•

Loyola Law School

Loyola Marymount University
Center for Juvenile Law & Policy

50 YEARS OF
DEPUTY
GANGS
IN THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY
SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

Identifying Root Causes and Effects

to Advocate for Meaningful Reform

A Report by the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy

LMU Loyola Law School
January 2021
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.........................................................................................1
I. Introduction ....................................................................................................2
II. Debates over Nomenclature: Are the LASD Subgroups “Deputy Gangs”? ..2
III. Suspected LASD Deputy Gangs, Cliques or Subgroups ...............................4
Banditos ........................................................................................................5
Buffalo Soldiers ............................................................................................8
Cavemen .......................................................................................................9
Cowboys .....................................................................................................10
Executioners ...............................................................................................10
Grim Reapers ..............................................................................................12
Jump Out Boys ...........................................................................................14
Little Red Devils .........................................................................................15
Pirates .........................................................................................................16
Posse ..........................................................................................................17
Rattlesnakes ................................................................................................18
Regulators ...................................................................................................18
Spartans ......................................................................................................20
Tasmanian Devils .......................................................................................21
Three-Thousand (3000) Boys .....................................................................21
Two-Thousand (2000) Boys .......................................................................23
Vikings........................................................................................................23
Wayside Whities .........................................................................................24
IV. Successive Sheriffs Resist Acknowledging and Addressing Deputy Gangs
...................................................................................................................25
V. The Negative Impact of Fifty Years of Unchecked Deputy Gangs on
Policing in Los Angeles ............................................................................31

i
 A. Escalation of Uses of Force: The High Cost of Lives Lost and Multi-
Million Dollar Settlements ...............................................................31
1. The Deputy Gangs Promote a Culture of Violence ....................31
2. Five Years of Deputy Shootings Demonstrates a Correlation
between Involvement in Such Shootings and Operating out of a
Station with Active Deputy Gangs ..............................................33
B. Deputy Gangs Undermine Constitutional Policing ..........................41
C. LASD Members Make False and Misleading Statements to Hide the
Existence and True Nature of Deputy Gangs ...................................43
VI. The Negative Impact of Unchecked Deputy Gangs on the Los Angeles
Justice System ...........................................................................................45
A. Criminal Justice: Brady Violations Lead to Unconstitutional and
Wrongful Convictions ......................................................................45
B. Civil Justice: Structuring Settlements to Hide Deputy Gangs and
Cliques from the Public ....................................................................50
VII. Moving Forward: Implementing the Recommendations of the President’s
Task Force on Twenty-First Century Policing ..........................................51
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................53

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This policy report required the commitment and hard work of several student-
volunteers, who collectively spent over one thousand hours investigating,
researching, and fact-checking the issues. The Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at
Loyola Law School expresses its appreciation to the following students:
Jordy Garcia Darshan Patel
LMU Loyola Law School LMU Loyola Law School
Adriana Gonzalez Jennifer Koontz
LMU Loyola Law School LMU Loyola Law School
Bianca Torres-Murray Anthony Hu
University of California, Berkeley Kalamazoo College
Tristan Marrache Catherine Charles
Santa Monica College University of California, Davis
We hope that their work, done under difficult circumstances and with myriad
obstacles to transparency, will pave the way towards meaningful reforms at the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
With gratitude,
>/
Sean K. Kennedy
Kaplan Feldman Executive Director and Professor
Center of Juvenile Law & Policy
LMU Loyola Law School
1
 I. Introduction

The Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP) is a free legal clinic at
Loyola Law School that trains law students to holistically represent at-risk youth in
delinquency proceedings. Many of the teens whom we represent are gang-
involved and have been charged with gang enhancements. They sometimes tell us
that the sheriff’s deputies who arrested them are gang members themselves. There
may be some truth to these claims. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
(LASD) has a long history of deputies forming secret subgroups at stations in
minority communities. Some of these subgroups have tattoos, hand signals, and
rituals that are similar to a criminal street gang. The concern is that these
subgroups foster a culture that resists police reforms, such as community policing
and constitutional policing, by encouraging and even celebrating aggressive tactics
and excessive use of force against minority communities.
This report analyzes how LASD “deputy gangs” have negatively impacted
policing in Los Angeles and infected the fairness of legal proceedings in Los
Angeles Superior Court. Section II discusses the debate over how to refer to the
LASD internal subgroups, ultimately concluding that no one term applies to all of
the different subgroups. Section III catalogues all suspected deputy subgroups,
highlighting where they are based, what their tattoos look like, and whatever else is
known about their gang-like behaviors. Section IV discusses to what extent
successive sheriffs have addressed the issue and whether those efforts have
combated or actually facilitated the proliferation of deputy gangs. Section V
analyzes how deputy gangs have impacted policing in our community; it includes a
comprehensive study of all shootings by LASD deputies during the immediate past
five years. Section VI discusses how public agencies have compromised the
integrity and fairness of our justice system by failing to disclose deputies’
participation in internal LASD gangs and cliques. Section VII explores using the
recommendations of President Obama’s task force on twenty-first century policing
as a blueprint for how to address deputy gangs in the nation’s largest sheriff’s
department.
II. Debates over Nomenclature: Are the LASD Subgroups “Deputy
Gangs”?
There is no agreement among stakeholders about how to refer to the LASD
internal subgroups. Many deputies—particularly suspected members of a
subgroup—refer to them as “drinking groups,” “intramural sports teams,” or

2
“social clubs.”1 Many community members, however, insist that the subgroups be
called “gangs” because the deputies who belong to them engage in gang-like
behaviors.2 LASD leadership vehemently objects to this nomenclature, arguing
that the subgroups fail to qualify as a “criminal street gang” under the STEP Act
because their “primary purpose” is to promote comradery, not criminal activities.3
It is important to note that despite this objection, LASD members at every level
have themselves referred to the subgroups as “gangs” and “gang members.”4
There is evidence that some LASD members intimidate perceived enemies and
critics in a manner that most would consider gang-like; for example, the County
recently agreed to provide retiring chief executive officer Sachi Hamai with “full-
time private security … to address concerns for her personal safety” after she was
threatened and harassed by deputies for cutting the LASD budget.5

1
Seth Mydans, Los Angeles’s Sheriff Also Under Fire, N.Y. Times (Sept. 17, 1991) (“Critics say
these are white supremacist gangs with their own tattoos, hand signals and even graffiti, but the
department spokesmen call the organizations harmless sporting or social clubs.”).
2
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities:
Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination—Vol. V: The Los Angeles Report (May 1999) at 129
(“Mr. Lynn [witness before the Commission] also rejects the contention that groups such as the
Vikings and the Cavemen are merely social associations; instead he testified that they are deputy
gangs with members who unlawfully harass, beat and shoot minorities.”).
3
CALCRIM No. 1401 defines a “criminal street gang” as “any ongoing organization,
association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal: 1) that has a common
name or common identifying sign or symbol; 2) that has, as one or more of its primary activities,
the commission of [any crime listed in Penal Code § 1866.22(e)(1)-(25) and (31)-(33)]; and 3)
whose members, whether acting alone or together, engage in or have engaged in a pattern of
criminal activity.” It further states: “In order to qualify as a primary activity, the crime must be
one of the group’s chief or principal activities rather than an occasional act committed by one or
more persons who happen to be members of the group.”
4
Celeste Fremon, Sheriff’s Candidates Trade Barbs over Deputy Cliques … & the LA Times
Endorses McDonnell, WitnessLA (Apr. 30, 2014) (“As to whether the cliques deserved to be
referred to as deputy ‘gangs,” [retired LASD commander] Olmsted said, ‘When you have
deputies that throw gang signs, call themselves ‘OGs,’ have matching tattoos, beat up other
deputies … what would you call them?’”); Report of the Citizen’ Commission on Jail Violence
(Sept. 2012) at 69 (noting that Undersheriff Paul Tanaka berated a supervisor for referring to
some custody deputies as “gang members”); Letter from an anonymous East Los Angeles deputy
to Internal Affairs (June 2018), on file at CJLP at Loyola Law School-Los Angeles (repeatedly
referring to the Banditos as a “gang” and asserting, “Similar to street gangs there’s a structure of
organization and protocols to follow that only those who meet the criteria for membership are
aware of.”).
5
Jacyln Cosgrove & Alene Tchekmedyian, L.A. County CEO to Receive $1.5 Million and
Security in Settlement over Alleged Harassment, L.A. Times (Aug. 26, 2020).

3
 Reporters and oversight officials have attempted to sidestep the debate by
crafting their own terms, such as “deputy cliques” and “secret societies.”6 Critics of
this approach object that using such euphemisms obscures the true nature and
extent of the threat posed by armed deputies who act like gang members.7
There is no need to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. When a particular
subgroup’s members engage in gang-like behaviors, it is appropriate to refer to that
subgroup as a deputy gang. This is true regardless of whether the subgroup falls
within the technical definition of a “criminal street gang” set forth in the STEP
Act. The common understanding of “gangs” is much broader than a legalistic
definition established by a criminal statute.8 Where evidence of specific gang-like
behaviors is lacking, however, it is appropriate to use more neutral terms, such as
“clique” or “subgroup.”
III. Suspected LASD Deputy Gangs, Cliques or Subgroups
The press has been reporting about various LASD cliques or gangs for
decades. The press accounts focus on different subgroups depending upon the
latest lawsuit or scandal as well as the time of the reporting. There is no single
comprehensive compilation of all known subgroups, their common tattoos and
other identifiers, and their specific gang-like activities.
This section attempts to catalogue all the subgroups and give as full an
accounting as possible of their tattoos and gang-like activities. The CJLP has
identified at least eighteen subgroups within the LASD. Some are historical with
no evidence of ongoing activities; others are clearly active right now. Likely even
more deputy gangs and cliques exist that have not yet been discovered due to the
culture of denial and secrecy within the LASD.

6
For example, L.A. Times reporter Maya Lau advised during a panel discussion at Loyola Law
School that she “[tries] to be fair and cautious” by using more neutral terms, such as “groups” or
“deputy secret societies,” to refer to the “so-called gangs.” Guilty by Association II Conference,
Session Three: Looking at Gangs through a Different Prism: Deputy Gangs (Feb. 1, 2019),
available at https://lmu.app.box.com/s/vt9j4duga1cpysyaawy430j8nscyo86x.
7
The Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission hosts monthly hearings where
members of the public are invited to speak about sheriff policy issues and their interactions with
deputies. At nearly every session, multiple speakers voice their objection to using terms other
than “gang” to describe the LASD subgroups.
8
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “gang” as “an organized group of criminals” or, in the
alternative, as “a group of young people who spend a lot of time together and often cause trouble
or fight against other groups.”

4
 While problematic subgroups are certainly not unique to the LASD, the
CJLP could not find any other law enforcement organization in the United States
with so many subgroups engaging in gang-like behaviors over such a long period.9
The sheer number of deputy gangs and cliques distinguishes the LASD as an
outlier and reveals a longstanding, broad institutional problem in need of serious
reforms.
The subgroups identified to date are as follows:
Banditos
The “Banditos” appears to be the most recent deputy gang operating out of
the East Los Angeles Station. Banditos members have a common tattoo on the leg
that is sequentially numbered. The tattoo depicts a skeleton with a bushy mustache
(brocha) wearing a sombrero and bandolier and holding a pistol.10 Banditos
members adopt myriad gang-like behaviors, such as using monikers and wearing
gang attire while off duty.11 They regularly use gang slang, such as referring to
longtime members as “OGs” and passing on information that they “heard on the
yard.”12 Banditos leaders refer to themselves as “shot callers,” a term borrowed
from the leaders of prison gangs.13 The Banditos allegedly target young Latino

9
There is limited reporting by criminologists about “race-affiliated ‘police cliques’ or ‘cartels’”
within the New Orleans Police Department during the late 1980s and mid 1990s, but these
internal subgroups (Taylor’s Children, the Antoinettes, and the McNuggets) did not persist for
decades and proliferate, as the various subgroups within the LASD have done. See Stephen
Phillippi and Peter Scharf, The New Orleans Police Department Was Troubled Long before
Hurricane Katrina, The Conversation (Aug. 27, 2015), available at
https://theconversation.com/the-new-orleans-police-department-was-troubled-long-before-
hurricane-katrina-46381.
10
Maya Law & Joel Rubin, FBI Investigating Tattooed Deputy Gangs in Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department, L.A. Times (July 11, 2019).
11
Office of Inspect General County of Los Angeles, Analysis of the Criminal Investigation of the
Alleged Assault by the Banditos (Oct. 2020) at p. 5 (“Some of the information told to the ICIB
investigators suggests that the Banditos act in ways that are comparable to a criminal street gang
and some witnesses described the veterans as ‘OGs,’ which is the term for older gang members
who have paid their dues and earned the respect of younger members.”).
12
Id.
13
Alene Tchekmedyian, Sheriff Villanueva to Fire or Suspend 26 People in Off-Duty Banditos
Fight, LA Times (Aug. 13, 2020) (“The administrative investigation, which involved interviews
with more than 70 people, found that some employees at the East L.A. station were acting as so-
called ‘shot callers,’ controlling scheduling and events at the station, [Cmdr. April Tardy] said,
using a term often used to describe top leaders in prison.”).

5
deputies to join as prospects, who eventually become full members.14 The
prospects serve as enforcers and carry out the commands of the shot callers. If the
deputies resist recruitment, the gang tries to “roll out” the deputies, getting them to
quit the East Los Angeles station.15
Traditional criminal gangs “tax” drug dealers who sell narcotics on their
16
turf. It is alleged that Banditos “tax” trainees at the East Los Angeles station by
demanding that the trainees buy members expensive meals, alcohol, and personal
gifts.17 As applied to female trainees, “taxing” at times includes the expectation
that they will assent to have sex with Banditos members; women who resist are
retaliated against for “not going with the program.”18
Some Banditos, like street gang members, physically assault and batter
others whom they want to assert control over or whom they perceive as a threat to
their turf. Several deputies have been beaten by Banditos behind the East Los
Angeles station, across the street at the “Cap” nightclub, and at off-training
parties.19 For example, a coordinated Banditos gang attack occurred at the
September 28, 2018 “off-training” party at Kennedy Hall.20 As confirmed by
several witnesses present at Kennedy Hall, four veteran deputies21 affiliated with
the Banditos attacked and beat up several unaffiliated deputies, at least one of

14
Frank Stoltze, East LA Sheriff’s Deputies File Suit Claiming Harassment, Violence by
“Banditos” Clique, LAist (Sept. 18, 2019).
15
Alene Tchekmedyian, “Gang-Like” Deputy Clique Exerts “Undue Influence” at East L.A.
Station, Report Says,” LA Times (Oct. 5, 2020) (“Some younger deputies allege that the group
has used its influence, and sometimes force and violence, to push deputies out of the station for
‘failing to live up to the Banditos’ work ethic,’ the report says.”).
16
David Skarbek, Governance and Prison Gangs, 105 American Political Science Rev. 702, 706-
08 (2011) (discussing Mexican Mafia practice of “taxing” drug dealers who sell narcotics in
neighborhoods controlled by the gang).
17
Student interview of an anonymous career deputy who trained in the East Los Angeles station
and later returned to an assignment there.
18
Id.
19
Hernandez, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al., 19STCV33158, Deposition of Alan Soohoo
(Aug. 18, 2020) at 43-44.
20
Celeste Fremon, What is the LA County Sheriff’s Department Doing About Its Big, Bad Deputy
Gang Problem?, Witness L.A. (Oct. 30, 2018).
21
The four deputies, who have been named as defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit, are as
follows: Raphael “Rene” Munoz, aka “Big Listo,” Gregory Rodriguez, aka “G-Rod,” David
Silverio, aka “Silver,” and Michael Hernandez, aka “Bam-Bam.”

