December 14, 2022 • 52 mins
Deputies tied to the 3000 Boys at Men’s Central Jail have made their way to the streets of Compton and formed a new gang. Their brutal tactics have captured the attention of the public.
A Tradition of Violence is hosted and executive produced by Cerise Castle. She's an award winning journalist who wrote the first ever history of deputy gangs for Knock LA, available at lasdgangs.com
Music by Yelohill and Steelz.
For breaking news and updates on deputy gangs, follow @lasdgangs on social media.
To support Cerise’s reporting, and for exclusive bonus content, subscribe to the patreon.com/lasdgangs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Morning. This podcast contains explicit language and details acts of violence.
Listener discretion is advised. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has
a cancer festering inside of it. Deputy gangs are sustained
by leadership that often goes along with the bad behavior.
(00:21):
The cancer has only metastasized. One gang begets another gang
begets another. The Vikings influence the jump Out Boys, The
three thousand Boys influenced the two thousand Boys, and the
two thousand Boys influenced the Executioners. Former two thousand boy
Andy Tune, founded the Executioners. They've been operating since two
(00:45):
thousand sixteen, terrorizing the streets of Compton, a predominantly black
and Latina city in Los Angeles County. Those demographics are
important because for this deputy, gang matching tattoos are what
signified membership in the group. It's a skeleton engulfed in flames,
carrying an assault rifle that happens to be wearing a
(01:08):
Nazi style helmet. Women and black people aren't allowed to
join the game. This racism, this hate, has even been
acknowledged under oath. Do you have any ill feelings towards
African Americans in general, I do, sir. This is a
(01:32):
tradition of violence, A history of deputy gangs inside the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The voice you heard just
a moment ago belongs to Deputy Samuel Aldama. Aldama has
(01:54):
been involved in brutalizing and killing content residents on multiple occasions.
You'll hear a about him throughout this episode. That audio
clip of him was recorded during a sworn deposition. He
revealed that he and more than ten other deputies at
the station shared the executioner tattoo in previous court proceedings.
(02:16):
He's chalked up matching tattoos to be quote serendipity and
says that deputy has got the tattoos to show off
hard work done in the department. This is Hi mahuadaz
an executioner's boss or shot caller being deposed by Attorney
Alan Romero. Have you seen other people with that tattoo
on their bodies? Name all the people you've seen that
(02:37):
tattoo on? Okay, huh, let's see uh who say sand
the ball, Jesse sand the ball Rubis Let me think
James cross Rubin, he menace, Edwin Taylor are Anger song Uh,
(03:03):
Famuel Adama, miss rain that m I v r A
I n oreago I said from top of my head, sir,
have you ever been present when another deputy got that tattoo?
You mean as it was being administered? Yes? Yes, Where
were those tattoos administered at a home? Okay? And whose
(03:27):
home was that? It was? Different homes? Was the same
tattoo artist used for all those tattoos of the individuals
you just named? No, how many different tattoo artists administered
the tattoos on the individuals that you just identified proximately
four four or five? Have you ever been involved in
(03:50):
deciding who gets the exhibit too tattoos? Yes? So it's
the pretty much the line deputy, the deputy that worked
patrol that they decided. If they see a deputy who's
the leader at the station, who conduct conducts themselves in
the professional manner, who served the public and the department
(04:14):
with honor and respect. Uh, they conduct ethical practice, police
work their leader, They step up during critical incidents, They
mentor younger deputies. Uh, those are the deputies they decide on.
They decide on whose day, who decide to get to
(04:34):
it changes. It's pretty much the deputy is assigned to
the line. They called it the line who are actually
working patrol. Someone getting nominated to get that tattoo by
someone who already has that tattoo. I wouldn't say the
word nominated, but they will will bring them up, Yes,
bring them up where or how to be in the
I mean whenever they have luncher, if they're around other people,
(04:57):
they'll they'll talk about them. How many inking parties related
to the exhibit two tattoos? Have you been present? At?
Approximately sleven? An alleged associate of the three Thousand Boys
was working patrol at the Compton station. Armando Diaz was
(05:17):
one of three deputies who took part in the first
incident tied to the three Thousand Boys. He and three
other deputies beat a handcuffed Velton Boone, a forty nine
year old black man, in April of two thousand eight.
Boone's case was settled for just nine hundred and fifty dollars,
which taxpayers paid for. Diaz attacked Barry Montgomery, a thirty
(05:39):
year old black man, on July. Here's Barry's attorney, jov
On Black. Now Barry is um special needs. He's a
very small person. He's about five to maybe a hundred
twenty pounds. Maybe he very rarely speaks UM. At the time,
(06:03):
Barry is probably around thirty years old. Some officers saw
him in the park. So the officers see Barry, their
approach him. So you can have a conversation with Barry,
and Barry might turn and walk away from me. During
the conversation, you might talk to him and he won't
look at you, or you talk to him and he
(06:23):
won't respond back or be reduest respond back into you
know grunt yes and no, you know uh and so
I believe the officers took his behavior as like like
a challenge to their authority. So like some insubordination, the
officers wind up um tackling Barry to the ground and
(06:46):
pretty severely beating him up to the point I think
Barry had eleven broken bones or fractured bones. Both eye
sockets were fractured, one was sunken in so he has
a minute double vision. He had a fractor to skull
ends up. We found out later that it ends up
in a dramatic brain injury, and Barry was charged with
(07:10):
the crime as a result of the speeding. He was
charged with with three count three felony counts of resisting
arrest by force. Jovon didn't know that there were allegations
of Diaz being affiliated with the three thousand Boys. Are
you familiar with that deputy game? Now? I got to
go back and look at it. Executioner's shot caller hi
(07:31):
Mehuadaz set in his deposition several deputies from Men's Central
Jails three thousand floor worked at the Compton station. How
many deputies that you worked with at the three thousand
floor ended up working with you at Compton Station later?
If I had an estimate, I would have I'm guessing
maybe between twenty and thirty the twelve years that were there.
(07:54):
Sheldon Lockett, a twenty four year old black man, became
a victim of deputies in the Executioner's game. He was
not a gang person at all, not even close to
a gang person. He was an athlete. He was good
enough to get a college football scholarship in Alabama. He
came back here and enrolled in a junior college with
(08:17):
an eye to play closer to home. His mother raised
him properly. He gave his mother very little trouble growing up,
and he loved his grandmother. He lived in the Harbor
City area. He had attended uh Narbonne High School, was
(08:37):
the big football high school, and then he transferred over
the Morningside High School in Englewood and he finished there.
But he was a hard working young man. He was
playing football in school and he was working in between
football seasons. His mother and steel to work ethic in him.
(08:57):
This is John Sweeney. He's a civil rights lawyer that's
been behind several landmark cases in southern California. He was
recently inducted into the California Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame.
There was a market one right near to Dors High
School caused Superior Market. He was working as a show
over there and he had gotten off work around noon
(09:20):
and he didn't have a car, so he took the
bus and he was going to his godmother's house over
in Compton. And so he took the bus from right
in front of the Superior Market all the way to
the down Labria, South Libria, all the way to the
end of the line in Hawthorne, the last stop, and
(09:43):
he got off and he checked his uber or lift
app and he didn't have enough money to get from
that place over to his godmother's house in Compton, so
he started walking east and apparently he was very close
to having enough money because he checked it again and
he had and he could he could now make the trip.
He ended up getting to the house at two thirty
(10:04):
eight pm. Sheldon was standing outside with a couple of
friends when two deputies, Samuel Aldama and his partner Ms.
Ran OReGO, pulled up on Sheldon, guns pointed directly at him.
He was scared and he ran. The deputy stated in
court documents that a drive by happened several blocks away
(10:24):
at three oh five pm, nearly half an hour after
Sheldon was accounted for at his godmother's home. He and
his god brother were inside the house getting something to
eat because he remember, he has just gotten off of
work an hour and a half earlier around noon, and
he was watching UH Sports Center, and we have his
phone records, and he was surfing the internet on a
(10:47):
lot of different websites and things like that. Anything. He
was doing all this in the house and he would
have to be cloned. With about three or four Sheldon
a lockaged to the other side of town. At three
o'clock when this other crime actually occurred. The deputy has
heard on dispatch that someone was shot in the drive by.
(11:10):
A description of the suspect went out a black person
in a blue beanie driving a silver Pontiac. Again, Sheldon
didn't drive. He wasn't wearing a blue beanie either. Aldama
and OReGO radioed in that Sheldon was armed with a gun,
chased him and cornered him in a nearby backyard. Sheldon
(11:30):
tried to surrender, but deputies beat him and called him.
They unleashed a beating like he wouldn't believe on him,
kicking him, calling them racial epithets. They tasered him several times.
Tasers uh emanates fifty thousand votes of electricity. Well, they
shot hundreds of thousands of votes through his body, both
(11:52):
with the darts. And they drive a stunning and so
and he has marks on his back. One of the
deputies rammed a baton directly into Sheldon's eye. He suffered
permanent damage from the incident. Despite having an alibi. Deputies
thought Sheldon was responsible. We found out later was an
executioner tattooed executioner. His job was to go to the
(12:19):
hospital where one of the victims of the tribe by
shooting was and to pick her up and do a
field identification of Lockett because they had him incusted over there.
The county alleges the victim identified him as the shooter.
Sheldon was arrested and taken into custody. His mother filed
(12:42):
a citizens complaint against al Dama and OReGO the next day,
alleging unconstitutional excessive force. The complaint was never investigated. On January,
Sheldon was charged with attempted murder. He was held in
custody for eight months. Deputies searched Sheldon's family's home while
(13:05):
he was incarcerated and his parents were out of the house.
