ANTI-GANG CZAR TO LEAD CRACKDOWN.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

Painting Los Angeles street gangs as more dangerous than East Coast mobsters, Police Chief William Bratton said Tuesday that he has put more officers in the city's crime hot spots - including the northeast San Fernando Valley and South Central L.A.

In his biggest crime-fighting move since becoming LAPD chief, Bratton said he will shift anti-gang officers on a day-to-day basis to hit gangs wherever they are, conduct parole and probation sweeps and work with federal authorities to attack the gang leaders with the same racketeering laws used to fight the Mafia.

Bratton also announced that he is promoting Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Mike Hillmann to deputy chief and giving him a brand-new position of coordinating all of the department's anti-gang initiatives.

``The initiatives announced this morning are only the beginning of the reorganization of the Police Department to focus more effectively on the problem of gang violence,'' Bratton said. ``We are attempting this with 18 division gang units and fewer than 300 officers. That is not enough.''

More initiatives will be announced in coming days, and the department will have a larger reorganization in January.

``We're going to do a lot more. A lot more needs to be done,'' Bratton said.

He wouldn't say how many officers are being redeployed, only that the LAPD has already started moving people around. The department will first focus on the eight police divisions feeling the gang crime the most, then include all the city's divisions in the quick redeployment.

Among the first to see more gang officers is the Valley's Foothill Division, which has been fighting increasing gang activity over the past year.

Valley homicides in November were more than 360 percent higher than in November 2001. So far this year, Valley homicides are 20 percent higher than at this time last year.

Tuesday's announcement focused on the south portion of the city, but Bratton said anti-gang efforts in the Valley have already been in place.

He praised Valley commander Deputy Chief Ron Bergmann's anti-gang initiatives, saying they will serve as the framework for Bratton's citywide anti-gang programs.

``If he hadn't been doing this it could have been worse,'' Bratton said.

Mayor James Hahn, who joined Bratton on Tuesday at the 77th Street Division for the announcements, said the city will incorporate anti-gang discussion for the neighborhood cabinets that are part of his recently created TeamWork LA plan to decentralize city services.

``We cannot and will not let gangs control our streets and neighborhoods,'' Hahn said. ``I will not let residents of this community live in fear. They shouldn't be held hostages in their homes.''

Some of the LAPD's new anti-gang tactics are relatively simple, like reassigning gang and narcotics officers to high-crime hours and areas.

``Many of our gang units are not out there where problems are occurring,'' Bratton said. ``Some Saturday nights there are no gang units working in this city. That's going to end.''

As he's said many times before, Bratton again noted that he will be asking for members of the community to help the cops fight the gangs as well by seeking their trust and their information.

``The Los Angeles Police Department cannot do this alone,'' Bratton said. ``It's going to take the entire city to focus on this problem, this plague that is afflicting us.''

That message of inclusion is very different than what came from previous police administrations, said William ``Blinky'' Rodriguez, executive director of Communities in Schools, which runs gang-intervention programs.

``It's more palatable,'' Rodriquez said, describing a historical LAPD attitude of us-versus-them. ``The notion before was, We can squash them and put everyone in jail.

``I think it's a good beginning, but more is needed all the way around. We need more hard-core gang intervention.''

A former New York City police commissioner, Bratton compared Los Angeles' street gangs to the five Mafia families that controlled organized crime in New York.

``In some respects, the gangs of Los Angeles are in fact much more of a national threat,'' Bratton said. ``We certainly understand their impact locally ... If we don't deal with them effectively in Los Angeles, the disease they represent will spread across this country.''

Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said federal racketeering laws already are being used against the street gangs in Los Angeles. For example, last summer the U.S. Attorney's Office brought charges against some members of the 18th Street gang.

``The organized crime problem in L.A. is different than it is in other cities.''

The racketeering laws were created specifically to use against the Mafia, not West Coast gangs like the Bloods, Crips and Mexican Mafia, Mrozek said.

Mrozek said his office is meeting with Bratton next week to see whether there's more that federal law enforcement can do.

Civil-rights attorney Connie Rice said the anti-gang initiatives are a good step in attacking the larger problem.

``This makes sense for a certain segment of gangster culture,'' Rice said. ``It doesn't make a lot (of sense) for a majority of gangbangers.''

Most of the people identified as gangsters aren't the most hard-core, violent leaders but kids caught up in the lifestyle, authorities say. As such, more gang prevention and intervention ought to be part of the city's overall gang-fighting plan.

However, from a police point of view and at this particular time of crisis, this is probably a good step, Rice said.

``It's right to focus on the most dangerous and pathological end of the spectrum.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) HILLMAN 

(2) LAPD Capt. Mike Hillmann is being promoted to deputy chief and will be given the brand-new position of coordinating all of the Los Angeles Police Department's anti-gang initiatives.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer