CONNECT THE DOTS.
Today's LA TIMES carries a story on the public response to the recent assassination of three Hispanics on 49th Street in central LA last week. As you all know by now, Larry and David Marcial and Luis Cervantes were killed by two male blacks using Kalashnikov rifles. The three victims were not affiliated and the murders were dubbed as "senseless." On Saturday, the usual suspects, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Najee Ali and Jan Perry are organizing a "Black & Brown Unity Walk" on South Central Avenue and on Tuesday, they'll have an emergency "summit" of Black and Latino leaders in a coffee house in Leimert Park Village.

The Times quotes Hutchinson, "We're not saying it's [the murders] racially motivated . . . we're calling for a summit to reduce tensions." This is odd coming from a guy who said in the recent past that if Latinos instead of blacks were being assaulted in County Jail, Mayor V. would be the first to call for some kind of intervention. But we'll leave that aside for now.

As much as the LAPD and activists may deny this, the indicators are that this triple homicide was nothing if not racially motivated. Two things. First it came just as the Avenues Federal hate crime trial got under way in downtown. Coincidence? We think not. Secondly, just this past week, an attorney defending one of the Avenues members in that trial got a death threat. The big media knows about this but for some reason, hasn't seen fit to release that information. Another coincidence? You be the judge.

Even the cops suspect this but are being coy. An LAPD rep was quoted as saying that the murders were some kind of message but they don't quite know what the message is. Unfortunately we do.

Here's some wild speculation based on nothing but observation of the landscape and some history. If I were a cop, I'd start looking at the Four One Five. That's KUMI NATION to the uninitiated. The 415 is the "underground" branch of the BGF made up of members that are more hard core than the average BGF member. My gut tells me the shooters were probably not even locals. They might have been imported "talent" from out of town or out of state whose services were bought or bartered.

I hope to hell I'm wrong and that the killings were just mistaken identy or one of the extant theories. But I don't think so. They better do some real hard talking at that coffee house.

FAIR WARNING.
I've been way tolerant over the comments, but some of this shit is getting deep. Even worse, it's getting stupid. I'm trying to maintain some sort of coherent discussion of issues and until recently, with your input and contributions, the effort has been mostly successful. Lately though, the tone is getting too close to the gutter and it's starting to get old for me. If you want to comment, make an argument, vent your spleen, quote another source, or even be an outright racist, there's been plenty of latitude. You want to shout out to your neighborhood? Go ahead. My warning is just don't be stupid. I'm talking about comments that refer to the things you want to do with your genitals, other people's genitals and the various arrangements thereof. Knock it off!

In the three years I've been doing this, I've never blocked an IP address but we're getting real close to making that a policy. I know where this stuff is coming from. There are vested interests in this town, and elsewhere, that would love to see this site turned into a garbage pile. I'm not going to let that happen.

I hate sounding like a scolding schoolteacher and this will be the last time. If you can't play by some simple, common sense rules, go play someplace else. From now on, crap gets blocked. Apologies to all the commenters who do it right.

MORE ON MOCO MORRILL'S BOOK
A few posts back I made some comments about Robert "Moco Verde" Morrill's book, "The Mexican Mafia - The Story." Some readers misunderstood the point of the comments. I have no quarrel with the accuracy of the book. He's writing about first-hand experience. He was there from the beginning and lived the tale he tells. My main objection was simple grammar and his jumping around from topic to topic. The narrative is hard to follow and you need a road map and copious notes to keep track of it all. I've been informed that some valiant efforts were made to clean up the copy. So grammatically, it could have been even worse.

Despite the faults, I still think it's a worthwhile read and here's how to get a copy.
ROBERT MORRILL
P.O. Box 769337
San Antonio, TX 78245

The cost is $30.00 plus $3.00 for shipping to US and $5.00 for Canada. Write them for overseas shipping. Curiously, Inthehat gets lots of hits from overseas. A lot of Euros can't figure out what the hell goes on in our streets and they drop in. Most of what they know they get from the movies and we know how accurate that is.