Deputies at the scene stated they were looking for a gun.
A neighbor later told his parents what happened. Michelle Davis,
the mother of Sheldon Lockett, files his complaint, saying that
her son was falsely arrested and he was beaten and
(13:26):
it wasn't long after that that her house was raided.
They claimed they were looking for a gun that was
allegedly used in this drive by shooting. Well. First off,
Sheldon Lockett was arrested within a half hour that shooting.
(13:46):
He didn't go back to his home. He never went
back to his home until he got out of jail
eight months later. So they couldn't be looking for a
gun like they said they were. She Michelle Davis file
the complaint. She got her door kicked in, it was
knocked off the hinges. She and her husband had to
(14:07):
sleep there with the door like that off. The hinges
just propped up until they could afford to get it fixed.
Now they weren't looking for a gun. What were they
looking for? It stands to reason, and I surmise it
was retaliatory. The case against him was dropped and he
was eventually released. He sued l A County in a
(14:29):
civil rights case in which is still pending. These two
deputies they were chasing in they were just looking to
get tattoos and solve crimes. And they figured anyone would do.
And they just figured that will saw the case look
good in front of the shot caller for the executioners
(14:54):
and weaken now get our tattoos if they didn't have one.
The Civilian Oversight Commission his investigation into deputy gangs, have
provided further insight into the executioners. How do you feel
about working in an organization which tolerates and perhaps rewards
gang behavior. Well, I'll tell you, I'm disheartened. Is a
(15:15):
calling for me a noble cause my father instituted or
instilled in me values that he learned. I think that's
a slap in the face of of that work and
that calling. That's Larry Waldi Jr. A lieutenant with the
l A. S D. Whose own father investigated deputy gangs
at the station. Waldy spoke up after he heard about
(15:38):
the executioners celebrating a deputy shooting that left someone dead.
He says he faced retaliation from Deputy Hi Huadez. Have
you ever had a social meeting where you discussed a
deputy having shot a member of the public? Yes, how
many times? Top of my head, maybe three or four times.
(16:01):
Waldi testified to how much power what is and the
executioners held at the station. They had influence over scheduling,
over time days off, specific specialized positions, um as well
as held certain positions within the station that that were influentials,
such as detective bureau and training officers. The department eventually
(16:24):
placed what as on patrol duty. When they did what
Is asked Waldy to pick someone loyal to him and
therefore to the executioners to replace him. Did you recommend
the particular deputy to take over your position as scheduling deputy?
I believe it three or four names, Waldi refused. He
says in a lawsuit against l A County that this
(16:47):
cost him a promotion for Captain of the Compton Station
at the direction of Sheriff Alex Vieneueva. Is one of
your complaints that you believe you were blocked for promotion.
It's what you stood up to the executioners. And is
it your belief if the executioners are being protected by
the command staff of the l s D and does
that include the under Sheriff Murakami and Sheriff of Viennuava.
(17:11):
Walde also said he was fearful in giving his testimony.
I have seen that individuals have been retaliated against publicly
without any fear, and I am actually not external to
this department. I'm internal, So I think I'm within closer
reach of any type of retaliation, whether it be a
putting a case on me, um initiative investigation on me
(17:33):
for whatever reason that might pop up. And uh yeah,
definitely from my family. He also made a surprising admission
for purposes of candor do you have a tattoo and
what is the tattoo associated with? It is associated with
a group of deputies from Contestation. The name is the Gladiators.
(18:08):
Alleged executioners Samuel Aldama and Ms. Brent OReGO went after
another black man, just seven months after they beat Sheldon Lockett.
All they had to do was he'd the warning of
Michelle Davis that these are two violent cops. Do die
Taylor would be alive today. In August, they were assigned
(18:31):
to one of the department's summer gang suppression details. Former
Deputy Angel Rainosa described what these teams do in an
earlier episode. He said that the majority of cops profile
people and use minor traffic violations to stop vehicles. Some
people will know the rights and they kind of get
taken advantage of and they just do what they're told.
(18:52):
They have a suppression teams and that's all they do.
Aldama and OReGO saw Dante Taylor, a black man wearing
a Cincinnati Reds hat, walking down Wilmington Avenue near Brazil
Street at night. Dante Taylor was a family man, four kids,
and Dante was not the biological father of any any
(19:14):
of them. Yet he took them in as if they
were his own, and he coached their basketball teams. He's
from Compton, and he had a lot of friends in
that area, and above all else, he was doing nothing
wrong when he was stopped by these two Executiongar gang members.
(19:37):
The deputies stopped Dante thinking the hat was a gang
signifier and that the sea on his cap referred to
the Cedar Block Piru gang. What happened next is murky all.
Damas says that he pulled up to Dante and asked
if he's on parole or probation. He says Dante told
him no, pulled out a gun and ran. However, a
(20:00):
Rego's account is slightly different. He says Aldama pulled over,
started to get out of the sheriff's cruiser, and as
he was stepping out, Dante pulled out a gun and ran.
He doesn't mention any verbal exchange between Aldama and Dante.
Dante did run away because he was scared. According to
his attorney, he headed down a trail close by overlooking
(20:23):
an aqueduct. Aldama and OReGO chase Dante, telling dispatch they're
chasing a man with a gun. Exactly what they did
was Sheldon Lockett. They shot Dante multiple times, killing him.
L s D conducted a search of the area using
two different guns, sniffing dogs, metal detectors, and deputies, but
(20:46):
a gun was never found. No one knows exactly what happened,
but attorney Greg Herococian spoke about this repeated phenomena in
an earlier episode. Apparently the Ellie Sheriff's apartment gangs have
a thing that they do for ships and giggles or
whatever the funk. The motive is, I really don't know it.
(21:08):
What they do is they will just make up that
somebody had a gun. They'll make it up that they
later cannot find. It's a ghost. It's gone. They saw it,
they heard it, you know, they know it was there,
but damn it, it disappeared and we can't find it anymore.
L A County settled Dante's civil case for seven million
(21:30):
dollars funded by taxpayers. Ella County residents also footed the
bill for attorney's fees on both sides. OReGO was discharged
from the department in for d u I. He's still
in court fighting for his job back. All Dama was
transferred to another station. Not all deputies were on board
(21:54):
with the executioner's actions. Attorney Christian Contrarists who handles Lais
deputy gang cases, told us about one of them, the
former marine who became a whistleblower. They were throwing rats
at his car and they were ostracizing him because he
outed the executioners. In Compton, Deputy ast Roberto or Art
(22:16):
Gonzalez started working with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in
two thousand seven. Art is a family man with a
wife and a young special needs daughter. Almost a decade
into his career with the Sheriff's Department, Art asked for
time off to take care of his kid. At the time,
Deputy Himehuadrez, and alleged shot caller within the Executioners, was
(22:41):
in charge of scheduling. He didn't give Art the time off. Instead,
he was scheduled in the morning, pitting him directly against
his daughter's care schedule. The morning scheduling change was allegedly
made to accommodate a fellow executioner. Art was forced to
use pay family leave to care for his daughter. Art
(23:03):
came back to the department after his family leave in
ten He says he was greeted with a new illegal
quota per the vehicle Code of people to arrest courtesy
of Compton station Captain Michael Thatcher. Deputies were told to
boost arrest stats, to arrest people for things that they
usually wouldn't even get a citation for. And if you
(23:26):
were a deputy with low arrest numbers, you were handed
assignments no one wanted station front desk, directing traffic detail,
even patrolling the Compton Town Mall center. In other words, retaliation.
Art was partnered with Deputy Iliana Vargas him Wadas's girlfriend.
Vargas would make misdemeanor arrests and immediately release the person
(23:51):
to skew arrest stats as a favor to Captain Thatcher.
Art and two other deputies took their concerns about the
illegal arrest quotas to the acting watch commander, Sergeant Andy Leos.
Leo's raised his voice and told them, quote, you should
have known. Do your job. I'm trying to save your career.
(24:12):
The group was put on traffic duty, and one of
them saw his opportunity to get promoted killed when Leos
told the overseeing sergeant not to give the deputy the job. Meanwhile,
average arrest per deputy in Compton went up from two
point five arrest per month to seven. WADAS continued to
give preferential assignments to fellow executioners. From January through January,
(24:39):
Deputy Latasha Walker, who was a gay black woman, was
consistently passed over for assignment to the special Operations Officer position,
even though she had relevant experience and had been recognized
for her service. Here's Latasha in an interview in something
that's difficult for me is having a specific skill set,
(25:01):
having something that I'm extremely good at, having something that
I'd excelent, and not being able to do that right.
On January one, she was finally assigned to the ss
a O unit, but it was short lived. Just four
months later, she was informed that she would have to
leave due to budget cuts. Latasha was suspicious everyone else
(25:26):
on the team was staying and they were all execution
or members, associates, or romantically involved with members of the gang.
LaTosha was consistently harassed by the gang. One deputy told
her she should try quote penis from a real man.
Members repeatedly referred to black Compton residents as quote your
(25:48):
people to her, and Santana Block Cript Street gang members
as her Quote Boys Station Captain Latona Clark accused Latasha
of letting a street gang member escape from the back
of her car during a warrant execution at an illegal
marijuana dispensary. The accusation was never documented in an email
(26:09):
and was not investigated. Latasha filed a civil lawsuit against
l A County in which is still ongoing. Some of
the violence perpetrated by the executioners was caught on tape
by tabloid website TMZ. In June, a bystander caught three
(26:31):
Compton deputies holding a man down on the ground behind
a gray wall in a position hard to see from
the street. They start beating him, kicking and punching him repeatedly,
even looking around as if to see if anyone's looking.
