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Gang Accused of Conspiring to Kill Blacks
Federal prosecutors allege that members of the Avenues in L.A. plotted to commit violence against African Americans.
By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
July 4, 2006
Jose Cruz is a walking testament to what happens when a member turns against the Avenues street gang.
He has 30 scars from the stab wounds he suffered in one attempt on his life — on his arms, torso and legs. In another attack, he was beaten so severely that he has a visible dent in his skull, according to court papers, "the size and shape of a pistol butt."
His street gang goes back five generations in Highland Park, which for Cruz is five miles and several lifetimes from the downtown courtroom where he is scheduled to testify as the star witness for the prosecution in the trial of a group of childhood friends.
Federal prosecutors, who launched their case last week, contend that the Avenues gang between 1994 and 2000 conspired to kill African Americans on their turf.
Men, women and children were harassed, terrorized, assaulted and slain as gang members sought to force black residents out of Latino neighborhoods, prosecutors said.
Authorities are using a federal hate-crime law based on the amendment to the U.S. Constitution that outlawed slavery, and another law created in the civil rights era, to go after four gang members. Barbara Bernstein, deputy chief of the criminal section of the civil rights divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, is part of the prosecution team.
Attorneys for the defendants — Gilbert Saldana, Alejandro Martinez, Fernando Cazares and Porfirio Avila — have asserted that the federal government has no power to involve itself in a common street crime.
Defense attorney Reuven L. Cohen told jurors last week that one of the slayings cited in the charges — the 1999 shooting of Kenneth Wilson — was not a hate crime but "a simple gang killing committed out of boredom."
Cohen said the crimes sprang from the "sad" truth of "a tension that exists between African American gangs and Latino gangs."
The first of three former gang members, each in custody and hoping for leniency, testified Monday. Jesse Diaz, who described himself as a tagger from age 12, told jurors the Avenues decided to fight the "infestation" of blacks in Highland Park with a systematic terror campaign designed to run them out of the neighborhood.
Diaz, who has 10 more years to serve in prison for attempted murder, said the Avenues hated all rival gangs. But the antipathy for blacks was different, he said.
Highland Park became the scene of a game in which Diaz's group of Avenues actually competed with another "clique" to run the most blacks out of Highland Park, he testified.
Two other informants, one serving a long state prison term and the other a deported immigrant, will tell jurors that Saldana shot Wilson repeatedly in 1999, explaining that Saldana had just acquired a gun and "wanted to test it out."
One told the FBI in interviews that the gang got an order in 1998 from the Mexican Mafia prison gang to "kill any blacks … on sight."
Rick Ortiz, a Los Angeles police spokesman, called the Avenues a "bully" gang that uses its large numbers to intimidate.
"The Avenues have been around for a long time," Ortiz said. "They are the largest gang in the northeast area, with over 500 documented, active members."
Although gang members have for years been subject to a court order that limits their activities, they remain active, authorities said. Their racial antipathy is an outgrowth of prison culture, in which rival street gang members band together by race and then bring those attitudes back to the streets, Ortiz said.
"When you have gang members standing out on the street corners, they intimidate people," he said. "They may commit a minor offense, like vandalism, but people are so afraid of them they won't call in. It diminishes the quality of life in the community."
Heinrich Keifer, president of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, said racial violence by gang members is not currently a problem in the area.
"Our biggest problem is not so much gangs, although some members of the community are intimidated. It's more the taggers," Keifer said. "They create that feeling that the community is destroyed. The gangs aren't ruling the turf. They're not necessarily muscling people out. There was some of that in the past.
Federal prosecutors allege that members of the Avenues in L.A. plotted to commit violence against African Americans.
By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
July 4, 2006
Jose Cruz is a walking testament to what happens when a member turns against the Avenues street gang.
He has 30 scars from the stab wounds he suffered in one attempt on his life — on his arms, torso and legs. In another attack, he was beaten so severely that he has a visible dent in his skull, according to court papers, "the size and shape of a pistol butt."
His street gang goes back five generations in Highland Park, which for Cruz is five miles and several lifetimes from the downtown courtroom where he is scheduled to testify as the star witness for the prosecution in the trial of a group of childhood friends.
Federal prosecutors, who launched their case last week, contend that the Avenues gang between 1994 and 2000 conspired to kill African Americans on their turf.
