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From Los Angeles Times

Mexico extradites drug kingpin to the U.S.

Benjamin Arellano Felix, the former leader of one of Mexico's most feared organized crime groups, had been incarcerated since his 2002 arrest. He is flown to San Diego to face racketeering and drug conspiracy charges.

by Richard Marosi and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

April 30, 2011

Reporting from San Diego and Mexico City -- The Mexican government Friday extradited to the United States drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix, the former leader of one of Mexico's most feared and powerful organized crime groups, whose ruthless reign transformed northern Baja California into a major drug trafficking corridor into the U.S.

Arellano Felix, who had been incarcerated in a Mexican prison since his arrest in 2002, was flown to San Diego and transferred to the downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he will be held under heightened security during court proceedings that are expected to last months, and possibly years.

The extradition marks the end of a long effort by U.S. authorities to get Arellano Felix into a U.S. courtroom. He faces racketeering and drug conspiracy charges as part of a San Diego federal grand jury indictment that has already led to the arrests and convictions of several of his brothers and associates from the cartel's heyday during the 1980s and '90s.

Arellano Felix, who headed the organization known as the Arellano Felix, or Tijuana cartel, was among the first of Mexico's modern organized crime bosses. With connections to Colombia, he and his brothers established a drug pipeline that funneled tons of cocaine and other drugs into California, according to the indictment.

Authorities allege the cartel generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, using the money to bribe Mexican military and law enforcement officials and to purchase weapons that enforcers would use to torture and kill enemies in Mexico and the San Diego area.

The effects of Arellano Felix's iron-fisted rule are felt to this day. Many families in Baja California are still searching for the whereabouts of people who disappeared during his years in power. The cartel popularized the use of chemicals to dispose of enemies, disintegrating bodies by dumping them into vats of lye and acid.

"The Arellano Felix organization has spread fear and violence on both sides of the border, and today's extradition is an important step forward in our effort to hold the alleged leaders of this criminal enterprise to account," said U.S. Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer.

Many observers doubt the case will ever get to trial, noting that every other defendant has pleaded guilty. If he cooperates with prosecutors, Arellano Felix could shed light on the deaths of numerous potential witnesses and a crusading Mexican prosecutor whose head was crushed in an industrial press. He could also implicate people the cartel bribed, said John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor who worked on the case.

"It shows they're serious," Kirby said, referring to the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Arellano Felix "could spill the beans on everybody. He had dealings with the highest levels of government, and in the church, in the military."

The extradition comes at a time of tense relations between the U.S. and Mexico, strained in part by leaked diplomatic cables that contained pointed criticisms by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual of the Mexican government's drug-war efforts. Calderon complained vociferously about Pascual's assessments, and Pascual offered his resignation in March.

Samuel Gonzalez, a former top organized crime prosecutor, said the extradition came as U.S. and Mexican officials were meeting in Washington to discuss the Merida Initiative, a package of U.S. aid for the drug war. At the State Department on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted her Mexican counterpart, Patricia Espinosa, at the third gathering of the Merida Initiative High-Level Consultative Group.

"It's a gift from Mexico," Gonzalez said of the extradition. "This is a way for Mexico to show its good intentions."

With most of its original leaders either arrested or dead, the cartel has splintered into rival factions in recent years, leading to brutal infighting that has all but wiped out the once-powerful group.

Arellano Felix's brother, Javier, was captured on a boat off Baja California in 2006 and sentenced to life in prison. Another brother, Ramon, the cartel's notorious enforcer, was gunned down in Mazatlan in 2002.

Benjamin Arellano Felix is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cartel-leader-20110430,0,3477972.story

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RFK assassin claims woman in polka-dot dress controlled his mind

In a new court filing, the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 said he was controlled by a mystery woman at the time of the killing.

In the papers, which were reviewed by the Associated Press, Sirhan Sirhan says he was led to the Ambassador Hotel with a gun by an unidentified woman in a polka-dot dress.

Last month, Sirhan's lawyer tried to convince a parole board that his client was a brainwashed hit man when he gunned down Sen. Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968. The board refused to release Sirhan.

