Drug dealer from Hawaiian Gardens sentenced to prison

Streetgangs.com
Aug 11, 2011 | 3:07 p.m.

Vincent Anthony “Toro” Ramirez, 41, was sentenced last week to 22 years in federal prison for distribution of multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine in the Long Beach.

Ramirez, resided in Long Beach and Lake Elsinore, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to launder drug money. In court documents, prosecutors said Ramirez “was a large-scale methamphetamine merchant who profited handsomely from the addiction of many methamphetamine abusers.” Ramirez personally distributed ten times the amount of methamphetamine that triggers a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Ramirez was among 29 defendants indicted on drug charges in 2009 as part of “Operation Knock Out,” which remains the nation’s largest-ever gang sweep. Ramirez and some of his co-defendants were members of the Eastside Paramount, a street gang which was targeted in a wiretap investigation that led to seven indictments being issued by federal grand juries. Operation Knock Out, which began after the fatal shooting of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Ortiz in 2005, culminated in approximately 170 gang members and associates from Varrio Hawaiian Gardens being taken into custody on federal charges