6
whom the Banditos did not support working at the East Los Angeles station.22 Two
of the victims were seriously injured and had to be transported to a hospital for
medical care. After the victims at Kennedy Hall reported the incident, they were
further retaliated against by the Banditos, and dead rats were placed in front of
victims’ homes.23 Similarly, a dead rat was placed outside the car of a female
deputy who had previously spoken out about the Banditos and filed a lawsuit
against the County.24

Several lawsuits against the County allege that Banditos members exercise
de facto control over the East Los Angeles station and that LASD management has
tolerated and even tacitly approved of their misconduct.25 East Los Angeles
Captain Richard Mejia acknowledged that complaints had been brought to him in
early 2018 regarding Rafael Rene Munoz, a Banditos “shot caller”; Mejia initiated
an inquiry and recommended a full investigation, but the station leadership did not
follow up in the months leading up to the Kennedy Hall attacks.26

LASD deputies have accused Banditos members of intentionally

withholding back-up assistance from their partners on dangerous calls, risking
deputy and community resident safety.27 At a town hall in East Los Angeles,
frustrated community members displayed protest signs, including a large sign that
read “Banditos: a gang with badges;” several speakers accused Banditos of
22
Office of Inspect General County of Los Angeles, Analysis of the Criminal Investigation of the
Alleged Assault by the Banditos (Oct. 2020) at 3.
23
Alene Tchekmedyian, Sheriff Villanueva to Fire or Suspend 26 People Involved in Off Duty
Banditos Fight (Aug. 13, 2020) (reporting that the victim deputies, through counsel, claimed
they “found ‘rat” scribbled on their cars and lockers” and that two even “found a dead rat outside
their homes”).
24
Aaron Mendelson & Mary Plummer, The L.A. Sheriff’s Dept. Makes Up 17 Percent of the
County Workforce—But Nearly Half of Sexual Misconduct Legal Costs, LAist (Oct. 18, 2016).
25
Guadalupe Lopez v. County of Los Angeles, Superior Court no. BC540387; Rosa Gonzalez v.
County of Los Angeles, Superior Court no. BC591056; Art Hernandez, et al. v. County of Los
Angeles, et al., U.S. District Court no. 19STCV33158; Lisa Vargas v. County of Los Angeles, et
al., U.S. District Court no. CV-19-3279-PSG.
26
Transcript of May 6, 2019 IAB interview of Richard Mejia at 12, 18, 24, on file at CJLP at
Loyola Law School—Los Angeles.
27
Alene Tchekmedyian, Sheriff’s Deputies Sue L.A. County, Accusing Banditos Colleagues of
Beatings, Withholding Backup, LA Times (Sept. 19, 2019); see also excerpts of August 19, 2020
deposition of Joel M. Garnica at 31-32, on file at CJLP at Loyola Law School—Los Angeles
(stating that in May of 2018 he feared for his safety responding to an assault-with-a-firearm call
because he did not receive backup as requested).

7
planting evidence on suspects, conducting questionable arrests, and other improper
tactics.28 The FBI reportedly opened an investigation and has interviewed LASD
members about the Banditos and other LASD deputy gangs.29

In the wake of the Kennedy Hall incident, the Los Angeles County Inspector
General looked into many of these allegations and concluded that “[s]ubstantial
evidence exists to support the conclusion that the Banditos are gang-like and their
influence has resulted in favoritism, sexism, racism, and violence.”30 Citing the
alleged “reign of unlawful policing, violence and intimidation” by the Banditos,
the chairperson of House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
requested that the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division investigate the Banditos and
other deputy gangs within the LASD.31

Banditos & Fort Apache Logos-East L.A. Stn.

Buffalo Soldiers
The “Buffalo Soldiers” was a deputy subgroup within the LASD that was
comprised of only African Americans. Historically, the term “buffalo soldier”
referred to an African American soldier in the U.S. Army, serving in one of a

28
Frank Stoltze, The Banditos and Other LA Sheriff’s Deputy Groups Are Now Being
Investigated by the FBI, LAist (July 11, 2019).
29
Id.
30
Office of Inspect General County of Los Angeles, Analysis of the Criminal Investigation of the
Alleged Assault by the Banditos (Oct. 2020) at p. 29.
31
Sept. 23, 2020 Letter from Rep. Jaime Raskin to Assistant Attorney General Eric Driebard,
available at https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2020-09-
03.%20JR%20JG%20to%20Dreiband%20re%20LASD%20Gangs.pdf.

8
number of segregated units under white officers, in the period after the Civil War
up to the final racial integration of the military, at the end of the Korean War.32
While Buffalo Soldiers are occasionally mentioned in articles, there is a
dearth of reporting or other information about this secret subgroup. One LASD
source stated that the Buffalo Soldiers arose in response to prejudice at the Century
station after Sheriff Baca transferred nine African American deputies there in 1999
to diversify the station and improve relations with the community. After some
deputies who were resistant to change pejoratively referred to the new deputies as
buffalo soldiers, the new deputies adopted the name for themselves.33
While some commentators on social media (who claim they are or were
members of the LASD) have equated the Buffalo Soldiers with other nefarious
subgroups, there is no objective evidence of gang-like behaviors to justify referring
to them as a deputy gang or clique.
Cavemen
The “Cavemen” was a deputy clique within LASD based in the East Los
Angeles station in Boyle Heights.34 Cavemen members have a common tattoo that
depicts a cartoon caveman similar to the logo on the mug in the photograph
following this section.35 For many years, there was a Cavemen mural on a wall in
the conference room of the East Los Angeles station that was covered over after
the Banditos grew in popularity and influence.36 Sheriff Alex Villanueva has
publicly acknowledged the existence of the Cavemen while he worked at the East
Los Angeles station; He stressed that he was never a member.”37

32
See Kate Escher, Three things to Know about the Buffalo Soldiers, SmithsonianMag.com (July
28, 2017).
33
Aug. 12, 2020 CJLP interview of a retired LASD deputy who requested anonymity and
provided an oral history of the Buffalo Soldiers at the Century station.
34
Frank Stoltze, East LA Sheriff’s Deputies File Suit Claiming Harassment, Violence by
“Banditos” Clique, LAist (Sept. 18, 2019) (discussing the long history of cliques at LASD and
noting that “[t]he Cavemen preceded the Banditos at the East L.A. station”).
35
Transcript of May 6, 2019 IAB interview of Richard Mejia at 3, on file at CJLP at Loyola Law
School—Los Angeles (confirming that some deputies at East L.A. Station have a Caveman
tattoo, while others have a Banditos tattoo).
36
Student interview of anonymous career deputy, supra, at n. 17.
37
Villanueva stated, “I worked at East L.A. station during the time they were called the
Cavemen. I was never invited to be one. However, I worked with them, next to them, and I was
never treated differently than any of them … They were entirely benign.” Audio of March 26,
2019 public hearing of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission,

9
 Cavemen Logo-East L.A. Stn.

Cowboys
The “Cowboys” appears to be a deputy clique that operates out of multiple
locations, including Century and Palmdale stations. Cowboys members have a
common tattoo on the leg that is sequentially numbered. The tattoo depicts a skull
in a cowboy hat. In 2018 Oleg Polissky, a deputy in the Palmdale station, testified
that he received a Cowboys tattoo while accompanied by several deputies and was
then celebrated at a gathering of at least twenty deputies, some of whom had the
same tattoo.38 Polissky claimed the Cowboys tattoo signified “that no person has
less rights than any other person” and that “you treat the public equally and
without bias.”39
Executioners
The “Executioners” appears to be a deputy gang operating out of the
Compton station.40 Executioners members have a common tattoo on the leg that is
sequentially numbered. As pictured below, the Executioners tattoo depicts a skull
wearing a Nazi helmet with “CPT” on front and rifle encircled by flames.41

available at
http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/commissionpublications/agenda/1053091_March26_2019
MeetingAudio.pdf#search=%22*%22.
38
Maya Lau, Inked With a Skull in a Cowboy Hat, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Describes
Exclusive Society of Lawmen at California Station, L.A. Times (Aug. 4 2018)
39
Id.
40
Alene Tchekmedyian & Maya Lau, L.A. County Deputy Alleges “Executioner” Gang
Dominates the Compton Sheriff Station, LA Times (July 30, 2020).
41
Id.

10
 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 dressed in red.42 Both deputies
claimed they saw a gun in Taylor’s waistband, but no gun was found. Taylor’s
survivors filed a civil rights suit, alleging unconstitutional excessive use of force.
Aldama admitted in a May 16, 2018 deposition that he harbored “ill will” against
African Americans, but he quickly retracted his statement, claiming that he hadn’t
understood the question. Aldama testified that he received his tattoo two months
before the shooting and that up to 20 other deputies had the same tattoo. After a
judge ordered that the names of other deputies with a matching Executioners tattoo
be disclosed to the plaintiff, the County settled the suit for $7 million. The
plaintiff’s counsel stated publicly that he believed the County settled for such a
large amount in order to avoid releasing the names of more Executioners
members.43
Austreberto Gonzalez, a deputy at the Compton station, confirmed in a
recent deposition that the Executioners are a “violent gang” that dominates the
station and that has assaulted other deputies.44 They do not admit African
Americans or women.45 According to Gonzalez, the Executioners hosted
celebrations at bars (referred to as “998 parties” or “998 debriefs”) after a deputy
shot somebody, and that afterwards the deputy involved in the shooting would get
“inked” with an Executioners tattoo.46 Deputies who want to become Executioners
are referred to as “prospects.” These prospects start “chasing ink” by becoming
very aggressive on the streets in order to show the Executioners that they are
“worthy” of wearing their tattoo.47 Sometimes prospects and “inked” members
falsely claim in reports that they saw somebody running with a gun as a
justification for arresting or using force against a suspect. These false reports are
referred to as “ghost gun reports.”48

42
Maya Lau, Cop Group With Matching Skull Tattoos Costs Taxpayers $7 Million in Fatal
Shooting, L.A. Times (June 18, 2019).
43
Id.
44
Lockett v. County of Los Angeles, et al., 2:18CV-5838-DSF-jpr, Deposition of Austreberto
Gonzalez at 20-22.
45
Id. at 71.
46
Id. at 39-40.
47
Id.
48
Id. at 67-68.

11
 On June 18, 2020, two deputies from the Compton station, Miguel Vega and
Christian Hernandez, approached Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old security guard
who was speaking to somebody in a car that was stopped in front of a driveway.49
Guardado fled from the deputies for unknown reasons. Vega, who observed
Guardado holding a handgun, shot Guardado in the back multiple times, killing
him.50 Gonzalez testified at a deposition that Vega and Hernandez were prospects
seeking to join the Executioners at the time of the shooting.51

Executioners Tattoo & Logo-Compton Stn.

Grim Reapers
The “Grim Reapers” or “Reapers” appears to be a deputy gang that
originally operated out of the Lennox station, which closed in 2010, and continues
to operate out of the South Los Angeles station. Grim Reapers members have a
common tattoo on the leg that is sequentially numbered. The tattoo depicts a
black-hooded skeleton holding a scythe, reminiscent of the medieval symbol of
death.
There are multiple deputy shootings that involve Grim Reapers. David
Chevez, a South Los Angeles station deputy who has a Grim Reapers tattoo and

49
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Commander
Chris Marks Provided Update on the Andres Guardado Investigation (Aug. 12, 2020), available
at https://lasd.org/latest-develops-guardado-invest/.
50
Matthew Ormseth, Family of Andres Guardado Sues Sheriff’s Department, Deputies Involved
in Fatal Shootings, LA Times (Sept. 1, 2020) (“The Los Angeles County medical examiner-
coroner released an autopsy report over the sheriff’s objections, showing the teenager had been
shot five times in the back.”).
51
Alene Tchekmedyian, Compton Executioners Deputy Gang Lied about Guns and Hosted
Inking Parties, Deputy Says, LA Times (Aug. 20, 2020).

12
has been involved in at least two fatal shootings, conceded during a deposition that
the reaper is known as a “symbol for death,” but he maintained that his tattoo
symbolizes station pride, not his participation in a deputy shooting.52 In the same
lawsuit wherein he was deposed, Deputy Juan Meza, who has been involved in a
shooting, and Deputy Lawrence Swanson, who has been involved in three
shootings, were also identified as donning reaper tattoos.
The Grim Reapers came under heightened public scrutiny after Sheriff
Villanueva reinstated Caren Carl Mandoyan, a former deputy with a Grim Reapers
tattoo. The previous administration fired Mandoyan in 2016 because he had
committed acts of domestic violence against a female deputy, stalked her, tried to
break into her apartment, and then lied about his conduct.53 The victim testified
that Mandoyan used his status as a deputy gang member to try to dissuade her from
reporting the offense, stating that, as a Reaper, he had influential friends who could
ruin careers in the department.54 Mandoyan has also been involved in two non-
fatal deputy shootings, in 2013 and 2015, respectively.55 The female victim
testified that Mandoyan received his Reapers tattoo in 2013.
After the Office of Inspector General (OIG) started investigating Sheriff
Villanueva’s rehiring of Mandoyan--including his ties to the Grim Reapers--the
LASD restricted the OIG’s electronic access to all internal personnel records,

52
N.G. and L.G. v. Count of Los Angeles, CV-8312-SVW, Deposition of David Chevez (Mar. 5,
2014) at 75.
53
Office of Inspector General County of Los Angeles, Initial Implementation by Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department of the Truth and Reconciliation Process (July 2019) at pp 4-8.
54
Id. at 5 (“Mandoyan told [the victim] that he was a ‘Reaper’ and had influence with people
highly placed in the Department. … The victim understood the ‘Reaper’ comment to mean that
Mandoyan had friends who were Reapers who held ‘higher positions’ within the Department,
and who could ‘make anything happen.’”); see also Maya Lau and Matt Stiles, Deputy Reinstated
by Sheriff Villanueva Admitted to Having a Tattoo Linked to Secret Society, L.A. Times (Mar.
28, 2019).
55
On June 21, 2013, Mandoyan and his partner, Sean Kusiak, shot Mark Beasley during a foot
pursuit after a traffic stop. The district attorney found that both deputies acted in self-defense
after Beasley pulled a gun on them. See IAB Report #SH2336689, available at
https://lasdsb1421.powerappsportals.us/disfiles/?id=0fed23b6-7cd2-ea11-a812-001dd8309798.
On March 20, 2015, Mandoyan shot twice at Arthur Thomas during a foot pursuit after a traffic
stop, but missed him. Thomas admitted having a firearm that he was trying to “toss.” See IAB
Report #SH2376276, available at https://lasdsb1421.powerappsportals.us/disfiles/?id=7c683e8c-
7cd2-ea11-a812-001dd8309798.