But The Times last month reported on handwritten notes purportedly from Sirhan, kept for 42 years by a Century City business executive, that appear to tell a different story.

Michael McCowan was an investigator and the youngest member of Sirhan's defense team in 1969 when the accused assassin wrote on a legal notepad the narrative of his visit to a target practice range and his election-night trip to the hotel.

“He wrote it right in front of me,” said McCowan, now 78.

The lawyer currently representing Sirhan suggested he was “manipulated” and “set up” and did not act alone when Kennedy was shot.

According to the new documents reviewed by AP, Sirhan said he didn't realize he was firing at Robert Kennedy. "I thought that I was at the range more than I was actually shooting at any person, let alone Bobby Kennedy," he said, according to the documents.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/rfk-assassin-claims-woman-in-polka-dot-dress-controlled-his-mind-caused-him-to-fire.html

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Sheriff's helicopter pilots being targeted by laser beams an ongoing problem

L.A. County Sheriff's Department helicopters have been targeted from the ground by individuals shooting laser beams six times in the last few months, officials said this week.

The incidents have occurred in Maywood, La Puente, Pico Rivera, and West Covina. In four of those cases, sheriff's deputies made arrests of suspects between the ages of 15 and 25. And two of the arrests have come this month.

"This a serious matter," said Sgt. Morrie Zager, a helicopter pilot with the Sheriff's Aero Bureau. "The pilots' disorientation could cause loss of control of the aircraft."

A 16-year-old Los Alamitos boy was arrested this week after sheriff's deputies said he pointed a laser into one of their helicopters as it flew above Interstate 5 and Rosemead Boulevard.

The pilot of the aircraft was able to make a safe landing.

The extent of the problem in the Los Angeles area became evident in a report released in January by the Federal Aviation Administration that said Los Angeles International Airport recorded the highest number of incidents in the country last year involving aircraft and laser beams, which can can distract or temporarily blind pilots.

The nation's third-busiest airport had 102 reported incidents with 201 more at area airports, including 32 at Los Angeles/Ontario International Airport, 32 from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, and 31 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, according to the FAA.

The review also found that the number of laser events almost doubled in 2010 from the previous year to more than 2,800 -- the highest number of reports since the federal government began tracking them in 2005.

In California, a conviction for aircraft laser pointing can result in up to three years in state prison and a fine of up to $2,000. Some have been pushing for even harsher penalties.

For their part, sheriff's officials said the first step has been to better document such incidents internally. But they also are coordinating with federal and local agencies to combat the problem through education and enforcement.

"The awareness of law enforcement has been heightened on the ground and in the air," said Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker. "But we need the public's help to protect everyone's safety."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/sheriffs-lasers-helicol.html

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From the New York Times

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Fatal Bomb in Morocco Shows Signs of Al Qaeda

MARRAKESH, Morocco — The terrorist bomb that killed 16 people in a crowded tourist cafe on Thursday was packed with nails and was set off remotely, most probably by a cellphone, Morocco 's interior minister and security officials said Friday.

The bomb appeared to have all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb , Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui said, briefing the government in Rabat. “The manner reminds us of the style used generally by Al Qaeda ,” he said. “And this leads us to think that there is a possibility of more dangers to come.”

But there was no claim of responsibility on Friday by Al Qaeda or any other group.

“This was not a suicide attack,” Mr. Cherkaoui said, adding that “it appears the bomb was set off remotely,” in remarks carried by the official news agency, MAP. He said the bomb contained ammonium nitrate. A Moroccan security official, asking for anonymity, said the bomb also contained triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an explosive easily made and popular among bombers in the Middle East, including those from Al Qaeda.

The bombing is a serious blow to Morocco's tourism industry, already hurt by the economic crisis and anxieties about popular protests that are stirring much of the Arab world. The site — a popular cafe facing the historic Djemma el Fna square — is a regular tourist stop, and the bombing appeared aimed at foreigners.

Fourteen of the 16 dead were foreigners, mostly French citizens, as well as two Canadians, a Briton and a Dutch tourist, officials said. There were 25 people wounded, 14 of whom remained in hospitals, Mr. Cherkaoui said.

