Crackdown on South L.A. gang nets three more convictions

Richard Winton (Los Angeles Times) | October 2, 2012

For decades, the Pueblo Bishops Bloods kept a tight, violent rein on the South Los Angeles housing project from which it draws its name.

But more than two years after the FBI, LAPD and other agencies swept up its members at the Pueblo del Rio housing project, armed with a federal racketeering indictment, 42 members are now convicted and face lengthy prison sentences.

Three more members of the Pueblos were found guilty by a jury Monday of federal racketeering, narcotics and gun charges in the first federal criminal racketeering action brought against a Bloods street gang in Southern California. It was named Operation Family Ties because of the gang’s tight-knit affiliations.

Kevin Eleby, 48; Jason Davis, 26; and Rashaad Laws, 35, were found guilty after a four-week trial in U.S. District Court that detailed their deadly and violent exploits.

They were convicted of being members of a criminal enterprise that engaged in narcotics and firearms trafficking, murder, witness intimidation and armed robbery. South L.A. street gangs in recent years have become targets of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to disrupt or break up gangs that have become deeply entrenched in the Los Angeles region over several decades.

Posted by Lora on Oct 2 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.