As long as I'm on the subject of reading material, a great companion book (CD actually) to Moco's book is Mundo Mendoza's, "From Altar Boy to Hit Man." It's the unvarnished truth and still the best book out there about you know what. You can order a copy from copsandconvicts.com. Click on the Training Products section and you'll find the ordering process. Happy beach reading.

COMMENTS ARE BACK ON
Apparently something happened with Blogger and the comments section got turned off. In case you were having a mojo for a good rant, the comments are now back on. Contrary to some of the comments, nobody shut me down or asked me to moderate the comments. Ease up, already. This is how conspiracy theories get started. It was just a dopey computer thing.

Also for your convenience and to reduce the bandwith, Blogger will now let you add a link to your comments. That'll save you a lot of cutting and pasting and reduce the amount of scrolling. How's that for free access and free speech?

LA TIMES FINALLY WAKES UP.
After years of neglecting this story, on June 29th and July 4 the LA Times finally woke up and smelled the gunpowder rising up out of Kenny Wilson's homicide. As many of you know, I've been following this caper since it happened in 1999. Many of you also know about my failed efforts in getting this case, and similar cases in Pomona, Compton, SB, SM, SD and San Pedro out to the public. I've been pitching this story to all the usual LA media suspects and got zero takers. The closest I got to seeing the piece in print was when it was basically given to a staffer at the LA Weekly after two years of repeated attempts to that very staffer to get the Weekly to run it. I guess they don't teach ethics in J school. Note to Laurie Ochoa at the LA Weekly, Google Gilbert Saldana and Merced Cambero and see who pops up first with the earliest mention. My blog, or your paper?

And then just today, the July 4 LA Times article shows up on the Drudge Report. It's now going national. Let's see how wrong they get this story and what kind of feeding frenzy, if any, this story kicks off. For starters, the LA Times stated that Kenny Wilson was going to his apartment the night he was killed. He wasn't. Wilson lived in the IE and was in HP visiting friends. For those keeping score at home, there are a few more errors, but let's have fun seeing where they go with it.

FOR THE RECORD
Some readers have wondered if I read all the posts or any of them. I read some of them. My personal filter process is if the post starts with something like "F*ck you putos," I don't bother reading it. It's pointless. There's nothing to learn there. Also, I don't respond to questions in the comments section. If I respond to anything, I'll do it right here. So if anyone logs in as Wally or any variation of that in the comments section, trust me, it's not me. The other thing I never do is post "anonymous" comments in the comments section to either goose the conversation or slam somebody. As longtime readers have figured out, I don't slam people or get into net beefs. One last thing. I have no clue who the commenters are and I have no way of getting in touch with them. I periodically get requests from people wanting to get in touch with this or that commenter. Can't help you. I have no way of tracking and I wouldn't even if I could. If you want to get in touch with somebody, work it out in the comments section. I'm not in that loop.

On another topic, the recent incidents in Venice and SB have gotten the attention of some senior members. Nobody's seen a lista yet but there's an awful lot of "chatter" in County. Could be BS or the real thing. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a long hot summer.

WASSUP?
It's nice to know you've been missed. Despite my absence, the hits to the site continue to go up. This is puzzling and weird and it may prove that a blogger doesn't need to post a lot to keep people coming back. But unlike most blogs, this one is more than opinions and rants. It started out with the intention of providing the kind of information you weren't getting from "legit" media. And you all keep coming back for more, even if I'm not there to provide it. This tells me there's a desire for this kind of info. The question is, why won't the big media fill that yawning hole?

For instance, the LA DA's office just got a conviction on the last of eight Avenues homies in a case that has been dragging through the courts since 2001. This is the biggest Eme murder conspiracy case ever filed by the DA's office in its entire history and there hasn't been one word written about it. There have been bigger Federal cases against the Emeros but nothing this big in the state system. I can understand the big national media overlooking it, but what's the local media's excuse.? The LA Times did a huge investigative story on crooked Las Vegas politicians and judges. The paper will apparently go out of state to dig up stories but won't walk across First Street from the Times office to the CCB to cover something of local importance. Does the Times care more about Vegas than LA? You be the judge.

I'll cover some of the more interesting aspects of this case next week after the penalty phase. Stay tuned.