Morocco's king, Mohammed VI , has tried to respond to popular demands for more democracy by beginning constitutional reforms and releasing or commuting the sentences of 190 radical Islamic prisoners arrested after the last big terrorist bombing, in Casablanca in 2003, when 45 people died, including 12 suicide bombers.

On May 1, protesters plan another rally in Moroccan cities to demand a faster transition to a constitutional monarchy, the third such protest since Feb. 20.

Mohamed Darif, a political scientist at King Hassan University in Casablanca, said, “The finger is pointed at Al Qaeda,” and suggested that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb had singled out a cafe popular with French tourists. The same group holds four French hostages and demands that for their return, France pull its troops out of Afghanistan.

“They would find no better spot than Marrakesh, which has become a French village, with a strong French presence,” Mr. Darif said.

But he suggested other possible culprits, including radical Islamists who want all their colleagues released from prison — nearly 2,000 or so are detained — and those who do not favor the king's recent movement toward democratic reform.

Jean-Yves Moisseron, editor in chief of the France-based magazine Maghreb-Machrek, said the way the bombing was carried out pointed to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, “since Marrakesh is a very touristy place with a bad reputation, a spot for prostitution and sexual tourism, with international jet-setters” who own houses in the old city.

“There is a very clear will to target tourists; otherwise they would have bombed 50 meters away,” he said, adding that the bombers had to get through significant police controls to hit the square, which is well protected. “They were surely well organized and significantly trained.”

Two of the dead were Michal Zekry, 29, an Israeli-Canadian who was pregnant, and her husband, Messod Wizman, 30, a Moroccan-Canadian. They had come from Shanghai to visit Mr. Wizman's parents, who live in Casablanca, for Passover, and then took a trip to see Marrakesh.

“They were lovely together, married for three years and have a boy, 2,” said Mr. Wizman's aunt. “She was pregnant. What happened was that they went to the hotel in Marrakesh, but their room was not ready, so they thought, ‘Why not have a coffee?' and went to the Argana.” She paused, then said: “There are no words for that.” The couple had left their son with his grandparents.

Mr. Wizman, she said, grew up in Casablanca, studied in Paris and then went to Montreal, where he met his wife.

On Friday evening, the square was packed with people, but the coffee shops and restaurants normally filled with tourists were nearly empty.

Around the corner, the Mabrouka cinema was open, showing “Femmes en Miroirs,” about a young Moroccan photographer living in Paris who returns home to see her sick mother. Rashiq Moulay Alarbi, a literature student, said: “We are not afraid, we are going out. I want these people who did this to us to know that they have not succeeded.”

His friend Abdellah al-Khalaoui, a driver, expressed sorrow for the deaths and concern for the city. “We fear that the tourism will drop; it has already started,” he said. “Already the coffee shops in which people used to sit are empty.”

Nearby, a Spanish couple ate with friends at a small restaurant, undeterred. They were near the square on Thursday but did not hear the explosion. “We're very sad for the people, but something like this could have happened in Barcelona or Paris as well,” said Manuel Sanroma, a mathematics professor at the University of Barcelona who was making his second visit to Marrakesh.

“We love the Arab world,” he said. “Terrorists can attack you anywhere.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/world/africa/30morocco.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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Al Qaeda Attack Was Thwarted by Three Arrests, Germany Says

BERLIN — The German police arrested three men suspected of being members of Al Qaeda on Friday, saying they represented “a concrete and imminent danger” to the nation and had been planning an attack using explosives.

The German authorities presented the bare outlines of a terrorism plot that they said involved at least one person trained at a militant camp in Afghanistan or Pakistan and a cache of material for producing explosives. The men had been under surveillance for seven months, but the authorities said they decided to move fast when the three began preparations for testing an explosive device.

“We succeeded in preventing a concrete and imminent danger,” the interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, said in a statement that acknowledged assistance from foreign investigators. “This proves that Germany continues to be in the cross hairs of international terrorists, and we need to remain vigilant.”

The authorities said more information would be released at the federal prosecutor's headquarters in Karlsruhe on Saturday, when the men would be brought before a judge. But some details emerged from law enforcement officials and the German news media, which said at least two of the men were Moroccan, one with German citizenship and the other living in Germany illegally. The third was said to be a German of Iranian descent, though some reports said he was of Moroccan descent.

