A Tenuous Peace Moves Into Some Gang Areas : Crime: Long Beach is latest community to see drop in violent rivalries. Some say gangbangers want to end carnage; others say the calm is designed to protect drug operations.

Latino and Asian gangs in Long Beach, enemies for a decade, have struck a tentative cease-fire over the last two months in a war that has claimed at least 38 lives, maimed countless others and kept terrified residents off their streets.

The break in hostilities represents the latest peaceful effort between gangs in communities across Los Angeles County. Over the last year, gangs in Venice and parts of the San Fernando Valley have laid down their weapons in hopes of bringing calm to their neighborhoods.

The roots of the cease-fires remain murky, with a variety of differing interpretations. Gang members say they are tired of seeing their brothers die and hope that police--and the news media--will stop paying them so much attention. However, authorities believe some gangs are cooling out to avoid publicity that interferes with their drug sales. Other experts see the recent overtures as part of an up-and-down cycle of violence in which gangs have entered a period of calm.

Whatever the reasons, a message of peace appears to be spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood in places where gunfire once sent residents scurrying for cover and left parents searching for ways to keep their children alive.

“Maybe safer and saner heads are prevailing over the hot heads,” said Long Beach Sgt. Buz Williams, a gang expert and member of the California Gang Investigators Assn. “We’ve had gangbangers telling us they can walk down the street now without getting shot.”

Reports of gang violence in the three communities appear to support the optimistic outlook.

In the Oakwood section of Venice, where a gang war claimed 17 lives over the last year, no gang homicides have occurred since mid-June, when a truce was hammered out by African American and Latino gangs.

Gang-related homicides also appear to be down in the San Fernando Valley since an estimated 75 Latino gangs agreed last fall to set aside their weapons. As of August, the Los Angeles Police Department had recorded nine gang-related killings in the Valley, compared to 35 for the same period last year.

And in Long Beach, no Asian-Latino homicides have occurred since July. Just months before, the violence had reached an almost feverish pitch. Among the victims were six innocent Latinos from Los Angeles who were shot--three of them fatally--in front of stunned witnesses moments after leaving a birthday party where they had gone to promote their dance club. The shooting was an apparent reprisal for the murder a few days earlier of two Cambodian teen-agers.

“If we can hold onto the peace for a while . . . I think we’ll be in pretty good shape,” said Bill Martinez, executive director of Community Youth Gang Services, an organization that works with gangs across Los Angeles County. “I think the guys are understanding that violence isn’t productive.”

But some gang members in Long Beach express skepticism about any lasting peace on their streets. So tenuous is the situation that most refuse to use the word truce, insisting that the newfound calm is merely a cease-fire. Some say they still are being stopped--and occasionally beaten--by rivals.

“It still feels dangerous,” said a 14-year-old Asian gang member. “When I walk home, I have to look back. A car pulls up and sweats (harasses) me or beats my ass.”

Even those who support the peace worry that others less inclined may ignore it.

“I doubt if the crazy ones will listen,” said a 17-year-old Asian gang member. “Some don’t care about a peace treaty. I still got that reflex looking back over my shoulder even though this peace is going on.”

Latino gang members contacted declined to be interviewed.

Gang investigators in Long Beach say other factors may account for the calm in their city. The Police Department’s gang unit has more than tripled in size this year, from 11 full-time officers to 39. Police say their beefed-up presence on city streets has likely helped quiet things down.

Authorities also believe initial efforts behind the truce may have come from the Mexican Mafia, which is run from prison. Authorities speculate that the group, which is allegedly involved in drug sales on the street in an effort to expand its criminal enterprise behind bars, felt the ongoing violence in Long Beach was attracting too much attention to its operations. The peace treaties in Venice and the San Fernando Valley also are thought to have been prompted by orders from the powerful clan.

Nevertheless, Armando Gonzalez, a consultant to the city’s gang prevention program and a trusted elder among the gangs, says the leaders are serious about stopping the bloodshed.

Gonzalez is one of three community leaders who brokered the recent cease-fire. Along with Pastor Joe Esposito of the Cambodian Baptist Church and a third man who asked not to be named, Gonzalez helped persuade gang leaders to attend meetings together at the church and at local parks. Although none of the adults would comment on the meetings, sources said the two sides reached an understanding to talk about future trouble such as shootings rather than seek revenge.

“They know it was getting out of hand,” Gonzalez said of the gang leaders. “A lot of innocent people were being killed. That’s one thing that has to stop.”

Authorities and gang members alike concede that a truce is a tall order for rivals who have spent years eyeing one another with suspicion.

Latino gangs, who are primarily Mexican American and have roots in Long Beach dating to the late 1960s, say they fight to protect their barrios against Asians intruding on their streets.

By contrast, the Asian gang members--who are mostly Cambodian but also include Laotians, Vietnamese, Chinese and other groups--say they formed gangs as protection against attacks by their more numerous Latino rivals. The Asian gangs began appearing in Long Beach 10 to 15 years ago, and their emergence coincided with the influx of southeast Asian refugees.

Despite their differences, growing numbers on both sides appear willing to put the conflict aside and abide by edicts that could save their lives.

“I’m a senior. We’re growing up,” said a 17-year-old gang member. “I’m tired of all that stuff. I want to graduate.”