Post by James Allan on Aug 30, 2013 3:29:43 GMT -5
88 arrested, 147 charged in massive operation against Hawaiian Gardens gang (Mexican connection)
Long Beach Press-Telegram ^ | 05/21/2009 08:02:14 PM PDT | Tracy Manzer
Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 10:54:08 AM by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Slaying of Deputy Jerry Ortiz triggered four-year investigation
HAWAIIAN GARDENS - Almost 1,400 law enforcement officials converged on Hawaiian Gardens in a series of pre-dawn raids Thursday as part of the largest federal indictment against a street gang in United States history.
Varrio Hawaiian Gardens, Hawaiian Gardens' oldest and most notorious gang, waged a racist campaign to eliminate black people from the community via attempted murders and other crimes, according to the federal racketeering indictments that werei unsealed Thursday.
A total of five indictments charged 147 members and associates of the gang, and federal, state and local law enforcement officials had arrested 88 people as of Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said.
Included in that plot was the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Ortiz, who was shot in the head in June of 2005 by a VHG member while Ortiz was investigating the attempted murder of a black man in the city, O'Brien said.
It was the cowardly slaughter of Ortiz - a newlywed and father of two sons - that prompted investigators from the LA County Sheriff's Department to the FBI to launch the nearly four-year investigation into the gang, which culminated in Thursday's indictments and a wave of arrests, dubbed "Operation Knockout," O'Brien said.
"Operation Knockout has put a serious dent in this violent criminal enterprise," said Assistant Los Angeles County Sheriff Paul Tanaka.
Read More: Mexicans Remove Blacks From Hawaiian Gardens Ca.
