Photo: Sheriff Alex Villanueva at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles, September, 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
There are at least 41 secret gang members operating in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, according to the county’s inspector general Max Huntsman.
Huntsman sent a letter to L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva informing him of the problem.
The deputies accused of being gang members were identified from the Sheriff Department’s own internal affairs investigations, though they were not named. In the letter sent on May 22, Huntsman demanded that Villanueva hand over body-camera footage related to those investigations and instruct deputies to cooperate with his office, The Los Angeles Daily News reported.
“As you are aware, these investigations uncovered substantial evidence of a variety of conduct relevant to the definition of ‘law enforcement gang’ under the Penal Code, including violent acts against sworn personnel and discrimination in membership-based upon race and gender,” Huntsman wrote.
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.
In his letter, Huntsman noted that members of the Banditos were alleged to have been involved in a fight among deputies that broke out at Kennedy Hall in East L.A. in 2018.
The Banditos brand themselves with matching tattoos of a skeleton wearing a sombrero, bandolier and pistol, while the Executioners have matching tattoos of a skull with Nazi imagery and an AK-47, The Daily Mail reported.
The Sheriff’s Department is pushing back at Huntsman’s accusations. The department said they had handed over all information they were legally required to provide to the inspector general’s office in a Facebook post.
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“This is another irresponsible attempt from Mr. Huntsman to discredit the organization through omission and misrepresentation,” officials said in the post. “The timing of this letter suggests Mr. Huntsman is using his public office and resources to campaign against the sheriff leading up to the June primaries.”
Sheriff Villanueva adopted a policy against “deputy sub-cliques” in February 2021 in a bid to stop deputies who join and form such groups that engage in misconduct.
Photo: Sheriff Alex Villanueva addresses the media to respond to a recent Rand report saying gang-like cliques still exist within the Sheriff’s Department during a news conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles, September 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
