LAPD TOP 10 SUSPECT NABBED THIRD AREA GANGSTER NOW ON WANTED LIST.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA and RICK COCA

Staff Writers

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- A third Valley gang member joined the LAPD's top 10 Most Wanted gangster list Wednesday after another most wanted suspect was nabbed in Central America and shipped back to a U.S. jail.

Fernando Araujo, 19, a member of the Canoga Park Alabama gang, is wanted in connection with a racially motivated, drive-by shooting of an African-American college football player last summer.

With Araujo's inclusion, there are now three Valley gang members on the most wanted list, drawn up recently to draw public attention to rising gang crime in Los Angeles.

"We are trying to sensitize people," said Michel Moore, the Valley's top cop. "They are criminal, a menace to society and a threat. They represent violence and a lack of respect for life."

Araujo replaces Angel Zevallos, 22, who was captured in Guatemala City last week when police there were investigating an unrelated kidnapping and received a tip that a tattooed man was bragging about a shooting in Los Angeles.

Zevallos, a Peruvian national, is suspected of shooting a security guard at the Buddha Bar in Hollywood on Feb. 9, 2006. Police said the guard survived but never fully recovered.

At a press conference commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the North Hollywood shootout, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton issued stern warnings to gang members targeting victims based on race.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," Villaraigosa said. "We will not tolerate violence motivated by race or ethnicity in our city. No one should have to fear for their lives because of the color of their skin, not in our city, not in this country and certainly not here in the San Fernando Valley."

Bratton said witnesses heard Araujo and fellow gang members shout racial slurs before they allegedly shot the 18-year-old college athlete, whose name was being withheld, outside a youth center near Deering Avenue and Gault Street in Canoga Park.

Araujo is also a suspect in another shooting and a material witness in a third.

"Canoga Park Alabama is also on our list of targeted gangs primarily for their propensity to target victims based on their race," Bratton said.

The mayor and police chief declared an assault on gangs two weeks ago with a "coordinated, aggressive suppression strategy" that boldly named the city's most dangerous street gangs. They also moved to add 50 officers to fight rising gang violence in the Valley and the City Council has approved a reward of up to $50,000 leading to the arrest of any of the top 10.

"We're on the job," said Councilman Tony Cardenas, the council's ad hoc chairman on gangs. "Gang members have our peace of mind hostage, but today we are saying no more."

Despite a weekend of gang-related shootings in the Valley that wounded three teens and left a 20-year-old man dead, Moore said the efforts of the newly formed Violent Crime Task Force are already paying dividends.

"They've made more than 200 arrests in their short existence," Moore said. "Just (Tuesday) night, they made an arrest of a (Mara Salvatrucha) gang member with a handgun (in) an area that had just seen gang violence the night before."

Moore said the gang list represents a shift in a decades-old policy prohibiting police from naming gang members.

The only Valley gang to make the list was CPA -- a generational gang dating back to the 1940s.

Motivated by racial tensions in jails, police say the 400-member CPA gang is targeting black residents in the San Fernando Valley.

Since last July, the gang has been linked to 10 shootings of black men. None has died.

The Los Angeles Police Department lists the San Fernando Valley's worst gangs as San Fers, MS-13 and Vineland Boys, in that order. Canoga Park Alabama was No. 4.

The two other Valley gang members on the most wanted list are Oscar Enrique Flores and Steve Garcia, both 43. The two are members of the San Fers gang in the Northeast Valley.

Also known as "Kali," Flores is suspected of beating to death fellow gang member Marco Bustamante, 20, with a metal rod. The two were fighting over money on a Sylmar sidewalk.

Garcia, who goes by "Loco Steve" or "Big Steve," is suspected of shooting Kenneth Landon on Feb. 12, 2001, at a Motel 6 along the 12700 block of Encinitas Avenue in Sylmar. The two had been fighting around 1:30 a.m. in an area known for drug activity.

Mission Division detectives are searching for leads on both suspects.

At Wednesday's press conference, Bratton made it clear that the list wouldn't be going away anytime soon.

"We will quickly replace as we capture them to ensure our top 10 list stays active," Bratton said.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) ARAUJO

(2) ZEVALLOS