Sweep conducted at various county locations, including at least one in Compton, yields arrests of Gardena gang’s alleged shot-callers
A multi-agency taskforce has arrested 11 reputed members of a Gardena-based gang, including one man wanted for three murders and one attempted murder, authorities said.
The arrests were made last Wednesday, Jan. 25, during raids conducted in connection with an 18-month-long methamphetamine trafficking and murder investigation, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
The Sheriff’s Department teamed with the Gardena Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to conduct the joint operation, the Los Angeles Times reported last Thursday, Jan. 26.
Sheriff’s Lt. Wes Sutton said the overall investigation initially stemmed from a probe of a 2008 murder, according to the Times.
“It involves a few different murders that this gang has been involved in over the years and narcotics trafficking, along with several assaults, robberies and burglaries,” Sutton told the Press-Telegram. “Basically, this street gang is a criminal enterprise that’s been operating in the Los Angeles County area.”
Search warrants were reportedly served before dawn last Wednesday at 12 locations in several area cities, including Compton, El Monte, Gardena, Harbor City, Long Beach and Los Angeles. At one location near 168th Street and the Harbor (110) Freeway, police used an armored vehicle and had firefighters on hand.
The 11 people arrested reportedly belong to a gang known as Gardena 13, prosecutors told the PT, and police said they include the gang’s top members.
“Our whole goal is to take this gang out of business — to dismantle this gang and the leadership of this gang,” Sutton told the PT.
Luis Erasmo River Garcia, 27, is among those arrested. He is charged with three counts of murder with a special circumstance enhancement of multiple murders, as well as one count of attempted murder, according to the PT. The criminal complaint includes additional special circumstance allegations that Garcia used a gun and is a member of a gang.
Garcia allegedly killed three people and seriously wounded a fourth in the aftermath of a fight that broke out on Aug. 10, 2008, at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Western Avenue, prosecutors reportedly said.
The names of the remaining individuals who were taken into custody during the raids were not immediately made available.
Almost $100,000 in cash, several pounds of methamphetamine, a number of vehicles and a rifle were recovered during the operation, authorities said.
The arrests came just a week following a major operation targeting another street gang, Lennox 13, which yielded 27 arrests stemming from an 18-month investigation into a racketeering ring allegedly operated by that gang, according to the PT.
Hub City Nitty Gritty 