LAPD Targets Asian Gangs in Sweep of Valley Homes

Police raided 10 San Fernando Valley homes Friday in search for evidence against gang members, arresting a Long Beach man and a 15-year-old boy and seizing four firearms.

About 50 police officers took part in the early morning sweep, which authorities said was aimed at a Valley-area Asian gang with about 100 members suspected of an increasing number of crimes.

Members of the gang are suspected of involvement in 14 murders, 38 attempted murders and 10 home invasion robberies and other crimes over the last two years, said Det. Mel Arnold of the Van Nuys Division’s Asian Gang Task Force.

Police arrested Suy Ti, 28, on an assault warrant and a 15-year-old boy for violating probation by consorting with gang members and seized a 9-millimeter semiautomatic carbine, a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol, a shotgun and a rifle.

Officers said other important discoveries were items that could prove gang affiliation, including photographs showing youths making gang hand signs, tattoos and graffiti-laden scrapbooks.

“What the paraphernalia does is interconnect gang members [and] that could result in solving crimes,” said Arnold. “There is also an enhancement in the criminal justice system. If someone is proved to be a gang member, he gets a longer sentence.”

The sweep involved locations in Reseda, Arleta and North Hollywood, but most of the searches were carried out at an apartment complex in the 14400 block of Valerio Street in Van Nuys.

The apartments, which were once home to a Latino gang but are now inhabited almost exclusively by Asians, have been the scene of several smaller-scale police searches and crimes, police said.

An eight-year resident who asked not to be identified said he welcomed the police presence but wished it were more timely.

“There are gangs here and I’m glad the police came,” said the 35-year-old man of Cambodian descent. “But when you call them, they’re too busy. They come too late.”

Arnold later replied, “It’s the same old story we have in the Police Department. There’s just not enough cops to go around. It’s a problem the whole city suffers, not just this complex.”