The deputies only stop when they're called out by someone watching.
(26:56):
Witness l A, a local media outlet that covers the
sheriff's depart Mint, reports that all three deputies were executioners.
In July, the executioners were put in the public eye again.
This incident was high profile, as deputies chased a black
Cadillac Escalade belonging to a famous rapper. The pursuit and
(27:17):
shootout happened around eleven twenty last night, starting in Compton,
where the deputies tried to pull over a black Cadillac
Escalade for reckless driving. That SUV registered to Keenan Jackson,
best known as rapper y G. Y G, was not
in the car at the time. He tweeted he was
in the studio all day and didn't hear about the
(27:38):
incident until later. Deputies claimed the passengers had an a
K forty seven, which was never recovered. During the pursuit,
deputies shot at the escalade. A short time later, a
grizzly discovery along the pursuit route in Compton the body
of a man shot to death. Deputy has pursued the
Escalade and shot at it. During the chase, sixty five
(28:01):
year old Rick Starks was struck by gunfire and killed.
Starks's mother, Mary Starks, and her community told CBS they
were devastated. Rick such a nice person, handy, handyman. He
knows we're going on people's cars, more in their lawns,
trying to be helpful as possible as he could. You know,
he didn't bother nobody even ride about a sequel. She
(28:23):
filed a civil rights lawsuit against l A County last year,
which is still being litigated. In his deposition, executioner shot
caller hi Me Wadaz said that deputies in this chase
were tattooed executioners and for whom were you present when
that tattoo was administered? I mean Edwin and Taylor Ingersoll.
(28:47):
On October en, Deputy Art Gonzalez's career seemed to be recovering.
He was promoted to field training officer, completed his training
with his first trainee, and the master training officer told
him that he was doing his job well. Executioner Edwin Barajas,
who was allegedly inked, felt otherwise. He failed arts first
(29:11):
trainee out of cadet training. Art stated in court documents
that he believes that this was punishment to the cadet
for associating with him. That wasn't the last conflict between
Art and the executioners. In February, deputy and alleged executioner
Eugene Contreras returned to Content station after a brief stint
(29:33):
in Internal Affairs that's the department that helps police departments
investigate themselves. Contreras was now a field training officer, He
allegedly threatened and eventually assaulted a fellow training officer. That
deputy texted Art about the assault, and Art made a
report to Internal Affairs about the incident. It was confidential,
(29:56):
or so he thought. Executioners were sent a record ing
of the phone call complaint. Art was approached by one
of the deputies with whom he made the complaint about
illegal arrest Quotas. He told Art that the gang knew
he talked to Internal Affairs, it appeared as if Internal
Affairs had been infiltrated by the deputy gang members. Here's
(30:18):
Art in his own words, under oath in college, Will
me be very careful they know it was you, I
asked him. How do they know? He said, he didn't know,
he said, and again I repeated, uh, that they couldn't
wait to get their their hands on the boys. Friend.
That really scared me when I when I heard that
it was you know, it got very real for me.
(30:41):
Did you fear for your life at that point? I
mean absolutely, I fear for my safety. Um, I mean
just right away. I just I just couldn't stop thinking
about the whole thing. Um, And I just didn't know
what to do. At that point, do you feel that
the execution to gang was capable or murder? Maybe not
(31:06):
them directly, but um maybe through a third party. I mean,
that did cross my mind that, you know, these gang
members that they jam up, you know, would it be
crazy to think that maybe they hire one of them
to come and do a hit on me. Absolutely, that
did cross my mind. Art took a few days off work.
(31:26):
He told operations Lieutenant Ruiz that he was the one
to make the complaint but wanted to remain anonymous. Art
asked for another week off, scared of retaliation, fearful for
his life. During his time off, someone sprayed graffiti in
a very visible section of the station. The graffiti read
(31:47):
art is a rat Deputy, I'll call A texted the
picture to Art. Art tried to stay clear of the
gang and their pending retribution. He talked with Captain Latona
Clark about his fears. She told him that investigators from
the Office of the Executive, who worked with the county
Board of Supervisors, wanted to speak with him. The next day,
(32:09):
investigators showed up at the station unannounced. They wanted to
talk to Art at the front desk in front of
other deputies. Allegedly inked executioner Anthony Bautista, was serving as
watch deputy. He told Art's partner, quote two I A
investigators are here to talk to Gonzalez, so get over here.
(32:29):
Art met with the investigators at a later point, away
from people potentially eavesdropping. He told them he needed to
remain anonymous due to retribution. Future meetings would have to
be done away from the Compton station, But when Art
came back from his time off, that retribution came anyway.
The scheduling sergeant Frank bear Agan chastise Art for taking
(32:52):
time off, specifically paid family leave to take care of
his daughter. Barrigan subsequently demoted Art from the position a
field training officer, saying quote, it would be a disservice
to your trainee if you are taking family leave days off.
To be clear, Art didn't use state awarded time off
on the days he was training. The new deputy Brigan
(33:16):
told Art that he could take the demotion or get
documented for discipline, essentially setting him up to be fired. Art,
feeling threatened, took the demotion. Barrigan gave Hime Juarez, the
alleged leader of the executioners, the position the Deputy Bautista
was working dispatch and routed a high volume of calls
(33:36):
to Art. Art complained to his supervisor, Lieutenant Ruiz, who
told Art to file a complaint with Internal Affairs. The
executioners had already infiltrated i A, so Art asked to
be transferred to the East l A station. The request
was denied. Barrigan called Art in early and told him
(33:57):
he was going to be placed on morning shift again.
On top of that, Barrigan said that tattooed executioner contraras
would be working the day shift, which would mean overlapping
schedules and possibly more harassment or worse. Two weeks later,
Art caught a break. He transferred to the detective Bureau,
where he'd file cases on behalf of the station at
(34:20):
the Compton Courthouse, but Deputy Bautista was temporarily transferred there
to His desk looked like a shrine to the gang.
He used a pencil holder, mouse, and mouse pad, all
with the executioners logo on them. By the executioners appeared
(34:51):
to have the content station in their grip. Two deputies
who allegedly wanted to join their ranks were caught in
a bold display of abuse. On April then, twenty three
year old Jezus Allegria was at Wilson Park skating with
dozens of skaters. Deputies Miguel Vega and Christopher Hernandez pulled
(35:12):
up to the group in the park, hands on their
holsters and started harassing them. Deputy Vega, by the way,
was trained by Deputy Eugene Contreris, an executioner you heard
about earlier. Zeus stood up for the other skaters, telling
deputies to leave them alone. Vega and Hernandez grabbed Zeus
and threw him in the back of their patrol car.
(35:35):
They didn't handcuff him or even asked his name. They
kidnapped him. They took him for a joy ride. That's
Zeus's lawyer, Christian Contreras. The deputies, in an apparent act
of intimidation, took his Zeus on a nearly deadly drive.
He was placed in the back of a patrol car
with no seatbelt, a violation of department policy, and the
(35:56):
deputies threatened his life. They drove Jzeus at high speeds
through the streets, telling him they were going to throw
him out of the car and into a neighborhood controlled
by a gang until members. Jezus was from a rival set.
The deputies also taunted him, telling him, you're scared now, huh.
The duo eventually caught sight of some teenagers biking around.
(36:20):
Vega accelerated towards the group. They all split, bolting into
different directions. Hernandez chased some of the kids on foot,
while Vega followed one of them in a car, zooming
down a narrow alleyway. One of the teens squeezed between
a concrete wall and a parked car to escape. Vega
thought he would follow behind, and they end up crashing
(36:42):
the car. During the crash, Zeus's head slammed into the
cage divider in the cruiser. Vega was unable to open
his door. He climbed out of the window, but didn't
radio anything in yet. Hazus begged the deputies to let
him leave, telling him he'd tell no one would happen end.
Vaga relented, saying, quote, get the funk out of here. So, yeah,
(37:05):
that case is a crazy case because according to our client,
these individuals looked out of their mind. They looked intoxicated.
I'm I'm not sure whether they were actually high on drugs,
probably not alcohol, but based upon what our client is
telling us, they were on something that got him in
an altered state of mind. To engage in that type
(37:27):
of conduct from an innocent person, a skater, someone who
was just skating at a skate park, it just goes
to show you that it gets more brazen and more brazen.
I'm surprised they didn't kill him, so there wouldn't be
any evidence, has there. His lawyer thinks the deputies were
trying to get into good standing with the executioners. They're
kidnapping skaters in broad daylight and Compton and then taking
(37:50):
them for a dray bide just to get full membership.
So it seems like as if these illegal acts are points,
where in the points will get you full membership into
the gang, and we'll get you with that inc Hazus
was covered in blood from the crash. He had a
gaping gash above his eyebrow. A family unloading groceries from
(38:11):
their car saw him come out of the alley. They
gave him water and let him use their phones to
call his dad. When his father arrived, Hazeus was arrested
by another deputy, who handcuffed him and placed him in
the back of a patrol car. He wasn't given medical
attention for his cash until almost one hour later, when
he received stitches at a hospital. While at the hospital,
(38:35):
a deputy demanded Jzus sign a citation for being under
the influence of meth. Hazeus signed the citation reluctantly after
urging from his father in order to go home. Vega
and Hernandez attempted to cover up the entire incident. In
their version of events, the duo say Jzeus was grinding
(38:55):
his teeth, acting erratically, maybe even under the influence of
some thing. They wrote that a large crowd gathered around
his sus and they took him into custody. Fearful that
this crowd may try to help him, they said they
had to flee to another location to continue investigating. Video
showed what really happened and through their account into jeopardy.
