping to flush the animal. The animal flushed, alright, but it popped up BEHIND one of the ground units and it was moving in their direction. The cat was stalking the stalkers.

The chopper pilot told the ground unit to turn around. When they did, the cat was exactly 32 yards away. They measured it off afterwards. Tigers can charge at 35 to 40 mph. They can cover 32 yards in seconds. Not a whole lot of time to concoct a new plan or redeploy the foot units. They took the decision to end the potential danger right there. The first shot was fired from the M1-A1. They finished the animal with two 12 gauge slugs from the shotgun.

Now you know what happened.

Why the big media doesn't give you the details if baffling. They're real quick to stick a microphone in front a grieving 12-year-old holding a stuffed tiger toy. And they can find a dozen animal "experts" who weren't within cell phone range of the event to tell you how "they" would have done it. But for some reason, they never seem to get to the guys on the ground who make the decision and ask them who, what, where, how and why. Maybe it's too much work. Maybe they've already go their minds made up. Maybe they just don't care. Maybe it's because facts are boring but a crying kid is "news."

Whatever the reason, you're only getting what they want you to get. So remember to exercise caution whenever you're watching or reading the news.

SUPREME COURT SAYS NO SEGREGATION IN PRISON
There's no argument that inmates are entitled to all the civil rights a free society can accord them. But there's a big difference between civil rights among law-abiding citizens on the outside and law-breakers on the inside. Inmates and convicted felons can't vote, for instance. And they can't claim the Second Ammendment right to bear arms.

This week's ruling by the Supreme Court that California prisons can't for the most part, segregate inmates according to race is a clear indication that laws often blindly support the ideal rather than reflect the reality.

Segregation in schools, the military or any place in outside world is pure evil. Forced desegregation in prisons, on the other hand can lead to a bloodbath.

Prison is a tribal society. The Supreme Court and law enforcement isn't about to abolish the animosity between prison racial groups by forcing them to share cells and finger paints.

In the past, even the "progressive" and radical prison reformers sued the state to force the CDC to segregate prisoners in the exercise yards, meals and shower time. According to the lawyers of the Prison Law Project, the shooting of inmate W.C. Nolen some thirty years ago was laid at the feet of prison officials for allowing blacks to exercise at the same time and in the same yard as white inmates. While it's almost unheard for liberals and progressives to demand segregation, there's a sound reason for it in the prison environment.

If you recall, Nolen's death was what fueled George Jackson's rage and triggered him to kill CO John Mills. That event was a wake-up call to POs. While there have been sporadic abuses of COs purposely putting enemies in the same yard just to watch the fights, for the most part, the CDC has done the tough work of keeping feuding groups apart.

For the sake of keeping the bloodshed down, let's hope the CDC can find a way of following the spirit of this desegregation ruling without violating the letter of it.

HMONG NEIGHBORHOODS IN NORCAL
The SAC BEE reports that a shooting war has essentially broken out between HMONG neighborhoods in NORCAL. A rash of recent shootings culminated on Sunday in a daylight driveby shooting that left one HMONG soldier DOA. The shooting happened at a busy intersection witnessed by a busload of people who were in the line of fire. There was so many witnesses that LE were able to get a good plate number on the shooter's car.

While the existence of Hmong neighborhoods isn't all that new, LE up north and in the Central Valley have seen a recent spike in criminal activity. Apparently they're forming up into organized groups and are big into weed. Hmong immigrants survive on a combination of government benefits and agriculture. A NORCAL drug agent told me that "farmers" lease land and ostensibly grow legitimate crops at the perimeter. What can't be seen from the outside, however are plots of marijuana growing in the middle. The pot is the actual cash crop. As a result, legit Hmong farmers have been unfairly stigmatized as pot growers.

The story of how thousands of Hmong families have come to live in the Central Valley is long and complicated but it has its roots in the Viet Nam war. US Special Forces armed and paid Hmong tribesmen to fight the VC and the Communists in Laos and Cambodia. American soldiers and brass came to respect the Hmong as fierce warriors who stood their ground and fought to the death even in the face of overwhelming odds. When the war ended and the US pulled out, the Communists went on a rampage of revenge against the Hmong. Out of good conscience, the US government made it easy for Hmong to migrate to America.

