Police took no chances this morning, dressing in riot gear and moving in to arrest all their suspects at once.
"Of course we had needed to catch them by surprise and in bed in the morning and we made the arrests without them escaping," Compton Police Department Lt. Danny Sneed told CBS 2 News reporter Carlos Granda. "All of them were in bed."
The raids yielded several rifles, handguns and ammunition (pictured, below), said CBS 2 News. Officers also seized drugs, including marijuana packets ready for sale.
City officials in Compton want the violence stopped.
"We intend to have the city of Compton not only free of gangs but criminal activities," Compton City Councilwoman Marcine Shaw told Granda. "This will be the safest city in the state of California, if not the nation. That's our goal."
That goal will not be easy. Police say there are 10,000 gang members in Compton and about 78 different gangs, reports CBS 2 News. However, police say there are only about 100 gang-related crimes a year.
"We have a lot of gang members that (are) wanna-bes ... which is what makes the number, but all of them are not violent and all of them are not involved in the crimes that occur," Sneed told Granda.
Police said today's raid is just a wake up call. They promise more raids and more surprises for gang members living in the city. In fact, Compton Mayor Omar Bradley this week announced an 8 p.m. curfew for youths under 18, said CBS 2 News.
Compton Police Tighten Noose on Gangs
Officers Arrest City's Most Dangerous Gang Members
COMPTON, Posted 1:00 p.m. October 9, 1997 -- Compton police staged a pre-dawn raid on a dozen of the city's most dangerous known gang members today. The action came in response to gang violence that's claimed the lives of two innocents in just two weeks. 
There have been 38 shootings in Compton over the last month, mainly due to a rivalry between two gangs, said CBS 2 News. The most recent shooting took place Monday. Nine-year-old Selwyn Leflore Jr. was fatally shot after being caught in gang crossfire while standing with his mother at the Compton Transit Center.