(39:18):
The Sheriff's Department took the case to the d A,
but prosecutors declined to file charges. Vega and Hernandez continued
to work the Compton streets, and two months later they
came across eighteen year old Andress Guardado. Andrea's Guardado was
eighteen years old. He grew up not that far from here,
actually in Koreatown in the city of Los Angeles. Comes
(39:42):
from a hard working family that immigrated from El Salvador,
and El Salvadorian culture is a big part of the family.
They like dancing and listening to music. The whole family,
said Andreas loved to dance and listen to music. He
was your typical eighteen year old, like hanging out with friends,
(40:02):
enjoyed sports, football, soccer. This is Nickioka. He is a
civil rights and personal injury attorney. I've been to the
Gudardo family home many times, but I'll never forget the
first time I went to the Guardardo family home less
than a week after the shooting. The family home is
(40:23):
near busy intersection with a lot of businesses, and the
neighbors and friends of Andrea's started pointing out all the
businesses and telling me that since Andre's was a little kid,
they remember him running up in working for all those businesses.
By all accounts, Andres was a hard worker. He wanted
to make money for his family. He dreamed of providing
(40:45):
for his family and taking care of them throughout his childhood.
Would try to have two jobs. He was going to school.
When you really think about what it is to be
an eighteen year old, you're on that edge of the
future of being an adult and behind you being a child.
(41:07):
And Andres would tell people all sorts of things he
aspired to be, dreams that he had. He would tell
people that he wanted to get into some sort of
medical field, be at doctor or nurse. He even had
dreams of going to the army and becoming a police officer.
That is what it is to be an eighteen year old, right,
It's that you have your whole life ahead of you
(41:29):
and at that point your dream in big dreams. During
the height of the pandemic, he had picked up an
extra job working as a security guard an auto body
shop in Guardina. Andress was too young to be a
registered guard with the state of California, so this wasn't
a more unofficial capacity. This is memo Torres, a reporter
(41:51):
for media outlet l A Taco who investigated on Dress's case.
It would just kind of paint him to kind of
post up and keep an eye out at this location.
Everybody talks about him as being a sweet kid, and
you know, just working hard. I guess he just got
mixed up in a weird situation. On j around six pm,
on Dress was working standing outside of his job at
(42:12):
Street Dynamic Auto Body in Guardina. According to witness testimony
of that night, and Dress was chatting up two girls
in Alexis when Vega and Hernandez pulled up. They were
in their patrol car parked next to the driver's side
of the Alexis and got out in a hurry, guns drawn,
and Dress was terrified and ran. He sprinted behind the
(42:34):
gate of the shop and went into an alley. The
deputies chased him. The deputy said on Dress quote produced
a handgun and ran away. Vega fired his gun six times,
hitting on Dress five times in the back and killing him.
They just said that they were patrolling the area. They
pulled up, They swear that andres Cordado um flat the
(43:00):
gun at them when they were driving by, and that's
why they spoiled over and that's where they pulled out
guns and that made him run there and um, which
makes no sense. Why the hell would a kid just
flash the gun at a cop that's driving by the street.
And then they said they recovered the weapon that was
next to us. Guidado um, which was an illegal gun.
(43:22):
It was like one of those ghost guns, which is
also questionable because we know the Sheriff's Department has a
history of planting guns, but that's what they claimed. Facts
are stubborn things. You can try to alter the facts
all you want, but they're the facts. And here scientific
evidence found by autopsy findings or that five shots entered
Andreas's back that can't be disputed. That's irrefutable. There is
(43:47):
nothing to support that Andreas was not complying with orders.
Make no mistake, this was an act of excessive use
of lethal force by the Los Angeles County share Department
against a young man. That's what the evidence is. I
am familiar with the term ghost gun and the association
(44:10):
it has with deputy gangs and deputy involved shootings that
are associated with people who are maybe prospective members of
a gang, and I think it really goes to the
issue of when you have clicks or subgroups or gangs
within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, that it promotes
(44:33):
a us versus them mentality and a willingness to fabricate
or alter facts to fit a narrative that doesn't support
finding the truth, but supports assisting each other and protecting
(44:53):
each other at all costs. Memo was the only reporter
in Los Angeles who interviewed the manager the shop or
undressed worked Andrew Hainey. He disappeared shortly after this interview.
Wasn't a game, remember, he wasn't He'd never even been
so much's arrested then, you know what I mean, he
was the coolest kid. They're saying that they recovered a gun.
But guys, in the year now that I've never I've
(45:14):
never known the urch to carry a gun. You're not
a gang member, no criminal. You know history, you know
you've been arrested, you know. So for for for all this,
for for all this to be acting upon like this.
But he's some kind of a criminal, is what he wasn't.
You know. There's a lot of people behind him, man,
and there's a lot of people. They loved and been
cared about him. And they got a warm after they
got it, but they didn't they got the warrant after
(45:36):
after they they legally got into everything. Then then they
had the place logged down, and then they got the warrant,
you know, to cover themselves. This whole thing was has
been a combab I mean, it's just all the way around,
nobody cames prison, he said, nobody comes. So it's just
everything is the odds are just unfavorably stacked against us,
(45:57):
you know what I'm saying. People took to the streets
to protest on dresses killing and the dubious facts given
on dresses autopsy would have brought some more conclusive evidence
to the public, but Sheriff alex By and Nueva placed
the document on a so called security hold shortly after
it was completed that June that could have sealed autopsy
(46:17):
results for months, even years. The Guardado family ordered a
private autopsy that found their son was shot in the
back five times. Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Coroner Dr.
Jonathan Lucas defied Viennueva's hold and released his autopsy findings
in July. Lucas said in a statement, quote, I believe
(46:40):
that government can do it's part by being more timely
and more transparent and sharing information that the public demands
and has a right to see. The county's autopsy concurred
with the private one on dress had died in a homicide.
Here's ar Gonzalez, the executioner whistle blower again shooting up
(47:00):
hundreds for battle. Um, was that done by an eight
member or a prospect of the executioners prospects? And who
was that prospect? You know? Uh lax foundation speculation and
conjecture the partier witness Deputy Mega and Deputy Hernandez. Kate Cagle,
(47:25):
anchor at Spectrum News one lead reporting on this explosive
deposition testimony. That's what got you know, Congresswoman Maxine Waters involved.
She references that video in her letter to the US
Department of Justice asking them to open an investigation. And
people are just so incredulous that there could even be
(47:49):
any kind of credible accusation. That's something like that could
happen in It was one of those first times it
was a deputy on camera, uh, openly saying what the
community had been saying for so long. He has had
a really tough time. In November, the Los Angeles Board
(48:11):
of Supervisors ordered an inquest into the killing of Andress.
A judicial examination challenging law enforcements official findings of an
event hasn't been done for nearly thirty years. Vega and
Hernandez were asked to testify at the inquest. Hernandez did,
but pleaded the fifth answering no questions. Vega didn't attend
(48:34):
he was out of the country. Instead, he sent a
declaration stating he would plead the fifth to the deputies
who did show up, all pled the fifth, and then
that's when we learned the deputy Vega, the deputy who
had actually shot and killed the teenager, was in Mexico
for the inquest and did not attend. And then there
(48:55):
was a lot of questions around, what do you mean
he's been allowed to leave the country. Isn't he under
investigation for what happened. That was the incident that really
triggered a lot of people to start paying attention to
what was happening. Retired Court of Appeals Judge Candice Cooper
felt calling more witnesses and obtaining more evidence wasn't necessary
(49:18):
concluding the inquest. That means the Sheriff's Department's account of
Andress's death is the official version unless the District Attorney
files charges and there is a criminal trial. I believe
it was the first inquest that had been done in
the County of Los Angeles since the seventies or eighties.
It made clear that the Sheriff's department wasn't going to
(49:40):
comply and that we needed better ways to enforce compliance
and oversight. The sheriff's department was not present two present
evidence and assist the public or the county and knowing
the facts. The It's very similar to what we see
(50:01):
in all sorts of cases. That's what I took away
from the inquest. Vega and Hernandez were suspended in December
for crashing their patrol car with Zeus Alagria inside. Mc
guardato family filed a civil rights lawsuit against l A County,
which was recently recommended for a settlement of eight million dollars.
(50:22):
Taxpayers will be on the hook. Art Gonzalez case was
recently dismissed. Art's case was very complicated. You know, Viennueva
likes to tout that the retaliation claim was thrown out,
but his lawyer was always fighting with the judge over
admissible evidence in that case. And the judge in that
(50:45):
case had said that any testimony or evidence about an
alleged deputy gang was irrelevant and inadmissible. So it really
tied their hands as far as making the argument because
from their point of view, this alleged deputy gang was
an integral part of his retaliation claim because he was
(51:09):
claiming that he was not able to get time off
because he was not part of the group, this shadow
group that was actually running the station. We've got four
episodes left of this audio investigation. Thanks so much for listening.
I'm going to be taking next week off from reporting
(51:30):
for the holidays, but we'll have a special episode for
you next Wednesday. Before I go, I have a request.