Thanks to their intense tribal culture and distrust of outsiders, the Hmong have had a hard time assimilating in the Central Valley and everywhere else they've settled. All these factors have contributed to criminal or near criminal activity ranging from simple game poaching on private and public land all the way up to drug trafficking and set warfare.

Chances are, the Hmong will never achieve the critical mass needed to become a major criminal organization. But one copper told me that what they lack in numbers they make up for in brazen violence like Sunday's daytime driveby.

UPDATE ON LOCKDOWNS
A day after we posted the lockdown at Pelican Bay, Andy Furillo writes about more lockdowns in the Feb. 16, issue of the Sacramento Bee. We already mentioned the Bay lockdown that allegedly uncovered a plot by the Eme to kill three correctional officers. Furillo adds that "skinhead" inmates at New Folsom (we're assuming the AB here), were also planning to attack or kill COs at that institution. This was planned as a retaliation for the November '04 shooting death of inmate Wade Shiflett. Shiflett was shot while he was in the process of attacking another inmate.

And there was supposed to be another plot on COs in Chino, this one organized by the EAST COAST CRIPS.

If you accept all this, it appears that every major ethnic group in the California prison system is pissed off about something and ready to take it out on the COs. Prison officials are saying that there's no connection between these alleged plots. The ethnic gangs each had their own reason for the planned attacks.

It's pointless to speculate what's going on behind the walls. These three plots could be a big coincidence or the beginning of a general resistance movement sparked by prison conditions. We'll update if we hear more.

THE BAY LOCKED DOWN
We're a little late on this one. Two days, late. But we waited until we had something more than the bare bones reported in the press about the lock down in Pelican Bay. What the CDC has released to the public is that they uncovered a plot to assassinate three corrections officers and the prison would stay locked down until they complete the investigation. The LA Times didn't report who planned to do the hits or why.

We still don't know why but we've been reliably informed that the plotters are all Eme brothers. So far, prison officials have confiscated four prison-made weapons (we assume they're shanks) but COs are looking for at least ten more. It sounds like there was a snitch in the mix.

With the information we have in hand, we're not ready to believe that there actually was a conspiracy to kill three COs. It's possible, of course, but it doesn't seem to make sense. First of all, greenlighting COs is bad, bad, bad for business. The whole institution is locked down. Virtually all communications, except with lawyers, is banned. All privileges are suspended and pretty much the entire system grinds to a halt. Plus consider the aftermath of three greenlights on COs. Talk about a shit storm of heat directed like a flamethrower at every shot caller and camarada. There doesn't seem to be much percentage in it for the plotters.

So if it wasn't an aborted plot, what was it? One possible scenario that comes to mind is that POs were handed misinformation by somebody who suddenly found himself in the hat and needed immediate PC. He comes up with a wild story, he's put in PC and starts debriefing. Whether his story is true or total bullshit doesn't matter. He shot his mouth off and that qualifies him for PC. Maybe it was even misinformation he was "ordered" to provide to get POs to put some enemy under the microscope.

Another possibility is that POs used the pretext of an assassination plot to go after somebody that needed going after but didn't want to make it look like they were targeting this particular person or persons. So POs do a general lockdown, toss everything and everybody and come up with what they were looking for in addition to all the other stuff they find in the course of searches. It's been done before in prison and on the street.

The scenarios, while not infinite, can get fairly extensive. And practically anything you can think of already has a precedent. If we've learned anything about the pinta and the people who live there is that truth is way stranger than fiction.

NEW BOOK DEFINITELY WORTH READING
We don't generally cover non violent crime on these electronic pages, but I just came across a new book that just floored me. Don't let the title, GOD WANTS YOU TO ROLL, throw you. It's got nothing to do with religion. What it has to do with is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated in American history. And it started right here in Los Angeles. Compton, to be exact.

Written by JOHN PHILLIPS III, GWYTR tells the tale of two friends from Compton, ROBERT GOMEZ and JAMES NICHOLS, both still in their teens when they got the idea for the scame. By cunning and force of personality, they managed to convince thousands of victims that GOMEZ had inherited a vast fortune worth $411 million. Part of that inheritance was in the form of cars that ostensibly belonged to GOMEZ's adopted father, a devout Christian.

