A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy alleges a claim in the department's Compton station called the Executioners retaliated against him for reporting misconduct. [2][5][6] The gang was founded by former 2000 Boys member Andy Toone. John Sweeney, a civil rights attorney who has been practicing in the Los Angeles area for 40 years, says that the Department has continued to get worse. Deputies continued to receive their full salaries for completing little-to-no work. A WHISTLEBLOWER cop has claimed that his LA police department has been taken over by a gang known as the 'Executioners' - who bear Nazi tattoos and make illegal arrests. The subculture includes monikers that indicate members of theBanditos, Regulators, Grim Reapers and Spartans, which allegedly operate out of various sheriff department patrol stations. Their 18-year-old son Andrs, a recent high school graduate, was studying at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. In 2000, the city disbanded its police force after struggling to contain rising crime and gang violence. In 2017, Gonzalez said, the Compton station captain at the time had turned to that deputy to boost arrest statistics after the captain was reprimanded for low numbers at the station. Orrego says Aldama pulled over and that as he stepped out of the vehicle, Taylor pulled out a gun and ran. Waters seeks federal probe of L.A. County deputies' alleged Executioners gang", "The Executioners: Does a Violent Deputy Gang Rule LA County's Compton Station? The deputies, Samuel Aldama and Mizrain Orrego, radioed that Lockett had a gun, which he says was a lie. He ran just like Sheldon Lockett ran. Los Angeles, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Randall Emmett, Ambyr Childers settle domestic violence restraining order dispute. In May, Dalvin Price was beaten by three deputies, and in JuneAndres Guardado, 18, was killed after being shot five times in the back. Now, Locketts attorneys are citing Gonzalezs claim in a court filing seeking to reopen discovery, depose several deputies again and examine their WhatsApp accounts. Gonzalez believes that Battles was punished for their association with each other. [8], Members of the Executioners are drawn from deputies who work at the Compton station of the LASD. Guardado was frightened and fled behind the gate of the property and into an alley. In his deposition, Gonzalez identified Miguel Vega, the Compton station deputy who killed 18-year-old Andres Guardado in a shooting in June that sparked weeks of protests, and his partner, Chris Hernandez, as prospective members of the Executioners. Clark informed Gonzalez that investigators from the Office of the Executive wanted to speak with him. Department officials stated at the time that the hold could last months to years, depending on the investigation and the agency. An independent report concluded Guardado had been shot five times in the back. 38 was a nod to his first gun; Orregos said his tattoo, which was covered up, was never numbered and he got it in solidarity with Aldama, his friend who had cancer; and Deputy Rogelio Benzors tattoo has a No. Gonzalez felt threatened and signed a document Barragan had prepared that stated he was voluntarily relinquishing his position as an FTO. The Compton Executioners is a deputy gang within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). He added later: So we call it ink chasers because theyre out there trying to show the rest of the members, the rest of the inked members that, you know, theyre worthy of that tattoo.. Even so, he says, Aldama punched him in the head five times while using the N-word. Before joining The Times in 2016, she reported on crime and policing for the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader. Proponents claimed the money would be reinvested in the community and would lead to an economic revival. Haney also told LA Taco that deputies searched the body shop without a warrant and destroyed several surveillance cameras. In 2017, after Gonzalez returned, Compton Station Captain Michael Thatcher allegedly implemented an illegal arrest quota policy, where deputies were instructed to arrest people for misdemeanors that would not ordinarily result in a citation, let alone arrest. (Court documents) With only days before trial was scheduled to start, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Thursday dismissed a high-profile whistleblower case that could have spilled out in court the secretive conduct of an alleged violent gang of sheriff's deputies at the Compton Station . The allegations come as the Compton station faces criticism over several high-profile incidents. In Compton, the Executioners ruled the station using a similar . ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Nearly all the CPT Deputies who have been involved in high-profile shootings and out-of-policy beatings at CPT in recent years have been inked members of The Executioners, the claim alleges. McDonnell went on to lose his bid for re-election to current Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has a history with several gang affiliated deputies. No gun was found. As Aldama and Orrego chased Taylor, they requested to broadcast over Patch that they were chasing a man with a gun, just as they did with Sheldon Lockett. Andres ran down the driveway, got on his knees and put his hands behind his head. Accepting the deputys testimony, there is evidence that the clique existed in Compton and that it routinely violated the rights of suspects, Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh said in his ruling. Deputy Art Gonzalez , who worked in LASD for five years, is the whistleblower who filed a government claim . On February 8, 2020, Banuelos