I want to hear from you. What are some of
your questions about the deputy gangs. We're going to have
a special episode answering questions, so please send them to
l A. S D. Gangs at gmail dot com. Dida
(51:53):
who hood fuck the police, I'm a fucking trophy. You've
been listening to a tradition of violence. The history of
deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department hosted
an executive produced by series Castle, music by Yellow Hill
and Steels. We want to hear from you. If you
have a question about deputy gags or the l A.
(52:14):
S D. Please send an email to l A. S
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If you're enjoying a tradition of violence, please give us
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Morning. This podcast contains explicit language and details acts of violence.
Listener discretion is advised. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has
a cancer festering inside of it. Deputy gangs are sustained
by leadership that often goes along with the bad behavior.
(00:21):
The cancer has only metastasized. One gang begets another gang
begets another. The Vikings influence the jump Out Boys, The
three thousand Boys influenced the two thousand Boys, and the
two thousand Boys influenced the Executioners. Former two thousand boy
Andy Tune, founded the Executioners. They've been operating since two
(00:45):
thousand sixteen, terrorizing the streets of Compton, a predominantly black
and Latina city in Los Angeles County. Those demographics are
important because for this deputy, gang matching tattoos are what
signified membership in the group. It's a skeleton engulfed in flames,
carrying an assault rifle that happens to be wearing a
(01:08):
Nazi style helmet. Women and black people aren't allowed to
join the game. This racism, this hate, has even been
acknowledged under oath. Do you have any ill feelings towards
African Americans in general, I do, sir. This is a
(01:32):
tradition of violence, A history of deputy gangs inside the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The voice you heard just
a moment ago belongs to Deputy Samuel Aldama. Aldama has
(01:54):
been involved in brutalizing and killing content residents on multiple occasions.
You'll hear a about him throughout this episode. That audio
clip of him was recorded during a sworn deposition. He
revealed that he and more than ten other deputies at
the station shared the executioner tattoo in previous court proceedings.
(02:16):
He's chalked up matching tattoos to be quote serendipity and
says that deputy has got the tattoos to show off
hard work done in the department. This is Hi mahuadaz
an executioner's boss or shot caller being deposed by Attorney
Alan Romero. Have you seen other people with that tattoo
on their bodies? Name all the people you've seen that
(02:37):
tattoo on? Okay, huh, let's see uh who say sand
the ball, Jesse sand the ball Rubis Let me think
James cross Rubin, he menace, Edwin Taylor are Anger song Uh,
(03:03):
Famuel Adama, miss rain that m I v r A
I n oreago I said from top of my head, sir,
have you ever been present when another deputy got that tattoo?
You mean as it was being administered? Yes? Yes, Where
were those tattoos administered at a home? Okay? And whose
(03:27):
home was that? It was? Different homes? Was the same
tattoo artist used for all those tattoos of the individuals
you just named? No, how many different tattoo artists administered
the tattoos on the individuals that you just identified proximately
four four or five? Have you ever been involved in
(03:50):
deciding who gets the exhibit too tattoos? Yes? So it's
the pretty much the line deputy, the deputy that worked
patrol that they decided. If they see a deputy who's
the leader at the station, who conduct conducts themselves in
the professional manner, who served the public and the department
(04:14):
with honor and respect. Uh, they conduct ethical practice, police
work their leader, They step up during critical incidents, They
mentor younger deputies. Uh, those are the deputies they decide on.
They decide on whose day, who decide to get to
(04:34):
it changes. It's pretty much the deputy is assigned to
the line. They called it the line who are actually
working patrol. Someone getting nominated to get that tattoo by
someone who already has that tattoo. I wouldn't say the
word nominated, but they will will bring them up, Yes,
bring them up where or how to be in the
I mean whenever they have luncher, if they're around other people,
(04:57):
they'll they'll talk about them. How many inking parties related
to the exhibit two tattoos? Have you been present? At?
Approximately sleven? An alleged associate of the three Thousand Boys
was working patrol at the Compton station. Armando Diaz was
(05:17):
one of three deputies who took part in the first
incident tied to the three Thousand Boys. He and three
other deputies beat a handcuffed Velton Boone, a forty nine
year old black man, in April of two thousand eight.
Boone's case was settled for just nine hundred and fifty dollars,
which taxpayers paid for. Diaz attacked Barry Montgomery, a thirty
(05:39):
year old black man, on July. Here's Barry's attorney, jov
On Black. Now Barry is um special needs. He's a
very small person. He's about five to maybe a hundred
twenty pounds. Maybe he very rarely speaks UM. At the time,
(06:03):
Barry is probably around thirty years old. Some officers saw
him in the park. So the officers see Barry, their
approach him. So you can have a conversation with Barry,
and Barry might turn and walk away from me. During
the conversation, you might talk to him and he won't
look at you, or you talk to him and he
(06:23):
won't respond back or be reduest respond back into you
know grunt yes and no, you know uh and so
I believe the officers took his behavior as like like
a challenge to their authority. So like some insubordination, the
officers wind up um tackling Barry to the ground and
(06:46):
pretty severely beating him up to the point I think
Barry had eleven broken bones or fractured bones. Both eye
sockets were fractured, one was sunken in so he has
a minute double vision. He had a fractor to skull
ends up. We found out later that it ends up
in a dramatic brain injury, and Barry was charged with
(07:10):
the crime as a result of the speeding. He was
charged with with three count three felony counts of resisting
arrest by force. Jovon didn't know that there were allegations
of Diaz being affiliated with the three thousand Boys. Are
you familiar with that deputy game? Now? I got to
go back and look at it. Executioner's shot caller hi
(07:31):
Mehuadaz set in his deposition several deputies from Men's Central
Jails three thousand floor worked at the Compton station. How
many deputies that you worked with at the three thousand
floor ended up working with you at Compton Station later?
If I had an estimate, I would have I'm guessing
maybe between twenty and thirty the twelve years that were there.
(07:54):
Sheldon Lockett, a twenty four year old black man, became
a victim of deputies in the Executioner's game. He was
not a gang person at all, not even close to
a gang person. He was an athlete. He was good
enough to get a college football scholarship in Alabama. He
came back here and enrolled in a junior college with
(08:17):
an eye to play closer to home. His mother raised
him properly. He gave his mother very little trouble growing up,
and he loved his grandmother. He lived in the Harbor
City area. He had attended uh Narbonne High School, was
(08:37):
the big football high school, and then he transferred over
the Morningside High School in Englewood and he finished there.
But he was a hard working young man. He was
playing football in school and he was working in between
football seasons. His mother and steel to work ethic in him.
(08:57):
This is John Sweeney. He's a civil rights lawyer that's
been behind several landmark cases in southern California. He was
recently inducted into the California Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame.
There was a market one right near to Dors High
School caused Superior Market. He was working as a show
over there and he had gotten off work around noon
(09:20):
and he didn't have a car, so he took the
bus and he was going to his godmother's house over
in Compton. And so he took the bus from right
in front of the Superior Market all the way to
the down Labria, South Libria, all the way to the
end of the line in Hawthorne, the last stop, and
(09:43):
he got off and he checked his uber or lift
app and he didn't have enough money to get from
that place over to his godmother's house in Compton, so
he started walking east and apparently he was very close
to having enough money because he checked it again and
he had and he could he could now make the trip.
He ended up getting to the house at two thirty
(10:04):
eight pm. Sheldon was standing outside with a couple of
friends when two deputies, Samuel Aldama and his partner Ms.
Ran OReGO, pulled up on Sheldon, guns pointed directly at him.
He was scared and he ran. The deputy stated in
court documents that a drive by happened several blocks away
(10:24):
at three oh five pm, nearly half an hour after
Sheldon was accounted for at his godmother's home. He and
his god brother were inside the house getting something to
eat because he remember, he has just gotten off of
work an hour and a half earlier around noon, and
he was watching UH Sports Center, and we have his
phone records, and he was surfing the internet on a
(10:47):
lot of different websites and things like that. Anything. He
was doing all this in the house and he would
have to be cloned. With about three or four Sheldon
a lockaged to the other side of town. At three
o'clock when this other crime actually occurred. The deputy has
heard on dispatch that someone was shot in the drive by.
(11:10):
A description of the suspect went out a black person
in a blue beanie driving a silver Pontiac. Again, Sheldon
didn't drive. He wasn't wearing a blue beanie either. Aldama
and OReGO radioed in that Sheldon was armed with a gun,
chased him and cornered him in a nearby backyard. Sheldon
(11:30):
tried to surrender, but deputies beat him and called him.
They unleashed a beating like he wouldn't believe on him,
kicking him, calling them racial epithets. They tasered him several times.
Tasers uh emanates fifty thousand votes of electricity. Well, they
shot hundreds of thousands of votes through his body, both
(11:52):
with the darts. And they drive a stunning and so
and he has marks on his back. One of the
deputies rammed a baton directly into Sheldon's eye. He suffered
permanent damage from the incident. Despite having an alibi. Deputies
thought Sheldon was responsible. We found out later was an
executioner tattooed executioner. His job was to go to the
(12:19):
hospital where one of the victims of the tribe by
shooting was and to pick her up and do a
field identification of Lockett because they had him incusted over there.
The county alleges the victim identified him as the shooter.
Sheldon was arrested and taken into custody. His mother filed
(12:42):
a citizens complaint against al Dama and OReGO the next day,
alleging unconstitutional excessive force. The complaint was never investigated. On January,
Sheldon was charged with attempted murder. He was held in
custody for eight months. Deputies searched Sheldon's family's home while
(13:05):
he was incarcerated and his parents were out of the house.
Deputies at the scene stated they were looking for a gun.