It was not at clear if there was any connection between the arrests and the terrorist attack in Morocco on Thursday, when at least 16 people were killed after a bomb was detonated in a packed cafe in the popular tourist city of Marrakesh. But experts said it was likely that Moroccan and German intelligence services had recently cooperated.

The German news media reported that the three suspects had been taken into custody in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and that the authorities had confiscated materials for making explosives, including acetone, a volatile substance that terrorists often use. Officials identified the suspects only as Abdeladim K., Jamil S. and Ahmed Sh. German authorities do not typically release the names of criminal suspects.

According to the newspaper Bild, one of the men was from Düsseldorf and the other two were from nearby cities, Essen and Bochum. All three were arrested at 6:30 a.m. in raids in Düsseldorf and Bochum.

The target was uncertain. Bild, Germany's most widely read and generally reliable newspaper, reported that the terrorist cell might have planned to hit the popular Eurovision Song Contest on May 14, though that event's organizers said they had not been alerted to any such threat.

The newspaper Die Welt anonymously quoted an investigator as saying that the suspects were planning to attack public transportation in a large German city. An American official who was briefed on the operation said the plot was aimed at buses or depots.

The arrests and accusations, which combined elements of homegrown terrorism with concerns about the lawless Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, shook Germany's sense of calm. The country was put on edge last year as well after a terrorism alert involving what the authorities said was concrete information of a planned attack.

The increased security measures established at public areas like transportation hubs had eased in recent months, but law enforcement had quietly continued to pursue leads on the threats aggressively, including a suggestion that terrorists planned to strike the Reichstag, home to the lower house of Parliament.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of the lower house and chairman of the Committee on Internal Affairs, said investigators had closely monitored travel to the Afghan border area and noted “a significant number of returnees.”

“The recent arrests must not surprise anyone who deals seriously with the matter,” Mr. Bosbach said.

The Rhine-Main region has a large population with ties to North Africa and is one of Germany's centers of the Salafist movement, a radical fundamentalist school of Islamic thinking, along with Hamburg, Berlin and the region around Frankfurt, according to Guido Steinberg, an expert on terrorism with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“We do not know yet exactly how big this is,” Mr. Steinberg said. “But that something could happen this year is anything but absurd. The Salafist scene has grown significantly in Germany in recent years. The number of converts has increased substantially as well.”

According to the official Germany News agency, the three men had planned to test an explosive on Thursday night, but delayed for some reason. The authorities said the men were arrested without previously issued warrants, perhaps indicating a decision to move quickly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/world/europe/30germany.html?src=mv&pagewanted=print

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Memories Lost to a Whirlwind Alight on Facebook to Be Claimed

The tornado that killed Emily Washburn's grandfather this week also destroyed his Mississippi home, leaving his family with nothing to remember him by — until a picture of him holding the dog he loved surfaced on Facebook , posted by a woman who found it in her office parking lot, 175 miles away in Tennessee.

Like hundreds of others finding keepsakes that fell from the sky and posting photographs of them on a Facebook lost and found, the woman included her e-mail address, and Ms. Washburn wrote immediately: “That man is my granddaddy. It would mean a lot to me to have that picture.”

Created by Patty Bullion, 37, of Lester, Ala., a page on the social networking site has so far reunited dozens of storm survivors with their prized — and in some cases, only — possessions: a high school diploma that landed in a Lester front yard was traced to its owner in Tupelo, Miss., for example. A woman who lost her home in the tiny town of Phil Campbell, Ala., claimed her homemade quilt found in Athens, Ala., nearly 50 miles away: “Phil Campbell Class of 2000,” it read.

But the page is also turning social networking software designed to help friends stay in touch into an unexpected meeting ground for strangers. Along with the photographs of found items are the comments of well-wishers and homespun detectives speculating as to the identities of their owners. For those spared by the storms that killed hundreds in the South, the page is a bridge to its victims, a way to offer solace and to share in their suffering.

