Multi-agency sweep comes two years after a wannabe murdered a Highway Patrol officer.
By Jonathan Abrams
Times Staff Writer
Two years after a CHP officer was gunned down by a teenager trying to impress a notorious Pomona street gang, state and local authorities arrested 57 people linked to the gang's alleged drug trafficking, gun buys, and street violence, officials said Monday.
The arrests in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, targeting the 12th Street Pomona gang, also known as the Sharkies, were the result of a yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Fishnet that involved telephone wiretaps, informants, and undercover agents, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said.
"These criminal enterprises destroy communities and shatter innocent lives with their evolving criminal tactics," Lockyer said. "Through the hard work of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, we are commited to taking back the streets."
The investigation was launched after California Highway Patrol officer Thomas J. Steiner was shot and killed outside a Pomona courthose in April 2004 by a 16 year old who told police he was trying to prove himself to the 12th Street Gang.
Valentiino Arenas told authorities he was not targeting Steiner, a 35-year-old father of two from Long Beach, but that he wanted to shoot any lawman he could find.
Arenas pleaded guilty to first degree murder and is serving a life sentence without the possibilty of parole at the California Institution for Men in Chino. Because of Arenas' age, he was not eligible for the death penalty.
"I sincerely hope the arrests resulting from this investigation bring a sense of justice to the Steiner family and relief from fear and intimidation to the citizens of Pomona," Will Telish, director of the Los Angeles Interagency Police Apprenhension Crime Task Force, said in a statement.
Charges ranged from conspiracy to commit murder to weapons and drug-related violatins. Authorities also siezed 6 pounds of methamphetamine, 18 pounds of methamphetamin ice, 14 grams of cocaine, 36 grams of heroin and $23,000, along with dozens of firearms, including an AK-47.
Pomona, a city of nearly 170,000 about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, has been a hotbed of gang activity, where members engage in violent initiatiion rituals and spirited turf wars. The area was under such duress that mail service was interrupted for more than a year along one neighborhood block after a postal worker became frightened after witnessing a shooting.
The 12th Street gang-which has close ties to the Mexican Mafia, California's most powerful prison gang-uses the shark as its symbol and has spread into western San Bernardino County.
It has about 1,000 active member and associates, with several hundred more in jail or prison, and dates back generations.
The gang's criminal enterprises include large-scale drug trafficking, extortion, and murder, authorities said...
By Jonathan Abrams
Times Staff Writer
Two years after a CHP officer was gunned down by a teenager trying to impress a notorious Pomona street gang, state and local authorities arrested 57 people linked to the gang's alleged drug trafficking, gun buys, and street violence, officials said Monday.
The arrests in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, targeting the 12th Street Pomona gang, also known as the Sharkies, were the result of a yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Fishnet that involved telephone wiretaps, informants, and undercover agents, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said.
"These criminal enterprises destroy communities and shatter innocent lives with their evolving criminal tactics," Lockyer said. "Through the hard work of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, we are commited to taking back the streets."
The investigation was launched after California Highway Patrol officer Thomas J. Steiner was shot and killed outside a Pomona courthose in April 2004 by a 16 year old who told police he was trying to prove himself to the 12th Street Gang.
Valentiino Arenas told authorities he was not targeting Steiner, a 35-year-old father of two from Long Beach, but that he wanted to shoot any lawman he could find.
Arenas pleaded guilty to first degree murder and is serving a life sentence without the possibilty of parole at the California Institution for Men in Chino. Because of Arenas' age, he was not eligible for the death penalty.
"I sincerely hope the arrests resulting from this investigation bring a sense of justice to the Steiner family and relief from fear and intimidation to the citizens of Pomona," Will Telish, director of the Los Angeles Interagency Police Apprenhension Crime Task Force, said in a statement.
Charges ranged from conspiracy to commit murder to weapons and drug-related violatins. Authorities also siezed 6 pounds of methamphetamine, 18 pounds of methamphetamin ice, 14 grams of cocaine, 36 grams of heroin and $23,000, along with dozens of firearms, including an AK-47.
Pomona, a city of nearly 170,000 about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, has been a hotbed of gang activity, where members engage in violent initiatiion rituals and spirited turf wars. The area was under such duress that mail service was interrupted for more than a year along one neighborhood block after a postal worker became frightened after witnessing a shooting.
The 12th Street gang-which has close ties to the Mexican Mafia, California's most powerful prison gang-uses the shark as its symbol and has spread into western San Bernardino County.
It has about 1,000 active member and associates, with several hundred more in jail or prison, and dates back generations.
The gang's criminal enterprises include large-scale drug trafficking, extortion, and murder, authorities said...