A neighbor later told his parents what happened. Michelle Davis,
the mother of Sheldon Lockett, files his complaint, saying that
her son was falsely arrested and he was beaten and
(13:26):
it wasn't long after that that her house was raided.
They claimed they were looking for a gun that was
allegedly used in this drive by shooting. Well. First off,
Sheldon Lockett was arrested within a half hour that shooting.
(13:46):
He didn't go back to his home. He never went
back to his home until he got out of jail
eight months later. So they couldn't be looking for a
gun like they said they were. She Michelle Davis file
the complaint. She got her door kicked in, it was
knocked off the hinges. She and her husband had to
(14:07):
sleep there with the door like that off. The hinges
just propped up until they could afford to get it fixed.
Now they weren't looking for a gun. What were they
looking for? It stands to reason, and I surmise it
was retaliatory. The case against him was dropped and he
was eventually released. He sued l A County in a
(14:29):
civil rights case in which is still pending. These two
deputies they were chasing in they were just looking to
get tattoos and solve crimes. And they figured anyone would do.
And they just figured that will saw the case look
good in front of the shot caller for the executioners
(14:54):
and weaken now get our tattoos if they didn't have one.
The Civilian Oversight Commission his investigation into deputy gangs, have
provided further insight into the executioners. How do you feel
about working in an organization which tolerates and perhaps rewards
gang behavior. Well, I'll tell you, I'm disheartened. Is a
(15:15):
calling for me a noble cause my father instituted or
instilled in me values that he learned. I think that's
a slap in the face of of that work and
that calling. That's Larry Waldi Jr. A lieutenant with the
l A. S D. Whose own father investigated deputy gangs
at the station. Waldy spoke up after he heard about
(15:38):
the executioners celebrating a deputy shooting that left someone dead.
He says he faced retaliation from Deputy Hi Huadez. Have
you ever had a social meeting where you discussed a
deputy having shot a member of the public? Yes, how
many times? Top of my head, maybe three or four times.
(16:01):
Waldi testified to how much power what is and the
executioners held at the station. They had influence over scheduling,
over time days off, specific specialized positions, um as well
as held certain positions within the station that that were influentials,
such as detective bureau and training officers. The department eventually
(16:24):
placed what as on patrol duty. When they did what
Is asked Waldy to pick someone loyal to him and
therefore to the executioners to replace him. Did you recommend
the particular deputy to take over your position as scheduling deputy?
I believe it three or four names, Waldi refused. He
says in a lawsuit against l A County that this
(16:47):
cost him a promotion for Captain of the Compton Station
at the direction of Sheriff Alex Vieneueva. Is one of
your complaints that you believe you were blocked for promotion.
It's what you stood up to the executioners. And is
it your belief if the executioners are being protected by
the command staff of the l s D and does
that include the under Sheriff Murakami and Sheriff of Viennuava.
(17:11):
Walde also said he was fearful in giving his testimony.
I have seen that individuals have been retaliated against publicly
without any fear, and I am actually not external to
this department. I'm internal, So I think I'm within closer
reach of any type of retaliation, whether it be a
putting a case on me, um initiative investigation on me
(17:33):
for whatever reason that might pop up. And uh yeah,
definitely from my family. He also made a surprising admission
for purposes of candor do you have a tattoo and
what is the tattoo associated with? It is associated with
a group of deputies from Contestation. The name is the Gladiators.
(18:08):
Alleged executioners Samuel Aldama and Ms. Brent OReGO went after
another black man, just seven months after they beat Sheldon Lockett.
All they had to do was he'd the warning of
Michelle Davis that these are two violent cops. Do die
Taylor would be alive today. In August, they were assigned
(18:31):
to one of the department's summer gang suppression details. Former
Deputy Angel Rainosa described what these teams do in an
earlier episode. He said that the majority of cops profile
people and use minor traffic violations to stop vehicles. Some
people will know the rights and they kind of get
taken advantage of and they just do what they're told.
(18:52):
They have a suppression teams and that's all they do.
Aldama and OReGO saw Dante Taylor, a black man wearing
a Cincinnati Reds hat, walking down Wilmington Avenue near Brazil
Street at night. Dante Taylor was a family man, four kids,
and Dante was not the biological father of any any
(19:14):
of them. Yet he took them in as if they
were his own, and he coached their basketball teams. He's
from Compton, and he had a lot of friends in
that area, and above all else, he was doing nothing
wrong when he was stopped by these two Executiongar gang members.
(19:37):
The deputies stopped Dante thinking the hat was a gang
signifier and that the sea on his cap referred to
the Cedar Block Piru gang. What happened next is murky all.
Damas says that he pulled up to Dante and asked
if he's on parole or probation. He says Dante told
him no, pulled out a gun and ran. However, a
(20:00):
Rego's account is slightly different. He says Aldama pulled over,
started to get out of the sheriff's cruiser, and as
he was stepping out, Dante pulled out a gun and ran.
He doesn't mention any verbal exchange between Aldama and Dante.
Dante did run away because he was scared. According to
his attorney, he headed down a trail close by overlooking
(20:23):
an aqueduct. Aldama and OReGO chase Dante, telling dispatch they're
chasing a man with a gun. Exactly what they did
was Sheldon Lockett. They shot Dante multiple times, killing him.
L s D conducted a search of the area using
two different guns, sniffing dogs, metal detectors, and deputies, but
(20:46):
a gun was never found. No one knows exactly what happened,
but attorney Greg Herococian spoke about this repeated phenomena in
an earlier episode. Apparently the Ellie Sheriff's apartment gangs have
a thing that they do for ships and giggles or
whatever the funk. The motive is, I really don't know it.
(21:08):
What they do is they will just make up that
somebody had a gun. They'll make it up that they
later cannot find. It's a ghost. It's gone. They saw it,
they heard it, you know, they know it was there,
but damn it, it disappeared and we can't find it anymore.
L A County settled Dante's civil case for seven million
(21:30):
dollars funded by taxpayers. Ella County residents also footed the
bill for attorney's fees on both sides. OReGO was discharged
from the department in for d u I. He's still
in court fighting for his job back. All Dama was
transferred to another station. Not all deputies were on board
(21:54):
with the executioner's actions. Attorney Christian Contrarists who handles Lais
deputy gang cases, told us about one of them, the
former marine who became a whistleblower. They were throwing rats
at his car and they were ostracizing him because he
outed the executioners. In Compton, Deputy ast Roberto or Art
(22:16):
Gonzalez started working with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in
two thousand seven. Art is a family man with a
wife and a young special needs daughter. Almost a decade
into his career with the Sheriff's Department, Art asked for
time off to take care of his kid. At the time,
Deputy Himehuadrez, and alleged shot caller within the Executioners, was
(22:41):
in charge of scheduling. He didn't give Art the time off. Instead,
he was scheduled in the morning, pitting him directly against
his daughter's care schedule. The morning scheduling change was allegedly
made to accommodate a fellow executioner. Art was forced to
use pay family leave to care for his daughter. Art
(23:03):
came back to the department after his family leave in
ten He says he was greeted with a new illegal
quota per the vehicle Code of people to arrest courtesy
of Compton station Captain Michael Thatcher. Deputies were told to
boost arrest stats, to arrest people for things that they
usually wouldn't even get a citation for. And if you
(23:26):
were a deputy with low arrest numbers, you were handed
assignments no one wanted station front desk, directing traffic detail,
even patrolling the Compton Town Mall center. In other words, retaliation.
Art was partnered with Deputy Iliana Vargas him Wadas's girlfriend.
Vargas would make misdemeanor arrests and immediately release the person
(23:51):
to skew arrest stats as a favor to Captain Thatcher.
Art and two other deputies took their concerns about the
illegal arrest quotas to the acting watch commander, Sergeant Andy Leos.
Leo's raised his voice and told them, quote, you should
have known. Do your job. I'm trying to save your career.
(24:12):
The group was put on traffic duty, and one of
them saw his opportunity to get promoted killed when Leos
told the overseeing sergeant not to give the deputy the job. Meanwhile,
average arrest per deputy in Compton went up from two
point five arrest per month to seven. WADAS continued to
give preferential assignments to fellow executioners. From January through January,
(24:39):
Deputy Latasha Walker, who was a gay black woman, was
consistently passed over for assignment to the special Operations Officer position,
even though she had relevant experience and had been recognized
for her service. Here's Latasha in an interview in something
that's difficult for me is having a specific skill set,
(25:01):
having something that I'm extremely good at, having something that
I'd excelent, and not being able to do that right.
On January one, she was finally assigned to the ss
a O unit, but it was short lived. Just four
months later, she was informed that she would have to
leave due to budget cuts. Latasha was suspicious everyone else
(25:26):
on the team was staying and they were all execution
or members, associates, or romantically involved with members of the gang.
LaTosha was consistently harassed by the gang. One deputy told
her she should try quote penis from a real man.
Members repeatedly referred to black Compton residents as quote your
(25:48):
people to her, and Santana Block Cript Street gang members
as her Quote Boys Station Captain Latona Clark accused Latasha
of letting a street gang member escape from the back
of her car during a warrant execution at an illegal
marijuana dispensary. The accusation was never documented in an email
(26:09):
and was not investigated. Latasha filed a civil lawsuit against
l A County in which is still ongoing. Some of
the violence perpetrated by the executioners was caught on tape
by tabloid website TMZ. In June, a bystander caught three
(26:31):
Compton deputies holding a man down on the ground behind
a gray wall in a position hard to see from
the street. They start beating him, kicking and punching him repeatedly,
even looking around as if to see if anyone's looking.
The deputies only stop when they're called out by someone watching.