13
thereby impeding this investigation and future investigations of alleged deputy
misconduct.

Grim Reapers Logo-Lennox & So. L.A. Stns.

Jump Out Boys

The “Jump Out Boys” was a deputy gang that operated out of the Operation
Safe Streets Bureau’s specialized gang suppression unit, Gang Enforcement Team
(GET). Jump Out Boys members have a tattoo on the right ankle that is
sequentially numbered. That tattoo depicts a red-eyed skull wearing a bandana
with the letters “O.S.S.” and holding a revolver next to an ace of spades and an 8
of spades cards, the so-called “dead man’s hand” in poker.
In 2012, LASD management obtained a pamphlet that described the creed,
mission, initiation rites, and the meaning of the common tattoo for the Jump Out
Boys. One section of the pamphlet states, “We are not afraid to get our hands dirty
without any disgrace, dishonor, or hesitation.”56 It went on to state that members
understand “when the line needs to be crossed, and crossed back” and that
“sometimes [members] need to do things they don’t want to in order to get where
they want to be.”57 The pamphlet directs that a “black book” containing all
member information and dates of shootings be kept “off site.”58
The Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) conducted an investigation of the Jump
Out Boys and identified seven deputies as members: Jason Lanska, Julio Martinez,

56
Copy of Jump Out Boys Creed produced by the LASD to the Los Angeles County Sheriff
Civilian Oversight Commission, on file at CJLP, Loyola Law School-Los Angeles.
57
Id.
58
Id.

14
Anthony Paez, Douglas Parkhurst, Ronnie Perez, Curtis Sykes, and Steve Vargas.
All seven were fired.59 Most were reinstated through civil service protection
proceedings and are currently employed by LASD.

Jump Out Boys Logo & Excerpt of Creed

Gang Enforcement Team (GET)

· Tattoo Meaning
The Jump out Boys was an Idea that was
though! of by the first few m ~. ,:;,vr,J
name Jump out Boys wa o us in
Compton by vanous ga~ members who we
came In contact with on a daily basis. The red
eyes will be on all Jump out Boy tattoos. If lhe
, gun is smoking then thal means the member
· l has been involved In at least one shooting.
The number you were given means that you
are part of an organized brolhertiood that
follows a structure in order to complle and
review the members who are entered Into a
_,booklet.

Little Red Devils

The “Little Red Devils” or “Red Devils” was a deputy clique based in the
East Los Angeles station as far back as 1970, making it one of the earliest known
deputy gangs. Little Red Devils members have a common tattoo on the left calf
that is sequentially numbered. The tattoo depicts a little red devil. In 1973, LASD
management learned of the Little Red Devils during an investigation of alleged
misconduct by two deputies affiliated with the clique.60 Captain R.D. Campbell
investigated and compiled a list of all known tattooed Little Red Devils, which
totaled forty-seven members.61 It is unknown if any discipline or consequences
were imposed.
The rise of the Little Red Devils appears to coincide with the East L.A.
station adopting the controversial “Fort Apache” seal as its de facto station logo.62

59
Mike Roe, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to Fire 7 Deputies from “Jump Out Boys”
Clique, L.A. Times (Feb. 6, 2013).
60
Dec. 3, 1973 LASD Memo from Capt. R.D. Campbell to Chief T.H. Von Minden, on file at the
Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, Loyola Law School-Los Angeles.
61
Id.
62
The Fort Apache logo depicts a police riot-helmet on top of a boot within a circle surrounded
by mottos. The inner motto reads “siempre una patada en los pantalones,”which translates to
“always a kick in the pants.” The other motto reads “Fort Apache East Los Angeles … Low
Profile.” The “Fort Apache” reference harkens back to the 1948 John Ford Western film of the
same name, in which a remote U.S. cavalry outpost is surrounded by enemies whom the white

15
The logo is widely viewed as a celebration of police violence against war
protestors during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium. 63

1973 LASO Memo

Investigation of Little Red Devils

Counly of Loo Angolff

SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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Pirates
The “Pirates” was a deputy clique based in the Firestone station, which
closed in 1993.64 Pirates members have a common tattoo on the leg, but it is
unknown if that tattoo is sequentially numbered. The tattoo depicts a traditional

officers regard as dangerous “savages.” The reference to “low profile” appears to be a mocking
criticism of Sheriff Pitchess’s instructions at the time for East Los Angeles deputies to reduce
their use of force against the protestors, thereby maintaining a “low profile.”
63
Louis Sahagun, A Day of Rage in East L.A., L.A. Times (Aug. 23, 2020) (reporting that the
East Los Angeles station adopted the Fort Apache logo “around the same time” that Laguna Park
was renamed Ruben Salazar Park, “whose death was compared by many Latinos to the
assassination of the Kennedy brothers and of Martin Luther King Jr.,” and noting that “critics say
the emblem casts the station as a Wild West outpost of deputies who crack down on local
Latinos”).
64
Retired LASD Deputy Stephen Beeler wrote a 2002 novel entitled The Firestone Syndrome,
which depicts the struggles of a deputy at the Firestone station as he unsuccessfully tries to
expose a violent deputy gang engaged in vigilante justice against residents and other deputies.
Stephen P. Beeler, The Firestone Syndrome (Advocate House 2002). While The Firestone
Station is a work of fiction, Beeler states in his “note to the reader” that he was inspired by his
twenty-one years working as a law enforcement officer for the LASD.

16
skull-and-crossbones. Originally, the skull-and-crossbones, which is an ancient
symbol of death, appeared on so-called “Jolly Roger” flags flown to identify a
ship’s crew as pirates.65 As piracy declined, the skull-and-bones symbol was
adopted by various military units and secret societies as a warning of the ferocity
of the group displaying it.66
Ron Hernandez, the current president of the Association of Los Angeles
Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS), appears to have a Pirates tattoo near his ankle. In 2019,
Hernandez publicly admitted that he had a tattoo “associated with the now-
shuttered Firestone station,” but he claimed “it signified a fellowship of hard
workers, not a rogue clique.”67 Other deputies from the Firestone station have
represented that the Pirates were an “intramural sports team.”68
Posse
The “Posse” appears to have been a deputy gang that operated inside the
mental health ward of the Los Angeles Twin Towers Correctional Facility. It is
unknown whether Posse members had a common tattoo. The Posse resisted
reforms aimed at treating inmates with severe mental illness more like patients,
which had been adopted by LASD management to avert a likely enforcement
action by the U.S. Department of Justice. Members of the Posse allegedly used
“coded communications” so they could come together quickly in the jail.69
On August 1, 1998, Danny Smith, an African American inmate with mental
illness, was beaten to death by deputies in the Twin Towers. While LASD
officials originally stated that Smith had freed himself out of handcuffs, they later
conceded that he died in handcuffs. Nine days later, on August 10, 1998, eight
members of the Posse beat another mentally ill inmate so severely that he was left
with flashlight marks on his back and boot prints on his side. Sheriff Block fired
these eight employees and publicly acknowledged the existence of the Posse,
stating, “There are some people in the system who think we are coddling inmates,

65
“Skull and crossbones” defined, collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/skull-and-crossbones.
66
See Skull and crossbones (military), Wikipedia, available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_crossbones_(military).
67
Maya Lau, Deputy Gangs Have Survived Decades of Lawsuits and Probes. Can the FBI Stop
Them? L.A. Times (July 14, 2019).
68
Penelope McMillan and Louis Sahagun, Lynwood Deputies’ Reported Gang-style Activity
Investigated, L.A. Times (Dec. 4, 1990).
69
Tina Daunt & Anne Marie O’Connor, Sheriff Probing Reports of Rogue Jail Deputies Group,
L.A. Times (Sept. 4, 1998).

17
and by God, they’re going to set up their own brand of punishment.”70 Other Posse
members, however, remained working in the jail.71 The United States Commission
on Civil Rights, in an influential 1999 report on policing in Los Angeles, took
notice of the Posse and voiced concerns that they were targeting inmates with
mental illness for violence.72
Rattlesnakes
The “Rattlesnakes” appears to be a deputy gang operating out of the
Palmdale and Lancaster stations in the Antelope Valley. Rattlesnakes members
share a common tattoo of a skull and a snake, but it is unknown if the tattoo is
sequentially numbered. The U.S. Department of Justice in 2013 issued a report
finding that deputies “engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminatory and
otherwise unlawful searches and seizures, including the use of unreasonable force,
in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and Title
VI.”73 The DOJ also found deputies assigned to these stations engaged in a pattern
or practice of discrimination against African Americans living in federally
subsidized housing in violation of the Fair Housing Act.74 The DOJ report notes:
“Some Antelope Valley deputies wear tattoos or share paraphernalia with an
intimidating skull and snake symbol as a mark of their affiliation with the Antelope
Valley stations. Though there are varying interpretations of what these tattoos
symbolize, they provide an undeniable visual representation of a gulf between
deputies and the community and are an unfortunate reminder of LASD’s history of
symbols associated with problematic deputy behavior.”75
Regulators
The “Regulators” appears to be a deputy gang based in the Century Station
in Lynwood. “Regulators” is a slang term for “individuals who take care of

70
Id.
71
Josh Meyer, Block Says 8 Sheriff’s Employees Were in Jail Vigilante Group, L.A. Times (Sept.
5, 1998) (noting that “at least six other deputies” in addition to the eight fired ones were
members of the Posse).
72
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Racial and Ethnic Tensions in American Communities:
Poverty, Inequality, and Discrimination: Volume V: the Los Angeles Report (May 1999) at 128-
129.
73
June 28, 2013 Letter from Asst. U.S. Atty Gen. Thomas E. Perez to Sheriff Lee Baca at 1, on
file at CJLP, Loyola Law School.
74
Id.
75
Id. at 44.

18
problematic people through violence.”76 Regulators members have a common
tattoo on the leg that is sequentially numbered. An early source describes the
Regulators tattoo as “a skull-faced man holding a shotgun, fire screaming from its
barrels.”77 A later report compiled by the District Attorney’s office describes a
similar “station tattoo” as a skeleton in a “cowboy type hat” and a “trench coat”
holding a double-barreled shotgun with smoke emitting from the barrels.78 The
skeleton figure appears atop flames and holds a “memorial stone” engraved with
“CEN” and “XXI,” which refer to the Century station.79 The Roman numeral XXI
was assigned to Century Station, which was established in 1994 after the merger of
the Lynwood and Firestone stations.
The Regulators dominated the Century station from 1999 until at least 2014,
holding their meetings there and maintaining what has been described as a “shrine”
or “monument” to the gang on the premises.80 Both LASD leaders and line
deputies repeatedly complained that the Regulators had undue influence over
station managerial decisions, such as overtime assignments and promotions.81
Regulators members refused to talk to IAB investigators and they collected
“donations” or “taxes” to support deputies placed on unpaid leave for misconduct.
There is substantial evidence that LASD management knew about the
Regulators, but did nothing. In 2003, anonymous deputies reported various acts of
misconduct by Regulators members and compared them to the Mexican Mafia, an
infamous prison gang. In 2004, Sheriff Baca was advised by Undersheriff Stonich
about the “unhealthy climate” at the Century station, which included Regulators
members refusing to be interviewed during investigations of alleged misconduct

76
See Urban Dictionary definition of “Regulators,” available at
http://urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=REGULATORS. Along the same lines, Michael
Gennaco, the chief attorney for a prior oversight body for the LASD, noted, “The name itself, the
Regulators, is a cause for concern. In jail culture, regulators are inmates who control other
inmates’ behavior.” Stuart Pfeifer, Deputy’s Lawsuit Alleges Racism at Sheriff Station, LA
Times (Sept. 5, 2007).
77
Stuart Pfeifer, Deputy’s Lawsuit Alleges Racism at Sheriff Station, L.A. Times (Sep. 9, 2007).
78
Los Angeles County District Attorney Charge Evaluation Worksheet, DA case no. 38248822,
at 3-4 (June 8, 2018).
79
Id.
80
Robert Olmsted referred to this “monument” as having been in the back of the Century Station
“for almost five years” until it was ordered taken down in 2014 by Sheriff John Scott. Video of
Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA) Los Angeles County Sheriff Candidates Debate
(Apr. 28, 2014) at 45:34, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH7Mf3R2Svk.
81
Report of the Citizen’ Commission on Jail Violence (Sept. 2012) at 101.

19
and allegations of “in-house extortion.”82 In 2007, Commander Willie Miller
raised similar concerns, noting that the Regulators’ philosophy is to “run the
station as a subculture faction … and not respect rank.”83
Charles McDaniel, a lieutenant in the custody division, admitted in a 2013
deposition that he had a Regulators tattoo, but he claimed the tattoo signified
“friendship,” not membership in a deputy clique.84 McDaniel denied knowing
about any deputy gang or clique in the custody division that celebrated breaking
inmates’ bones. However, in 2009 McDaniel supervised deputies who were
accused of repeatedly beating up and shocking inmate Tyler Willis with a stun gun,
leaving him with a fractured leg and extensive injuries. A jury found McDaniel
negligent for failing to supervise the custody deputies who assaulted Willis and
awarded Willis $290,000.
Spartans
The “Spartans” appears to be a deputy clique operating out of the Century
Station. In ancient Greece, Sparta was a militaristic city-state with a warrior cult
that emphasized secrecy, prioritizing the needs of the state over individual rights,
and the glorification of soldiers who fought to the death in battle.85 While the
appropriation of Spartan culture is certainly not limited to far-right movements,
many white nationalists and gun-rights groups revere Sparta and invoke it as the
inspiration for their symbols and far-right ideologies.86
There is very little public information about the Spartans. During former
Sheriff McDonnell’s tenure, LASD leadership initiated an investigation of the
Spartans after a mass email went out signed “SFFS,” which was believed to be an

82
Id. at 67.
83
Id.
84
Maya Lau, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Pays a Price as Clandestine Deputy Cliques
Persist, L.A. Times (Oct. 27, 2018).
85
A.H.M. Holmes, Sparta 1-34 (1993 Barnes & Noble Books).
86
Ancient Greece a Symbol to Rally Neo-Nazis, Pharos (April 24, 2020) (noting that right-wing,
anti-immigration groups have appropriated the Spartan shield and military formations as symbols
to “traffic in the most familiar classical trope for white supremacist groups: Classical Sparta as a
model for racial purity and military supremacy”); Chase Woodruff, The Meaning Behind Molon
Labe, a Favored Gun Rights Slogan of Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin, The Trace (Oct.2, 2015)
(noting that the Oath Keepers and other gun-rights groups have appropriated the Greek phrase
molon labe (“come take them”)—King Leonides’ defiant answer to the King of Persia’s demand
that the Spartans lay down their arms at Thermopylae—“as a challenge to perceived attempts by
the government to confiscate firearms”).

