LASD Gangs

A while ago I heard or read something about a gang from Los Angeles called "Los Banditos." Because I've been a fan of LA rap artists, like NWA, Cypress Hill, Snoop Dog and Easy E (may he rest in piece) for years, and fully aware of the connection between the music and gangs, I thought that it was your typical street gang. But it isn't. It appears that there are criminal gangs within the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD), and there have been for at least a half century...

"Google LASD" is a sign carried by many protesters in Los Angeles while protesting the police shooting of several black and latinx young men. I've followed that advice and came across a 15 part series on LASD gangs reported by journalist Cerise Castle. She writes about the history of these gangs and the failure of county, state and federal governments to do something about them, while the existence of these gangs has been known since 1971 and even before that. According to Wikipedia the first LASD gang, the Little Devils, was founded at the East LA Station in 1971 and had an overwhelmingly white membership among deputies who patrolled black and Latino communities. Nothing much has changed and the gangs still have colorful names like the Lynwood Vikings, Los Baditos, the Executioners, Regulators, the 2000 Boys and the 3000 Boys, they all have matching tattoos, they use hand signals and practice initiation rituals like shooting a citizen or falsifying evidence.

Deputy gangs have killed at least 19 people, all of whom were men of color. At least four of them had a mental illness. Los Angeles County keeps a list of lawsuits related to the deputy gangs. Litigation related to these cases has cost the County just over $100 million over the past 30 years.
_{source: Knock-LA}

This is shocking. Or at least it's shocking to see how deep the tradition of violence within the LASD runs, and to think that LA surely isn't the only police department tarnished by this culture. After reading Cerise Castle's reports and watching the below linked video, I can't imagine how someone could still deny the reality of systemic racism, but on the other hand I know that there will be individuals, usually found in right wing circles, who will still say there's no such thing. I'm not going to say much more. Just read it for yourself: A Tradition of Violence -
The History of Deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It's a lot though, so if you'd like the TLDR, just watch the below linked video.

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