The way GOMEZ told his tale to church groups was that the hundreds of cars in the collection were earmarked by his late adopted father for Christians, church-going folks who believed in Jesus and miracles. The cars were tied up in probate but victims were told they could sign up, for a fee ranging from $1000 to $10,000, to reserve a car and to cover the shipping and registration expenses. The cars ranged from beaters to Maseratis and Bentleys.

To make a long story short, Gomez and Nichols took in over $21 million over a few years for cars that never existed.

If this story wasn't absolutely true, nobody would believe it as a work of fiction. It's impossible to imagine that thousands of otherwise smart, legitimate and sometimes even dubious people could be so sucked in by a story supported by nothing more than "legal" forms purchased for $1.99 from Staples. This is an amazing read. A real page-turner as they say. I was up until 3:00 AM.

Unlike most of the criminals we discuss in inthehat, Gomez and Nichols weren't hooked up with any neighborhood. They were independents. And they never used a gun, knife or a fist to collect the kind of money that big,violent criminal enterprises can only dream about. And they never spilled a drop of a victim's blood. The most powerful weapons thesse two scam artists used were the victims' faith and, frankly, their greed. You know what they say about something that sounds too good to be true. Apparently, none of the victims paid any attention to that old saw.

Ultimately, Gomez and Nichols caught 20-year sentences for the fraud but the ride that landed them in prison is worth reading about. Frankly, the kind of money generated by drug dealing, murder and extortion pales in comparison to the kind of money that can be made by using your head. We wouldn't be surprised if this book isn't already on some film producer's desk waiting for a production deal from a studio. It'll make an awesome movie. Another CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.

LA WEEKLY AND THE AB
This week's LA WEEKLY runs a feature story on the ARYAN BROTHERHOOD. Naturally, it caught our attention. The focus of the piece is US ATTORNEY GREGORY JESSNER. He's the lead prosecutor in what the author, MATTHEW DUERSTEN, states is the "largest death-penalty indictment in the history of the American justice system." He also called it "the most important trial you've never heard of." Whether you've heard about this trial depends on if you're a regular reader of the New Yorker Magazine. The truth is, the New Yorker ran a huge piece written by DAVID GRANN about this trial way back in 2004. Same prosecutor, same players, same trial. A lot of the information in the LA WEEKLY piece came from that New Yorker story. In fact, I handed one of the AB defense lawyers a copy of that New Yorker article when it first appeared because his client was mentioned prominently.

So essentially the AB story, while new to LA WEEKLY readers, isn't new in the strict sense of the word. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld says. It's just interesting because DUERSTEN mentions in his piece that USA JESSNER doesn't eat meat, doesn't wear a watch and is an avid reader of the NEW YORKER. You would think that DUERSTEN would have asked JESSNER, "What did you think of yourself in the New Yorker?" If he did, it didn't make it into his piece.

One item in DUERSTEN's article that caught our interest was JESSNER's connection to FAY STENDER. JESSNER apparently played with STENDER's kids when he was a toddler. DUERSTEN, by the way, spells her first name FAYE, which we've seen before, but in fact, it's spelled it FAY. When the CALIFORNIA WOMEN LAWYERS give out their FAY STENDER AWARD, they also spell it F-A-Y with no e. So you be the judge.

STENDER's story is worth knowing. I've mentioned her in previous posts but her life and times are worth examining because of the cautionary tales they contain. One of STENDER's many claims to fame is that she was GEORGE JACKSON's lawyer. He was accused of killing CORRECTION OFFICER JOHN MILLS. STENDER made JACKSON a cause celebre. She was responsible for editing JACKSON's book, SOLEDAD BROTHER, a collection of JACKSON'S letters from prison and got GREG ARMSTRONG at BOUBLEDAY to publish it. The book was a huge seller and the royalties from it were originally supposed to go to the Jackson defense committe that she founded. The money would be spent for legal fees and a PR campaign to raise grassroots support for JACKSON and other "political prisoners." In fact, the money was siphoned off to the Black Panthers who used it to buy weapons and rural property in the Santa Cruz mountains. The property was used as a training camp where Panthers and other revolutionaries learned weaponcraft, bomb making and unarmed combat. JACKSON's ultimate goal in this was to have this "army" of trained insurgents bust him out of prison and escape to Angola.