“Is she okay?” wrote one commenter on a snapshot of a red-haired child at a swimming pool. “I see her face throughout the day, and wonder.”

The tornado did not touch down in Lester. But when Ms. Bullion ventured into her yard on Wednesday afternoon, she found it littered with other people's memories that the storm had disgorged in passing. One document, lying face down on the wet pavement, was a sonogram, just like those she had saved from her own pregnancies. “I would want that back,” she said.

Ms. Bullion already had her own Facebook page with a few hundred friends, but the chances of any of them knowing the people whose items she had found were slim, she thought. So she created a new page with a title that described precisely what she hoped it would contain: “Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes.” She asked her friends to post a link to it on their own pages.

“I feel like I know these people,” Ms. Bullion said. “They could so easily have been us.”

The first of the images that Ms. Bullion had posted was identified a few hours later by the sister of two children shown in a black-and-white photograph. They were from Hackleburg, Ala., the sister wrote in the comments section, a town almost 100 miles away: Ms. Bullion's husband, a forest ranger, looked it up on a map.

By Friday evening, more than 52,000 people had clicked the “like” button on the page, and more than 600 pictures had been posted: an unopened letter, a death certificate and scores of photographs. Some of the items were unscathed. Some were carefully pieced together by their finder. Some, like mortgage statements and canceled checks, evoked calls to be sure to block out account numbers and personal financial information.

One water-damaged picture of a chubby-cheeked toddler elicited over two dozen comments, its rips and smudges an unavoidable metaphor for what people feared had happened to the child. “This breaks my heart,” wrote one commenter. A digitally restored version someone posted yielded approving comments, almost as though saving the picture could ensure the child's safety.

Laura Mashburn saw some sign of providence in the fact that Hannah Wilson, the young woman whose photo she had found on her doorstep in Lester, turned out to work in a dentist's office, just as she once had.

The woman's co-workers saw the image of what looked to be her old prom picture on the page and supplied her name and address. Her mother, someone else volunteered, had a heart attack during the storm. “I saw Hannah yesterday,” wrote another friend, “and she is grateful to you for getting this back to her.”

Laura Monks, the director of a community college in Fayetteville, Tenn., who had found the picture of Ms. Washburn's grandfather, Elvin Patterson, and his dog Yoyo, said she would return it right away.

“My great-grandfather's name was Elvin also,” she wrote to Ms. Washburn in an e-mail. “Is there anything that I can do for your family or your community?”

Ms. Washburn, 31, whose maternal grandmother also died in the storm, said in an interview on Friday that she would frame the photograph. Then she said, her voice breaking, “I'll probably give it to my mom.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/us/30reunite.html

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From the White House

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The President in Alabama: “We're Going to Make Sure that You're Not Forgotten”

The President stood with Alabama officials this afternoon to discuss what was clearly a sobering tour of Tuscaloosa:

Well, Michelle and I want to express, first of all, our deepest condolences to not just the city of Tuscaloosa but the state of Alabama and all the other states that have been affected by this unbelievable storm. We just took a tour, and I've got to say I've never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking. We were just talking to some residents here who were lucky enough to escape alive, but have lost everything. They mentioned that their neighbors had lost two of their grandchildren in the process.

There were stories like that not only all over town, but across the state and even the region, and the President praised the “resilience” of the people he had met even as they were surrounded by tragedy. He commended all the Alabama officials who have been working with the federal government and pledged that the work would continue well after the swarms of television cameras left:

Fortunately the governor has done an extraordinary job with his team in making sure that the resources of the state are mobilized and have been brought in here. I'm very pleased that we've got a FEMA director in Craig Fugate who is as experienced as anybody in responding to disasters even of this magnitude. And we've already provided the disaster designations -- we've already provided the disaster designations that are required to make sure that the maximum federal help comes here as quickly as possible.

Craig is working with the teams on the ground to make sure that we are seamlessly coordinating between the state, local and federal governments. And I want to just make a commitment to the communities here that we are going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild.

We can't bring those who have been lost back. They're alongside God at this point. We can help maybe a little bit with the families dealing with the grief of having a loved one lost. But the property damage, which is obviously extensive, that's something that we can do something about.