20
abbreviation for the salutation “Spartans Forever, Forever Spartans.” In 2019, the
press reported that the FBI had opened an investigation of several LASD deputy
gangs, including the Spartans.87
Tasmanian Devils
The “Tasmanian Devils” appears to be a deputy clique operating out of the
Temple City Station. Tasmanian Devils members have a common tattoo of the
Warner Brothers cartoon Tasmanian devil. There is little public information about
this secretive subgroup. While press accounts and other sheriff’s deputies on
social media sometimes mention the Tasmanian Devils as one of the LASD
cliques, they never elaborate. The Tasmanian Devils are mentioned in a published
opinion in a capital case in which a prosecution witness identified only as “deputy
Westin” testified that the Vikings, another sheriff gang, was “merely a group of
tightly knit deputies” with a mascot, comparing them to other station groups with a
mascot, such as the “Tasmanian Devils in Temple City Station.”88 In contrast to
this benign characterization, Sheriff Baca characterized the Tasmanian Devils as a
“derogatory group” in a 2010 discrimination lawsuit filed by LASD deputy Mark
Moffett. Baca testified that the Tasmanian Devils “formed without the
authorization of the department” whose “members refer to themselves through
their tattoos and through other forms of language.”89
Three-Thousand (3000) Boys
The “Three-Thousand Boys” was a deputy gang based on the 3000 cell
block of Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. There is conflicting
evidence whether 3000 Boys members have a common tattoo,90 but there is a
widely circulated internet photo of the back of a bald man’s head with a tattoo

87
Maya Lau, FBI Investigating Tattooed Deputy Gangs in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department, LA Times (July 11, 2019).
88
People v. Fuiava, 53 Cal. 4th 622, 646 n. 5 (2012).
89
See Complaint in Moffett v. County of Los Angeles, et al., Superior Court no. BC445403 at ¶
20, on file at CJLP at Loyola Law School.
90
Compare Report of the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence (Sept. 2012) at 102 (“The
cliques from the 2000 and 3000 blocks at MCJ became known as the ‘2000 Boys’ and the ‘3000
Boys,’ respectively; some purportedly had tattoos with Roman numerals in their calf areas to
identify their membership in the clique.”) with Tenth Office of Independent Review Annual
Report (Sept. 2012) at 59 (noting that while the media referred to the deputies involved in the
Quiet Cannon assaults as “the 3000 boys” and “suggested [they] shared a common tattoo,” there
was no evidence that they called themselves by this name and that while several of them had
tattoos, “an examination of those tattoos found no common tattoo”).

21
depicting vertical bars above the words “3000 Boys.”91 They only associated with
each other, left their posts en masse at the end of their shift, resisted supervision,
and engaged in acts of insubordination, including using excessive force against
inmates on their floor.92 A judge who asked to see the 3000 block control booth
discovered walls and equipment filled with graffiti and derogatory comments,
including a bumper sticker on the key box that read, “Please don’t feed the
animals.”93
Some members of the 3000 Boys have engaged in aggressive misconduct
outside the jail as well. In 2003 a 3000 Boys member arrested for DUI was
verbally abusive and threatened a West Covina police officer not to “mess with
him” because he was a 3000-floor deputy.94 On December 10, 2010, six 3000
Boys members assaulted two other custody deputies after a party for jail
employees at the Quiet Cannon restaurant.95 The victims, Chris Vasquez and
Elizario Perez, were assaulted because they had criticized the 3000 Boys for
deliberately delaying bringing inmates from their floor to visit elderly family
members in the reception center. Vasquez and Perez filed a civil-rights suit
alleging that the LASD was “inadequate” in disciplining and controlling deputies,
“particularly with respect to illegal acts and acts of excessive force.”96 The
deputies who committed the assault were photographed at the party making gang-
like hand signals indicating the number 3.

3,000 Boys Throwing Hand Signals

91
See KTLA photo of alleged 3000 Boys tattoo, available at
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2011/05/worlds-largest-street-gang.html
92
Report of the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence (Sept. 2012) at 102.
93
Terelle Jerricks, Candidate for LA Sheriff Bob Olmstead Speaks on Changing the Department
from Within and Without, Random Lengths News (May 29, 2014), available at
www.randomlengthnews.com/archives/2104/05/09/the-whistleblower/7113.
94
CCJV Report, supra, at n. 81.
95
Terrelle Jericks, supra, at n. 93.
96
Id.

22
Two-Thousand (2000) Boys
The “2000 Boys” was a deputy gang based on the 2000 cell block of Men’s
Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. Members of the 2000 Boys have a
common tattoo on the calf depicting the Roman numeral “II.” They engaged in the
same type of misconduct and gang-like activities as the 3000 Boys. They earned
their tattoo by beating inmates in their custody and then filing false reports to cover
up the abuse. For example, one custody deputy on the 2000 block fractured the
orbital bone of a non-combative inmate to “earn” his II tattoo, signifying his
acceptance into the 2000 Boys.97
Once source has reported that “the Executioners were founded by a former
2000 Boy named Andy Toone, who has since moved elsewhere in the
Department.”98 Andrew Toone was involved in at least one fatal shooting.99
Vikings
The “Vikings” is perhaps LASD’s most infamous deputy gang. It was based
in the now-shuttered Lynwood Station during the 1980s and 1990s. Vikings
members had a common tattoo on the ankle. The tattoo depicted a Viking head,
sometimes with the number “998,” which is the radio code for “officer-involved
shooting.” Vikings members engaged in numerous gang-like behaviors, such as
throwing gang signals, speaking gang jargon, and spray-painting “LVS25” over
other street gang placas in Lynwood.100 There is evidence that the Vikings
embraced a white supremacist world-view. Numerous declarants in two suits,
Thomas v. Los Angeles County and ALADS v. Los Angeles County, referred to
alleged racist activities and comments by Vikings members. There was also a map
of Lynwood in the shape of the African continent on display in the station, and
members distributed literature containing a “virulently racist joke against African
Americans.”101

97
Report of the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence (Sept. 2012) at 102.
98
Celeste Fremon, The Executioners: Does a Violent Deputy Gang Rule LA County’s Compton
Station?, WitnessLA (July 27, 2020).
99
Andrew Toone fatally shot Cedric Ramirez on August 1, 2014. See LA District Attorney,
Justice System Integrity Division, Report on Officer Involved Shooting of Frank Mendoza Sr.
and Cedric Ramirez, JSID #14-0500 (Jan. 15, 2016) (finding that Toone acted in self-defense).
100
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: Report by Special Counsel James G. Kolts &
Staff (July 1992) at 325.
101
Id. at 327.

23
 In 1990, over seventy-five minority residents of Lynwood, represented by
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, filed a class action civil-rights suit, alleging that
the LASD tolerated the Vikings’ racially motivated violence against community
members. The suit alleged that Vikings members shot, killed, beat, racially
profiled, and illegally searched African Americans and Latinos in order to
intimidate and terrorize the entire minority community near Lynwood station. In
granting a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter characterized
the Vikings as “a neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang” that operated under leaders
who “tacitly authorize deputies’ unconstitutional behavior.”102 A divided panel of
the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded because Judge Hatter had granted the
preliminary injunction without holding an evidentiary hearing on disputed facts.
After the reversal and remand, the County settled with the minority plaintiffs for
$9 million.
The most prominent Viking is Paul Tanaka, who served as undersheriff from
2011to 2013, when he resigned due to publicity regarding an FBI investigation of
him for obstruction of justice. He was subsequently convicted of obstruction of
justice and sentenced to serve five years in federal prison.103

Vikings Logo & Hand Signal

Lynwood Stn.

Wayside Whities
The “Wayside Whities” appears to have been a deputy gang based in Peter J.
Pitchess Honor Rancho (previously called “Wayside Honor Rancho”), a detention

Thomas v. County of Los Angeles, 978 F.2d 504, 511 (9th Cir. 1992).
102

See United States District Court for Central California Docket in United States v. Paul Tanaka,
103

16-cr-50233, Dkt. no. 181.

24
facility north of Los Angeles. It is unknown whether Wayside Whities members
had a common tattoo, but some did employ “W” hand signals to signify their
membership.
In 1990, Clydell Crawford, an African American former inmate, sued Los
Angeles County104 for civil-rights violations, alleging that he was beaten in custody
by Wayside Whities members, who deliberately broke his leg.105 Clydell and three
other African American former inmates alleged that they were assaulted because of
their race. The complaint alleged that the Wayside Whities were “a Ku Klux Klan-
type organization espousing white supremacy and having as one of its objectives
the subjugation, intimidation and terrorization” of African American inmates.106
Clydell’s lawyer publicly stated that the Wayside Whities’ activities were likely
“related to other white supremacist deputy groups at other county jail facilities,”
but he did not elaborate.107
The IAB investigated and concluded that the group did not exist, and that
“Wayside Whities” was a pejorative name that African American inmates called
some white custody deputies. The County, nevertheless, settled Crawford’s suit for
$40,000.
IV. Successive Sheriffs Resist Acknowledging and Addressing Deputy
Gangs
Deputy gangs and cliques have persisted over the course of at least six
different sheriff administrations. Each elected sheriff has denied or downplayed
the existence of the subgroups until deputies’ gang-like behavior caused a scandal.
In response to public pressure, each sheriff has also pledged to clamp down on
deputy gangs and cliques, but then failed to follow through with meaningful

104
The suit named Sheriff Sherman Block and LASD deputies Frank La Flame, Ernesto De
Armas, and John Bones as individual defendants. In 2013, Bones fatally shot Eugene Mallory, an
80-year-man, in his bed during the execution of a no-knock warrant in Littlerock, California; the
post-shooting investigation revealed that an informant had falsely claimed that Mallory, a retired
engineer, was involved in manufacturing methamphetamine. The Los Angeles District Attorney
found that Bones acted in self-defense and declined to prosecute him.
105
Michael Connelly, Suit Accuses Deputies of Other Racial Attack: Prisons: an Injured Inmate
Says Jailer Beat Him at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, Which He Says Is Run by a White
Supremacist Group, L.A. Times (May 25, 1990).
106
Michael Connelly, Sheriff denies guards formed gang to beat up black inmates: Castaic: a six-
month inquiry finds that ‘Wayside Whities’ was just a mocking name for white guards. But a
former prisoner who says they broke his leg has sued,” L.A. Times (Dec. 11, 1990).
107
Connelly, supra, at n. 105.

25
investigation and reforms. The result is an entrenched culture of tolerating and
even tacitly supporting deputy gangs and cliques within the LASD.
Peter Pitchess was the Los Angeles County sheriff from 1958 through 1981.
During his tenure, LASD management learned about the Little Red Devils and, in
1973, they investigated the clique extensively, including compiling a list of 47
employees who had the sequentially numbered devil tattoos.108 The
contemporaneous LASD records do not reflect whether those employees suffered
any discipline or consequences. But, Pitchess was known for his “tough, military
approach,” which included “quickly investigat[ing] charges of officer misconduct
and any deputies who broke the law or his rules were promptly disciplined or
dismissed.”109
Pitchess resisted all “interference from the outside”110 and fought hard to
prevent the release of any documented misconduct in a deputy’s personnel file,
including refusing to comply with subpoenas for such information. In the
landmark case Pitchess v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court
unanimously held that a criminal defendant could discover misconduct in the
confidential personnel file of a deputy sheriff if such misconduct was potentially
relevant to an issue at trial.111
Sherman Block succeeded Pitchess, serving as the Los Angeles County
sheriff from 1982 until his death in 1998. In 1990, a reporter asked Block whether
deputies who had tattoos, used gang slang, threw hand signals, and sprayed graffiti
were any different from street gang members. Block defended his deputies’ right
to associate together in this manner adding, “The fact that a group of people with a
particular assignment band together in a sort of brotherhood could be a very
positive thing.”112 He even trivialized sheriff’s deputies throwing gang signs
stating, “The fact that they flash an L sign, L for Lynwood 25 (the number of the

108
Dec. 3, 1973 LASD Memo, supra, at n. 60.
109
Myrna Oliver, Peter Pitchess, Sheriff who modernized agency, dies, L.A. Times (April 5,
1999).
110
Id. (“[Pitchess] retained his salty belief in the independence of his department throughout his
life, advising Baca at his swearing-in ceremony: ‘You are the sheriff. You and your colleagues
will run this department [without] interference from the outside.’”).
111
Pitchess v. Super Ct.,11 Cal. 3d 531 (1974).
112
Penelope McMillan and Louis Sahagun, Lynwood Deputies’ Reported Gang-style Activity
Investigated, L.A. Times (Dec. 4, 1990).

26
Lynwood station), that in itself is meaningless. … Gangs get a kick out of the fact
the deputies have their own sign.”113
In 1992, Judge James Kolts published a report identifying various problems
that contributed to LASD deputies’ use of excessive force against community
members and proposing specific reforms.114 The Kolts report discussed the
problems associated with deputy gangs, such as the Vikings, and concluded that
some members “appeared at least in times past to have engaged in behavior that is
brutal and intolerable and is typically associated with street gangs.” 115 Kolts
recommended that LASD officials “conduct an immediate, thorough Internal
Affairs investigation to root out, and punish severely any lingering gang-like
behavior by its deputies.”116 Block refused to investigate, stating: “The department
is confident there are no racist deputy gangs or cliques within the organization and
therefore disagrees that an internal investigation is appropriate.”117
Lee Baca served as Los Angeles County sheriff from 1998 until his
resignation in 2014. Baca responded to clique-related scandals with mixed
messages: sometimes pledging to clamp down on deputy gangs, other times
arguing that his hands were tied by the First Amendment.
In 2005, Baca implemented an official tattoo policy requiring that on-duty
employees cover any visible tattoos with “a skin-toned patch, long-sleeved
uniformed shirt, or other material which may be formally approved by the
Department.”118 This policy did not purport to discourage or regulate clique tattoos
in any substantive manner; it only directed that all visible tattoos be covered while
on duty.
In 2011, Baca appointed Paul Tanaka as the undersheriff. Tanaka, an
admitted member of the Vikings, received his tattoo after shooting a man under
circumstances that prompted a fellow police officer present at the fatal shooting to

113
Id.
114
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: Report by Special Counsel James G. Kolts &
Staff (July 1992).
115
Id. at 323.
116
Id. at 332.
117
LASD, A Response to the Kolts Report at p. 256.
118
Frank Stoltze, LA Sheriff Watchdog: the First Amendment Shouldn’t Shield Deputy Cliques,
Tattoos from Scrutiny, LAist (Apr. 23, 2019).