HUEY NEWTON, founder of the BLACK PANTHERS, was ostensibly JACKSON's comrade on the outside. JACKSON was relying on NEWTON to organize his escape to the point where NEWTON convinced JACKSON to sign over all the royalties from SOLEDAD BROTHER to NEWTON to raise and train this revolutionary army. NEWTON made JACKSON a FIELD MARSHAL of the BPP. NEWTON took the money and quietly abandoned all pretense of helping JACKSON escape. HUEY bought lots of coke and shoveled it up his nose. He also put himself in a 25th floor penthouse suite where he held court and entertained the female employees of his "modeling agency." He also jacked up Oakland drug dealers and befriended Hollywood celebs like DONALD SUTHERLAND, BERT SCHNEIDER (producer of EASY RIDER), CANDACE BERGEN and others.

Fay Stender got caught between competing interests. She saw JACKSON's trial as a political cause, a non-violent showcase that would bring to light all the racial and class injustices suffered by blacks in the US prison system. Her client, by his own admission, wanted to cut throats and create political change via firing squad like his heroes Che and Fidel. On the other side was Newton, who for all his political rhetoric, was never anything more than a slick street thug. Newton was eventually killed by an Oakland drug dealer who refused to pay tribute.

Stender made the mistake of becoming emotionally and physically involved with Jackson. Her performance in court was more emotional than professional and other Movement lawyers eventually convinced her that she wasn't doing her side any favors. When she apparently refused JACKSON's demand to smuggle in guns and explosives into prison, they had a falling out. She left his case and the defense committee.

In 1971, JACKSON was killed trying to bust out of prison. A 9 mm Astra pistol had been smuggled in to him by means of a tape recorder carried into the visiting room by another of his lawyers, STEVE BINGHAM. Bingham was accompanied that day by VANITA ANDERSON, a BLACK PANTHER member loyal to the NEWTON faction of the party. During the bust-out, JACKSON massacred two white inmates (KANE and LYNN) and three prison guards, KRASENES, DELEON and GRAHAM.

In MAY 1979, STENDER was visited by a former PANTHER and member of the the BLACK GUERILLA FAMILY, the prison gang that JACKSON founded. At gunpoint, he made her sign a confession that she betrayed JACKSON and was the cause of his death. Then he shot her five times and left her for dead. Miraculously, she survived but was left paralyzed. She testified against her attacker and then moved as far away as she could from the BAY AREA -- HONG KONG.

A year later, disillusioned and still in fear from associates of her former client, she took an overdose of pills and died. Stender became a "martyr" to the cause of prison reform and civil rights. Others see her as a gullible dupe of hardened criminals who used political reform as a cover. JACKSON even admitted that, "Marxism was my hustle." Ohers have an even harsher perception. In an unpublished memoir by a reformed Mexican Mafia brother, Stender is portrayed as a provacateur. In her efforts to recruit other races to the cause of prison reform she tried to get the Eme to assault and kill prison guards in order to show solidarity with black prisoners. And bringing this discussion to a complete circle, she tried to do the same with the founders of the ARYAN BROTHERHOOD in the CA prison system. She figured that a full court press of blacks, hispanics and whites would turn the prison system inside out and achieve her political goals.

It never happened, of course. The Eme had no interest in politics or in being protrayed as victims by radicals with an anti-American agenda. They saw themselves as warriors, not a class of victims. And the white inmates, for all their violence and antisocial behavior were revolted by Marxism. And neither group would ever make an alliance, in or out of prison, with blacks. A situation that, with few exceptions, exists to this day.

There's more on this piece I'd like to discuss. But I gotta run.

LAPD KILLS 13-YEAR-OLD CAR THEFT SUSPECT
Can you smell lawsuit? We can.

