Targeting of 'Bully Gangs' Yields Results

Targeting of ‘Bully Gangs’ Yields Results

By WILLOUGHBY MARIANO

May 17, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Overall gang violence in Orange County plunged at the end of the past decade, fueled in part by an aggressive crackdown on “bully gangs” operating in South County, according to a district attorney’s office report released Tuesday.

However, preliminary projections for the first six months of 1999 suggest most categories of gang-related crime may have increased last year.

Total violent crimes committed by gang members dropped by 10% in 1998, from 1,584 to 1,421.

Figures are available for the number of gang homicides in 1999--26--which compares with 32 gang homicides in 1998 and 70 in 1995.

Prosecutors based the study on crime reports and court records from all 33 Orange County cities. They found:

* The number of non-gang members victimized by gang crime dropped 32% in 1998 to 991.

* A “bully gang” accused of various violent crimes across South County has essentially been put out of business since several members were convicted last fall of attempted murder. According to records, the “Slick 50s” gang has not committed a single crime since the conviction.

While gang violence is still a problem in South County, officials said incidents are generally decreasing. Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas praised the area’s anti-gang unit known as TARGET for helping reduce problems.

“There had been increasing gang activities for some years in certain parts of South County, and I think the TARGET unit has been key in identifying them and prosecuting them,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Department and prosecutors have been increasingly focusing on “bully gangs,” groups of teens who cause trouble but generally don’t commit the major crimes--and own the firearms--of traditional street gangs.

The Slick 50s gang was considered significant because it was one of few “bully gangs” to branch out into more serious crimes, such as the stabbing of a boy in 1998.

Officials said that while “bully gangs” remain a force in South County, very few of them have followed the Slick 50s into more violent crimes.

“When publicity is given to a certain crime, people are going to think twice about committing it,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lance Jensen, referring to the Slick 50s convictions.

“Maybe it’s fun at this stage to do these small, petty things,” Jensen added. “But with the way gang crimes are now, these crimes are treated very seriously, turning a slap on the wrist into a punch in the face.”

Rackauckas said coordination between various law enforcement agencies in taking gang leaders off the streets is paying off.

He attributed the falling homicide rates, in part, to a 1998 gun law stating that all felony offenders in possession of a gun while committing a crime will automatically receive extra prison time, ranging between 10 years to a life sentence.

“We’ve even had incidents when gang members have told police officers that they don’t want to carry guns because they hear about the law,” Rackauckas said.

The district attorney’s office plans to continue its current anti-gang strategy, with extra emphasis on a new type of gang becoming increasingly prevalent in Orange County. Unlike traditional gangs, which confine their activity to a single territory, these groups roam about Orange County, committing armed robberies in residences, trading in automatic weapons, laundering money and dealing drugs, officials said.

He also wants to focus on gang prevention among young people.

“I think our challenge is to prevent young kids from wanting to become gang members,” he said. “We have a large population of kids who are 12 years old and less, and when they grow to the age where people start joining gangs, and some significant number want to join, we could have a big problem.”

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O.C. Gang Crime Characteristics

Although the number of gang-related crimes have dropped over the past few years, figures for 1999 are expected to be higher, according to preliminary projections based on six months of data.

Total Gang Crimes

1995: 3,394

1996: 3,384

1997: 3,241

1998: 3,209

Violent Crimes

1995: 1,593

1996: 1,815

1997: 1,584

1998: 1,421

Firearm-Involved Crimes

1995: 1,221