On another subject, I just finished reading Robert Morrill's self-published book, "The Mexican Mafia -- The Story" and I wish I could say it was a great book. It's an okay book, good for some fact mining and background information. The problem is that Morrill isn't a writer. And he's a worst typist. The book is riddled with typos, run-ons, bad punctuation and some whoppers. For instance, when he meant to say "for all intents and purposes" he says "for all intensive purposes." He uses "perspective" for "respective," and is guilty of numerous grammatical sins. Just bad. Frankly, Mundo Mendoza's book is way better written and more literate in every respect. But there's so little written about the Eme that you're missing out if you don't buy Moco Morrill's book. The stuff on the Monterey Park PD Task Force is worth the price of admission. If you're an obsessive completist like I am, you need to know this stuff.

And in case you missed it, the US Attorney unsealed an indictment in San Diego against Raul Leon and 35 others in a giant Eme RICO case. It was the culmination of a 21-month investigation into Eme operations in SD. The FBI called the operation "In The Hat." Those whacky Feds.

More later. Actually sooner than later.

VALLEY STABBING SIGNALS WAR
You don't usually hear much going on in the SF Valley. But something's about to kick off. Last week a carload of alleged CPA homies rolled up on four alleged Haskell Streeters in broad daylight in the 20000 block of Sherman Way. Fists flew, a knife came out and one Haskell paid the ultimate price for living the life. The usually wrong media attributed the incident to rival tagging crews. Haskell apparently is moving West, and CPA is claiming more streets to the East. Result? You figure it out. Somebody ought to clamp a lid on this before it gets crazy.

"NO GUNS" FOUNDER CAUGHT WITH A GUN
In case you missed it, HECTOR MARROQUIN, the founder of a gang intervention program called NO GUNS, was arrested last week for being in possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, he isn't allowed to have a gun. And even if he was allowed to own a gun, as head of an organization that calls itself NO GUNS, it would have looked hypocritical anyway. According to some law enforcement sources, Marroquin and his organization have long been suspected of working both sides of the street. In the interest of being fair and balanced, Hector's defenders claim that he's the victim of some kind of law enforcement vendetta to discredit him. Just prior to his arrest, Hector was tapped as an unpaid consultant to a panel of gang experts to revamp the county's largely failing gang intervention programs. The LAT ran a profile of Marroquin and his program in July of 2005. So far, the Times hasn't run anything that we could find on his arrest. Maybe we missed it.

While on the subject of guns, Sheriff Lee Baca is in the spotlight for handing out badges and concealed carry permits to a group of civilian Homeland Security "consultants" that also contributes money to the department. While no one has come right out and said this is an exchange of favors for money, it sure sounds bogus. There's been a long tradition in this state, and others, of rewarding law enforcement "supporters" with honorary titles, badges and carry permits. Rank and file coppers consider handing out "near legal looking" badges to non-sworn personnel as a slap in the face. These supporters have little or no training and they've never put in the time and sweat to become bona fide reserves. It's also a source of anger for law-abiding civilians who can't get permits because they don't have the money that grants them access to people like Baca and other top cops in a position of granting permits. As we've seen with people like Sean Penn, Robert Blake, James Caan, Howard Stern and even anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein, if you've got the money and the access, you too can legally defend yourself in a life-threatening situation. The rest of us, well, our skins somehow aren't as precious as those of politicians or actors.

IT'S OVER.
After a little bit of snooping, people in a position to know are claiming that the kites are saying the riots are over. At least for now. From several usually reliable sources, the start of the all the trouble was a San Fer shot caller currently in High Power waiting for his case to go to trial. It was all a pure power move to check the blacks, flex his muscle and keep tight control on the flow of dope and money into County. This was a total County thing and had little to do with homies in the state system. Which is not to say that it has nothing to do with them. Somebody, probably more than one somebody in State, is backing this shot caller's play. The move would have been a hollow threat if somebody in the State system hadn't promised to check whoever got put on the lista once they hit the state system. The message to resisters and blacks was loud and clear. Don't mess with M or you get ass-kicked and stomped.