Men, women and children were harassed, terrorized, assaulted and slain as gang members sought to force black residents out of Latino neighborhoods, prosecutors said.
Authorities are using a federal hate-crime law based on the amendment to the U.S. Constitution that outlawed slavery, and another law created in the civil rights era, to go after four gang members. Barbara Bernstein, deputy chief of the criminal section of the civil rights divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, is part of the prosecution team.
Attorneys for the defendants — Gilbert Saldana, Alejandro Martinez, Fernando Cazares and Porfirio Avila — have asserted that the federal government has no power to involve itself in a common street crime.
Defense attorney Reuven L. Cohen told jurors last week that one of the slayings cited in the charges — the 1999 shooting of Kenneth Wilson — was not a hate crime but "a simple gang killing committed out of boredom."
Cohen said the crimes sprang from the "sad" truth of "a tension that exists between African American gangs and Latino gangs."
The first of three former gang members, each in custody and hoping for leniency, testified Monday. Jesse Diaz, who described himself as a tagger from age 12, told jurors the Avenues decided to fight the "infestation" of blacks in Highland Park with a systematic terror campaign designed to run them out of the neighborhood.
Diaz, who has 10 more years to serve in prison for attempted murder, said the Avenues hated all rival gangs. But the antipathy for blacks was different, he said.
Highland Park became the scene of a game in which Diaz's group of Avenues actually competed with another "clique" to run the most blacks out of Highland Park, he testified.
Two other informants, one serving a long state prison term and the other a deported immigrant, will tell jurors that Saldana shot Wilson repeatedly in 1999, explaining that Saldana had just acquired a gun and "wanted to test it out."
One told the FBI in interviews that the gang got an order in 1998 from the Mexican Mafia prison gang to "kill any blacks … on sight."
Rick Ortiz, a Los Angeles police spokesman, called the Avenues a "bully" gang that uses its large numbers to intimidate.
"The Avenues have been around for a long time," Ortiz said. "They are the largest gang in the northeast area, with over 500 documented, active members."
Although gang members have for years been subject to a court order that limits their activities, they remain active, authorities said. Their racial antipathy is an outgrowth of prison culture, in which rival street gang members band together by race and then bring those attitudes back to the streets, Ortiz said.
"When you have gang members standing out on the street corners, they intimidate people," he said. "They may commit a minor offense, like vandalism, but people are so afraid of them they won't call in. It diminishes the quality of life in the community."
Heinrich Keifer, president of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, said racial violence by gang members is not currently a problem in the area.
"Our biggest problem is not so much gangs, although some members of the community are intimidated. It's more the taggers," Keifer said. "They create that feeling that the community is destroyed. The gangs aren't ruling the turf. They're not necessarily muscling people out. There was some of that in the past.
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"The area is on the rebound, so much so that many Westsiders are moving in," Keifer said, citing the historic heritage of the area northeast of downtown. "Many of the poorer people are struggling with the rising rents."
As part of his strategy in the case, defense attorney Cohen plans to target the witnesses' credibility.
Diaz and the two other former gang members are lying to curry favor with prosecutors, Cohen said. Defendants Saldana and Avila are in prison, serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for murder. Cazares is in custody on a parole violation. Martinez's custody status could not be determined.
Prosecutors say the gang members conspired in various acts of violence, including:
• Wilson's 1999 killing, which occurred when he returned to his Avenue 52 home late at night after a party, his nephew, Duane Williams, testified Thursday. Wilson was shot repeatedly by Saldana and two others because of his race, Assistant U.S. Atty. Alex Bustamante told jurors.
• Diaz testified that gang members beat a black homeless man with metal weapons, and attacked an African American man speaking on a pay telephone from behind and severely beat him.
Another black man was assaulted on the street because he was walking with a Latina, according to Bustamante.
• Finally, authorities say they have linked the killings of two other men to the Avenues, partly through ballistics. The victims were Christopher Bauser, who was shot execution-style at a bus stop in 2000, and Anthony Prudomme, also killed on a street.
Bustamante offered a chilling view of the mentality of the Avenues as the trial opened in U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson's courtroom. Martinez was driving a van carrying five fellow Avenues members when he spotted Wilson.
"Anybody want to kill a nigger?" Bustamante said.
