Trial Seeks Evictions for Alleged Gang Ties

They crowded into a Ventura County courtroom Thursday, 28 mothers from Cabrillo Village subpoenaed in an unusual effort to clean up their low-income neighborhood: a trial to evict a family whose sons reportedly belong to gangs.

It is the latest weapon that officials with the low-income housing cooperative in Ventura are using to combat violence and gang activity. Four times in the last year, six times in two years, officials have forced out the families of proven gang members.

“The neighborhood is intimidated and the residents are very scared,” housing administrator Hal Slade said. “This is something that has to be done.”

But for the families threatened with evictions, the action seems singularly unfair. Defense attorneys contend that the evictions are illegal and may violate federal civil rights laws.

“They are punishing the parents for what their children are allegedly doing,” said attorney Herman P. Mora, who is defending Santiago and Franciesa Zizumbo in the latest eviction attempt.

Slade, who was punched in the face in 1993 by the son of one of the first families evicted under the new policy, said forcing families out sends a message to the neighborhood “that gang activity will no longer be tolerated.”

Even a member of the Mesa de Directiva--the cooperative’s board of directors--was evicted after officials concluded his son belonged to a gang and participated in illegal activities.

Nationally, President Clinton has proposed controlling crime at federally subsidized housing projects with what he dubbed his “one-strike” policy. Clinton wants laws passed that would allow for the eviction from federal housing of any tenant convicted of a serious crime.

“The innocent bystanders are the ones suffering from all of this violence,” Slade said. “It needs to stop.”

To that end, Cabrillo Village lawyers subpoenaed the 28 nervous women who said they would not testify voluntarily because they fear retribution. Lawyers chose to subpoena mothers, believing that gang members will not retaliate against the women for any incriminating testimony.

The women, most of whom spoke Spanish, spent most of Thursday avoiding eye contact with the Zizumbo family, whose children, officials contend, terrorize the federally subsidized neighborhood with violence and intimidation. The women let out a collective groan when court officials ordered them back to court in Simi Valley today.

Ventura County Court Commissioner Gary K. Barrett was unable to start the trial Thursday because of a crowded calendar and ordered the participants back to his Simi Valley courtroom today. Housing officials rented a bus for the day to transport the women to and from court.

Cabrillo Village attorney S. Blake Wade maintains that elements in the housing leases allow for eviction if “conduct of any of the residents affect the livability of the neighborhood and disrupts the community.” Wade contends that even visiting sons and daughters of tenants who cause trouble are grounds for eviction.

“These evictions are not about money,” Wade said. “They are about a community trying to take back its streets.”

Housing officials accuse the Zizumbos’ four sons of being gang members and terrorizing the neighborhood of about 1,200 residents. The arrest of Daniel Zizumbo, 21, on attempted murder charges prompted the eviction proceedings in January.

Zizumbo is charged with allegedly firing at least eight shots into a crowd of young men gathered on nearby Arrowhead Avenue on a January afternoon. A 16-year-old boy was wounded in the leg.

Wade has alleged that either Daniel Zizumbo or his older brother, Edward, has committed seven other illegal or violent acts in or near the neighborhood.

“The parents haven’t been involved in any of this except for not doing anything,” Wade said. “They allowed the acts to continue.”

But the three attorneys defending the family maintain that none of “the acts” occurred and that the evictions are a violation of the family’s housing rights.

Daniel Zizumbo’s attorney said Thursday that officials cannot use his arrest against him because his client has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and has not been convicted of any crime.

Furthermore, Frank D. Rubin argues that even if Daniel Zizumbo is convicted, that could still not be used to evict the family. The shooting did not occur within Cabrillo Village’s enclosed confines, Rubin said.

The attempted eviction, Rubin and Mora argue, is not right.

“In Old England, the entire family was punished if Dad was convicted of treason,” Rubin said. “Thankfully, this isn’t Old England.”

And Mora points out that this is the third attempt in as many years to evict the family and alleges that housing officials have an ax to grind.

Judges in the first trials ruled in favor of the family in both cases, court records show.

But Wade chalks up both losses to technicalities and said she is confident that this time Cabrillo Village will prevail.

“Cabrillo has nothing to gain by this; in fact, they are going to lose tenants who pay on time,” she said.