Think of it as a strategic move to consolidate business in County into one large monopoly. Black free lancers and independents will now either have to think twice about doing business at all or just knuckle under and buy from the one source that either controls all the supply or taxes it.

I hate to drag politics into all this, but sometimes it needs pointing out. Some of the ugliest fallout of the riots came from politicians and activists. Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Najee Ali went on TV at the height of the violence and essentially accused Tony V. of being either racist or race biased. Earl said something to the effect that if Hispanic inmates were getting beaten, Tony V. would be up in arms and shouting for peace. But because the victims, were black, Tony kept quiet. This sort of comment underscores the absurdity of "ethnic" leaders and race politics. Tony V. may be a lot of things, but he ain't racist. The notion that black gangsters will obey you because you're black, or that Hispanics gangsters will somehow snap to attention because the Hispanic mayor yells at them is farcical. Maybe it hasn't dawned on Earl Ofari that some problems are beyond the power of politicians and well-intended activists to fix. Which brings us to the next item.

That $26 million a year LA pays for gang intervention and diversion is going down a big drain. All that money has apparently not been able to get one little homie to leave the life and go straight. City Councilman Tony Cardenas was reported in the Daily News saying, "We've been wasting a lot of money in this city. Because we have a lot of gang intervention and prevention programs to deal with these people and for us not to have success with one is just beyond me." Read about in the Daily News, 2/18/2006. It's a sad commentary when a guy on the city payroll comes to a realization that's been common knowledge for years to every 16-year-old with a spray can. Dude, have you checked your programs? Do you know who's running them?

WHO RUNS THE JAILS?
The public and media reaction to the jail riots finally got a dose of reality last night when I heard for the first time the magic words -- Mexican Mafia. To regular readers of this site, it's no big surprise. We know who runs the jails and the prisons. It's not the jailers. For anybody who's been in the system or is familiar with it, COs and deputies aren't much more than referees. The real power resides in the SHUs and it's about time that the rest of world starts to realize it.

There are a few simple truths that the media, politicians and social activists don't seem to get. One is that most of the "rioters" don't want to riot. But the reality is that once you're in the system, it's almost impossible to lay low and just do your program. The shot callers won't let you. When the call goes out, you either clique up and get with their program or you'll find yourself completely isolated with a target on your back for not having any heart. It's a no win situation for the "average" inmate.

The other reality most don't get is that even relocating the shot callers to Alaska isn't going to stop their influence. As long as they can make a call, pass a kite or get a letter out through an attorney, they'll continue to exert their influence. There's no getting around that. So it's laughable when you hear calls for isolating the "bad apples" (I actually heard some knucklehead use that term on TV) to reduce their influence.

And then of course, there's the call to put more deputies on the tiers. That won't work either. At least, not completely. There will never be enough deputies to keep people who want to assault or kill from doing exactly what they want.

Maybe the nuttiest response to the riots was articulated by Ramona Ripston from the ACLU. She blamed "this Congress and this President." Remember this is the same group that demanded desegregation of the prisons, a move that provides written assurance that more inmates will be killed. It's hard to know if the ACLU wants to solve the problem or make it even worse.

If there's any good that can possibly come from this is that it may make some little homie decide not to do things that could land him in jail. As bad as things may be on the street, it's nothing like th hell of being locked up.

SNITCHES, STANLEY AND REDEMPTION.
On the day that Stanley Williams will be available for viewing I'll forward my not-all-that-original theory that he'd be alive today if he had only come clean and debriefed.

Stanley defenders claim that he should have been spared because he supposedly reduced violence and saved lives. The problem with that claim is that it's purely anecdotal. There's no hard evidence to actually back that assertion.

Now let's take an example from recent history. Specifically the Metro Task Force and the debriefed dropouts that became CIs in that investigation. Thanks to CIs, in a brief period between January 1994 and April of that same year, CIs were credited with saving the lives of at least 13 people and probably a lot more. These targets were mostly other homies and carnals but there were a lot of innocent victims as well.

Here's a quick rundown. When Frankie B. was up on murder charges, a certain party put a witness to that murder in the hat. Thanks to a CI, Pomona cops swooped in and put the witness someplace safe.

