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Los Angeles cops take on notorious street gang
Here are some bits out of an A-Pee story. Click the link to read the whole article if you are interested.
A notorious street gang accused of terrorizing a neighborhood for years and killing a sheriff's deputy was the target of a coordinated assault by hundreds of law enforcement officials Tuesday.

"Our goal is to ... move these people out, occupy this community and support the law abiding people that deserve to live in dignity here."
Gee. They've been a part of the community for years now. Why the sudden rush? They sure as hades aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Aside from murdering rivals, dealing drugs, graffiti tagging and other gang crimes, the gang is accused of making threats and carrying out acts of violence against police officers, culminating in two attacks that rocked the law enforcement community last year.
It's part of their .. err, .. "inalienable" human rights.
Then on Aug. 2, 2008, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in front of his parents' home in the Cypress Park neighborhood northeast of downtown.
{Channeling Edith Bunker} "Oh, I get it."
Even before the killing, authorities were investigating the Avenues, but his death magically increased the urgency of the operation. Earlier this year, police charged three men in Escalante's death and a fourth suspect remains at large.
Next time, don't kill the cop. Just graze him maybe? Oh, and for you second-class "citizens" out there, don't get any ideas about going all vigilante and doing our job for us. You're just an individual and they don't fear you. Authorities will come down on you like a ton of bricks and even the gang memebers will pity you. Authorities have our phoney-baloney jobs to protect here, after all.
The 222-page indictment also alleges Avenues members posted inflammatory remarks on Web sites, including "Avenidas don't get chased by the cops. We chase them," and, "Avenidas don't just hurt people. We kill them."
Such statements are also apparently are part of their human rights and no cause for concern.
Members of the largely Hispanic gang would also spray paint racist threats around neighborhoods to intimidate black people, according to prosecutors.
Another part of their de-facto rights. As long as they don't kill anybody that someone in power cares about.
"This indictment attacks a criminal organization that has terrorized a community for generations," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Brunwin, the lead prosecutor in the case. "With all of the information magically collected over the past year, we assembled an indictment that led to dozens of arrests this morning and will make a significant difference in the neighborhoods in northeastern Los Angeles."
Well, it will if they rinse and repeat a few times, anyway.
Tuesday's operation marks an decade-long ongoing focus on the Avenues gang, which gets its name from a series of streets running through the area.

Though incarcerated, Mexican Mafia leaders are able to communicate with street gangs through conversations on cell phones that are smuggled into prisons, as well as by passing folded notes to visitors.
Oh, I get it. Now that I look at a prison as more of an office building than a facility for incarcerating and isolating criminals. And if some folks are considering blocking cell phones in schools or movie theatres, then why the he11 don't they block prisons? They abdicated their rights when they broke the law severely enough to go to prison AFAIAC. Just wonderin', you know. Keep them warm, dry, fed, healthy, and moderately entertained if you must, but cell phones are a luxury not a right and certainly not a necessity.

Authorities don't seem to give a $hit about this problem as long as gang members confine their criminal behavior to other gang members and "deserving" civilians like drug users. This mentality is self-defeating. The gangs occasionally kill a few of their own (and some of the "deserving" population like drug addicts) and it looks like they are cleaning up the problem for the authorities. But the problem is that they created the problem in the first place! This is not a chicken-and-egg problem that makes it impossible to decide where to start. Deport or incarcerate the gang members until they figure it out and the problems will go away. And keep them from talking to each other while on the inside. Monitor all communications.

And when they scatter like flies to other states that are more lucrative and less of an existential problem then they ought to be greeted with the same hospitality.
Posted by: gorb 2009-09-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=279509