Gangs’ Members United to Kill Activist, Police Say

Two gang members who authorities say killed Venice-area newsletter publisher James Richards were involved in a unique partnership that brought together a local black gang and a Latino one against a man whom both gangs perceived as a common foe, police said Wednesday.

“They felt Mr. Richards was a threat to their narcotics dealings,” Det. Bernard Rogers said. “The motive was that they believed Mr. Richards was a snitch.”

Authorities announced earlier this week that they had made several arrests related to the 2000 case, which prompted a strong public response.

Police have also connected one of the suspects in Richards’ slaying to the robbery and killing of Juan Martinez, 21, in the Venice area later that year.

Richards, 55, a Neighborhood Watch captain and anti-crime advocate, was gunned down in front of his home in the Oakwood area of Venice after being threatened by gangs for his efforts to combat the narcotics trade in the neighborhood.

At a news conference in Venice on Wednesday, investigators offered new details on the case, which triggered an investigation into a nationwide narcotics ring.

One of the suspects in Richards’ slaying, Byron Lopez, 23, was arrested Feb. 26. Lopez is also being held on suspicion of killing Martinez.

The other suspected gunman, Antwon Jones, was killed April 24 in an unrelated shooting in West Los Angeles, police said.

Jones’ mother, Verna Childress, came to Wednesday’s news conference to confront investigators, saying that her son had been slandered and was innocent of the crime. “He was a positive-type person,” she said.

Cmdr. Gary Brennan, a police spokesman, defended the Police Department’s allegations against Jones, saying he had been “legitimately identified as a suspect based on a thorough investigation done by robbery-homicide” detectives.

The investigation into the Oakwood killing involved numerous agencies, including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Twenty-two suspects have been named in a federal indictment, which also connects the drug ring to Richards’ killing.

Members are alleged to have set up a cocaine transportation network extending to St. Louis, Atlanta, Baltimore and Detroit.

In addition to the suspects facing federal charges, detectives said Wednesday that they had arrested more than 40 other people in narcotics and gang-related crimes.

These suspects have faced state charges over the course of the nearly 17-month investigation and helped provide information to crack the drug ring, he said.

The arrests of so many gang members have helped bring down crime in the area, police said.

Some of the neighbors concurred.

“It’s changed for the better,” said Oakwood resident Gary Marshall, 49. “There used to be a drive-by at least two times a week.”

The probe focused on suspected drug trade by the Venice Shoreline Crips, a predominantly black gang that police said shares drug territory in the Oakwood area with the Venice-based V13 gang, whose members are mostly Latino.

The two gangs were once at odds but had more recently co-existed peacefully to share profits from the street-level cocaine trade in the area, police said.

Even so, said Rogers, it was unusual for them to collaborate as they are alleged to have done in Richards’ killing.

Rogers said police believe members of the two gangs had discussed harming Richards some time before.

But the crime was somewhat spontaneous, occurring after the two suspects happened to meet and decided to lie in wait for Richards on the morning of Oct. 18, 2000.

One of the prime suspects in the cocaine ring, Maurice Brown, has also been connected to Richards’ killing on conspiracy-related charges, according to the federal indictment.

Brown was arrested in early September as part of a sweep, and is being held in federal custody. Investigators also seized about $300,000 in cash, said Gregory N. Korniloff, associate special agent in charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

At Wednesday’s news conference, representatives from the community and several law enforcement agencies, including Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, hailed the cooperative efforts that led to the arrests.

“This is a big one,” Galanter said. “This is one that is really worth remembering. We didn’t give up, and when you don’t give up, you win.”

The news conference was disrupted near the end by a group of about half a dozen residents, among them Childress, who called out for authorities to address her challenge to the allegations about her son.

Other residents, including John Edwards, said they were offended that the death of Richards, who was white, was getting so much attention compared to those of several black youths who had died in the area, and the din at one point threatened to drown out Galanter.

Councilwoman Galanter, however, reacted sharply in defense of Richards when some in the crowd expressed hostility toward him.

Police officials tried to halt the news conference. But the tumult continued. Parks stepped up to the podium holding one hand in the air.

“Many people in our city are victimized,” Parks said, adding that Wednesday’s event, “does not mean one crime gets more attention than any other.”

The crowd quieted briefly, then grew noisy again as people left. Standing to one side of the podium and saying nothing was Juan Martinez, the father of the murder victim.

Martinez, who is from El Salvador, dressed in a crisp blue suit for the occasion. His son was studying psychology at Santa Monica College and worked at Blockbuster Video, he said.

The slaying had ruined his life, he said. “I am following the case, you know, all the time. I have been following the case.”