When all of Big Hazard was greenlighted, every Hazard had a target on his back. The LAPD did a lot of stuff against Hazard that looked like enforcement and harrassment to the uninformed but what they were really doing was showing the flag and keeping the shooters out of the neighborhood. Lives saved? More than a few. They couldn't save them all, though.

When two El Monte Flores homies were put in the hat for suspicion of killing Joker Flores, the son-in-law of a carnal, a CI talked and the two homies were snatched off the street by El Monte PD and tucked away someplace safe.

When Night Owl Castro volunteered to hit a tax resister, a CI came forward and Castro was quickly arrested on out of state warrants.

After China Boy took one in the chest from Hazard while enforcing the tax code, four Hazards were put in the hat. A CI came forward and the four homies were "made safe" by LAPD CRASH.

Last item. The night that E.J. Olmos threw a party to celebrate the airing of a documentary on the making of American Me, a couple of brothers had gathered up weapons and soldiers and were planning a live fire exercise. A CI revealed the plan and the drive-by never happened. Lives saved? Who can say.

This is not anecdotal. This is verifiable material to which names, dates and proof can be attached. So while it's fashionable in some circles to say that Snitches belong in Ditches, it's also fairly obvious that Snitches can keep people (gangsters and civilians alike) out of ditches. The fact is that more than a few people are walking around today who owe their lives to snitches and don't even know it. Ironically, you can bet that some of those people probably have a very low opinion of snitches.

If Williams had had even a smattering of "saves" like the few mentioned above, chances are the arguments to spare him would have found more sympathy with the Gov. Hell, there probably would have been a few cops and prosecutors who would have signed affidavits testifying to his having saved lives. As it turned out, Williams decided to stay gangster to the end. He chose to be a dead martyr instead of a live snitch. It was his call.

TWO FRIENDS, TWO GANGS
I've been wanting to get to this for some time, but there wasn't enough information to get a clear picture. Recently, it got a little clearer. This incident illustrates one of the many weird dynamics of life in the hood.

On February 24, 2004, ALFRED "LIL TIGGER" SALINAS was shot and killed in front of his house. The man eventually prosecuted and convicted of the crime was FRANK "POPS" GUTTIEREZ. What makes this shooting noteworthy is that the shooter and the victim had been friends since childhood. Tragically, this isn't a unique incident.

According to court testimony, Lil Tigger was approaching his house on the night of the the 29th when he was ambushed by Pops Guttierez. Pops fired a few rounds at Lil Tigger from his car but missed. Lil Tigger ran towards his front door and Pops followed. Hearing the shots, Lil's mom came out of the house and actually got between Pops and her son. Pops continued blazing away and apparently shot and killed Lil Tigger while firing over Lil's mom's head.

With a powerful eyewitness like Lil's mom on the stand, it was pretty much a slam dunk for the prosecution. She had no trouble identifying Pops because the two kids grew up together and Pops was a regular visitor to the house. They played football together and by all accounts they were tight. But as happens often on the streets, they went separate ways. Pops went Highland Park and Lil followed his father's footsteps into Avenues and was putting in work for that neighborhood.

What Pops did was nothing less than a suicide run. It's unknown who lit the fire under Pops to take Lil out, or why, but it must have been a big fire. What a waste of two lives.

Lil Tigger's father is Tigger Salinas, a validated brother who was convicted of killing his girlfriend Sofia Gomez in 2002 after they got into a fight and she threw a beer in his face.

In another ironic twist, and something that foreshadowed his own murder, Lil Tigger got between Frankie "Stretch" Brajas and another homie in a fight at a barbecue about a year before Lil was killed. Showing a lot of heart, Lil took a bullet in the stomach protecting Stretch but wasn't able to keep Stretch from being pursued and shot in the back and killed.

CAUTION: SIDE EFFECTS INCLUDE STUPIDITY.
A crank head in San Francisco tried extracting meth from his urine. In the process he spilled some solvent on himself and then lit a cigarette to ponder what to do next. The answer was get a fire extinguisher. He set himself on fire and was eventually arrested. Here's the url:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/03/BAGECG2AOV1.DTL

Apparently it is possible to extract meth from the urine of chronic user. But you need gallons of the stuff, equipment and at least half a brain. This fool was clearly missing one of those items. If the brothers find out about this you have to wonder if they'll impose a wee wee tax on top of the cell tax and commissary tax.

