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-   -   L.A., Good Luck in Collecting (https://greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=102431)

DaemonSeid 01-16-2009 10:38 AM

L.A., Good Luck in Collecting
 
Los Angeles – The gang capital of the world is taking a new tack against them: cash damages.

The city of Los Angeles, plagued by 23,000 violent gang crimes since 2004, including 784 murders and 12,000 felony assaults, announced Tuesday that it had won its first civil judgment, for $5 million, against a criminal gang that had dominated the heroin trade downtown for decades.

The verdict could bode well for another first-of-its-kind lawsuit the city filed last month that goes after all assets of gang leaders, not just those associated with their criminal activity. Both suits seek to plow the money back into improving the neighborhoods affected by the gangs through a fund.

"By giving prosecutors more tools to fight gang activity at the local level, we are protecting our communities at the same time [that] we're able to strengthen our statewide anti-gang efforts," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement released with the announcement of the $5 million verdict against the 5th and Hill gang in L.A.

The civil suits were filed under different amendments to state laws, one passed in 2007 and one in 2008, designed to strengthen authorities' ability to control gangs. The 2007 amendment allows law enforcement to seize assets associated with criminal conduct. But the 2008 law goes even further – it allows prosecutors to collect damages from gang members' personal assets, too.

The December suit against the 18th Street gang is the first to make use of the 2008 amendment.

"We're sending a message to gang leaders across this city," said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo at a press conference last month. "If you break the law, we will not only find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars, we will also take away your money, your property, your homes, and your cars. Every penny we strip away will be returned to the neighborhoods."

The tactic of trying to cripple organizations by taking away their assets has been commonly used against the mafia. More recently, it has been used against white supremacist organizations. In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $6.3 million verdict against the Aryan Nations that forced the organization to give up its 20-acre compound in Idaho.

The center won its most recent case last November, getting $2.5 million from the Imperial Klans of America on behalf of a teenager assaulted by Klan members in rural Kentucky.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090115/ts_csm/apayup

RU OX Alum 01-16-2009 11:03 AM

It's the county fault's gangs exist there in the first place. They had their pigs kill the Panthers.

Kevin 01-16-2009 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum (Post 1766381)
It's the county fault's gangs exist there in the first place. They had their pigs kill the Panthers.

You've been watching too many HBO documentaries.

DaemonSeid 01-16-2009 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 1766448)
You've been watching too many HBO documentaries.

I hope you know your history on the Black Panthers.

PeppyGPhiB 01-16-2009 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid (Post 1766450)
I hope you know your history on the Black Panthers.

There are some people in this country who viewed the Panthers as their own sort of gang. Just sayin.

I think this is a great idea, but I do wonder how they're going to get their hands on the money. Though I guess it's gotta be somewhere - bank account, safe, duffel bag, whatever. I wonder if by confiscating houses, cars, etc. they mean the thugs' PARENTS' houses and cars, since I doubt many of them actually own any home of their own. Then it could get really interesting...

Still waiting for the police force to pressure the feds to legalize drugs. That would reduce crime a great deal in this country, but no one has the balls to do it.

DaemonSeid 01-16-2009 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB (Post 1766676)
There are some people in this country who viewed the Panthers as their own sort of gang. Just sayin.

I think this is a great idea, but I do wonder how they're going to get their hands on the money. Though I guess it's gotta be somewhere - bank account, safe, duffel bag, whatever. I wonder if by confiscating houses, cars, etc. they mean the thugs' PARENTS' houses and cars, since I doubt many of them actually own any home of their own. Then it could get really interesting...

Still waiting for the police force to pressure the feds to legalize drugs. That would reduce crime a great deal in this country, but no one has the balls to do it.

While that may be true...after the Panthers were disorganized, many of them turned to gangs to have a sense of belonging.

AKA_Monet 01-17-2009 01:00 AM

Ummm. Didn't the Governator see "Romeo is dead" or whatever that movie is... The gang leader was running the syndicate at the "University" of San Quentin Penitentiary...

California needs to get its money somehow. Good luck with the Governator being "protected"... Because the syndicates are all tied up on offshore accounts in places we, the US, can fight, but why? And we don't have the money to spread the troops out like that...

If you turn the underbelly of Los Angeles, the city of Angels will fall all kind of crazy...

RU OX Alum 01-18-2009 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 1766448)
You've been watching too many HBO documentaries.

I haven't seen the one on HBO.

RU OX Alum 01-18-2009 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid (Post 1766700)
While that may be true...after the Panthers were disorganized, many of them turned to gangs to have a sense of belonging.

right, mainly the younger ones, who were looking to belong somewhere to begin with.

And now both bloods and crips have chapters everywhere, all across the nation,

And I never saw any gang member distribute groceries in the inner city, just sayin'.

PeppyGPhiB 01-19-2009 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum (Post 1767264)
right, mainly the younger ones, who were looking to belong somewhere to begin with.

And now both bloods and crips have chapters everywhere, all across the nation,

And I never saw any gang member distribute groceries in the inner city, just sayin'.

Bloods and Crips are just the tip of the iceburg. A big problem in L.A. now (as well as other cities) are the latino and asian gangs.

RU OX Alum 01-19-2009 11:21 AM

^^true

not to mention white power gangs pop up everywhere from time to time as well.


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