Early Sunday morning, an LAPD patrol unit tried to make a traffic stop on a car theft suspect. The person at the wheel ran a red light and refused to stop. He eventually crashed and his crimey in the passenger seat beat feet. The crimey was caught without incident. The driver, however, threw the 1990 Toyota Camry into reverse and smacked into the patrol unit.

At that point, the unnamed bluesuit fired ten rounds into the car and killed the driver, who turned out to be a 13 year old male black.

Get the $2,500 a night suite at the Loew's Santa Monica ready because Jesse's coming to town.

We don't want to sound cold-blooded about this, but aiming a car at a cop is the first thing they tell you not to do in undergraduate FELON 101. Ageleno's witness something like one car pursuit per week on the local news. And if there's anything to learn from these pursuits is that cops are happy to chase you all day and night until you either crash or run out of gas. They provide car chase suspects with multi-jurisdictional helicopter escorts, plenty of media play on the news and they'll even block on-ramps and intersections to give the suspect vehicle plenty of room to maneuver. They draw the line, however, at having guns pointed at them or being rammed by the suspect vehicle. They'll let you run away at 100 mph if you want to without interference. But aim your car at a cop at even 5 mph, and that's assault with a deadly weapon. Out come the guns and there goes your life.

This incident was probably the kid's first car theft caper. And unfortunately, it was his last. Somebody should have schooled him.

The aftermath, of course, is anybody's guess. Lawsuit for sure. Disciplinary action for the cop? Maybe. More headaches for Chief Bratton? Definitely. Riot? Probably not.

In an unrelated story, somebody fired 20 rounds at the 77th LAPD station. No injuries. Maybe an omen of things to come.

SUGE KNIGHT MAY BE VIOLATED
In the ongoing saga of Death Row Records founder, Marion Suge Knight may be going back to jail. This past Saturday night, Suge was pulled over for making an illegal U-turn in Colton, CA. A search of his car turned up some chronic. Possession of narcotics is a parole violation and that could be enough to send him back to prison.

As we predicted, he was never implicated in the punch-out of Suge's former producer Dr. Dre at the Image Awards two months ago. At the moment when Suge's meat puppet was punching Dre in front of a packed house, Suge was strategically standing right next to an LAPD uniformed cop at the back of the room. That gave Knight the best alibi in the world, a cop witness. This traffic stop be be tougher to beat.

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT CANDIDATE
Out of town readers may not be aware that a mayoral election is about to take place in LA. I'll spare you all the gory details but LA citizens don't seem to have much to pick from. For one thing, all the candidates are Democrats. Republicans don't even bother fielding a contender because the city is basically a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party. While it's amusing to watch liberals savage each other, it's pathetic watching this cast of characters propose the same tired agendas that put the city in the financial hole. They all seem to be saying, "If you don't like what happened in the past, I promise to give you more of it."

Bob Hertzberg is the first candidate to air a TV spot. It looks like it was produced by legendary science fiction shlock-meister BERT I. GORDON. Gordon, known as MISTER BIG, worked the gigantism formula to death in movies like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (giant bald guy attacks Las Vegas), WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (giant bald guy attacks Griffith Park), EARTH vs. THE GIANT SPIDER (giant spider attacks what looks like Palmdale), and BEGINNING OF THE END (giant grasshoppers attack bad background plates of downtown Chicago).

In his ad, Hertzberg looks like a benign Gordon-inspired, 50-foot giant walking around the city in a suit and apparently fixing things like the LAUSD and traffic problems. On the up side, it's a refreshing change from most political ads where the candidate sits in a classroom and pretends to care deeply about teaching kids or is surrounded by uniformed cops and pretends to get tough with crime. On the downside, it makes Hertzberg look like an atomic mutant ready to wipe away traffic jams with the sweep of an arm or crush under-performing public schools. When you're completely out of ideas or have nothing new to contribute, somebody in the campaign must have figured it would be neat to make Hertzberg look like he's about to battle Mecha-Godzilla to the death. Boy do we deserve better.

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
January has been particularly rough around here. We haven't posted for nearly a month due to the press of circumstances. The dry spell is over and we'll be posting regularly. Thanks to all the readers who sent emails asking what happened and when we'd be back. It's gratifying to be missed.