ANOTHER AVENUES INDICTED
We're a little late on this one. Not as late as the LA Times, however. While going through the stack of papers from the month-long travel, there was the notice that on Nov. 17 another name was added to the Federal hate crime indictment against the four AVENUES charged with terrorizing blacks in Northeast.

The new addition to the indictment is PORFIRIO AVILA. He's been accused of driving the vehicle that carried the trigger man in the Bowser murder. We don't quite get the reasoning behind this because Avila is already serving a life sentence for the Bowser hit. Maybe it's because that murder, prosecuted by the County DA, didn't have the hate crime allegation? Who knows. The way of the Feds is mysterious.

Because of this fairly late addition to the case, we're speculating that the lead USA is probably still beating the bushes looking to round up witnesses and anything that could beef up his prosecution.

Just to recap, the Avenues soldados already indicted are Gilbert Saldana (doing LWOP in CDC on an another murder beef), Merced Cambero (in the wind and probably in Mexico), Alejandro Martinez (in Fed custody) and Fernando Cazares (doing 3 years in CDC on a prior case). Another shooter in the Wilson murder (whose name we won't mention), was already convicted by the DA three years ago and is curiously absent from the Federal indictment. And yet another shooter who was never convicted or indicted on the Wilson or Bowser cases is also absent from the Federal indictment. Discuss among yourselves as to why.

Let's see, it's been almost six years since Kenny Wilson was lit up on Avenue 52 and the LA Times hasn't written one word about this. Asleep at the switch? Lazy? Not PC to write about this? Take your pick. And they wonder why their circulation is going away.

TATI TORREZ KILLED IN SUPERMAX
Thanks to an email from a reader, we just got word that MANUEL "TATI" TORREZ, a 64-year-old Emero, was killed in Florence supermax by other inmates. Torrez was serving a 160 month sentence that he picked up in the second of the big Eme Federal cases prosecuted by the US Attorney's LA office back in the late nineties.

In that case, US vs. DETEVIS et al, the USA rolled up bunch of Eme members and second tier associates. Tati apparently took a plea at the time. Some observers have speculated that Tati provided information in exchange for some sort of benefit. If he did, he must have had a lousy lawyer because 160 months for a guy in his fifties doesn't sound like much of deal.

So far, nobody has been charged with the Torrez murder. According to the local TV station in Florence, this was the first homicide to occur in that facility. But it probably won't be the last.

Over the years, a number of LEOs with a lot of experience with the Mob have speculated that sending made guys into the Federal system is like pollinating the fields. It just gives the brothers another area for recruitment. We may be seeing the first public evidence of that. LEOs have tracked Eme recruitment in the Feds for some time and have warned against putting them there in the first place.

As a commenter mentioned some time back, Torrez was tight with Bala Talamantez back in the day. Bala made it into the history books when he hooked up with George Jackson in Quentin just before Jackson made his famous escape attempt.

Just for the record, Tati was stomped on and beaten and finally one of his killers jumped off a bunk and landed both feet on Tati's chest. That's the way it happens prison style. When shanks are hard to come by, feet will do.

DON'T WALK ALONE
On October 16, a reputed Mongol member named Ronald "Sonic" Cobos was shot and killed outside The Pantry, the restaurant once owned by former mayor Dick Riordan. While Sonic claimed the Mongols, apparently he was one of those new wave recruits that didn't even own a motorcycle.

According to what was pieced together, Cobos met up with some females in a biker bar in Alhambra and went to the Pantry to eat. While there, Cobos got into a mad dog contest with a couple of Filipinos. Nothing real serious but noticeable enough that the staff threw the Filipinos out. When Cobos and the girls were done eating, they went outside. In the parking lot across the street, Cobos and his new friends were confronted by a group of ten to twelve Filipinos. Apparently the Filipinos decided to wait for Cobos and called in the cavalry to back them up. Words were exchanged and one of the Asians grabbed a piece and shot Cobos in the chest at near point blank range.

