Gang Truce Sparks Hope That Peace Talks Are Fruitful : Violence: After four months, organizers express cautious optimism. Santa Ana police report lull in activity, but some question effectiveness of truce.

As a truce among several street gangs enters its fifth month, police and truce organizers are expressing cautious optimism that peace talks will continue and eventually help stop the escalation of deadly violence in the city.

With the start of summer, a period when police traditionally brace for increased gang confrontations, detectives in the Santa Ana Police Department’s gang unit say there has been a lull in much gang activity, such as street fights.

But the truce, intended to stop drive-by shootings, is not being honored by all of the city’s estimated 40 street gangs, and among the people who live and work in the most hard-hit areas there is disagreement about its effectiveness.

Police declined to estimate how many gangs are participating in the peace talks, but truce organizers say members of between nine and 16 gangs have been attending weekend meetings in various city parks.

While some gang members say the truce means they can now walk through some neighborhoods without fear of attack, several fatal shootings that police say were gang-related have threatened the fragile armistice. The most recent was a late-night gun battle June 8 in which a 22-year-old Santa Ana man was fatally wounded on West Bishop Street.

“We’re trying to make this a legitimate movement to stop the drive-bys, stop the gangbanging,” said Fernando Leon, a Garden Grove activist who has helped organize weekend peace talks among gangs at Santa Ana parks. Leon also has plans for an August summit for hundreds of city gang members.

“We understand it is going to take time--that initial transition” away from violence, said Leon, 49, who has also worked in Stanton to help youngsters stay out of gangs.

City officials in late May presented a preliminary plan to combat gangs, which included recommendations to increase recreational programs for youths, establish a hot line for reports of gang activity and expand a self-esteem program to include more local schools. The completed plan, developed by Mayor Pro Tem Miguel A. Pulido Jr., is scheduled to be presented tonight to the City Council.

Organizers say the truce’s survival depends in part on getting more gang members involved.

The truce “sounds good, man, and it works,” said Robert (Hunchback) Lopez. The 22-year-old said he used to belong to the Southside gang. But “you got to reach every single area for it to work.”

There is no hard evidence that the truce has had any impact, however. In fact, since the talks began among a handful of gang leaders in January, police have reported nine gang-related murders--three more than last year at this time, when there was no truce.

One man, 31-year-old Mauro V. Meza, was fatally shot April 15 after a basketball game at Santa Ana High School. A second man, Florencio Villasenor), 22, was shot to death June 8 on West Bishop Street during a gun battle.

Despite those statistics, Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton contends that the city has enjoyed a relative peace from gang warfare.

“Toward the end of the school year, people get into something of a party mode,” Helton said. “These things can be a catalyst to confrontation. (But) right now it is fairly quiet.”

Although the Police Department was unable to provide statistics showing a decrease in any other gang problems, Helton said: “We believe (the talks) are having an impact.”

Some people who live or work in areas that have been plagued for years by gangs say they have noticed no change since the truce.

Leonardo Vasquez, 60, a fruit vendor who lives in an apartment overlooking West Bishop Street, said he still hears the staccato of gunfire late at night in his central Santa Ana neighborhood.

“I don’t go out at night,” he said.

Sweeping a concrete walkway in front of her home, Ramona Perez said she still sees neighborhood gang members running and shooting near her Shelton Street house at night.

“They hide in the alleys, duck in and out,” the 42-year-old woman said in Spanish, pointing to a narrow alley between her house and a neighbor’s. “It’s a very dangerous area.”

Perez said she plans to move next month because the violence “scares you. It terrorizes you because a bullet could come through the window.”

But less than a mile away, Lisa Bell, who lives in an apartment complex near Jerome Park and McFadden Avenue, credited the truce with helping to maintain a calmer atmosphere in her neighborhood.

“It’s dead on this street (now). It’s a trip,” said Bell, 28, who said she had become accustomed to the sound of gunfire during her 12 years in the neighborhood.

Irene Martinez, executive director of Delhi Community Center, said she also believes the truce has been “effective.”

“Just the fact that they are talking to each other is a good sign, and we have noticed fewer shootings in the area,” she said.

Lopez, the former gang member, said he also had grown accustomed to the gunfire and the constant need to protect himself.

“Things are calming down because of the truce,” he said. “Now I can walk the streets. You can walk any street where they are in the truce. . . . You can go over there and kick back and nothing will happen.”

Truce organizers commend gang leaders for starting the peace talks and for helping keep their members in line. The truce has lasted this long “because all the older dudes are putting the young dudes in place,” said a 20-year-old Artesia gang member who identified himself only as Bear. “But there are still (those) who screw up.”

Said Leon: “We’ve gone beyond what we were anticipating, but we need to go further.”

As for the future, Leon said, “you always assume it could go either way. It’s going to take time from a lot of people who are committed” to make major inroads toward ending the gang problem.