27
refer to it as “an execution.” 119 While addressing the troops, Tanaka encouraged
deputies to “push the envelope” and operate within the “gray area” of the law.
Baca’s promotion of Tanaka to the second in command of the department was
perceived by some as normalizing deputy gang membership and emboldening
deputy gang members.
After the Jump Out Boys scandal broke in 2012, Baca initially questioned
whether deputy gangs were even real. He stated, “We’re going to be looking at
this right now, but it really could be a fantasy, something that’s not true but right
now we’re going to find out exactly what is and what isn’t and that will determine
what our next step is.”120 When the investigation was concluded, he instituted
termination proceedings for seven of the individuals involved. After the Citizens
Commission on Jail Violence published its report that same year confirming the
existence of deputy gangs inside Men’s Central Jail, Baca attempted to promulgate
a new policy banning all tattoos—even those that were not visible in uniform--that
compromised the “professional image” of the LASD.121 The policy explicitly
prohibited deputies from getting tattoos “that suggest street justice or vigilantism,
or that are associated with gang culture.”122 The 2012 policy was withdrawn and
the 2005 policy was reinstated by a subsequent administration after ALADS
objected that the 2012 policy violated deputies’ First Amendment rights.
On January 7, 2014, Baca resigned under the cloud of an FBI investigation
that ultimately led to his convictions and imprisonment for obstruction of justice
and lying to federal investigators.123
Shortly after Baca’s resignation, the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors appointed John Scott to serve as interim Sheriff for the remainder of
2014.124 Scott pledged to conduct a study of alleged deputy gangs, including

119
John Lee, Family of Korean Man Killed by Deputies Accepts $999,999 Settlement, L.A.
Times (April 18, 1990)
120
Robert Faturechi, Secret Clique in L.A. County Sheriff’s Gang Unit Probed, L.A. Times (Apr.
20, 2012).
121
Frank Stoltze, supra, at n.118.
122
LASD Policy 3-0.1/050.80 Grooming and Dress Standards, available at
shq.lasdnews.net/content/uoa/PSD/3-01.pdf.
123
Seema Mehta, Abby Sewell & Jack Leonard, Sheriff Baca’s Resignation Leaves Much up in
the Air for Department, L.A. Times (Jan. 7, 2014).
124
Celeste Fremon, OC’s John Scott Named Interim Sheriff--& So Far the News Seems Good,
WitnessLA (Jan. 29, 2014).

28
bullying by the Banditos, and share the results with the public.125 Despite this
promise, internal messaging condemning cliques, and the convening of a
committee to work on a policy to ban cliques and inappropriate tattoos, Scott never
released any information about his efforts to combat deputy gangs, nor has the
LASD ever produced such a report in response to numerous public records
requests.
James McDonnell served as Los Angeles County sheriff from December of
2014 through November of 2018. He was the first person from outside LASD to
be elected as sheriff in over 100 years. During a 2014 sheriff candidates’ debate,
McDonnell stated, “Looking at gangs and cliques, did we see them; do we have
them? We absolutely see and have them.”126 He specifically mentioned the 2000
Boys, the 3000 Boys, the Regulators, the Jump Out Boys, the Banditos, and the
Vikings as examples. After he was elected, however, McDonnell resisted
investigating deputy gangs by claiming they were a relic of the past. When asked
about an Executioners tattoo in 2016, McDonnell stated that it “does not in any
way reflect the LASD of today.”127 Because allegations about new “clique tattoos”
and gang-related activities continued to surface throughout his tenure, McDonnell
ultimately had to concede that deputy gangs remained a problem within the LASD.
During his last year in office, McDonnell pledged to conduct a “comprehensive
study” of the deputy gangs. However, it does not appear that any such study or
investigation had been formally initiated by the time he was voted out of office.
Alex Villanueva is the current Los Angeles County sheriff. During the
election campaign, Villanueva stated, “I worked with many people with these
tattoos at different stations, and they were the most honorable, ethical people I
have ever worked with.”128

125
Maya Lau, FBI Investigating Tattooed Deputy Gangs in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department, LA Times (July 11, 2019) (noting that in 2014 “then-interim Sheriff John Scott
announced that he would investigate claims of bullying by the Banditos” but that “the probe …
has remained confidential.”).
126
Video of Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA) Los Angeles County Sheriff
Candidates Debate (Apr. 28, 2014), available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH7Mf3R2Svk.
127
Bradley Bermont, LA Sheriff Says He Won’t Tolerate “Renegade Cliques.” Here’s the
Backstory on Secret Societies, LAist (Aug. 1, 2018).
128
Video of Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA) Los Angeles County Sheriff
Candidates Debate (July 23, 2018), available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9bTYm5_pZg; see also Paul Glickman, Here Are the New

29
 After taking office, Villanueva, like his predecessors, initially resisted
requests by stakeholders and oversight bodies to investigate whether internal
subgroups were engaging in gang-like behaviors. He reframed the discussion
about deputy gangs or cliques at a civilian oversight commission hearing by
speaking of benign “intergenerational rivalry” within the force and relatively
harmless “hazing” rituals, such as asking a rookie to buy lunch for an entire station
or to work overtime without a jacket.129 Villanueva also asserted that asking
deputies about gang tattoos would violate their First Amendment right to free
speech and freedom of association, as well their due process rights.130
After decades of doing little about deputy gangs, LASD in 2020
promulgated a policy entitled “employee groups which violate rights of other
employees or members of the public.”131 The policy reads:
Department personnel shall not participate or join in any group of
Department employees which promotes conduct that violates the rights
of other employees or members of the public. Participation in these
illicit groups, herein referred to as “deputy cliques” or “subgroups”
which often include an associated symbol and/or tattoo, harms morale
and erodes public trust. These groups undermine the Department’s
goals and can create a negative public perception of the Department,
increasing the risk of civil liability to the Department and involved
personnel. Any employee engaging in misconduct of any kind,
including but not limited to, the use of excessive force or mistreating or
harassing others, will be subject to discipline. If the misconduct
involves criminal allegations, the matter may be referred to the District
Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.132

Claims About a Violent Clique of LA Sheriff’s Deputies Acting Like a Gang, LAist (Mar. 8,
2019).
129
Frank Stoltze, LA Sheriff Villanueva Toughens His Policy on Deputy Cliques. Will It Solve the
Problem?, LAist (June 26, 2019).
130
Frank Stoltze, LA Sheriff Watchdog: The First Amendment Shouldn’t Shield Deputy Cliques,
Tattoos from Scrutiny, LAist (Apr. 23, 2019) (reporting that Villanueva advised the Civilian
Oversight Commission that he did not ask even high-level managers whether they had a clique
tattoo because it would be “inappropriate” under the First Amendment to investigate any LASD
member’s affiliation with a clique or gang).
131
Stoltze, supra, at n. 118.
132
Los Angeles Sheriff’s County Department Manual, § 3-01/050.83.

30
 This policy is certainly a step in the right direction, but it will only be
meaningful through actual enforcement. It will be extremely difficult to prove the
subgroups promote conduct that violates the rights of other employees or members
of the public, absent a written creed or admissions from the members themselves,
whose code of silence is paramount. Despite the policy, LASD leadership has yet
to address the systemic problem of deputy gangs, stressing that they only
investigate individual acts of misconduct. Despite significant criticism, Villanueva
aggressively pursued the rehiring of Mandoyan, the Grim Reapers member who
was previously fired for lying about his attempts to break into a female deputy’s
home and using his status as a gang member to threaten her not to report him.
Banditos members who severely beat other deputies outside an off-duty event in
2018 have since been rewarded with transfers to highly coveted assignments in the
homicide unit.
V. The Negative Impact of Fifty Years of Unchecked Deputy Gangs on
Policing in Los Angeles
A. Escalation of Uses of Force: The High Cost of Lives Lost and
Multi-Million Dollar Settlements
1. The Deputy Gangs Promote a Culture of Violence
In 2016, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) issued thirty guiding
principles on the use of force. PERF’s number 1 principle states: “The sanctity of
human life should be at the heart of everything an agency does.”133 The
commentary that immediately follows explains that the “agency mission
statements, policies, and training curricula should emphasize the sanctity of all
human life—the general public, police officers, and criminal suspects—and the
importance of treating all people with dignity and respect.”134
By glorifying shootings and other uses of force against community
members, LASD deputy gangs and cliques undermine the sanctity of human life
and deny the dignity and respect owed to all people. For example, the
Executioners host “998 parties” at bars to celebrate deputy shootings. The Vikings
and other current deputy gangs reward members who shoot people by allowing
them to “enhance” their common tattoo with additional symbols or
“embellishments,” such as adding smoke coming out of the firearm. The Jump Out

133
Police Executive Research Forum, Guiding Principles in the Use of Force (Mar. 2016).
134
Id.

31
Boys planned to memorialize deputy shootings by entering the member’s name,
tattoo number, and the date of the shooting in a ceremonial “black book.” Deputy
gang members who worked inside the jail assaulted inmates in order to earn their
ink, causing significant spikes in the use of force, especially on floors under their
control.135 These rituals create a culture of celebrating the use of lethal force in the
line of duty.
Gang officer Jason Zabala exemplifies the connection between membership
in a deputy gang and a pattern of escalating uses of force. Zabala has Regulators
tattoo # 140.136 Zabala also has a history of escalating uses of force. On May 18,
2013, Zabala and his partner became involved in a confrontation with Terry
Laffitte after attempting to stop him for riding a bike without lights. Zabala fatally
shot Laffitte in the back of the head. The county settled the Laffitte family’s civil
rights suit for $1.5 million.137 In 2014, Zabala was one of several deputies who
fired 34 rounds at Johnny Martinez, a man suffering from schizophrenia who was
wielding a knife. The county settled that civil rights suit for $2.5 million.138
Zabala also ran into Sonya Benton, causing her serious injury, while running a red
light as he drove his patrol car to the scene of an investigation. The county settled
that case for $80,000.139 Thus the county has spent over $4 million settling cases
related to a single deputy with a Regulators tattoo.
The problem is not limited to Zabala. A 2018 Los Angeles Times study
concluded that for a ten-year period Los Angeles County paid more than $7 million
in settlements related to alleged deputy gang members’ misconduct, such as
excessive use of force and sexual harassment.140 According to a more recent
comprehensive accounting by the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office, the cost

135
Report of the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence ( Sept. 2012) at 103 (“According to
Department records, a significant spike in the number of use of force incidents in Men’s Central
Jail occurred within a few months after the Clark rotation plan was vetoed by Tanaka and force
was particularly high in the 2000 and 3000 floors.”).
136
See Los Angeles District Attorney Charge Evaluation Sheet, DA case no. 3824822 (June 8,
2018) at p. 2. (refering to a “station tattoo” on Zabala with the number 140 that matches the
description of the common Regulators tattoo; Zabala offered conflicting explanations of the
number, which triggered a perjury investigation that did not result in charges being filed).
137
Maya Lau, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Pays Price as Clandestine Deputy Cliques
Persist, LA Times (Oct. 27, 2018).
138
Id.
139
Verdictsearch.com/verdict/deputy-caused-crash-by-failing-to-clear-intersection-plaintiff/.
140
Maya Lau, Cop Group With Matching Skull Tattoos Costs Taxpayers $7 Million in Fatal
Shooting, L.A. Times (June 18, 2019).

32
of deputy gang members’ misconduct is much higher: $55 million total, with $21
million being paid during the past ten years.141 The actual settlement costs are
likely even much higher than this because LASD management has refused to
investigate whether any deputy involved in a shooting is affiliated with a deputy
gang.142 A comprehensive independent study will likely reveal that the costs of
deputy gang misconduct—in terms of lives lost and settlements paid—are
staggering.
2. Five Years of Deputy Shootings Demonstrates a
Correlation between Involvement in Such Shootings and
Operating out of a Station with Active Deputy Gangs
We compiled a chart that tracks all LASD deputy shootings during the
immediate past five years.143 The information was obtained by cross-referencing
public documents posted by Los Angeles County,144 the Los Angeles District
Attorney’s Office145 and, to a lesser extent, the LASD.146 Viewing the aggregate of
all known LASD deputy shootings for the past five years buttresses the conclusion
that deputy gangs escalate uses of force.

141
Alene Tchekmedyian, Deputies Accused of Being in Secret Societies Cost L.A. County
Taxpayers $55 Million, Records Show, L.A. Times (April 4, 2020) (“Los Angeles County has
paid out roughly $55 million in settlements in cases in which sheriff’s deputies have been alleged
to belong to a secret society, records obtained by the Los Angeles Times show, illuminating the
entrenched nature of a subculture that has plagued the Sheriff’s Department for years.”).
142
After the Los Angeles Times published its study, in April of 2019, the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors directed County Counsel to prepare a list of all cases against the county
involving allegations of secret deputy cliques since 1990, as well as the amount the county paid
out in each case. Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl specifically mentioned the need to let
the public know what we are spending on alleged deputy gang members’ misconduct. Brian
Frank, LA County Leaders Say “Violent, Gang-Like” Cliques Are a Huge Liability—and They
Want Names, LAist (April 30, 2019). Despite this, County Counsel’s list has never been made
available to the public, for unknown reasons.
143
“Anon” refers to the fact that the identity of the shooter or the person shot remains
anonymous. B = Black, L= Latinx, API = Asian Pacific Islander, W = White.
144
See Los Angeles County Open Data report entitled Hit Shootings Incidents and Non-Hit
Shooting Incidents, available at The former is available at https://data.lacounty.gov/Criminal/Hit-
Shooting-Incidents-and-Non-Hit-Shooting-Incide/d6xt-ws3m/data
145
See Los Angeles County District Attorney’s website report entitled Officer-Involved
Shootings, available at https://da.lacounty.gov/reports/ois.
146
See Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Transparency site report entitled Shooting
Which Results in Injury or Fatality, available at
https://lasd.org/transparency/deputyinvolvedshootingcurrent/.

33
 LASD DEPUTY SHOOTINGS NOV. 1, 2015 THROUGH NOV. 1, 2020
Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
11/24/2015 Rosemead Anon Pico Rivera Non-hit Anon male L
Stn.
12/1/2015 Norwalk Steven OSS Hit/Fatal John Gonzalez L
Velasquez,
Adrian
Dominguez
12/12/2015 Lynwood Jason Tapia; Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Nicholas B
Richard Robertson
Ochoa-Garcia
12/20/2015 Palmdale Brett Nolin Palmdale Stn. Hit/Fatal Leroy B
Browning
1/4/2016 Compton Omar Compton Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Derrick B
Covarrubias Wright
1/12/2016 Lancaster Christopher OSS Hit/Non-fatal Jeremy A. B
Keeling, James
Jeremi
Edwards
1/14/2016 Canyon Nathan Santa Clarita Hit/Fatal Miguel L
Country Gillespie Stn. Hernandez
2/10/2016 Compton Anon OSS Hit/Non-hit Anon B
2/11/2016 Lancaster Arnold Lancaster Hit/Fatal Matthew T. W
Camacho; Kit Stn. Quinn
Gruppie, Paul
Mendez
2/14/2016 Los Angeles Andrew East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Eduardo E. L
Alatorre; Rodriguez
Sandy
Galdamez
2/20/2016 Paramount Levi Belville, OSS Hit/Non-fatal Deon Butler B
Curtis Brown
2/24/2016 Norwalk Luke Liu Cerritos Stn. Hit/Fatal Francisco L
Garcia
3/4/2016 Inglewood Rahn Hunter South L.A. Hit/Non-Fatal Fernando L
Stn. Hernandez
3/5/2016 Los Angeles Brad South L.A. Hit/Non-Fatal Norvell Fobi B
Witkosky Stn.
3/16/2016 Los Angeles Jay Brown, Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Christian L
Rene Medina
Barragan
3/30/2016 East L.A. Ervin Francois SEB Hit/Fatal Angel L
Montion
6/11/2016 Maywood Eric Chinarian East L.A. Hit/Fatal Jesus Duran L
Stn.
6/23/2016 Bellflower Anon Lakewood Non-hit Anon L
Stn.
7/28/2016 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Hit/Fatal Anon B
8//2/2016 Castaic Jeffrey Britto Santa Clarita Hit/Fatal William W
Stn. Bowers
8/7/2016 Lennox Ruben SEB Hit/Non-fatal Robert Corral L
Quintero