(26:56):
Witness l A, a local media outlet that covers the
sheriff's depart Mint, reports that all three deputies were executioners.
In July, the executioners were put in the public eye again.
This incident was high profile, as deputies chased a black
Cadillac Escalade belonging to a famous rapper. The pursuit and
(27:17):
shootout happened around eleven twenty last night, starting in Compton,
where the deputies tried to pull over a black Cadillac
Escalade for reckless driving. That SUV registered to Keenan Jackson,
best known as rapper y G. Y G, was not
in the car at the time. He tweeted he was
in the studio all day and didn't hear about the
(27:38):
incident until later. Deputies claimed the passengers had an a
K forty seven, which was never recovered. During the pursuit,
deputies shot at the escalade. A short time later, a
grizzly discovery along the pursuit route in Compton the body
of a man shot to death. Deputy has pursued the
Escalade and shot at it. During the chase, sixty five
(28:01):
year old Rick Starks was struck by gunfire and killed.
Starks's mother, Mary Starks, and her community told CBS they
were devastated. Rick such a nice person, handy, handyman. He
knows we're going on people's cars, more in their lawns,
trying to be helpful as possible as he could. You know,
he didn't bother nobody even ride about a sequel. She
(28:23):
filed a civil rights lawsuit against l A County last year,
which is still being litigated. In his deposition, executioner shot
caller hi Me Wadaz said that deputies in this chase
were tattooed executioners and for whom were you present when
that tattoo was administered? I mean Edwin and Taylor Ingersoll.
(28:47):
On October en, Deputy Art Gonzalez's career seemed to be recovering.
He was promoted to field training officer, completed his training
with his first trainee, and the master training officer told
him that he was doing his job well. Executioner Edwin Barajas,
who was allegedly inked, felt otherwise. He failed arts first
(29:11):
trainee out of cadet training. Art stated in court documents
that he believes that this was punishment to the cadet
for associating with him. That wasn't the last conflict between
Art and the executioners. In February, deputy and alleged executioner
Eugene Contreras returned to Content station after a brief stint
(29:33):
in Internal Affairs that's the department that helps police departments
investigate themselves. Contreras was now a field training officer, He
allegedly threatened and eventually assaulted a fellow training officer. That
deputy texted Art about the assault, and Art made a
report to Internal Affairs about the incident. It was confidential,
(29:56):
or so he thought. Executioners were sent a record ing
of the phone call complaint. Art was approached by one
of the deputies with whom he made the complaint about
illegal arrest Quotas. He told Art that the gang knew
he talked to Internal Affairs, it appeared as if Internal
Affairs had been infiltrated by the deputy gang members. Here's
(30:18):
Art in his own words, under oath in college, Will
me be very careful they know it was you, I
asked him. How do they know? He said, he didn't know,
he said, and again I repeated, uh, that they couldn't
wait to get their their hands on the boys. Friend.
That really scared me when I when I heard that
it was you know, it got very real for me.
(30:41):
Did you fear for your life at that point? I
mean absolutely, I fear for my safety. Um, I mean
just right away. I just I just couldn't stop thinking
about the whole thing. Um, And I just didn't know
what to do. At that point, do you feel that
the execution to gang was capable or murder? Maybe not
(31:06):
them directly, but um maybe through a third party. I mean,
that did cross my mind that, you know, these gang
members that they jam up, you know, would it be
crazy to think that maybe they hire one of them
to come and do a hit on me. Absolutely, that
did cross my mind. Art took a few days off work.
(31:26):
He told operations Lieutenant Ruiz that he was the one
to make the complaint but wanted to remain anonymous. Art
asked for another week off, scared of retaliation, fearful for
his life. During his time off, someone sprayed graffiti in
a very visible section of the station. The graffiti read
(31:47):
art is a rat Deputy, I'll call A texted the
picture to Art. Art tried to stay clear of the
gang and their pending retribution. He talked with Captain Latona
Clark about his fears. She told him that investigators from
the Office of the Executive, who worked with the county
Board of Supervisors, wanted to speak with him. The next day,
(32:09):
investigators showed up at the station unannounced. They wanted to
talk to Art at the front desk in front of
other deputies. Allegedly inked executioner Anthony Bautista, was serving as
watch deputy. He told Art's partner, quote two I A
investigators are here to talk to Gonzalez, so get over here.
(32:29):
Art met with the investigators at a later point, away
from people potentially eavesdropping. He told them he needed to
remain anonymous due to retribution. Future meetings would have to
be done away from the Compton station, But when Art
came back from his time off, that retribution came anyway.
The scheduling sergeant Frank bear Agan chastise Art for taking
(32:52):
time off, specifically paid family leave to take care of
his daughter. Barrigan subsequently demoted Art from the position a
field training officer, saying quote, it would be a disservice
to your trainee if you are taking family leave days off.
To be clear, Art didn't use state awarded time off
on the days he was training. The new deputy Brigan
(33:16):
told Art that he could take the demotion or get
documented for discipline, essentially setting him up to be fired. Art,
feeling threatened, took the demotion. Barrigan gave Hime Juarez, the
alleged leader of the executioners, the position the Deputy Bautista
was working dispatch and routed a high volume of calls
(33:36):
to Art. Art complained to his supervisor, Lieutenant Ruiz, who
told Art to file a complaint with Internal Affairs. The
executioners had already infiltrated i A, so Art asked to
be transferred to the East l A station. The request
was denied. Barrigan called Art in early and told him
(33:57):
he was going to be placed on morning shift again.
On top of that, Barrigan said that tattooed executioner contraras
would be working the day shift, which would mean overlapping
schedules and possibly more harassment or worse. Two weeks later,
Art caught a break. He transferred to the detective Bureau,
where he'd file cases on behalf of the station at
(34:20):
the Compton Courthouse, but Deputy Bautista was temporarily transferred there
to His desk looked like a shrine to the gang.
He used a pencil holder, mouse, and mouse pad, all
with the executioners logo on them. By the executioners appeared
(34:51):
to have the content station in their grip. Two deputies
who allegedly wanted to join their ranks were caught in
a bold display of abuse. On April then, twenty three
year old Jezus Allegria was at Wilson Park skating with
dozens of skaters. Deputies Miguel Vega and Christopher Hernandez pulled
(35:12):
up to the group in the park, hands on their
holsters and started harassing them. Deputy Vega, by the way,
was trained by Deputy Eugene Contreris, an executioner you heard
about earlier. Zeus stood up for the other skaters, telling
deputies to leave them alone. Vega and Hernandez grabbed Zeus
and threw him in the back of their patrol car.
(35:35):
They didn't handcuff him or even asked his name. They
kidnapped him. They took him for a joy ride. That's
Zeus's lawyer, Christian Contreras. The deputies, in an apparent act
of intimidation, took his Zeus on a nearly deadly drive.
He was placed in the back of a patrol car
with no seatbelt, a violation of department policy, and the
(35:56):
deputies threatened his life. They drove Jzeus at high speeds
through the streets, telling him they were going to throw
him out of the car and into a neighborhood controlled
by a gang until members. Jezus was from a rival set.
The deputies also taunted him, telling him, you're scared now, huh.
The duo eventually caught sight of some teenagers biking around.
(36:20):
Vega accelerated towards the group. They all split, bolting into
different directions. Hernandez chased some of the kids on foot,
while Vega followed one of them in a car, zooming
down a narrow alleyway. One of the teens squeezed between
a concrete wall and a parked car to escape. Vega
thought he would follow behind, and they end up crashing
(36:42):
the car. During the crash, Zeus's head slammed into the
cage divider in the cruiser. Vega was unable to open
his door. He climbed out of the window, but didn't
radio anything in yet. Hazus begged the deputies to let
him leave, telling him he'd tell no one would happen end.
Vaga relented, saying, quote, get the funk out of here. So, yeah,
(37:05):
that case is a crazy case because according to our client,
these individuals looked out of their mind. They looked intoxicated.
I'm I'm not sure whether they were actually high on drugs,
probably not alcohol, but based upon what our client is
telling us, they were on something that got him in
an altered state of mind. To engage in that type
(37:27):
of conduct from an innocent person, a skater, someone who
was just skating at a skate park, it just goes
to show you that it gets more brazen and more brazen.
I'm surprised they didn't kill him, so there wouldn't be
any evidence, has there. His lawyer thinks the deputies were
trying to get into good standing with the executioners. They're
kidnapping skaters in broad daylight and Compton and then taking
(37:50):
them for a dray bide just to get full membership.
So it seems like as if these illegal acts are points,
where in the points will get you full membership into
the gang, and we'll get you with that inc Hazus
was covered in blood from the crash. He had a
gaping gash above his eyebrow. A family unloading groceries from
(38:11):
their car saw him come out of the alley. They
gave him water and let him use their phones to
call his dad. When his father arrived, Hazeus was arrested
by another deputy, who handcuffed him and placed him in
the back of a patrol car. He wasn't given medical
attention for his cash until almost one hour later, when
he received stitches at a hospital. While at the hospital,
(38:35):
a deputy demanded Jzus sign a citation for being under
the influence of meth. Hazeus signed the citation reluctantly after
urging from his father in order to go home. Vega
and Hernandez attempted to cover up the entire incident. In
their version of events, the duo say Jzeus was grinding
(38:55):
his teeth, acting erratically, maybe even under the influence of
some thing. They wrote that a large crowd gathered around
his sus and they took him into custody. Fearful that
this crowd may try to help him, they said they
had to flee to another location to continue investigating. Video
showed what really happened and through their account into jeopardy.
