CHASE ENDS ON FAMILIAR TURF; OFFICIALS SAY GANG SUSPECT WAS DRAWN BACK TO NORTH HILLS.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Daily News Staff Writer

Just days after Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn announced a crackdown on gang activity in North Hills, a gang-banger suspect led police on a 30-minute chase Monday that ended in the neighborhood.

Jerado Gomez, 25, bailed out of a moving car behind an apartment complex on Nordhoff Street, near the San Diego Freeway, about 12:45 p.m., said Los Angeles police Officer Eduardo Funes.

Climbing over several chain-link fences, Gomez scurried away from police only to be caught moments later in the 9000 block of Langdon Avenue, Funes said.

In his haste to flee on foot, Gomez abandoned his passenger, an unidentified paraplegic man who police detained and later released, Funes said.

The car chase began at 12:10 p.m. near the intersection of Van Nuys and Roscoe boulevards after police tried to stop Gomez for several traffic violations, according to police.

Driving a black sedan, Gomez sped away, winding his way around residential streets before turning onto the 405 Freeway and exiting near Nordhoff Street. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Metro Unit pursued Gomez and were joined eventually by members of the North Hollywood patrol squad, Funes said.

Near the end of the chase, Gomez stopped at a crosswalk, allowing a group of children to cross the street. Gomez was arrested on suspicion of evading arrest, driving a vehicle without the owner's consent, and violating his parole.

Gomez goes by the street name ``Crook'' and is among an estimated 200 members of the Langdon Street Gang, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Victor Kalustian.

``This incident shows the strong ties the Langdon Street Gang has to its turf. This individual drove almost three miles to where he left the car. He was drawn back to his turf,'' Kalustian said.

``The city attorney's injunction is designed to break the link that exists between the gang and its turf,'' Kalustian added. ``They're instinctively drawn back to the same community. We want to break that link.''

Gomez was not among the 31 gang members listed in a lawsuit filed by the city attorney last week. If approved by a judge next month, the injunction would impose a 9 p.m.-to-sunrise curfew on the defendants and prohibit them from congregating in public and from carrying cellular telephones and pagers.