NORWALK : Judge Rejects Officials’ Bid to Limit Activities of Gang

A judge rejected a request by county prosecutors and Norwalk officials Friday to limit the activities of a gang that authorities say is terrorizing residents in a 20-square-block area, a civil liberties group said.

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti had sought the injunction in Norwalk Superior Court against the Orange Street Locos. The move, part of an anti-gang program between his office and Norwalk officials, was rejected.

“We are pleased that the judge took an entirely appropriate and careful look at the papers submitted by the district attorney,” said Mark Silverstein, an ACLU attorney who was in court in Norwalk. “She made it clear that a very rigorous standard must be met before anyone can be subject to his kind of injunction.”

In seeking the action, Garcetti said that gang members for months have escalated their reign of terror.

“Residents have lost control of their homes and their neighborhood to this group that we believe has firebombed houses, robbed and beaten citizens, and, through intimidation of potential witnesses, flouted law enforcement’s efforts to clean up the area,” Garcetti said.

The request for the injunction named the gang and 22 of its members and asked for help in ending what the plaintiffs called “a public nuisance in the most extreme sense of the concept.”