LOS ANGELES – About 800 law enforcement officers on Wednesday arrested gang members who allegedly terrorized the Ramona Gardens housing complex in Boyle Heights and were involved in various felony crimes including drug dealing, committing violent offenses, possessing weapons and threatening blacks living in the housing complex, officials said.
The federal indictment charges 38 defendants who are members or associates of Big Hazard, a violent criminal street gang that has been involved in murder, extortion, robbery and other crimes in Boyle Heights for more than 70 years, federal officials said.
Twenty-five defendants were arrested today, seven other defendants were already in custody, five remain fugitives as of this morning, and one defendant was killed this weekend, authorities said.
“All of the gang’s operations were done under the umbrella of intimidation – making threats and then committing acts of violence against rival gangsters, law-abiding members of the community and Hazard gang members who might be cooperating with authorities,” Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura said today. “The intimidation and threats extended to African-American residents of Ramona Gardens. In stark and simple messages delivered in person and through graffiti, the Hazard gang made it clear that black residents were not welcome in the neighborhood that it claimed to control.”
A 110-page indictment unsealed this morning outlines criminal activity going back to 2007, including dozens of drug deals, acts of intimidation and violence against people believed to have cooperated with law enforcement, illegal weapons sales and threats made against black residents of Ramona Gardens, which includes tagging with phrases such as “no blacks.”
The Hazard gang takes its name from a park near Ramona Gardens and is currently believed to have approximately 350 members.
The gang’s main business is drug trafficking, according to the indictment, which details more than three dozen narcotics transactions involving nearly one-half pound of methamphetamine.
To conceal this business and expand its territory, Hazard members take steps to prevent law enforcement from infiltrating its activities, steps that include CCTV surveillance at drug houses, making bogus complaints about police officers in an attempt to have them moved to patrol other areas of Los Angeles, and threatening and assaulting local residents who cooperate with law enforcement.
The Hazard gang is closely aligned with the Mexican Mafia, a violent prison gang, and many members of the prison gang have come from Hazard.
The lead defendant in the 45-count indictment is Manuel Larry Jackson, also known as “Cricket,” a Mexican Mafia member who allegedly oversees the activities of the Hazard gang.
The indictment alleges the following:
Under Jackson’s control, the gang commits a wide variety of crimes, most significantly drug trafficking, which generates revenues through the sale of narcotics and the “taxing” of drug dealers who operate in Hazard territory.
Some of the revenues generated through “taxes” or “rent” are funneled back to Jackson and other members of the Mexican Mafia.
Including Jackson, 29 of the defendants are charged in a racketeering conspiracy count that outlines activities of the gang, its allegiance to the Mexican Mafia and the various tactics it employs to impose fear in the community.
Related Document:
Federal Affidavit of Big Hazard Gang