The Fight Against Crime: Notes From The Front : Informed Opinions on Today’s Topics : Searching for Clues as Gang Slayings Rise

With the number of gang shootings in the San Fernando Valley already surpassing the total for all of last year, police and gang peacemakers are trying to figure out why it has been an increasingly bloody summer despite a “peace treaty” among some gangs.

In just eight months this year, Los Angeles police have tallied 30 gang-related killings in the Valley, compared to 29 in 12 months last year.

Two well-known gang-violence mediators, William (Blinky) Rodriguez of Pacoima and Steve Martinez, attribute the surge in shootings to hotter weather, lack of summer meetings to coordinate the “peace treaty” covering Latino gangs, and outside gang members coming into Valley neighborhoods to flex their muscles. Also, they said, a false rumor was spread among gang members earlier this summer that the “treaty” was dead.

The shooting death this weekend of a 16-year-old and the wounding of three other young men has prompted the peacemakers to reinvigorate their fight against gang violence in the Valley.

Roberto Molina, 16, was killed and friend John Galeano, 23, was wounded when a group of men walked up to them in the 8100 block of Langdon Avenue and opened fire in a gang-related confrontation late Sunday night, Detective Stephen Fisk said.

Two other youths were wounded Sunday night in Sylmar in an attack that police also say was gang-related.

Rodriguez blamed the latest violence on “cowards,” as he called rogue Latino gang members who ignore the truce he helped negotiate, and also on members of other gangs that are not parties to the truce.

“If you look at the police reports you will find that a lot of these guys aren’t even born and raised in the Valley,” Martinez said. “And if you have more than 20,000 gang members in the Valley, there are always going to be a few guys who do their own thing.”

Earlier this year, Rodriguez and Martinez hosted weekly meetings that helped gang members sort through their territorial disputes. This summer, due to scheduling problems and personal obligations, there have been only two meetings, which they say means too little is being done to defuse potentially volatile situations on a day-by-day basis.

“Whenever communication and dialogue stop, there are going to be some problems,” Martinez said.

In the Police Department’s Foothill Division alone this year, there has been a 77% increase in gang-related shootings since January.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why all of this is happening,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s been a really hot summer and a lot of these guys might not have air conditioning in their houses. So they get frustrated and restless, especially because a lot of them spend most of the day hanging out. Historically, summer is when things really jump off. You have a lot of kids out of school with nothing to do.”

Police say there may have been fewer gang slayings last year than there otherwise might have been due to the overwhelming presence of officers on the streets in the months following the Northridge earthquake.

Other factors, such as the increasing power of Asian gangs and their conflicts among themselves and with other gangs, have added to the violence, police gang specialists say.

Both men said some of the shootings labeled as gang-related may not actually be over territory. Instead, they say, the drug trade in many areas of the Valley has prompted disagreements between neighborhood gangs.