34
Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
8/17/2016 Panorama City Arin Davidian Transit Hit/Non-fatal Gerry White B
Bureau-North
8/25/2016 Compton Samuel Compton Stn. Hit/Fatal Donta Taylor B
Aldama;
Mizrain
Orrego
9/1/2016 Los Angeles Richard Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Joshua L
Ochoa Quintero
9/8/2016 Lomita Justin Smith, Lomita Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Jason Dyer W
Taylor Wells
10/4/2016 Santa Monica Vincent Transit Hit/Non-fatal Thomas W
Cisneros Bureau-South Napack
10/5/2016 Lancaster Zachary Lancaster Hit/Non-fatal Trenton B
Anderson Stn. Lovell
10/7/2016 Norwalk Anon Norwalk Non-hit Anon L
10/31/2016 Chatsworth Rizaldy Court Fatal Jose Cueva L
Reantaso, Services
Gerardo West
Fabian
11/22/2016 La Mirada Casey SEB Hit/Fatal Mark Sly W
Cheshier, John
Montenegro,
Juan
Rodriguez
12/1/2016 Paramount Antonio Lakewood Non-hit Rodolfo L
Chavez Stn. Martinez
12/12/2016 Los Angeles Jason Leach South L.A. Hit/Non-fatal Jonathan L
Stn. Salas
12/15/2016 Hacienda Ernest Industry Stn. Hit/Fatal Robert Hess W
Heights Magana,
Joseph
Magana, Brian
Gemmill,
Sean Cariaga,
Steven
Fernandez,
Juan Segura
12/17/2016 Los Angeles Miguel Ortiz, East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Fidel Barrios L
Danny Galvez
12/24/2016 Pico Rivera Anon Pico Rivera Hit/Fatal Zhonghua Li A
Stn.
12/27/2016 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Hit/Non-hit Anon L
1/9/2017 San Anon Men’s Hit/Non-fatal Anon B
Bernardino Central Jail
1/21/2017 East L.A. Anon East L.A. Stn. Non-hit Anon L
2/13/2017 Van Nuys Jorge Perez Transit Bur.- Hit/Non-fatal Peter Firchow Unknown
N
3/7/2017 Los Angeles Ryan Marina del Hit/Fatal Dennis T. B
Imaizumi Rey Stn. Rogers
3/14/2017 Whittier Matthew OSS Hit/Non-fatal Bobby L
Landreth Escobar

35
Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
3/20/2017 Temple City Nathan Temple City Hit/Fatal Andrew Lane W
Botten, Brian Stn
Vance, Scott
Inthavong
4/9/2017 La Puente Anon Industry Stn. Non-hit Anon L
4/12/2017 Los Angeles Shane Lattuca, Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Zalelem B
Timothy Ewneta
Gannon
5/24/2017 Compton Edward Compton Stn. Hit/Fatal Luis Garcia Jr. L
Gonsalves,
Miguel Garcia
Jr.
6/22/2017 Palmdale James Dillard, Palmdale Stn. Hit/Fatal Armando G. L
Victor
Ekanem
6/26/2017 Pico Rivera Anon Pico Rivera Non-hit Anon L
Stn.
7/4/2017 Palmdale Murray Jacob Palmdale Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Jeremias L
Lopez
7/22/2017 Lynwood Anon Century Stn. Non-hit Anon L
8/16/2017 Watts Anon Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Kenneth B
Lewis
9/8/2017 Valinda Anon Industry Stn. Non-hit Anon L
9/11/2017 West Valinda Luis Industry Stn. Hit/Fatal Vincent L
Rodriguez, Hernandez Jr.
Benny
Khounthavong
10/31/2017 Reseda Charles County Hit/Non-fatal Sason Malca W
Moylan Services
Bureau
11/2/2017 Compton Juan SEB Hit/Fatal Ricardo L
Rogriguez Cendejas
11/20/2017 Artesia Anon Norwalk Non-hit Anon L
Regional Stn
11/28/2017 Santa Clarita Albert White, Santa Clarita Hit/Non-Fatal Monolito L
Robert Garcia, Stn. Guerra
Tanner
Sanchez,
Benjamin
Sanchez
12/6/2017 Los Angeles Anon Century Stn. Non-hit Anon L
12/10/2017 Artesia Christopher Lakewood Hit/Fatal Frank Lopez L
Cadman Stn.
12/30/2017 Los Angeles Anon Century Stn. Non-hit Anon L
1/16/2018 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Non-hit Anon B
2/4/2018 Los Angeles Anon South L.A. Hit/Fatal Anthony B
Stn. Weber
(juvenile)
2/5/2018 Artesia Elsa Lakewood Hit/Non-fatal Michael L
Buonariga Stn. Lombardi
2/6/2018 East L.A. Anon East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Cesar Bautista L
3/6/2018 Lake Elsinore Twin Towers Hit/Non-fatal Anon L

36
Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
3/18/2018 So. El Monte Bradley Dietz Temple City Hit/Fatal Manuel L
Stn Borrego
3/21/2018 Pomona Anon Metrolink Non-hit Anon L
4/4/2018 Los Angeles Anon Parks & Hit/Non-fatal Anon L
County Servs
Adm
5/8/2018 El Monte Brandon Barr Temple City Hit/Non-fatal Michael L
Stn Contreras
6/28/2018 So. El Monte Timothy Temple City Hit/Non-fatal Pedro Garcia L
Lovitt Stn
7/19/2018 Pico Rivera Anon Pico Rivera Hit/Fatal Carmelo L
Stn. Pizarro Jr.
8/10/2018 Lakewood Robert Lakewood Hit/Non-fatal James API
Solorio, Stn. Kalaaukahi
Nicholas
Fernandez
8/12/2018 Los Angeles Nikolis Perez, East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Anthony L
Jonathan Vargas
Rojas
8/17/2018 Lennox Anon South L.A. Hit/Non-fatal Anon B
Stn.
8/17/2018 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Non-hit Anon B
9/19/2018 East L.A. Joel Garnica, East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Rene Herrera, L.L
Serjio Trejo, Fernando
Joe Carbajal, Cruz
Luis Valle
9/24/2018 Compton Steven Compton Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Halcyon B
Fernandez, Johnson
Jesus
Sandoval
9/24/2018 East L.A. Jennifer East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Ivan Pena L
Romero
10/7/2018 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Anon L
10/27/2018 Lennox Anon South L.A. Hit/Non-fatal Anon L
Stn.
11/1/2018 Industry Clarence Industry Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Raashad B
McZeal Franco
11/25/2018 Lancaster Parker Lancaster Hit/Non-fatal Eduardo L
Driscoll Stn. Sanchez
2/17/2019 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Non-fatal Lopez, L
Stn. Stephen
3/14/2019 Walnut Park Anon Century Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Herrera, L
Nancy
3/16/2019 Palmdale Anon Palmdale Stn. Hit/Fatal Beckwith, W
Timothy
3/31/2019 Compton Eric Moreno, Compton Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Jose G., L,L
Eugene Johnny B.
Contreras (Juveniles)
5/10/2019 Vernon Anon East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Dylan W
Lindsey
5/12/2019 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Non-hit Anon L

37
Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
5/21/2019 Lynwood Anon Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Garcia, Pablo L
6/6/2019 San Gabriel Anon SEB-SG Hit/Fatal Meza, Jose L
6/6/2019 L.A. Anon Century Stn. Hit/Fatal Twyman, B
(unincorp.) Ryan
6/6/2019 Inglewood Anon South L.A. Hit/Fatal Stamps, B
Stn. Edtwon
6/14/2019 Palmdale Anon Palmdale Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Ball, Robert W
6/18/2019 Long Beach Anon Carson Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Ramirez- L,L
Madrigal,
Jorge
6/27/2019 L.A. Hector East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Paul Rea L
(unincorp.) Saavedra
7/5/2019 Compton Anon East L.A. Stn. Non-hit Anon B
7/26/2019 Malibu Connor Lost Hills Hit/Non-fatal Neal, Timothy W
Hoffman, Ian Stn.
Walker
8/1/2019 L.A. Anon South L.A. Hit/Fatal Simpson, B
(unincorp.) Stn. Jamal
8/2/2019 South Gate Anon Lakewood Hit/Non-fatal Young, unknown
Joseph
9/2/2019 Commerce Anon East L.A. Stn. Non-hit Anon L,L
9/12/2019 Santa Clarita Anon Santa Clarita Hit/Fatal Venegas, L
Stn. Alvaro-L
10/6/2019 Whittier Anon Pico Rivera Hit/Fatal Vazquez, L
Stn. Marco (Jr.)
10/20/2019 Cudahy Anon Anon East L.A. Stn. Non-hit Anon Unknown
10/23/2019 Palmdale Anon Palmdale Stn. Non-hit Anon W
10/24/2019 Studio City Anon West Hit/Fatal Miles, Devon B
Hollywood
Stn.
10/30/2019 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Fatal Myers, L
Stn. Ricardo
11/13/2019 L.A. Anon East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Garcia- L
(unincorp.) Espinoza,
Omar
11/25/2019 L.A. Juan Sanchez, East L.A. Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Evangelista, L
(unincorp.) Joel Calderon Robert
12/16/2019 L.A. Anon East L.A. Stn. Hit/Fatal Serrano, Jorge L
(unincorp.)
3/1/2020 Valencia Anon Santa Clarita Hit/Fatal Ceja, L
Stn. Raymundo
3/5/2020 Sylmar Anon Palmdale Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Janto, Jesse W,W
4/3/2020 Van Nuys Anon Court Hit/Non-fatal Albala, David W
Services
Bureau-West
4/19/2020 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Fatal Lugo, Richard W
Stn.
5/26/2020 L.A. Anon OSS-So. L.A. Hit/Fatal Avitia, Robert L
5/29/2020 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Fatal Colvin, W
Stn. Robert
5/30/2020 Lynwood Anon Century Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Martinez, Jose L
6/7/2020 Industry Anon Industry Stn. Hit/Fatal Hurst, Jarrid W

38
 Shooting Location of Deputy LASD Type of Person Who Victim’s
Date Shooting Involved in Station or Deputy Was Shot at Race or
the Shooting Unit Shooting Ethnicity
6/11/2020 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Fatal Thomas, B
Stn. Michael
6/12/2020 Palmdale Anon Palmdale Stn. Hit/Fatal Lugo, Tony L,L,L
6/17/2020 Rosamond Anon Lancaster Hit/Fatal Boone, Terron B
(Kern Ct.) Stn.
6/18/2020 Gardena Miguel Vega Compton Stn. Hit/Fatal Guardado, L
Andres
6/28/2020 Gardena Anon Transit Hit/Non-fatal Hudson, Erik B
Services
7/30/2020 Lancaster Anon Lancaster Hit/Non-fatal Campbell, B
Stn. Kirk
8/7/2020 Hacienda Anon Industry Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Ochoa, L
Heights Rogelio
8/19/2020 Compton Anon Compton Stn. Non-hit Anon B
8/22/2020 Commerce East L.A. Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Moreno, L
Rigoberto
8/31/2020 L.A. Anon South L.A. Hit/Fatal Kizzee, Dijon B
Stn.
9/10/2020 Compton Anon OSS Hit/Fatal Samuel L
Herrera Jr.
9/23/2020 Whittier Anon Court Hit/Non-fatal Anon male B
Services-East
9/24/2020 Commerce Anon East L.A. Stn. Hit/Non-fatal Anon female Unknown
10/6/2020 Paramount Anon Lakewood Hit/Non-fatal Anon male Unknown
Stn.
10/6/2020 Harbor Anon South L.A. Hit/Non-fatal Nicholas L
UCLA- Stn. Burgos Jr.
Torrance
10/15/2020 Westmont Anon South L.A. Hit/Fatal Dana Young B
Stn. Jr.
10/16/2020 Willowbrook Anon Compton Stn. Hit/Fatal Federick B
Williams III

There have been 133 deputy shootings during the immediate past five
147
years. The stations and units with more than two deputy shootings are listed
below, starting with the station with the highest number of shootings and ending
with the station with the lowest number.
Station/Unit w multiple deputy Deputy gang associated w. Number of deputy shootings
shootings: highest to lowest Station/Unit associated w Station/Unit
East L.A. Stn. Banditos, Cavemen, Little Red 20
Devils
Compton Stn. Executioners 12
Century Stn. Regulators, Spartans 12
South L.A. Stn. Grim Reapers 11

147
Each event is considered a single deputy shooting even though records occasionally reflect
that other people may have been shot at in addition to the named suspect or victim.

39
 Station/Unit w multiple deputy Deputy gang associated w. Number of deputy shootings
shootings: highest to lowest Station/Unit associated w Station/Unit
Lancaster Stn. Rattlesnakes, Cowboys 10
Palmdale Stn. Rattlesnakes, Cowboys 8
Lakewood Stn. 7
Industry Stn. 7
Operation Safe Streets (OSS) Jump Out Boys 7
Pico Rivera Stn. 5
Santa Clarita Stn. 5
Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) 5
Temple City Stn. Tasmanian Devils 4

The top six stations account for well over half of all shootings by deputies.
Each of these stations has an active deputy gang, as well as a history of complaints,
reporting, and lawsuits alleging deputy-gang misconduct. While further
information and study is needed, canvassing what is known about the deputy
shootings during the immediate past five years demonstrates at least a correlation
between being involved in a deputy shooting and working out of a LASD station
with an active deputy gang.
Over eighty percent of the people shot by LASD deputies during the past
five years have been Black or Latinx.148 The disparate impact of deputy shootings
on people of color buttresses the conclusion that the unchecked deputy-gang
culture at the LASD escalates uses of force against minority communities.
Of course, correlation is not causation. Other factors, such as the size of the
station and the violent crime rates in the immediate area, likely impact the number
of shootings by deputies from a particular station. More definitive conclusions
could be reached if we knew whether each shooter is affiliated with a deputy gang
or clique. This is not possible because the LASD, contrary to the California
Supreme Court’s holding in Long Beach Police Officers Assn. v. City of Long
Beach,149 does not disclose the names of deputies involved in shootings. In
contrast, the Los Angeles Police Department has been publishing the names of
officers involved in shootings on its website for years.150 LASD leadership also

148
Of the 133 people who were shot by deputies, at least 79 were Latinx and at least 35 were
African American. As such, minorities are significantly overrepresented in deputy shootings
compared with their representation in the general population of Los Angeles County.
149
59 Cal. 4th 59 (2014) (requiring the Long Beach police department to disclose to the Los
Angeles Times pursuant to the California Public Records Act the names of all officers involved
in police shootings for a six-year period).
150
See O.I.S., available at http://www.lapdonline.org/use_of_force/content_basic_view/65012.

