In Huge Sweep, Authorities Move Against Latino Gang Accused of Campaign Against Blacks
Nearly 90 members of a Southern California Latino street gang were for engaging in 鈥渟ystematic efforts to rid the community of African-Americans with a campaign of shootings and other attacks,鈥� according to the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office in Los Angeles.
Five indictments unsealed today charged 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens street gang with 476 鈥渙vert acts鈥� of racketeering that include murder, attempted murder, drug and weapons trafficking, extortion and witness intimidation. The main indictment said that members of the gang 鈥渉ave expressed a desire to rid the city of Hawaiian Gardens of all African-Americans and have engaged in a systematic effort to achieve that result by perpetrating crimes against African-Americans.鈥� The city is reportedly 73% Latino and 4% black.
In a press conference, U.S. Attorney Thomas O鈥橞rien said it was 鈥渢he largest gang takedown in history.鈥�
The investigation of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang began in 2005, after a Los Angeles sheriff鈥檚 deputy was killed while attempting to arrest a gang member charged with shooting an African-American man.
In 2006, the Intelligence Report, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported on Latino gangs鈥� efforts to carry out 鈥渆thnic cleansing鈥� attacks on blacks that were meant to establish purely Latino neighborhoods. The story revealed that gang members were acting of orders from the Mexican Mafia gang. Members of the Avenues, a Latino gang, targeted blacks in Highland Park, an L.A. neighborhood. And last year, Los Angeles police launched a major investigation into another Latino street gang accused of targeting blacks.
