Gang sweep targets Bloods clique
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deptartment personnel watch over a man detained during a gang sweep conducted to crack down on a violent clique of the Bloods gang, centered in the Compton area. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Sheriff’s Department personnel cruise through a Compton neighborhood during the gang sweep. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Police arrest a man in a Compton neighborhood during a gang sweep by about 450 state and local police officers. More than a dozen search warrants were served. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Albert Wilson, 56, hoses down his vehicle on the Compton street where he has lived for the last 26 years. “This was one of the choicest blocks to live on” when Wilson first moved to the city, he said. “But not no more.” A gang sweep through the area Tuesday brought the arrest of several alleged members of the Mob Piru gang. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Special agent David Silva of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives peers into the crawl space of a house with his gun-sniffing dog Marianne during the gang sweep, in which at least 16 people were arrested and 16 weapons were seized. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
“This was the area to be in. But not no more man,” longtime Compton resident Albert Wilson says of the neighborhood where he has lived for more than 25 years. “People used to keep their houses up.... I see a lot of them they are letting them go now. But I’ve seen changes, I’ve even seen ... bars go up on windows.” (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Some of the targets of the seven-month investigation are shown on a poster board. Authorities allege that members of the Mob Piru clique of the Bloods are responsible for numerous violent acts and have perpetuated the areas underground gun trade. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