40
has refused to investigate whether deputies involved in a shooting belong to an
internal gang or clique, making it even more difficult to analyze the connection
between deputy gang membership and deputy shootings.151
B. Deputy Gangs Undermine Constitutional Policing
Constitutional policing emphasizes law enforcement members following the
Bill of Rights and upholding people’s civil rights.152 Adhering to the Constitution
ensures that law enforcement officers treat everybody fairly and impartially.
Constitutional policing requires more than complying with court opinions to ensure
the admissibility of evidence or the viability of prosecutions. Law enforcement
organizations should continuously examine their policies and practices to make
sure they “advance the broad constitutional goals of protecting everyone’s rights
and providing equal protection under the law.”153
The history and demography of the spread of deputy gangs throughout the
LASD reveal how they violate equal protection under the law. The first wave of
deputy gangs originated at stations in East Los Angeles154 and in and around
Lynwood.155 Each of these stations originally had a mostly white force policing
communities with a high percentage of minorities. Later, deputy gangs arose in
Compton156 and, most recently, in the Antelope Valley stations.157 The current rise

151
Sheriff Villanueva has stated that the LASD will investigate members accused of committing
specific acts of gang-related misconduct, such as the Banditos assaulting other deputies at
Kennedy Hall. However, he declined to investigate whether the LASD has a systemic problem
with deputy gangs, stating, “[W]e’re not gonna go on an investigation inquisition and go through
an entire 18,000 employees of the department to see if they have a tattoo or they’re a member of
a group. That would be inappropriate and wildly speculative. We are trying to run an
organization, not engage in a witch hunt.” Alene Tchekmedyian, Sheriff May Fire Deputies
Linked to Fight: Villanueva is Expected to Suspend Others for Misconduct Tied to Banditos
Clique, L.A. Times (Aug. 13, 2020).
152
Constitutional Policing as a Cornerstone of Community Policing, a Report by the Police
Executive Research Forum (Apr. 2015).
153
Id. at 2
154
According to census records, East Los Angeles is 96% Latino, 0% African American, 2%
white, and 1% Asian. See censusreporter.org/profile/16000US062082-east-los-angeles-ca/.
155
Lynwood is 88% Latino, 8% African American, 2% white, and 1% Asian. See
censusreporter.org/profiles/1600US644574-lynwood-ca/.
156
LASD took over policing Compton after the Compton City Council defunded the Compton
Police Department on September 16, 2000. Compton is 68% Latino, 29% African American, 1%
white, and 1% Asian. Censusreporter.com/profiles/16000US0615044-compton-ca/.
157
The most recent census records reflect that Palmdale and Lynwood are much more diverse
than they were a generation ago. Palmdale is currently 58% Latino, 21% white, 13% African

41
of deputy gangs at the Palmdale and Lancaster stations is not happenstance. The
Antelope Valley was a majority-white community that has become increasingly
diverse over the past two decades. Conversely, stations in majority white, higher
income areas, such as Malibu or Marina Del Rey, have never had any known
deputy gangs or cliques.
The common characteristic regarding all the LASD deputy gangs, past and
present, is that that they originate and thrive in low-income, high-minority
communities.158 The inevitable result is that people of color living in the deputy
gang “turf” experience an inordinate amount of heavy-handed, aggressive policing,
including racial profiling and excessive use of force. This creates a rift between
community and the LASD, which leads to poor relations and distrust.
Deputy gang members rationalize excessive force, unconstitutional searches,
perjury, and other illegal tactics as necessary components of effective policing.159
They rely on extreme loyalty and a strict code of silence to hide each other’s acts
of violence and misconduct. As former Lynwood deputy Michael Osborne, who
was invited to join the Vikings, stated: “You keep your mouth shut and obey the
code of silence. Any illegal acts you witness by other deputies, you don’t say
anything. If you’re asked, you say, ‘I didn’t see anything.’”160
The end result is that the deputy gangs promote internal loyalty over
adherence to state law or LASD policy. These practices inevitably lead to an “us-
against-them” and “good guys vs. the bad guys” view of policing.161 Nowhere is

American, and 5% Asian. Censusrepoter.org/profiles/16000US0655156-palmdale-ca/.

Lancaster is currently 44% Latino, 29% white, 20% African American, and 4% Asian.
Censusreporter.org/profiles/1600US0640130-lancaster-ca/.
158
The Kolts Commission independently reached the same conclusion in 1992, noting that “these
cliques are found particularly at stations in areas heavily populated by minorities—the so-called
“ghetto stations.” Kolts Report at 327; see also, Anne Marie O’Connor and Tina Daunt, The
Secret Society among Lawmen, L.A. Times (Mar. 24, 1999)(“Membership [in the deputy gangs]
swelled in the 1980s at the overwhelmingly white sheriff’s stations that were islands in black and
Latino immigrant communities.”).
159
For example, Angel Jaimes, a self-admitted Regulator, defended his participation in that
subgroup by arguing that they were “nothing more than a close-knit group of deputies … who
support one another and promote aggressive, ethical policing that keeps communities safe.”
Stuart Pfeifer, Deputy’s Lawsuit Alleges Racism at Sheriff Station, LA Times (Sept. 5, 2007).
160
Anne Marie O’Connor and Tina Daunt, The Secret Society Among Lawmen, L.A. Times (Mar.
24, 1999).
161
A Little Red Devils member interviewed by the Kolts Commission described his clique as a
“group of individuals [who] developed an attitude of ‘us against the world.’” He further

42
this truer than at the East Los Angeles station, which to this day displays a “Fort
Apache” logo despite having being previously banned after years of complaints
from community members, who find the logo demeaning and offensive.162 The
East Los Angeles station has also generated several cliques and is responsible for
more deputy shootings than any other station during the past five years.
The various internal cliques and gangs consider themselves to be an elite,
invitation-only group that recruits only the most talented, skilled, hard-charging
and committed deputies.163 This creates a culture in which affiliation with a deputy
gang or clique stands as proof of one’s value as a law enforcement officer.164
Unfortunately, in the eyes of deputy gang members, that value arises from being
ready and willing to use violence against community members and to violate their
civil rights. A culture that has evolved in this manner for five decades will
inherently resist all efforts to implement constitutional policing.
C. LASD Members Make False and Misleading Statements to
Hide the Existence and True Nature of Deputy Gangs
LASD leaders who are questioned about the deputy gangs do whatever they
can to distance themselves from them and claim their hands are tied. Sheriffs—
after they can no longer plausibly deny that deputy gangs exist—consistently claim
that the First Amendment prohibits them from investigating if deputies don tattoos
associated with a deputy gang or clique. This is a mischaracterization of First
Amendment law. Public employers can and do restrict their employees’ First
Amendment rights when such restriction is necessary to achieve a government

described cliques as “groups [that] consist of more aggressive deputies, who take on an identity
as ‘hard chargers.’” Kolts Report at 328.
162
Frank Stoltze, A Controversial East LA Sheriff’s Station Logo was Banned. Sheriff Villanueva
Just Brought It Back, LAist (Apr. 19, 2019) (reporting on East Los Angeles station deputies’
support for the reinstatement of the Fort Apache station logo despite strong community
opposition, as well as the prior sheriff’s removal of the logo based on his determination that it
was “disrespectful to the community”).
163
As Deputy Jaimes described the Regulators in the press: “It’s like the all-stars of a baseball
team. You get the best.” See Stuart Pfeifer, supra, at n.159.
164
Recorded interview of a retired LASD Commander who previously served as a captain of East
Los Angeles station, Transcript at p. 28, on file at CJLP at Loyola Law School—Los Angeles
(observing that some new deputies feel honored to be invited into a clique because it is viewed as
a “prized association”).

43
agency’s mission.165 This is particularly true of law enforcement agencies.166 In
fact, the LASD has a “tattoo image form” for employees that provides for
uploading pictures of tattoos, as well as a request for a “description and meaning”
of each tattoo.167 Moreover, historical documents during Sheriff Pitchess’s tenure
reflect that his administration did investigate tattooed deputy gangs and cliques,
including asking individual members if they had a Little Red Devils tattoo.168
Stakeholders who seek to learn more about the deputy gangs—including the
CJLP—have filed public records requests for all documents reflecting LASD
management’s “knowledge of and efforts to address the problems caused by
deputy gangs.” LASD officials responsible for disclosing records subject to the
California Public Records Act have stated that the department has no responsive
documents. Yet, internal records reflecting that management has known about the
gangs for decades continue to surface, impeaching their claim that no records exist.
During sworn testimony, sheriff’s deputies who have a common gang tattoo
often refer to it as a “station tattoo,” suggesting that their tattoo is somehow
connected with the official logo of each LASD station.169 In fact, the gang tattoos
bear no resemblance to any of the official station logos, which are usually
geometric shapes with letters and numbers.170 When questioned, these deputies
strain credulity by denying that they belong to a gang or clique, and they offer
illogical explanations for the tattoos, which usually depict skeletons, firearms, and
symbols of death. Some have claimed that their menacing tattoo represents

165
Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 418 (2006) (“When a citizen enters government service,
the citizen by necessity must accept certain limitations on his or her freedom.”); Pickering v.
Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 573 (1968) (government employer may restrict an
employee’s free speech if that speech is likely to impact the efficiency of providing its services
or otherwise undermine its mission).
166
Pappas v. Giuliani, 290 F.3d 143, 146 (2d Cir. 2002) (Police department’s restriction of
officer’s racist speech did not violate the First Amendment because “[t]he effectiveness of a city
police department depends importantly on the respect and trust of the community and in the
perception in the community that it enforces the law fairly, evenhandedly, and without bias.”).
167
The LASD form can be accessed at
http://shq.lasdnews.net/content/uoa/PER/upload/Tattoo%20Image%20Form.pdf.
168
Dec. 3, 1973 LASD Memo from Capt. R.D. Campbell to Chief T.H. Von Minden, on file at
the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, Loyola Law School-Los Angeles.
169
See, e.g., N.G. and L.G. v. Count of Los Angeles, CV-8312-SVW, Deposition of David
Chevez (Mar. 5, 2014) at 69.
170
All LASD badges and station logos are displayed in Los Angeles County History behind the
Badge, available at https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lasdhistory2011.pdf.

44
equality under the law.171 Others have claimed that their tattoo represents their
integrity and work ethic.172 One deputy even testified at a capital trial that the
Vikings was a social group, not a gang or clique.173 None of the testifying deputies
has been able to credibly explain why demonic figures were selected to depict such
virtues.
Deputies engage in the same false narratives about deputy gangs during IAB
investigations. For example, a deputy who was shown the Jump Out Boys’ creed
during an IAB investigation denied that references to them “doing what we have
to” and “crossing the line” were evidence of misconduct. Instead, he claimed the
quoted language was evidence of commitment, stating: “[T]hey’re looking for
some highly motivated deputies who are willing to step up and go where most
deputies are not willing to do [sic]. They’re looking for people to step up, be
leaders, and take bad guys to jail on their own turf.”174
VI. The Negative Impact of Unchecked Deputy Gangs on the Los
Angeles Justice System
The harm caused by unchecked deputy gangs and cliques is not limited to
unconstitutional policing on the streets; it spills over into our justice system, where
willful non-disclosure and false statements infect the fairness of criminal and civil
proceedings.

A. Criminal Justice: Brady Violations Lead to Unconstitutional

and Wrongful Convictions

171
During his deposition, Oleg Pollisky, a deputy in the Palmdale station, claimed that his clique
tattoo signified that “no one person has any less rights than any other person” and that “you treat
public equally and without bias.” Maya Lau, Inked With a Skull in a Cowboy Hat, L.A. County
Sheriff’s Deputy Describes Exclusive Society of Lawmen at California Station, L.A. Times (Aug.
4, 2018).
172
During his deposition, Samuel Aldama, a deputy in the Compton Station, claimed that his
clique tattoo signified “working hard.” Maya Lau, L.A. Sheriff Watchdogs Alarmed About New
Claims of Secret Deputy Clique at Compton Station, L.A. Times (July 13, 2018).
173
People v. Fuiava, 53 Cal. 4th 622, 646 n. 5 (2012).
174
LASD Bureau of Internal Affairs Report on the Jump Out Boys at p. 40, on file at the Center
for Juvenile Law and Policy, Loyola Law School.

45
 Under Brady v. Maryland,175 prosecutors have a constitutional obligation to
disclose material, exculpatory evidence to the defense prior to trial.176 The State
Legislature expanded California prosecutors’ disclosure obligation by requiring
them to disclose any exculpatory evidence, regardless of whether it rises to the
level of “material" under Brady.177 Under California law, Brady obligations
continue even after a case is concluded.178
“Exculpatory evidence” includes evidence that impeaches the testimony of
prosecution witnesses, including law enforcement witnesses.179 According to a
past Los Angeles District Attorney directive, inadmissible exculpatory evidence
should still be disclosed since it “can lead to admissible exculpatory or
impeachment evidence.”180 Because both the prosecutor and the investigating
officers are members of the same prosecution team, the prosecutor has a duty to
learn about all impeaching information known by the police.181 For this reason, the
California Supreme Court in ALADS v. Superior Court recently approved of the
Sheriff giving “Brady alerts” to the prosecutor about misconduct in a deputy’s
personnel file in order to ensure that Brady compliance occurs.182
The U.S. Supreme Court held in United States v. Abel that the prosecution
may impeach a defense witness based upon the witness’s reputed membership in a
secret prison gang.183 Likewise, a defendant in a criminal trial should be able to
impeach a prosecution witness based on the witness’s reputed membership in a
secret sheriff gang. Membership in a deputy gang is particularly impeaching

175
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).
176
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).
177
Cal Pen. Code § 1054.1(e) (“The prosecuting attorney shall disclose to the defendant … any
exculpatory evidence.”); Barnett v. Superior Court, 50 Cal. 4th 890, 901 (2010)(“If petitioner
can show he has a reasonable basis for believing a specific item of exculpatory evidence exists,
he is entitled to receive that evidence without additionally having to show its materiality.”).
178
People v. Gonzalez, 51 Cal. 3d 1179, 1260-61 (1990).
179
Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972).
180
Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, Special Directive § 17-03: Policy
Regarding Disclosure of Exculpatory and Impeachment Information, §14.02.03 (2017).
181
Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 437 (1995) (“[T]he individual prosecutor has a duty to learn of
any favorable evidence known to others acting on the government’s behalf in the case, including
the police.”).
182
Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs v. Superior Court, 8 Cal. 5th 28, 52-53 (2019).
183
United States v. Abel, 469 U.S. 45 (1984).

