CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / ANTELOPE VALLEY
A year-long investigation into a dangerous gang resulted in 26 arrests during an early morning sweep Wednesday that officials said “dismantled” the gang’s organization.
Prior to Wednesday’s sweep, authorities had arrested 71 suspected gang members in other operations.
Authorities said Tory Larson, known as Casper, led the Lancas 13 gang and was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 14 felony counts of conspiring to sell narcotics, among other crimes.
The other suspected gang members were arrested throughout the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita areas. They included top lieutenants in what was described by officials as a highly organized and regimented gang associated with the Mexican Mafia.
At least 400 law enforcement personnel took part in the Wednesday morning sweep, including about 300 sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Over the course of the probe, investigators seized at least 46 firearms, including handguns, rifles and automatic weapons, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The gang was known for dealing drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and Vicodin, and was responsible for at least one killing over the last year, officials said.
-- Ari B. Bloomekatz
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