ASIAN GANGS TAKE SHOT AT SUBURBS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY UP IN VALLEYS, FOCUS SHIFTS FROM INNER CITIES.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Asian gangs, more organized and less territorial than other long- standing gangs in the region, have fled the urban areas of Los Angeles and Long Beach for the suburbs, police say.

Crimes committed by Asians in Long Beach and Los Angeles have dropped dramatically, even as the Los Angeles Police Department has allowed staffing in its anti-Asian-gang special unit to drop 33 percent.

But crimes committed by Asians in Los Angeles County's suburbs have increased 15 percent from 1999 to 2000, despite a 10 percent jump in the number of Asian gang members arrested, according to statistics compiled by the Asian Crime Task Force organized by Sheriff Lee Baca to counter the growing threat.

``There has been an incredible increase in Asian crime,'' said sheriff's Capt. Paul Tanaka, head of the recently established Asian Crime Task Force. ``They are so many light years ahead of us in their criminal enterprises. We are just scratching the surface.''

In the San Gabriel, San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys where Asian gangs operate as the foot soldiers for Asian crime syndicates, investigators say they have seen increases in home-invasion robberies and more violence in a variety of crimes that gangs commit to gain wealth.

Since Baca created the nation's largest Asian crime task force in mid- 1999, investigators have arrested a Northridge man for defrauding Korean nationals living in Agoura Hills by collecting a $25,000 fee and promising them United States citizenship as a ``friend of the Democratic National Committee.''

In a 1999 La Canada Flintridge case involving one of Southern California's largest piracy rings, a ``Vietnamese Hugh Hefner who always wore pajamas'' and his brother were arrested in possession of more than 350 illegal cable-TV boxes valued at $100,000, investigators said. The boxes, which allow people to view cable for free, were being sold nationwide.

``I'm sure they were in business for several years,'' said task force Detective Brad Higgin. ``He had a couple of Mercedes and the value of his home was well over $500,000. The mailman described him as a Vietnamese Hugh Hefner who always wore pajamas and never went to work. He was living the life with the house and all the toys.''

In October, the FBI arrested 14 members of an Asian organized crime syndicate in the San Gabriel Valley on charges of running a prostitution ring involving drugs, white slavery trafficking and money laundering.

Detective Terry Carlos, a member of the LAPD's Asian Crime Investigations Section, said membership in Asian gangs is increasing, and activity by the Asian Boyz, Tau Gamma Piony and Santanas gangs has picked up recently in the San Fernando Valley, with more home invasion and business takeover robberies, extortions and rival gang shootouts.

One San Gabriel Valley gang involved in a shooting at a fast-food restaurant last year in the City of Industry was later found in possession of an Uzi submachine gun equipped with a silencer, Higgin said.

The young gang members, many with backgrounds in martial arts, often drive mini-style, lowered Hondas and Toyotas, BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes with tinted windows and modified mufflers so the vehicles sound like race cars, Carlos said.

``They seem to prefer that style of car,'' he said. ``But that doesn't mean all people who drive those kinds of cars are Asian gang members.''

Unlike the territorial nature of Latino and African-American gangs, Asian gangs are well-organized enterprises whose members travel to other cities and counties to commit crimes, then return and give the loot to their leader, their ``Big Brother,'' Carlos said.

``He is the one who gets the majority of the money and then he splits it up,'' Carlos said. ``Asian organized crime syndicates use gangs a lot as their soldiers instead of getting their hands dirty.''

Although the Asian gang strongholds in the 1970s and '80s were in Los Angeles and Long Beach, as the gangs grew and recruited more members, many have left those areas and moved to the San Gabriel, San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.

``It's now turned into Los Angeles County's problem,'' Carlos said. ``That's why they have their own Asian Crime Task Force.''

Sheriff's Asian Crime Task Force Detective David Flores said the Wa- Ching and Asian Boyz gangs originated in Long Beach, but some migrated in the early 1980s to Van Nuys and other parts of the San Fernando Valley, changing the spelling of their name to Asian Boys.