46
because there is substantial evidence that deputies are bound to cover up
misconduct and lie on behalf of fellow members of the deputy gang.184
Reading Brady and Abel in tandem supports requiring the prosecution to
disclose that a testifying deputy belongs to a deputy gang. Joining a deputy gang is
a fundamentally dishonest act. While they present as ordinary law enforcement
officers, gung-ho deputy gang members engage in all sorts of police misconduct,
such as discriminating against people of color, filing false reports, and escalating
uses of force; even those members who are less active and engaged in a deputy
gang contribute to the problem by holding allegiance to a secret subgroup that
violates the rights of others. As such, participation in a deputy gang is clearly
relevant to assessing an individual sheriff witness’s credibility, potential bias, and
motive to lie.185
The prosecution also regularly calls law enforcement officers to testify as
“gang experts” in support of charged gang enhancements in juvenile adjudications
and adult trials.186 When an “inked” deputy testifying as a gang expert opines that a
minor or adult defendant is a gang member who committed a crime for the benefit

184
See United States v. Tanaka, no. 16-50233, 707 F. App’x. 448, 449 (9th Cir. Aug. 31, 2017)
(holding that the trial court properly allowed the prosecution to question a sheriff’s deputy about
his participation in a “deputy clique” or “deputy gang” because “evidence of his involvement in
the Vikings [was] relevant to assessing the veracity” of his statements about being a law abiding
law enforcement officer); Osborne v. City of Long Beach, no. 87-6262. 1988 WL 141 (9th Cir.
Dec. 20, 1988); see also Gabrielle J. Chon and Scott C. Wells, The “Blue Wall of Silence” as
Evidence of Bias and Motive to Lie: a New Approach to Police Perjury, 59 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 233,
278 (1988) (“The Osborne court’s application of Abel [to a police department] is sound. It
dovetails with the many cases holding that defendants may introduce evidence that police
officers have some motive to lie in a particular case.”).
185
See Vida Johnson, KKK in the PD: White Supremacist Police and What to Do about It, 23
Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 206, 234-35 (2019) (“Appellate courts have found membership in a hate
group to be a proper line of cross examination. But given that bias and membership in a hate
group are proper areas for cross-examination and in light of the fact that Brady applies to
impeachment information, bias or hate group membership is impeachment material. This is
particularly true where the police officer witness is a central witness in the case (as they often
are) and the defendant is a person of color.”).
186
See, e.g., People v. Sanchez, 63 Cal. 4th 665, 671 (2016) (describing qualifications of and
preparation for a police gang expert to testify whether the defendant committed the crime for the
benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with criminal street gang members).

47
of his criminal street gang while withholding that he himself is a member of an
illicit deputy gang, such testimony erodes the fundamental fairness of the trial.187
Because of LASD leadership’s general failure to investigate whether
employees belong to such deputy gangs, Brady information about deputy gang-
affiliation is never turned over to the trial prosecutor. Even when LASD
leadership learns of some information due to internal investigations, such as the
one involving the Jump Out Boys, that information is not communicated to either
the prosecutor or defense counsel. Consequently, deputies who belong to a deputy
gang testify in hearings and trials without disclosure of their affiliation even
though it would impeach their credibility as a witness at hearings and trial.
The case of People v. Francisco Carrillo reveals the human cost of the
prosecution’s failure to disclose that a testifying deputy belongs to an LASD
deputy gang. Carrillo, a 16-year-old high school student from Maywood, was
arrested and prosecuted as an adult for a gang drive-by shooting in Lynwood. Six
juvenile witnesses identified Carrillo as the shooter. The first trial ended in a
hung jury, but after a retrial Carrillo was convicted of homicide and sentenced to
life. A pro bono legal team took on Carrillo’s habeas corpus case and
interviewed the eyewitnesses, who were now adults. The witnesses admitted that
they had been coached by LASD deputy Craig Ditsch to identify Carrillo even
though their view of the shooter had been insufficient to make an identification.
The habeas team also uncovered evidence that Ditsch was an inked member of
the Lynwood Vikings—a fact not disclosed to the defense before trial. The
habeas court vacated Carrillo’s conviction, the District Attorney elected not to
retry him, and he was released from prison after serving 20 years due to wrongful
conviction.188

187
For example, the prosecution called LASD Sergeant Javier Clift as a gang expert. Clift opined
that the defendant committed the charged offenses for the benefit of the Sangra street gang. The
jury found that the gang enhancement was true, resulting in the imposition of an additional
fifteen years imprisonment. People v. Sendejas, B263449 (Cal. Ct. App. July 26, 2018). Clift
was a named defendant in the civil-rights suit involving the Vikings before Judge Hatter. He
also has a “chango fighters” tattoo, which is associated with Lynwood deputy cliques. In a
separate civil rights suit against Clift for excessive force, another federal judge, David Kenyon,
ruled that the chango fighters (which translates as “monkey fighters”) was admissible evidence
because it “implies that he fights minorities.” Deputy’s Tattoo OKd as Civil Rights Suit
Evidence, L.A. Times (Feb. 5, 1992).
188
Celeste Fremon, L.A. County Pays $10.1 Million Because L.A. Deputy Allegedly Influenced
Witnesses Causing a 16-Year-Old to Go to Prison For 20 Years, Witness LA (July 25, 2016).

48
 Brady violations arising from the non-disclosure of deputy gang affiliation
have occurred even in cases where the defendant faced the death penalty. In
capital cases involving the killing of a law enforcement officer, whether the
victim was a member of a deputy gang will often be relevant to important legal
issues, such as self-defense, imperfect self-defense, victim-impact rebuttal, and
mitigation based on reduced culpability.189 Despite this, the law enforcement
victim’s membership in a deputy gang or clique is rarely disclosed to the defense.
For example, Jose Luis Orozco was convicted and sentenced to death for the fatal
shooting of Jerry Ortiz, a sheriff’s deputy in the anti-gang unit.190 The trial
prosecutor elicited evidence about Orozco’s gang affiliation and argued that his
status as a gang member who shot a law enforcement officer justified imposing
the death penalty. It was later revealed that Ortiz himself was an inked member
of the Regulators—something LASD did not reveal to the prosecutor or defense
counsel.191 The prosecution’s failure to disclose prior to trial Ortiz’s affiliation
with a deputy gang risks reversal of the conviction and death sentence based on a
Brady violation.
It is particularly important to enforce the prosecution’s Brady obligation to
disclose if law enforcement witnesses belong to a deputy gang because the
defense is unlikely to independently learn that information on its own. California
has the most restrictive access to police personnel files in the nation. 192 While a
defendant may file a “Pitchess motion” to discover findings of misconduct in a
deputy’s personnel file, the defense must first demonstrate “good cause”—a

189
For example, in People v. Fuiava, 53 Cal. 4th 622 (2012), the trial judge permitted the defense
to elicit testimony that the victim, Deputy Blair, had been a member of the Vikings in order to
support Fuiava’s claim that Blair was the first aggressor, prompting Fuiava to fatally shoot him
in self-defense. Id. at 661-62.
190
Peter Hong, Deputy’s Killer Gets Death Sentence, LA Times (Apr. 4, 2007).
191
Stuart Pfeifer, Deputy’s Lawsuit Alleges Racism at the Sheriff’s Station, LA Times (Sept. 5,
2007) (“Grubb [self-admitted Regulator] confirmed that deceased Deputy Jerry Ortiz, slain by
gang member in 2005, was once a member of the Regulators. Grubb said he drove Ortiz to a
Huntington Beach tattoo shop to get his Regulators tattoo in 2000 or 2001.”).
192
Jonathan Abel, Brady’s Blind Spot: Impeachment Evidence in Police Personnel Files and the
Battle Splitting the Prosecution Team, 67 Stanford L. Rev. 743, 762-66 (2015) (deeming
California the “poster child” of “no access regimes” and arguing that “the practice of applying
these personnel file restrictions to prosecutors creates the obvious potential for a conflict
between Pitchess and Brady”).

49
difficult showing given that usually nobody knows what is inside a deputy’s
confidential personnel file.193
B. Civil Justice: Structuring Settlements to Hide Deputy Gangs
and Cliques from the Public
Membership in a deputy gang is relevant in civil rights cases for the same
reason it is relevant in criminal cases: It impeaches a deputy’s credibility and
exposes possible motives for committing violence against a community member
that are inconsistent with the reasonableness standard under Graham v. Connor.194
In Jaimes v. County of Los Angeles, an employment discrimination case brought by
a deputy who was member of the Regulators, the County even argued that
membership in a deputy gang was evidence of “unfitness for duty.” The County
asserted, “The associations of a law enforcement officer are relevant to evaluating
his fitness for duty. If these deputies admitted to being members of the Ku Klux
Klan or the Aryan Nation, there would be no question that these associations
should be taken into account in assessing plaintiff’s fitness to be on the street as a
law enforcement officer in Los Angeles. Since plaintiff has put at issue his fitness
for duty, and has admitted membership in a secret society based at the Century
Station, the existence and influence of this secret society are relevant to assessing
plaintiff’s fitness for duty.”195 The LASD’s failure to disclose a member’s
affiliation with a deputy gang or clique deprives the plaintiff of relevant
information that infects the fairness of civil trials.
The County’s civil lawyers also negotiate settlements in civil rights cases in
order to prevent the dissemination of information about deputy gangs. For
example, after a judge ordered the LASD to disclose the names of all known
Executioners members in a wrongful death case, County Counsel negotiated a $7
million settlement that mooted the discovery order.

193
Neither the prosecution nor the defense should blindly assent to statutory obstacles to
uncovering Brady evidence. The California Supreme Court has stressed that to the extent that
statutory provisions cloak police misconduct with confidentiality at the expense of compliance
with Brady, such statutes are unconstitutional as applied. See City of Los Angeles v. Superior
Court (Brandon), 29 Cal. 4th 1, 12 n. 2 (2002).
194
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989).
195
Jaimes v. County of Los Angeles, et al., Case No. BC 331903, Defendants’ Objection to and
Motion to Strike Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine to Exclude Reference to the Regulators, filed Mar.
2, 2008, on file at CJLP.

50
 County counsel also requires non-disclosure agreements as a condition of
settling with plaintiffs who sue LASD in connection with deputy gang members’
misconduct. For example, in 2015 Rosa Gonzalez, a female deputy in the East
Los Angeles station, filed a gender discrimination and retaliation suit against Los
Angeles County alleging that LASD supervisors ignored her complaints that she
was “subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation by male deputies.”196 Gonzalez
linked the gender discrimination and retaliation to the “highly misogynistic”
culture at the East Los Angeles station, which was “essentially run by a gang of
deputies known as the ‘Banditos’” who “us[ed] female deputies as their ‘women’
and den[ied] them promotional opportunities.”197 The parties negotiated a pretrial
settlement for $1 million that subjected Gonzalez to a non-disclosure agreement.198
Consequently, Gonzalez cannot discuss the gender discrimination and retaliation to
which the Banditos subjected her.
The use of non-disclosure agreements to silence female deputies harassed by
deputy gang members is particularly troubling where, as in the Gonzalez suit, all of
the harassment occurred within a public agency, all parties were public employees,
and the offered settlement was paid with public funds. The non-disclosure
agreements facilitate further gender discrimination and harassment by deputy gang
members and violate public policy. Indeed, the Legislature in 2018 enacted SB
820, which was codified as California Code of Civil Procedure section 1001(a).
Section 1001(a) makes any “provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the
disclosure of factual information related to [a claim of sexual harassment] … void
as a matter of law and against public policy.”
VII. Moving Forward: Implementing the Recommendations of the
President’s Task Force on Twenty-First Century Policing
The proliferation of deputy gangs and cliques within the LASD for nearly
fifty years is not happenstance. Many LASD members have embraced a warrior
model of policing in which deputies behave like an occupying force over the
communities they police. While individual leaders have advocated to reform the
deputy gang culture, their efforts have been sporadic and ineffective. For the most
part, LASD management has staunchly refused to address the problem and, more

196
Complaint in Gonzalez v. County of Los Angeles, No. BC591056, 2015 WL 13844629.
197
Id. at 4.
198
Cty of L.A. Claims Bd., Minutes of Regular Meeting (May 6, 2019), at 3 (noting that “the
Claims Board recommended to the Board of Supervisors the settlement of [Gonzalez v. County
of Los Angeles] in the amount of $1,000,000.”).

51
generally, resisted transparency, oversight, and collaboration with community
partners. The predictable result of this approach to policing is a secretive, violent,
us-against-them police culture where internal gangs and cliques continue to sprout
and attract new members.199
In the wake of myriad controversial police shootings of unarmed African
Americans, President Obama in 2014 convened a task force comprised of law
enforcement members, community leaders, and scholars “to identify the best
means to provide an effective partnership between law enforcement and local
communities that reduces crime and increases trust.”200 After holding numerous
hearings throughout the country, the group published Report of the President’s
Task Force on Twenty-First Century Policing. That report contains 59
recommendations that stand as a blueprint for culture change in law enforcement
organizations.201 The heart of these collective recommendations is that law
enforcement must move away from viewing themselves as at war with the
communities they police, and towards a model of policing that values and
implements constitutional policing, community policing, and procedural justice.
The task force wrote:
Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian—rather than a
warrior—mindset to build trust and legitimacy both within agencies
and with the public. Toward that end, law enforcement agencies should
adopt procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and
external policies and practices to guide their interactions with rank and
file officers and with the citizens they serve.202
The Twenty-First Century Policing model emphasizes public transparency,
meaningful engagement with oversight bodies, collaboration with community-
based organizations, and true accountability for deputy misconduct. Implementing
this model of constitutional and community policing provides the best path forward
for culture change and the eradication of deputy gangs and cliques within the
LASD.

199
Maya Lau, After Decades of Problems, New Allegations Surface of a Secret Clique within L.A.
County Sheriff’s Department, LA Times (July 10, 2018) (quoting former prosecutor and CCJV
commissioner Alex Busansky, who observed, “[T]he department should look into its culture. …
A place where 20 police officers receive matching tattoos is a place where there is a mentality of
us-versus-them, and on its face is concerning.”).
200
Exec. Order No. 13,684, 79 Fed. Reg. 76865 (Dec. 23, 2014).
201
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report (2015).
202
Id. at 1.

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 SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
• The LASD should enforce its new policy (3-01/050.83) prohibiting deputies
from participating in subgroups that violate the rights of others or have
violated the rights of others in the past;
• The LASD should periodically require existing employees to fill out its
“tattoo image form” that it currently requires all applicants to fill out.
• The LASD should acknowledge the existence of all known deputy gangs and
cliques and disclose all internal documents about the gangs and cliques
pursuant to the California Public Records Act;
• Los Angeles deputy district attorneys should affirmatively ask sheriff’s
deputies expected to testify as prosecution witnesses whether they belong to
a deputy gang or clique and, if they do, disclose this affiliation to the defense
prior to trial pursuant to Brady v. Maryland;
• Defense counsel should move, pursuant to Pitchess v. Superior Court and
Brady v. Maryland, to discover if any sheriff’s deputies involved in the
investigation of the charged offenses is affiliated with a deputy gang or
clique;
• Judges should allow defense counsel to cross-examine deputies regarding
their tattoos and affiliations with deputy subgroups and require prosecutors
to affirmatively disclose this information to defense counsel;
• The Los Angeles Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission (COC) should host
town halls in East Los Angeles, Lynwood, South Los Angeles, Compton,
and the Antelope Valley to solicit community input about deputy gangs or
cliques operating in these areas;
• The COC should direct the Office of Inspector General to investigate all
current deputy gangs and, if necessary, use its subpoena power to obtain
testimony and documents regarding the deputy gangs;
• The Sheriff should regularly attend COC public hearings in order to engage
with the commission and community members about how to address the
longstanding problem of deputy gangs and cliques within the department;
• A non-profit organization, educational institution, or the Office of the
Inspector General should create and maintain a database of all deputies
known to be affiliated with a deputy gang or clique, catalogue specific acts
of misconduct associated with the gang or clique, and make the information
available to the public;

53
• The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should direct its counsel to
stop requesting protective orders and non-disclosure agreements as a
condition of settlement in civil suits because such tactics facilitate hiding
deputy gang misconduct from the public.

54