October 23, 1999, Saturday, Home Edition, Los Angeles October 23, 1999
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A NEWS SUMMARY;
ENFORCEMENT OF GANG INJUNCTION DELAYED AGAIN
Amid widening fallout from the
Los Angeles Police Department's corruption scandal, a Superior Court judge Friday
postponed enforcement of an injunction against 18th Street
gang members in the Pico-Union District.
Judge Rodney E. Nelson put the injunction on hold for an additional 60 days at
the request of city and county prosecutors, who are assessing the damage to the
court order caused by LAPD officers being investigated for a wide range of
misconduct.
More than half of the approximately 50 gang members named in the sweeping
injunction were accused, in part, on the basis of sworn statements from Rampart
Division anti-gang officers caught up in the growing scandal, records show.
Prosecutors were granted a 30-day stay last month on the injunction, which
widely restricts gang members' rights to associate in public. They said Friday,
however, that they need more time to allow investigators to continue their
probes.
"We need to let some of these investigations conclude so we can figure out what
we have left," said David E. Demerjian, head deputy of the district attorney's hard-core gang
division.