"Those are not my words, ladies and gentlemen," Bustamante added, gesturing across the room to Martinez. "They are his."
"The area is on the rebound, so much so that many Westsiders are moving in," Keifer said, citing the historic heritage of the area northeast of downtown. "Many of the poorer people are struggling with the rising rents."
As part of his strategy in the case, defense attorney Cohen plans to target the witnesses' credibility.
Diaz and the two other former gang members are lying to curry favor with prosecutors, Cohen said. Defendants Saldana and Avila are in prison, serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for murder. Cazares is in custody on a parole violation. Martinez's custody status could not be determined.
Prosecutors say the gang members conspired in various acts of violence, including:
• Wilson's 1999 killing, which occurred when he returned to his Avenue 52 home late at night after a party, his nephew, Duane Williams, testified Thursday. Wilson was shot repeatedly by Saldana and two others because of his race, Assistant U.S. Atty. Alex Bustamante told jurors.
• Diaz testified that gang members beat a black homeless man with metal weapons, and attacked an African American man speaking on a pay telephone from behind and severely beat him.
Another black man was assaulted on the street because he was walking with a Latina, according to Bustamante.
• Finally, authorities say they have linked the killings of two other men to the Avenues, partly through ballistics. The victims were Christopher Bauser, who was shot execution-style at a bus stop in 2000, and Anthony Prudomme, also killed on a street.
Bustamante offered a chilling view of the mentality of the Avenues as the trial opened in U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson's courtroom. Martinez was driving a van carrying five fellow Avenues members when he spotted Wilson.
"Anybody want to kill a nigger?" Bustamante said.
"Those are not my words, ladies and gentlemen," Bustamante added, gesturing across the room to Martinez. "They are his."
nah, but why your homeboys gotta do that? Why aren't they bustin on all those white muthafuckas buying the neighborhood up kicking out the community and making it a yuppie ass piece of shit with no more real culture? It just don't make sense.
I won't ever look at Mexicans like they an evil race, cause I still feel like yall just like blacks...you really dont know what your doing (as in the big scheme of things - and this goes way pass Aztlan, and so forth), I just can't trust yall really anymore.
I won't ever look at Mexicans like they an evil race, cause I still feel like yall just like blacks...you really dont know what your doing (as in the big scheme of things - and this goes way pass Aztlan, and so forth), I just can't trust yall really anymore.
ay man you think we really give a shit about the woods. these alliances and what have you, are strategic moves and part of how the prison sytem operates. i find it ironic that they are pro white and racist yet will work with mexicans. so who do you think is in the driver's seat? same thing with nortenos and blacks. technically speaking nortenos are the blacks lil bitches. I believe that's why they act black, dress black, and so on. they have no choice they cant go it alone there numbers cant equal.so they have to adjust. unfortunately mexicans and blacks are the most dominant races on the streets. eventually they were gonna bump heads. both are proud races.that have gone through shit with the system past and present. the only problem for the blacks is we are in a state that was once a part of Mexico. which geographically speaking means there will be no shortage of recruits anytime soon. but there are always fools victimizing innocent people black, white, mexican and so on. i think this is a bunch of bullshit personally but the streets are what dictates what happens not me. as for the trust thing. you shouldnt trust anyone, not even so called homies especially if they arent proven.
the shit just trips me out, because in our parents generation, white fools was both whipping our assess didn't matter if they was police, white gangs, civs, even military (navy fuckin with the pachucos or watts riots) gettin to do what the fuck they want cause we were 2nd class citizens. now the police is still fuckin with usbut we are able to move to more places, but we hatin on each other doin the shit whites used to do to both of us outright.
FUCK IT... I KNOW A COUPLE OF VATOS FROM AVENUES 43 N ASSASINS... THOSE VATOS ARE SOME SOLID ASS HOMIES RIGHT THERE... MUTHAFUCKAS JUSS TRIPPIN CUS THEY HAVE A STORY ON PAPER ABOUT THESE VATOS DOIN THIS SHIT... IF YOU FOOS THAT ARE TRIPPIN ARE EVER IN L.A., GO DOWN SAN PEDRO BL. FROM GAGE AV. TO IMPERIAL HWY, YOULL SEE THAT RAZA AINT THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT DO THAT SHIT...
