Suspects in Slaying of Landlord Arrested in Blythe Street Gang Raid : Crime: More than 100 FBI and LAPD officers strike at 15 residences in an area of Panorama City overrun by street thugs.

In the largest raid to date by a new FBI street-gang unit, more than 100 federal agents and Los Angeles police officers arrested five suspects in a dawn strike Tuesday against San Fernando Valley gang members suspected of killing a popular landlord.

The simultaneous raids on 15 residences capped six weeks of intensive investigation aimed at capturing gang members suspected of killing Donald Aragon on Oct. 31 after demanding that he give up his truck.

Aragon and his wife, Betty, were among a group of building owners who had been demanding city help in ridding Blythe Street in Panorama City, in the central San Fernando Valley, of the gang members who have been its virtual masters.

Arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder were George Quirino, 21, and a 15-year-old boy whose name was not released, police said.

They were among five Blythe Street gang members, all Panorama City residents, arrested Tuesday in the series of raids by a combined force of 65 police officers, 50 FBI agents and four probation officers, authorities said. Eleven other gang members were held for questioning and released, said Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker.

Jose Sierra, 18, and Benjamin Pineda, 19, were arrested on unspecified drug charges, and a 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism, police said. A rifle and pistol were confiscated in the raids, all of which occurred on or near Blythe Street.

Aragon was killed as he and his brother, Emmanuel, were leaving his building after preparing one of the units for new tenants. The truck was surrounded by 10 assailants and “one stuck a gun up to his head” and told Aragon to get out of the car, said Detective John Edwards.

The gang members began chanting “Shoot him! Shoot him!” and both Aragon, who had a pistol underneath his seat, and a gang member began shooting, Edwards said. Aragon was hit twice. His shots struck two of his assailants, killing Abel Sanchez, 19, and wounding a 17-year-old boy in the mouth.

The wounded teen-ager was arrested shortly after the shooting and is being held on suspicion of murder.

Authorities said they are seeking three other gang members on suspicion of murder but would not release their names.

In February, the FBI assigned 60 agents to assist police in combatting Los Angeles gangs. Some of them had previously been assigned to counterintelligence activities against foreign agents, said Ronald L. Iden, the FBI agent in charge of the unit.

The three held on suspicion of murder may also face charges under a new federal law against carjacking, or Blythe Street gang members could be prosecuted under federal racketeering laws, Iden said.

The Aragons, who diligently fixed broken windows and painted over graffiti almost every day, were popular with tenants, neighbors and fellow building owners. They had offered to let police use two vacant units in their building as observation points, but their offer was declined.

Betty Aragon said that police asked her after the shooting if the offer was still good.

“Something really terrible had to happen before they would do something about it,” she said. “A life had to be taken.”

Although police said the killing was a carjacking that went sour, Aragon said she believes her husband was targeted by the gang members for obstructing their drug trade.