Long Beach Police Department Officer Jana Blair said the commitment of 30 detectives to gang problems has helped reduce the city's Asian gang- related homicides from six in 1994 to zero in 2000.

``Back around 1994, we did have a so-called gang conflict between Asian and Hispanic gangs,'' she said. ``We've seen a drastic and constant decline in Asian gang violence.''

The problem has not completely disappeared. On Friday, sheriff's investigators arrested two Long Beach Asian gang members on suspicion of murder in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting Feb. 2 in Signal Hill on the Pacific Coast Highway, sheriff's Detective Ray Lugo said.

One of the victims died and the other man suffered a head wound, Lugo said. Neither was a gang member.

``We have two outstanding suspects we are looking for,'' he said. ``Without the Asian Crime Task Force, we wouldn't have these two in custody. They were in charge of surveillance and had been watching the suspects' homes in the Long Beach area for a week.''

Beefed-up task force

With 39 detectives, officers and civilians staffing the sheriff's Asian Crime Task Force, it is the largest one in the nation, far outstripping the LAPD's 10-person unit, which is down from 15 people.

With the Asian community among the fastest growing in Southern California, the task force's mission is ever-changing.

``While the country has been booming, the Asians have moved in and now represent quite a large segment of the population,'' Tanaka said. ``There has been no attention paid to the crime that is going on in the Asian community.''

Unlike the Latino and African-American gangs that group by race, Asian gangs allow different races into their gangs.

``One thing you'll find in the Asian community is the only real common color and goal they have is green,'' Tanaka said. ``And that's money.''

Because Asians are used to police shakedowns in their homelands, one of the task force's greatest challenges is to get first-generation Asians to come forward and tell authorities that Asian gangs are stealing from them.

In a case last June, three Chinese couples were sitting at Topanga County Beach enjoying the evening when they were approached by eight to a dozen Westside Oriental Thug gang members from the Alhambra area, sheriff's Detective Howard Cooper said.

The gang members robbed the couples of their wallets, watches, cellular telephones and other valuables and were attempting to remove a leather jacket from one man when a fight ensued and the man was stabbed in the chest with a knife, puncturing his lung, Cooper said.

Using stolen credit cards, the suspects went to a shopping center in La Habra and bought $400 worth of cosmetics, shoes, clothes and camping and fishing equipment.

With the help of the gang's name stored on a cellular telephone left at the beach, investigators eventually arrested four adults and one juvenile. The adults are awaiting trial and the juvenile has been released.

``They had a 'Dumb and Dumber' video,'' Cooper said. ``That was pretty fitting.''

The same gang has been involved in a shooting and three assaults involving clubs and bottles.

``In every incident involving these guys, someone has gone to the hospital,'' Cooper said. ``They have been violent from the start.''

Cooper said the Westside Oriental Thugs and other Asian gangs are branching out to other parts of the county.

Impacts felt everywhere

``You name a city and they are having an impact,'' he said. ``Lakewood, Long Beach, Orange County and up north in the Santa Clarita Valley. There is a large influx of Asians there and we're having incidents up there.''

In October, two members of the Santanas, a Filipino gang, were arrested in Santa Clarita on suspicion of mail theft. During an interview with detectives, one of the two admitted to committing several mail thefts and a burglary in Pasadena, investigators said.

In September, 20 people linked to the Pomona Boys gang were charged with participating in illegal gambling activities at various locations in Little Saigon and others of trafficking in the club drug Ecstasy, FBI officials said.

The Pomona Boys, a Vietnamese gang with members across Orange County and the Inland Empire, were believed to be involved in a retaliatory shooting at rival gang members at the Hawaiian Gardens Casino, FBI officials said.

``These organized crime enterprises don't respect geographic boundaries,'' said Randy Parsons, Santa Ana FBI supervisory senior resident agent. ``Some of the people we are investigating move into Los Angeles County and Los Angeles County people come down here.

``The new trends are an increase in identity theft and credit card fraud,'' he said. ``But we don't see any slowdown in other activities such as narcotics trafficking, illegal gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, alien smuggling and a variety of other crimes.''