Andrew Blankstein (Los Angeles Times) | March 18, 2013 A grand jury indictment was scheduled to be unsealed Monday for about two dozen reputed members of the notorious MS-13 gang in connection with a violent extortion racket that targeted food-truck operators. The victims of the alleged organized shakedown were not four-wheeled foodie cuisine servers, such [...]
Nicole Santa Cruz and Richard Winton (Los Angeles Times) | January 16, 2013 A judge will consider dismissing federal racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder charges Wednesday against one of the nation’s most well-known anti-gang activists. The U.S. attorney’s office filed a motion in December to dismiss charges against Alex Sanchez, who they alleged was [...]
Rina Palta (KPCC) | October 11, 2012 The Los Angeles Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) has a new $1.5 million grant that’ll take the program international. Gang violence in L.A. has plummeted in the past couple of years. Many attribute that drop to the city’s anti-gang strategy. It focuses on casework with [...]
Associated Press | June 27, 2012 LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County prosecutors say four suspected MS-13 gang members have been charged with kidnapping and murdering a 13-year-old Whittier girl in 2001. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Judge George Lomeli has charged 34-year-old Jorge Palacios, 29-year-old Santos Grimaldi, 34-year-old Rogelio Contreras and 33-year-old Melvin Sandoval [...]
The World’s Most Dangerous Gang $19.98 See All DVDs, Books & Magazines You’ve read the numerous news headlines documenting the Mara Salvatrucha gang. But what is driving the rapid spread of this gang MS-13, which have appeared in big cities and small towns across the country? National Geographic Explorer’s Lisa Ling takes you deep inside [...]
ELLIOT SPAGAT (Associated Press) | February 17, 2012 SAN DIEGO—The deadliest prison blaze in a century has drawn attention to an unfortunate U.S. export to Central America: street gangs. Prisons in Honduras and elsewhere in Central America are teeming with inmates who belong to gangs that have their roots in Southern California. Refugees of the [...]
Vivian Ho (San Francisco Chronicle) | February 16, 2012 An acquaintance of the man accused of gunning down a father and his two sons in San Francisco testified Wednesday that the defendant had been an active member of the MS-13 gang, countering defense arguments that he had been trying to leave the gang life to [...]
Dan McMenamin (Bay City News) | February 6, 2012 The brother-in-law of Edwin Ramos, an alleged MS-13 gang member accused of a triple killing in San Francisco in 2008, testified today that Ramos changed cliques in the gang because he felt his old clique was not violent enough. Abraham Martinez, 22, continued his testimony today [...]
Ari Burack (SF Examiner) | January 22, 2012 The triple-murder trial of an accused MS-13 gang member, whose case brought the country’s immigration debate to the steps of San Francisco City Hall three years ago, is set to officially begin today. Edwin Ramos, 25, is accused in the June 2008 fatal shootings of Anthony Bologna, [...]
Justin Berton (San Francisco Chronicle) | December 4, 2011 The black tattoo that once wrapped Cris Pulido’s throat now looks like a smear of grease. One year ago it was the Mayan symbol for the number 13, which in gang-speak signifies the 13th letter of the alphabet, M. M is code for Mexican Mafia, which [...]
Bob Egelko (San Francisco Chronicle) | August 15, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s biggest gang trial in years is heading to a federal court jury today after attorneys offered a final round of competing narratives of organized mayhem on the city’s streets and unreliable accusations by government-paid informants. The Mission District unit of the [...]
GLENN COUNTS (NewsChannel 36) | June 28, 2011 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A troubled north Charlotte nightclub is about to be given a new lease on life. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said that Mi-Cabana’s on Eastway Drive will open soon. A year ago the club was shut down because of its link to gang violence. Federal agents said [...]
Photos of former Navy and LAPD officer Christopher Dorner
Twin sisters struck by car in Leimert Park die
Cle “Bone” Sloan on the set of Southland – Nickerson Gardens projects
Space Shuttle Endeavour parks near Randy’s donuts in Inglewood
California Department of Corrections once allowed gang colors
PHOTOS: Mexican Mafia members from Southern California