And so we're going to do everything we can to partner with you, Mr. Mayor, with you, governor. As the governor was pointing out, this community was hit as bad as any place, but there are communities all across Alabama and all across this region that have been affected, and we're going to be making that same commitment to make sure that we're doing whatever we can to make sure that people are okay.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/29/president-alabama-we-re-going-make-sure-you-re-not-forgotten

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From ICE

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Multi-agency probe targets LA-area gang linked to drug, weapons trafficking

HSI agents among 1,300 federal and local officers involved in pre-dawn takedown

LOS ANGELES - More than 1,300 federal and local law enforcement officers fanned out Thursday morning across the Los Angeles harbor area to arrest 80 alleged members and associates of the Rancho San Pedro gang, capping a nearly three-year investigation that linked the group to firearms and narcotics trafficking.

The enforcement action targeted some 230 Rancho San Pedro members and associates who are charged in federal and state court documents with a host of crimes, including violent acts as well as firearms and narcotics violations. Of the defendants located and taken into custody Thursday, 66 were arrested on state weapons and narcotics charges and 14 were arrested based upon federal indictments.

"The collaboration between federal and local authorities in Los Angeles is unparalleled, and today's operation in San Pedro is another great example of us joining together to take back our neighborhoods," said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. "With scores of gang members, drug dealers and gun merchants being sent to jail today, we have delivered a staggering blow to the Rancho San Pedro gang. The Justice Department is committed to working with our state and local partners to dismantle criminal street gangs so our communities are safer for law-abiding residents."

The charges stem from a sweeping investigation involving more than a dozen federal, state and local agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

"This operation has dealt a major blow to one of the largest, most dangerous and longest-standing street gangs in the San Pedro area," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles. "Today, we are taking back our streets and making it clear that the scourge of fear and crime fostered by this gang is coming to an end."

"The San Pedro community is safer because of ATF's determined efforts to target and dismantle this criminal gang that used firearms and violent acts to further their illegal gains and intimidate the neighborhood, said John A. Torres, special agent in charge, ATF Los Angeles Field Division. "The firearms purchased include short-barreled shotguns, machine guns and assault-style weapons, many of which are suspected to be linked to Rancho San Pedro gang activities."

"I am committed to working closely with our federal partners to fight a gang that has had a stranglehold on one of our LA communities for far too long," said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. "LAPD detectives, Harbor Area and South Bureau officers and our ATF partners worked long and hard to put together a case that allowed us to arrest those responsible for committing illegal activities on behalf of the Rancho San Pedro Gang."

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has issued 12 indictments naming 26 defendants on charges ranging from the distribution of methamphetamine and illegal weapon sales to immigration offenses. One of the indictment names three defendants who were allegedly involved in a series of narcotics transactions, including one sale involving more than one pound of methamphetamine. The lead defendant in that case is also accused of brokering the sale of 22 firearms, including assault rifles. About half of the defendants named in the federal indictments face potential life sentences.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting approximately 145 defendants on state charges, including illegal weapons possession and selling drugs, including methamphetamine and heroin.

During the course of the investigation, informants and undercover officers purchased 90 firearms along with significant quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. During Thursday's takedown, officers seized an additional 14 firearms, including a silencer.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has filed a gang injunction against the Rancho San Pedro gang that seeks to limit gang members' ability to associate with one another within a proposed safety zone that encompasses much of San Pedro. Additionally, the City Attorney has filed nuisance abatement actions against five commercial and residential locations, including a pizza parlor, all of which are associated with gang and narcotics activity. This is the first time a gang injunction and nuisance abatement lawsuits have been filed simultaneously in conjunction with the takedown of a major Southern California street gang.

"Gangs continue to be a dangerous scourge to our community and residents," said Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich. "The joint task force efforts by the prosecutors in the City Attorney's Office along with our law enforcement partners at the state, local and federal level will help put a stop to their crimes and threats to the law-abiding residents of this City and will restore a greater quality of life in our neighborhoods."

The Rancho San Pedro gang originated back in the 1970s. Its membership includes 600 documented members, as well as more than 400 associates.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1104/110428losangeles.htm

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