METH SUSPECTS NABBED PRE-DAWN RAID NETS 23 ARRESTS, CLIMAXING JOINT-AGENCY OPERATION.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer LANCASTER - In the wake of pre-dawn raids Tuesday by 200 law enforcement officers, authorities announced that they had smashed a drug ring linked to white supremacist white supremacist n. One who believes that white people are racially superior to others and should therefore dominate society. white supremacy n. Noun 1. and biker bik·er n. 1. One who rides a bicycle or a motorbike. 2. A motorcyclist, especially a member of a motorcycle gang. biker Noun a person who rides a motorcycle gangs that distributed methamphetamine as far away as New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Capping an 18-month investigation that included secret telephone wire taps and hidden cameras, officers in ``Operation Silent Thunder'' raided 22 homes and businesses 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 and one 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. home, arresting 23 people. ``This organization was made up primarily of career criminals,'' 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 Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. said at an afternoon news conference at the Lancaster sheriff's station, surrounded by scores of confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. firearms. ``This has put a severe dent in these individuals' ability to peddle methamphetamine to our communities' residents.'' Over the past 18 months, law enforcement officers in the Antelope Valley shut down 16 methamphetamine laboratories, confiscated more than 45 pounds of methamphetamine valued at more than $2 million and seized more than $500,000 in cash, officials said. They said they arrested 269 people before Tuesday's raids, using seemingly routine traffic stops and other ruses to get underlings behind bars while managing not to tip off higher-level suspects. ``We have to take down portions of the cell to get them out of our hair, and then we move on to the bigger arrests,'' sheriff's Detective Darren Hager said. Tuesday's raids netted more than 30 firearms and an undetermined amount of methaphetamine, officials said. More arrests are expected. The investigation was conducted out of three clandestine Lancaster ``safe houses'' rather than the Lancaster sheriff's station to guard against leaks. It started with a tip from a informant nearly two years ago about an Antelope Valley-based methamphetamine ring, officials said. After concluding that the ring could be large and deciding that investigating it would tax local resources, sheriff's officials alerted the federal Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was established in 1973 by President richard m. nixon as part of the Justice Department, thus uniting a number of federal drug agencies that had often worked at cross-purposes. . The DEA DEA - Data Encryption Algorithm provided additional manpower, surveillance equipment and jurisdiction for federal indictments and obtaining court orders for wiretaps. Detectives said the methamphetamine operation consisted of six groups, which sold each other chemicals involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant stimulant, any substance that causes an increase in activity in various parts of the nervous system or directly increases muscle activity. Cerebral, or psychic, stimulants act on the central nervous system and provide a temporary sense of alertness and well-being as , and also helped each other transport and sell the drug and its components. The ring distributed drugs to customers in California and other states, including New York, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado and Texas. Suspects ranged from janitors to owners of a machine shop, a glass shop and a motorcycle shop, officials said. Detectives believe the businesses were being used to ``launder'' money - to hide income generated illegally from drugs. While methamphetamine is popular among younger people, most of the suspects arrested Tuesday were older people - some in their late 50s or early 60s, and dubbed ``the untouchables'' because they had reportedly been dealing methaphetamine for several years, detectives said. Of the 269 people arrested before Tuesday, 73 percent were on probation or parole, officials said. Thirty percent were are believed to be members of the Supreme White Power, Nazi Low Rider or Peckerwoods prison gangs or the Vagos motorcycle gang, officials said. ``It appears that most of our higher-ups in the organization do follow some sort of white supremacist ideology,'' sheriff's Lt. Ron Shreves said. Not everyone was a white supremacist, however. Some of the people arrested were Mexican citizens, he said. The money went to finance the participants' lifestyle, though not necessarily to pay for white supremacist activities, officials said. The Antelope Valley and other 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, desert areas are prime spots for making methamphetamine because of the expanses of sparsely populated pop·u·late tr.v. pop·u·lat·ed, pop·u·lat·ing, pop·u·lates 1. To supply with inhabitants, as by colonization; people. 2. land, perfect for hiding the odor and activity associated with illicit labs, officials said. ``We have methaphetamine problems because the rural area lends itself to that type of activity,'' Lancaster sheriff's station commander Capt. Tom Pigott said. ``In the Antelope Valley, we are not going to let it continue.'' CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- color) A sheriff's deputy leads Dale Roy Combs from his Britany Lane home during a drug raid dubbed Operation Silent Thunder. (2 -- color) Sheriff Lee Baca shows off some of the guns confiscated by law enforcement officers from drug dealers during the operation, which began nearly two years ago with a vague tip. (3 -- 4 -- color) Above, sheriff's deputies search a home in the 4500 block of 16th Street West. During the raid, which followed 18 months of investigation, officers arrested 23 people and say they anticipate making more arrests. Deputies, at left, carry guns taken from Dale Roy Combs' Britany Lane home after Combs' arrest during Tuesday morning's drug raid. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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