In L.A., Latinos Targeted Blacks
By Thomas Watkins
Associated Press
Sunday, January 6, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- In a murderous quest aimed at "cleansing" their turf of snitches and rival gangsters, members of one of Los Angeles County's most vicious Latino gangs sometimes killed people just because of their race, an investigation has found.
Authorities said there were 20 homicides among more than 80 shootings documented during Florencia 13's rampage in the hardscrabble Florence-Firestone neighborhood, exceptional even in an area where gang violence has been commonplace for decades. Officials did not specify the time frame or how many of the killings were racial.
There were even instances in which Florencia 13 leaders ordered killings of black gangsters and then, when the intended victims couldn't be located, said, "Well, shoot any black you see," according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.
"In certain cases, some murders were just purely motivated on killing a black person," Baca said.
Los Angeles has struggled with gang violence for years, especially during the wars in the late 1980s and early '90s between the Crips and the Bloods, both black gangs. Latino gangs have gained influence since then as the Hispanic population has surged.
Evidence of Florencia 13, or F13, is easy to find in Florence-Firestone. Arrows spray-painted on the wall of a liquor store mark the gang's boundary, and graffiti warns rivals to steer clear.
The gang's name comes from the neighborhood that is its stronghold and the 13th letter of the alphabet -- M -- representing the gang's ties to the Mexican Mafia.
Federal, state and local officials worked together to charge 102 men linked to F13 with racketeering, conspiracy to murder, weapons possession, drug dealing and other crimes. In terms of people charged, it's the largest federal case ever to involve a Southern California gang, prosecutors say. More than 80 of those indicted are in custody.
But eliminating the gang won't be easy. It has survived for decades and is believed to have about 2,000 members. Its reach extends to Nevada and Arizona and into prisons, where prosecutors say incarcerated gang leaders were able to order hits on black gangsters.
According to the indictment, F13's leader, Arturo Castellanos, sent word in 2004 from California's fortresslike Pelican Bay State Prison that he wanted his street soldiers to begin "cleansing" Florence-Firestone of black gangsters, notably the East Coast Crips, and snitches.
His followers eagerly obeyed, according to federal prosecutors.
In one case, F13 members came across a black man at a bus stop, shouted, "Cheese toast!" and fired. "Cheese toast" is a derogatory name for East Coast Crips, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin S. Rosenberg.
The victim, apparently targeted only because of his skin color, survived being shot several times, Rosenberg said.
F13 is not the only Latino gang linked to racial killings. Last year, four members of the Avenues, a gang from the Highland Park area, east of downtown Los Angeles, were convicted of hate crimes for killing a black man in what prosecutors called a campaign to drive blacks from that neighborhood. And last January, authorities announced a crackdown on the 204th Street gang after the killing of a 14-year-old black girl.
The violence goes both ways, said Adam Torres, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department gang detective whose beat includes Florence-Firestone.
During a recent patrol on the east side of the neighborhood, he pointed to a cinderblock wall peppered with bullet holes. Torres said the Crips still control that area and any Hispanic there is at risk of being shot.
Despite the wave of violence, George Tita, a criminologist at the University of California at Irvine, said racially motivated gang killings are an exception. Latinos and blacks are far more likely to be killed by one of their own.
"You don't see these major black-brown wars, either within the context of gangs or outside the context of gangs," Tita said.
Residents of Florence-Firestone are loath to discuss gangs, fearful that they might end up as targets, but there are signs of change. The number of homicides in the neighborhood dropped from 43 in 2005 to 19 in 2006, Baca said. In 2007, there were 19 homicides as of Dec. 24.
Jose Garcia sees the difference. The security doors on the store where he works aren't covered with graffiti as often, and he hasn't heard a gunshot in two months.
"It used to be at least once or twice a week," he said.
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