60 Officers Arrest 4 in Drive-By Shooting : Santa Paula: The men are accused of belonging to a gang suspected of attacking a rival gang member’s car.

Sixty law enforcement officers, including two SWAT teams, converged on a Santa Paula neighborhood before dawn Wednesday to arrest four alleged members of a local gang suspected of involvement in a drive-by shooting in Ventura.

Larry Renteria, 23, Arthur Banuelos, 22, Michael Banuelos, 38, and Steven Bracamontes, 23, were arrested without incident after a 5 a.m. search of four houses on Mill Street. The four, accused of belonging to the Crimies gang, are suspected of attacking a car driven by a member of the rival Party Boyz gang on May 18.

Renteria and Arthur Banuelos, being held on $250,000 bail each, were booked in Ventura County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder. Bracamontes was arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun and violating probation. He was jailed in lieu of $5,000 bail. Michael Banuelos, 38, was being held in County Jail without bail for violating state prison parole.

“Communities within Ventura County have just about had it as far as gangs and their potential for growth go,” said Lt. Pat Rooney of the Ventura Police Department, which organized the investigation. “We don’t ever want to be in the same position as some of our sister counties.”

Police said the four men are suspected of chasing a car driven by alleged Party Boyz member Mario (Dino) Castro on May 18, about 8:20 p.m. At least three shots were fired at the car in the 1100 block of Citrus Drive at the eastern edge of Ventura, police said.

Neither Castro nor his passenger were injured, and both vehicles sped away to Santa Paula, police said.

Witnesses reported the shooting and with the help of the Santa Paula Police Department, Ventura police officers identified Castro.

Santa Paula police Cmdr. Bob Gonzales said Castro was known to police as a Party Boyz gang member with a history of gang affiliation. Based on his association with gangs, authorities were able to identify his attackers, Gonzalez said. During the search Wednesday, officers found 14 guns--an AK-47, three handguns, two sawed-off shotguns and seven rifles and shotguns, police said.

SWAT teams from the Ventura Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department were on hand, Rooney said.

Participating in the arrests were officers from the Ventura Police Department, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the Santa Paula Police Department, the Ventura County district attorney’s office and the State Department of Corrections.

The police raid Wednesday morning followed a fatal shooting in Santa Paula Monday in which a Santa Paula man is accused of killing his next-door neighbor--a shooting that police have linked to a quarrel about alleged gang activity involving their children.

Santa Paula police arrested Delfino Lopez, 43, on a murder charge Monday in the shooting of Samuel Ruiz. He was rearrested Wednesday, police said, allowing them to hold Lopez for another 48 hours while they finish reports on the slaying.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison said Lopez will be arraigned today or Friday in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Lopez’s wife and son, speaking outside a courtroom before his arraignment was delayed Wednesday, said Ruiz and Lopez were the best of friends until a week before the shooting, when they began arguing about a fight among their sons.

The wife and son, Martha and Freddy Joe Lopez, vehemently denied police reports that the shooting was gang-related, although the son, Freddy Joe Lopez, said he belonged to a Santa Paula gang 2 1/2 years ago.

Martha Lopez said she looked out her window on Monday afternoon and saw Ruiz next door, drunk and yelling threats at her family. She said she saw Ruiz pull a gun from under his shirt, cock it and point it at her husband, Delfino Lopez, while the two continued arguing.

She said she called 911 and while she was on the phone, Ruiz began shooting. She said her husband shot back at Ruiz, although she couldn’t see him around the window frame. Moments later, Delfino Lopez walked into the house, without a gun, Martha Lopez said.

“And he goes, ‘You better get an ambulance’ ” she said.

Police have not found the weapon used to kill Ruiz. Ventura County Coroner Dr. F. Warren Lovell ruled that Ruiz died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Times staff writer Psyche Pascual contributed to this story.