Cobos lived for three weeks on life support but was never able to talk. His status was improving but then all of a sudden, he got worse and died on November 4.

The lesson here is clear. Don't go into harm's way without backup. At the very least bring something that goes bang. You're courage may be admirable but it won't mean much when you lose. Contrary to what some posters have said about the Mongols, it's obvious they don't always travel in packs.

In the same general area of downtown, a yet to be named drug dealer paid the ultimate price last night for refusing to kick up his taxes. Sometimes macho pride can be a very bad career move.

TOOKIE AND TUONG.
No matter where you stand on the Tookie Williams execution issue, you have to marvel at the exquisite timing of another execution a half world away. Singapore, to be exact, where Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted drug dealer is scheduled to be hanged on December 2 for smuggling just under a pound of heroin.

When it comes to crime and punishment, Singapore is medieval. You get caned and fined for spitting on the sidewalk, littering or tagging. Drug smuggling is a death penalty offense. Note to Courtney and Snoop. Stay out of Singapore. Just to provide a comparison, Tuong Van was arrested in December 2002. That figures out to three years between the crime and execution. I count good. Since 1991, Singapore has hanged 400 criminals. It also happens to have one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Connection? You be the judge.

Tookie, on the other hand, has had a quarter century of appeals on his multi homicide conviction and he's been allowed to write books and have a movie made about him and, as we've heard for about the millionth time, has been nominated for the Nobel Prize.

It really doesn't get any more clear than this. No matter what Jesse and the Hollywood types like to say about this country, they can't say we don't bend over backwards to make sure every avenue of appeal is exhausted before the State takes a life. And there's still an outside chance Arnold may give Tookie a pass. There aren't any passes in Singapore. They hang 'em high and often. Same goes for other countries like Malaysia and Viet Nam that execute drug slangers. It's kind of ironic too that the same people like the Tom Haydens and the Mike Farrells that were rooting for the other side in Viet Nam aren't saying a word about the drug dealers in Nam waiting to be executed. Go figure.

It would be unfair to say that the authorities in Singapore are completely lacking in compassion. They're letting Tuong's mom have a few extra visits before they hang him.

THIS TIME THEY MEAN IT. NO REALLY.
One of the items I came across while going through the stack was an item in the Daily News from last month. Apparently, the City Council is resurrecting the GANG CZAR concept once again. This time, it's Councilman Tony Cardenas who is reanimating the dead beast. He wants to create a new city division to supervise and coordinate anti-gang efforts. The article wasn't really clear on how this would be done because we suspect that Cardenas himself isn't really clear on how to do it.

Back in the Dick Riordan days, the Mayor and the Council tried to come up with gang czar model and came up with nothing. First they got together to figure out what the full time gang chief would do and where the money to pay him or her and a staff would come from. Then they figured they didn't have the money and decided to make it a part time position. Then they didn't have the money for that either and they couldn't figure out how to make the czar do something that wasn't already being duplicated by any number of other city departments. Then they just packed it up and went home. No gang czar.

While there's always hope, we get the feeling this new effort will end up in the same trash can of half-baked aspirations as the earlier proposal. We've got a few ideas on how to do this, but nobody is asking.

Cardenas wants to lick the gang problem and, at the same time, save the city some money. Famous last words from Cardenas. "I'm sure that we're going to find duplication. I'm sure that we're going to find inefficiency." In government? You think?

BE BACK ON MONDAY. PROMISE.
It's been a hellacious month. Lots of traveling and launching a few projects that will be revealed in due time.

I finally landed back in town this weekend and by Monday, I should have some new posts up. First I need to catch up the emails and a bunch of news stories that have been piling up.

One thing I did notice while skimming through the various piles of mail and phone messages is the increased presence of the FBI all over the city and county. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting some kind of Federal operation. Local beefs like firearms possession are getting hit with Federal prosecutions. One example was the Black P-Stones getting hit with everything the Feds could throw at them two weeks ago. Which means long Federal time someplace far, far away.

More on Monday.