GANG SWEEP NETS PALMDALE ARRESTS.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer PALMDALE - Two men were arrested at Palmdale homes before dawn Tuesday as federal and Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, law enforcement officers targeted a San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. street gang. Sheriff's deputies raided the homes - in neighborhoods near 30th Street West and Rancho Vista Boulevard and near 43rd Street East and Pearblossom Highway - simultaneously at 3:30 a.m. as part of the crackdown on the Vineland Boyz street gang. ``They were probably just up here to lay low,'' said Sgt. Derek Yoshino, who heads the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Sheriff's Department's Operation Safe Streets team in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . ``It was pretty uneventful, but they were staying in some really nice homes.'' Because the home near 43rd Street East and Pearblossom Highway was on a large parcel of land, deputies used a helicopter to watch over it in case the suspect ran. He was arrested without incident. Arrested were Baldemar Hernandez, 34, of Palmdale and a second man whose name was not immediately released and who was not one of the 43 individuals named in the federal indictment against the gang, officials said. Arrested Monday in Rosamond was Luis Garcia, 32, who was named in the indictment. Another Rosamond resident, Marcelino Macias, 29, was arrested earlier, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials said. Other people were arrested in Bakersfield, Valencia, Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. and around the San Fernando Valley. A 159-page indictment outlines 13 years of crimes in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, including large-scale drug distribution of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, intimidation of witnesses, money laundering The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. and four murders, including the 2003 slaying of Burbank police Officer Matthew Pavelka. In all, ``Operation Silent Night'' made 36 arrests at dozens of Southern California homes, where officials said they seized $30,000 in cash, 41 guns and 12 pounds of drugs, mostly marijuana. The Vineland Boyz grew from a Valley football team in the 1980s into a structured group of some 259 members that controlled drug dealing with the aid of the prison gang La Eme, the Mexican Mafia, on the streets of Sun Valley, and in parts of Burbank, North Hollywood and Palmdale, DEA DEA - Data Encryption Algorithm officials said. The gang paid ``taxes'' to La Eme to maintain control of their turf, and in return, were assured protection for their members incarcerated incarcerated /in·car·cer·at·ed/ (in-kahr´ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in·car·cer·at·ed adj. Confined or trapped, as a hernia. in state prison, records state. |
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