618 Arrested in S.F. Valley Gang Sweeps : Crime: Police call it most successful operation ever. But violence plagues Southland as at least 15 people are reported slain.

In the most extensive crackdown ever on gangs operating in the San Fernando Valley, police during the weekend arrested 618 people--including 270 alleged gang members--for crimes ranging from possession of narcotics to unpaid parking tickets.

About 200 Los Angeles police officers were assigned to the anti-gang task force “Operation Hammer,” which from Friday night until Sunday swept through known gang hangouts. About 14 pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated, along with 51 vehicles, officers said. The sweep came in response to citizens’ complaints about growing gang problems, police said.

“The public is complaining all the time about gang members hanging out in front of liquor stores and apartments, selling narcotics and scaring people that are walking by,” Sgt. Frank Stilo said.

Recent police crime statistics show that gang-related crimes in the Valley during 1989 more than doubled from the previous year, from 510 to 1,191.

Last July, in what had been the largest Valley gang sweep, police arrested 267 people, including 94 suspected gang members. Police said the latest Valley sweep, their most successful ever, netted 115 felony arrests and 503 misdemeanor arrests. Forty-one people were booked on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and 48 were arrested for investigation of possessing narcotics.

“The sweep, in my opinion, appears to have been very successful,” Stilo said.

Meanwhile, violence plagued other parts of the Southland, as at least 15 people were reported slain during the weekend, including a young woman allegedly gunned down by her stepfather in Santa Ana.

The woman, Olivia Bohaman, 21, and a younger sister were found wounded in the living room of their house Saturday afternoon, Santa Ana police said. Bohaman died of head wounds and the sister was treated for wounds to her arms and back.

Police said they were seeking Jose Lopez Perez, 32, the estranged husband of the victims’ mother, who was seen driving away from the house.

Elsewhere, two men were shot at a hamburger stand near MacArthur Park about 5 a.m. Sunday, Los Angeles police said. One died and the other was hospitalized in serious condition. The victims were shot by a man who got out of a car, walked up to them and fired, police said.

An unidentified man was found shot to death in his La Puente home at 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said. In South Los Angeles, an unidentified man was stabbed to death early Sunday, police said.

On Saturday, an unidentified 22-year-old man was shot and killed in South Los Angeles and another unidentified man was shot to death in southwest Los Angeles, police said. An unidentified man was shot as he stood on the sidewalk in the Los Feliz area early Saturday morning, police said.

A 15-year-old boy was shot to death in an unincorporated area near Whittier just before 1 a.m. Saturday. And a second 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death later in Pico Rivera. Sheriff’s deputies said both crimes appeared to be gang related.

In Hacienda Heights, Joseph Sanchez, 21, was shot to death Saturday in his garage, sheriff’s deputies said. Witnesses said they saw two men leaving the scene on foot, but no arrests were made, officers said.

Police reported five more deaths Friday night.