Tracking Gangs Without Boundaries : Racist and Asian Groups Defy Notions of Turf, Complicating Law Enforcement’s Fight

A few years ago, law-enforcement officers in Orange County could keep up with gangs by following them in their “home” areas. But today the gang problem is compounded by mobility and migration, anti-gang experts say. Orange County is periodically invaded by visiting gangs from elsewhere in the state--sometimes even from out of state.

White racist groups, including skinheads and neo-Nazis, are among gangs that float in and out of Orange County, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas H. Woodsmall. He said the reasons for the gangs’ attraction to Orange County are not clear. But Woodsmall said it has become obvious that gang members from all over Southern California, and sometimes even from out of state, periodically come to this county for gatherings and criminal activity.

“We recently prosecuted a hate crime where the victim, who was of American-Chinese ancestry, was attacked in a park in Fullerton,” Woodsmall said. “The skinheads involved in that case came from all over--from Los Angeles, from Riverside County, from San Bernardino County. They had just one thing in common: their racist viewpoint.”

Woodsmall said that Asian gang members also drift in and out of Orange County. Some of the Asian gangs are indigenous to Orange County, he noted, but others come here because the county has a large Asian population that is the target of gang burglaries and home invasions.

“Mobility is very big with Asian gangs,” said Woodsmall, who is in charge of the Orange County district attorney’s office anti-gang unit. “With Asian gangs, they can commit a crime in Orange County one day, be in San Jose the next day, committing a crime there, and on the following day be in Vancouver, Wash., committing yet another crime.”

Woodsmall added, “The mobility of gangs now does make it more difficult” for law enforcement.

The problems of gang mobility and migration are particularly well known in Huntington Beach and Westminster. At a community forum in Huntington Beach City Hall last week, two police experts in gang activities described how those cities see periodic influxes of visiting gang members.

Huntington Beach Detective Mike Mello said gangs, including white racist hate groups, come to that coastal community to enjoy the beach--and raise hell.

Westminster Detective Marcus Frank said he sees an even wider spectrum of visiting gangs in his city. “Asian gangs come to Westminster from all over North America,” he said. “They come because Westminster has the biggest Indochinese business district in the free world.”

Gangs are not only spreading throughout Orange County by migration, the detectives said, but they are also traveling across the United States and Canada, often using Orange County as a base.

The forum at which Frank and Mello spoke was co-sponsored by the Huntington Beach Police Department and Neighborhood Watch. During the session, Mello showed to the audience color slides of gangs that frequent Huntington Beach, including white skinheads and neo-Nazis.

Mello said that some white racist gangs claim Huntington Beach as their turf, even though gang members often do not live in the city. And Frank similarly said Asian gangs from all over the continent float in and out of Westminster, drawn by the potential of robbery riches from businesses and residences in the city’s Little Saigon area.

Mobility and migration, the two detectives said, have resulted in an ever-changing picture of gang activity.

“We get a lot of transient gang activity in Huntington Beach,” Mello said in an interview. “They come here because the beach is so popular. We get a lot of white supremacy groups that come here, but I don’t think it would be correct to say Huntington Beach is the hotbed of the white supremacy groups. Fallbrook (in San Diego County) has been a bigger attraction, at least until recently.”

Fallbrook is the residence of former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger, who was sentenced in Los Angeles County on Dec. 2 to six months in jail for a cross-burning incident in a racially mixed San Fernando Valley neighborhood.

Mello’s slides, which he showed the community forum, included photos of graffiti inscribed by bizarre gangs such as Satan worshipers.

Both Mello and Frank said that while Huntington Beach and Westminster have full-time resident gangs, the cities are also plagued by raids from out-of-town gangs. Both Westminster and Huntington Beach act as mailing addresses for some large, “territorial” groups that migrate over large areas, the officers said.

Frank, who specializes in Asian gangs, said those groups seldom use graffiti. “Asian gangs don’t stake out turf,” he said. “They’re interested in economic gain. Indochinese gangs go after Indochinese homes and businesses to get money and jewelry. These gang members are almost impossible to identify by clothing because they usually dress like everyone else.”

In interviews, the two gang experts discussed some possible long-range solutions to the problem.

“I think the threat of deportation would be a very effective tool, if it could be used against some of the Asian gang members,” Frank said. “Because of Vietnam’s status (as a communist country), we’ve never been able to use that threat before, but maybe this will change in the future. Certainly no other threat seems to worry Asian gangs. They see going to the California Youth Authority as something like going to a two-star hotel.”

Mello said he believes concerted citizen outrage is needed, statewide and nationwide.

“I think when everyone gets angry, there is going to be action,” he said. “Just as in the case of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). Look what happened when one woman became angry and got others to join her--now it’s (an anti-drunk-driving crusade) all across the nation.

“I think that’s what’s going to be needed to get tough on gangs,” Mello said.

Woodsmall, of the Orange County district attorney’s office, said technology is providing a helpful tool in keeping up with mobile gangs. He said Orange County has become plugged into a regional computer system that keeps records on gang members.

“The computer can even send us pictures of the gang member,” Woodsmall said. He added that the computer is helpful in pinpointing an individual when only fragments of information are known about a gang suspect, such as the nickname he or she used.