(39:18):
The Sheriff's Department took the case to the d A,
but prosecutors declined to file charges. Vega and Hernandez continued
to work the Compton streets, and two months later they
came across eighteen year old Andress Guardado. Andrea's Guardado was
eighteen years old. He grew up not that far from here,
actually in Koreatown in the city of Los Angeles. Comes
(39:42):
from a hard working family that immigrated from El Salvador,
and El Salvadorian culture is a big part of the family.
They like dancing and listening to music. The whole family,
said Andreas loved to dance and listen to music. He
was your typical eighteen year old, like hanging out with friends,
(40:02):
enjoyed sports, football, soccer. This is Nickioka. He is a
civil rights and personal injury attorney. I've been to the
Gudardo family home many times, but I'll never forget the
first time I went to the Guardardo family home less
than a week after the shooting. The family home is
(40:23):
near busy intersection with a lot of businesses, and the
neighbors and friends of Andrea's started pointing out all the
businesses and telling me that since Andre's was a little kid,
they remember him running up in working for all those businesses.
By all accounts, Andres was a hard worker. He wanted
to make money for his family. He dreamed of providing
(40:45):
for his family and taking care of them throughout his childhood.
Would try to have two jobs. He was going to school.
When you really think about what it is to be
an eighteen year old, you're on that edge of the
future of being an adult and behind you being a child.
(41:07):
And Andres would tell people all sorts of things he
aspired to be, dreams that he had. He would tell
people that he wanted to get into some sort of
medical field, be at doctor or nurse. He even had
dreams of going to the army and becoming a police officer.
That is what it is to be an eighteen year old, right,
It's that you have your whole life ahead of you
(41:29):
and at that point your dream in big dreams. During
the height of the pandemic, he had picked up an
extra job working as a security guard an auto body
shop in Guardina. Andress was too young to be a
registered guard with the state of California, so this wasn't
a more unofficial capacity. This is memo Torres, a reporter
(41:51):
for media outlet l A Taco who investigated on Dress's case.
It would just kind of paint him to kind of
post up and keep an eye out at this location.
Everybody talks about him as being a sweet kid, and
you know, just working hard. I guess he just got
mixed up in a weird situation. On j around six pm,
on Dress was working standing outside of his job at
(42:12):
Street Dynamic Auto Body in Guardina. According to witness testimony
of that night, and Dress was chatting up two girls
in Alexis when Vega and Hernandez pulled up. They were
in their patrol car parked next to the driver's side
of the Alexis and got out in a hurry, guns drawn,
and Dress was terrified and ran. He sprinted behind the
(42:34):
gate of the shop and went into an alley. The
deputies chased him. The deputy said on Dress quote produced
a handgun and ran away. Vega fired his gun six times,
hitting on Dress five times in the back and killing him.
They just said that they were patrolling the area. They
pulled up, They swear that andres Cordado um flat the
(43:00):
gun at them when they were driving by, and that's
why they spoiled over and that's where they pulled out
guns and that made him run there and um, which
makes no sense. Why the hell would a kid just
flash the gun at a cop that's driving by the street.
And then they said they recovered the weapon that was
next to us. Guidado um, which was an illegal gun.
(43:22):
It was like one of those ghost guns, which is
also questionable because we know the Sheriff's Department has a
history of planting guns, but that's what they claimed. Facts
are stubborn things. You can try to alter the facts
all you want, but they're the facts. And here scientific
evidence found by autopsy findings or that five shots entered
Andreas's back that can't be disputed. That's irrefutable. There is
(43:47):
nothing to support that Andreas was not complying with orders.
Make no mistake, this was an act of excessive use
of lethal force by the Los Angeles County share Department
against a young man. That's what the evidence is. I
am familiar with the term ghost gun and the association
(44:10):
it has with deputy gangs and deputy involved shootings that
are associated with people who are maybe prospective members of
a gang, and I think it really goes to the
issue of when you have clicks or subgroups or gangs
within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, that it promotes
(44:33):
a us versus them mentality and a willingness to fabricate
or alter facts to fit a narrative that doesn't support
finding the truth, but supports assisting each other and protecting
(44:53):
each other at all costs. Memo was the only reporter
in Los Angeles who interviewed the manager the shop or
undressed worked Andrew Hainey. He disappeared shortly after this interview.
Wasn't a game, remember, he wasn't He'd never even been
so much's arrested then, you know what I mean, he
was the coolest kid. They're saying that they recovered a gun.
But guys, in the year now that I've never I've
(45:14):
never known the urch to carry a gun. You're not
a gang member, no criminal. You know history, you know
you've been arrested, you know. So for for for all this,
for for all this to be acting upon like this.
But he's some kind of a criminal, is what he wasn't.
You know. There's a lot of people behind him, man,
and there's a lot of people. They loved and been
cared about him. And they got a warm after they
got it, but they didn't they got the warrant after
(45:36):
after they they legally got into everything. Then then they
had the place logged down, and then they got the warrant,
you know, to cover themselves. This whole thing was has
been a combab I mean, it's just all the way around,
nobody cames prison, he said, nobody comes. So it's just
everything is the odds are just unfavorably stacked against us,
(45:57):
you know what I'm saying. People took to the streets
to protest on dresses killing and the dubious facts given
on dresses autopsy would have brought some more conclusive evidence
to the public, but Sheriff alex By and Nueva placed
the document on a so called security hold shortly after
it was completed that June that could have sealed autopsy
(46:17):
results for months, even years. The Guardado family ordered a
private autopsy that found their son was shot in the
back five times. Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Coroner Dr.
Jonathan Lucas defied Viennueva's hold and released his autopsy findings
in July. Lucas said in a statement, quote, I believe
(46:40):
that government can do it's part by being more timely
and more transparent and sharing information that the public demands
and has a right to see. The county's autopsy concurred
with the private one on dress had died in a homicide.
Here's ar Gonzalez, the executioner whistle blower again shooting up
(47:00):
hundreds for battle. Um, was that done by an eight
member or a prospect of the executioners prospects? And who
was that prospect? You know? Uh lax foundation speculation and
conjecture the partier witness Deputy Mega and Deputy Hernandez. Kate Cagle,
(47:25):
anchor at Spectrum News one lead reporting on this explosive
deposition testimony. That's what got you know, Congresswoman Maxine Waters involved.
She references that video in her letter to the US
Department of Justice asking them to open an investigation. And
people are just so incredulous that there could even be
(47:49):
any kind of credible accusation. That's something like that could
happen in It was one of those first times it
was a deputy on camera, uh, openly saying what the
community had been saying for so long. He has had
a really tough time. In November, the Los Angeles Board
(48:11):
of Supervisors ordered an inquest into the killing of Andress.
A judicial examination challenging law enforcements official findings of an
event hasn't been done for nearly thirty years. Vega and
Hernandez were asked to testify at the inquest. Hernandez did,
but pleaded the fifth answering no questions. Vega didn't attend
(48:34):
he was out of the country. Instead, he sent a
declaration stating he would plead the fifth to the deputies
who did show up, all pled the fifth, and then
that's when we learned the deputy Vega, the deputy who
had actually shot and killed the teenager, was in Mexico
for the inquest and did not attend. And then there
(48:55):
was a lot of questions around, what do you mean
he's been allowed to leave the country. Isn't he under
investigation for what happened. That was the incident that really
triggered a lot of people to start paying attention to
what was happening. Retired Court of Appeals Judge Candice Cooper
felt calling more witnesses and obtaining more evidence wasn't necessary
(49:18):
concluding the inquest. That means the Sheriff's Department's account of
Andress's death is the official version unless the District Attorney
files charges and there is a criminal trial. I believe
it was the first inquest that had been done in
the County of Los Angeles since the seventies or eighties.
It made clear that the Sheriff's department wasn't going to
(49:40):
comply and that we needed better ways to enforce compliance
and oversight. The sheriff's department was not present two present
evidence and assist the public or the county and knowing
the facts. The It's very similar to what we see
(50:01):
in all sorts of cases. That's what I took away
from the inquest. Vega and Hernandez were suspended in December
for crashing their patrol car with Zeus Alagria inside. Mc
guardato family filed a civil rights lawsuit against l A County,
which was recently recommended for a settlement of eight million dollars.
(50:22):
Taxpayers will be on the hook. Art Gonzalez case was
recently dismissed. Art's case was very complicated. You know, Viennueva
likes to tout that the retaliation claim was thrown out,
but his lawyer was always fighting with the judge over
admissible evidence in that case. And the judge in that
(50:45):
case had said that any testimony or evidence about an
alleged deputy gang was irrelevant and inadmissible. So it really
tied their hands as far as making the argument because
from their point of view, this alleged deputy gang was
an integral part of his retaliation claim because he was
(51:09):
claiming that he was not able to get time off
because he was not part of the group, this shadow
group that was actually running the station. We've got four
episodes left of this audio investigation. Thanks so much for listening.
I'm going to be taking next week off from reporting
(51:30):
for the holidays, but we'll have a special episode for
you next Wednesday. Before I go, I have a request.
I want to hear from you. What are some of
your questions about the deputy gangs. We're going to have
a special episode answering questions, so please send them to
l A. S D. Gangs at gmail dot com. Dida
(51:53):
who hood fuck the police, I'm a fucking trophy. You've
been listening to a tradition of violence. The history of
deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department hosted
an executive produced by series Castle, music by Yellow Hill
and Steels. We want to hear from you. If you
have a question about deputy gags or the l A.
(52:14):
S D. Please send an email to l A. S
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com