texted Gonzalez and told him about Contreras violent behavior. The Compton Executioners is a deputy gang within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). Monthly arrests per deputy more than doubled and that captain was eventually promoted, he said. A top jail official had described exclusive gangs of deputies in Mens Central Jail who would earn their ink by breaking inmates bones. A further 20 deputies are close associates of the gang and considered to be "prospects." The gang wanted control over that position because the deputy was responsible for assigning shifts and granting days off. Despite the fact that it was impossible for Lockett to have committed the shooting, deputies brought a victim of the driveby to where Lockett had been detained. LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas also called for an independent investigation. A violent gang of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who call themselves "The Executioners" control a patrol station in Compton through force, threats, work slowdowns and acts of revenge . Compton Executioners sheriff gang lied about guns and hosted inking parties, deputy says. All rights reserved. The position theyre taking is making it difficult to get discovery. But Casey says his firm is determined to expose the truth. On August 25, 2016, Samuel Aldama, a sheriff's deputy from the Compton station with an Executioners tattoo, and his partner fatally shot Donta Taylor, an African American man walking on the sidewalk . Deputy Jaime Juarez, the so-called shot caller who succeeded Toone as commander of the Executioners, was then the Training and Scheduling Deputy. Some say its to celebrate that a deputy survived, he said. Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas defied Villanuevas order and released the report in July 2020. Barragan also told Gonzalez that, there are two ways to do this, you can voluntarily not take trainees and the other way is we start documenting, which Gonzalez understood to mean that unless he accepted the demotion, Barragan would start the process of documenting Gonzalez for discipline, setting him up to be fired. 1. new covid vaccines in the pipeline . The investigation found that 11 deputies in the East L.A. sheriff's station are in the Banditos gang, and 30 members of the Executioners gang are in the Compton sheriff's station. Gonzalezs statements were introduced in an excessive-force lawsuit filed against the Sheriffs Department by Sheldon Lockett. Andrs Guardado, 18. "The gang controlled the scheduling, and therefore even having a sick child that needed nonstop medical care was secondary to making sure the gang members got their preferred shifts,"Alan Romero, an attorney representing Gonzalez in hisclaim against the county, told Fox News in a statement. Chelsea Kai Roesch. After the arrest, Locketts mother filed a complaint to the Sheriffs Department. The judge hearing the case cited the evidence when tentatively deciding to advance the case for trial. His life was cut short while he was working one evening shortly after an encounter with Deputies Vega and Hernandez. We are dedicated to providing independent journalism and telling the real story of LA. Details about the Compton clique were first revealed in a civil case brought by the family of Donta Taylor, a 31-year-old man who was shot and killed when deputies opened fire during a foot chase in 2016. Waldie told Juarez that he would not be intimidated by the gang. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Sweeney says Taylor ran out of fear. axel lab publications; los angeles car accident death today. watford town hall vaccination centre contact. Sweeneys firm brought another excessive-force case involving the same deputies in the Taylor case, which is pending in federal court. Many work at night, the claim says, and communicate through WhatsApp. Samuel Aldama, a tattooed member of the Executioners, testified under oath that he had ill feelings towards African Americans. Inspector General Max Huntsman said Thursday that he is aware of no implementation whatsoever of the policy and that his office cant effectively investigate the secret societies because of the obstruction of the Sheriffs Department. He said the criminal investigation of Banditos members who were allegedly involved in an off-duty beating in 2018 amounted to a cover-up, noting that more than 20 deputies were not required to give statements. Compton Deputy Samuel Aldama was forced to reveal his tattoo during a deposition about the Taylor case. Lockett did not own a car, so he took the bus south to Hawthorne. On June 21, 2020, about 500 protestors gathered at the intersection of Figueroa Street and West Redondo Beach Boulevard to march to the Compton Sheriff Station. [4] These deputies share a tattoo, which features a skeleton with an assault rifle and a Nazi-style helmet. A tattoo on an LA. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. In 2009, a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in the back by a Compton station deputy, who claimed the boy pointed a gun at him. He noted that heremoved the entire leadershipofthe East Los Angeles station when he was confronted with allegations abouta group of deputies in a similar clique after taking office in 2018. Gonzalez testified that he feared for his safety from the clique. In 2019, for example, the county paid out $7 million to settle a wrongful death claim filed by the family of a man shot and killed by a deputy with an Executioners tattoo. On August 25, 2016, Aldama and Orrego were assigned to a gang suppression detail, a unit assigned to areas the department deems have high gang activity during the summer months. LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles police fatally shot a 14-year-old girl who was inside a clothing store dressing room Thursday as they fired at a suspect who had assaulted a woman earlier, authorities said. According to a complaint Alegria filed against the County, Vega and Hernandez began bullying and harassing young people gathered around the park. They chased him until they found him hiding in a backyard, where Lockett says he surrendered. L.A. County settled a lawsuit brought by Taylors family for $7 million. In June, a claim filed by Deputy Sheriff Austreberto Gonzalez against Los Angeles County said that a gang which calls itself the Executioners consists of a fifth of the 100 deputies at the Compton Station (CPT). I stood with protestwrs holding my press badge. They know whats going on. Gonzalezs claim alleges the Compton station clique numbers about 20 deputies, while 20 more are prospects or associates. Los Angeles County settled with Taylor's family for $7million The cliques were first brought to light in a civil case brought by the family of Donta Taylor, a 31-year-old man who was fatally gunned down during a foot chase in 2016. This Los Angelesrelated article is a stub. In a statement later, Villanueva said he ordered an investigation. Its the kind of behavior that plays out regularly at the station, according to a whistleblower who worked there for five years and recounted other sensational allegations in a recent deposition obtained by The Times in a federal civil rights lawsuit. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said during a live Facebook broadcast Wednesday that there is no gang of any deputies running any station. But he said that he was disturbed by the allegations in the claim and that swift administrative action is being taken. While Aldama never used the word "Executioners," or explicitly admitted affiliation, he claimed that about 20 other deputies at Compton had the same tattoo, according to the lawsuit. He doesnt trust police officers. The gang's hallmark is a tattoo of a . 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. At the Compton sheriffs station, its called a ghost gun: a weapon a deputy says he spots on a suspect but that is never found when colleagues respond to the scene and search for it. WitnessLA reports that all three deputies were Executioners. In July 2021, U.S. Congressional Representative Maxine Waters called for a Department of Justice inquiry into the existence of the gang.. Members of the 'Executioners' are deputies operating out of the Compton station of the LASD. Vega had inadvertently trapped himself and was unable to open his door, so the deputy climbed out of the window and onto the hood of the car. He claims the members ink themselves with tattoos featuringNazi imagery, a laughing skeleton and an AK-47. The caption of the photo read, Some people worked Compton, others just claimed they did!!!. The solution, as city leaders saw it, was to hire the Sheriffs Department to patrol the streets, a move advertised as a way to have more sophisticated policing that would save the city $7 million a year out of its $20-million budget for policing costs. Vega fired his weapon at Guardado six times, striking him five times in the back. A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy associated with the gang-like group of deputies with matching tattoos from Compton station testified that he has attended about seven so-called inking . As Cunningham attempts to exit the barricaded area, a deputy hands his shield to a colleague and grabs Cunningham in what appears to be an attempt to pull him over the barricade. The FBI, however, has been interviewing deputies over the last year about whether clique members are actively violating civil rights of the public with false reports or violence. The revelations were disturbing to observers who watched the department try to implement reforms following a jail abuse and corruption scandal that ultimately led to the convictions of several high-ranking officials including former Sheriff Lee Baca and his undersheriff, Paul Tanaka, who was a tattooed member of the Vikings. At the hospital, Alegria said a deputy forced him to sign a citation for being under the influence of meth in order to be released. Waldie informed Captain Thatcher about the gangs antics, and Juarez was transferred to the City of Industry Station. His screensaver showed a black and white photo of a Sheriffs Department vehicle surrounded by people who appear to be detained. Knock LA is a nonprofit community journalism project, originally conceived by Ground Game LA. (Google Maps). suzette malveaux married; centros de mesa con flores artificiales; housing in naples, italy The County alleges that the victim positively identified Lockett as the shooter. April Tardy said, using a term often used to describe top leaders in prisons and gangs. On Tuesday, the department said itlaunched "multiple investigations" into the matter. Donta Taylor, it was night in a desolate, backwashed section of Compton and death sealed his lips. Attorneys and witnesses gathered outside South LA Station a few days later to speak about the incident. The Compton Executioners is a deputy gang within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). The tattoos feature a skull, Nazi images and an AK-47. They are accused of acting against their fellow deputies and the people to better their own standing in the organization. follow. Their focus is not the station, their focus is not the department, and their focus is not their job. So did dozens others worse than me. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and decorated LASD deputy alleges that the Compton patrol station is run by a deputy gang known as the "Executioners."Full story:.