3 Suspects Held in Series of Violent Robberies : Crime: Police say reputed gang members targeted business owners of Asian descent in the northwestern Valley.

Los Angeles police on Friday announced the arrest of three suspected gang members wanted in a series of violent follow-home robberies that targeted business owners of Asian descent throughout the northwestern San Fernando Valley.

The suspects--Vu Le, 19, most recently of North Hills; James Chomko, 22, of Northridge, and Joseph Dillera, 23, of North Hills--were arrested Thursday by the Los Angeles Police

Department’s Asian Crimes Investigation Section.

“They are suspected of committing at least four robberies, if not more,” LAPD Detective Henry Kim said. “And all of them except for one occurred up in Granada Hills.”

Acting on a tip, police took Le and Dillera into custody at a pool hall in Atwater Village, and Chomko was arrested at a Van Nuys apartment house, authorities said. The three have been charged with two counts each of robbery and are expected to be arraigned Monday.

During the robberies, which began Feb. 2, thieves typically sought out and then patronized Asian-style markets or restaurants to see whether the businesses were successful, Kim said.

“If it looked like the business was doing good and that they were easy victims, then the suspects would do a surveillance and follow the victims home, but they didn’t rob them right away,” Kim said.

Instead, the robbers would watch their victims for up to a week, waiting for an opportune time to make their move, Kim said. For instance, if they knew a business owner was going to take home receipts, the thieves would go to the owner’s house and hide in the bushes.

“Then they’d wait for the victims to arrive and park their car, and they would rush them and force them into their homes,” Kim said.

Once inside, the robbers would tie their victims up with duct tape or rope and then torture them, Kim said. “It ranged from threats of dismemberment to actual beatings,” he added.

But sometimes the robberies were even more violent.

During the most recent holdup, on July 5, a husband and wife were pistol-whipped by thieves who held them as prisoners in their own home for nearly an hour, and one of the victims was seriously injured, Kim said.

In a robbery May 22, a Porter Ranch man who had just left his Chinese restaurant in Northridge was held captive when he arrived home and was robbed by four armed youths, who stole $800, a video camera and a watch.

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Because many Asian immigrants are suspicious of banks, they often keep large quantities of cash at home, making them easy targets for the San Fernando Valley’s burgeoning Asian gang population, police said.

Crimes involving Asian gangs have doubled in the last year in the Valley, police said. So far this year there have been at least five homicides, six attempted murders and seven robberies in which either the victims or the perpetrators were Asian gang members, officers said.

Kim said Le, Chomko and Dillera, who are allegedly members of a Valley-based gang known as the Judas, were identified by some of the victims from a photo lineup. Detectives are looking for additional victims who may have been hit by the group but have not reported the robberies.

“It was just a matter of time before we found these guys,” Kim said. “They’re very mobile and transient.”