PLAN SET TO TRACE GUNS IN VALLEY.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

After four meetings with hard-core gang members seeking to buy half a dozen illegal machine guns, a San Fernando Valley man knew he could make the sale worth up to $18,000.

But what he didn't know was that the two men who appeared to be Mission Hills gang members were actually undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, said John Torres, assistant special agent in charge at the ATF's Los Angeles field division.

ATF arrested not only the man selling the guns but also his partner, who purchased the semiautomatic firearms from out-of-state gun shows and then converted them to fully-automatic guns, Torres said.

It's just the kind of arrest the ATF and the Los Angeles Police Department hope to increase under a new plan set to be finalized this week.

``We are keeping very busy out there, and we're concerned about the Valley,'' Torres said. ``Maybe we can cut off the head of the snake and have an impact on violent crime.''

Disturbed by gang gunfire and the increasing power of weapons, the LAPD's Operations Valley Bureau has called on the ATF to crack down on gun cases more quickly in the San Fernando Valley.

``The officers are seizing more guns than they have before,'' said Fred Tuller, Valley coordinator of CRASH - the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums unit. ``Our goal is that every gun taken in the Valley is traced.''

The ATF now traces guns in only certain cases. But the LAPD's Valley Bureau is working on a memo of understanding with the ATF to trace all seized guns, said Deputy Chief Mike Bostic of the Operations Valley Bureau.

``Right now, it's not an organized effort,'' Bostic said. ``With this, it will be ongoing.''

The agreement could bring more resources and personnel to the department by the end of this month. Three unmarked ATF vehicles would be assigned to the LAPD's Valley Bureau for undercover surveillance work on the streets, and at least one ATF agent would infiltrate the Valley areas along with CRASH officers, Bostic said. Other agents would be available as needed.

The program would also make special surveillance equipment available to the Valley Bureau, Tuller said.

ATF agents specialize in quickly tracking guns back to sellers and criminals, said Ronald Bergmann, assistant commanding officer at the Operations Valley Bureau. The ATF can also more readily tie cases to federal offenses and lengthen jail sentences for those selling guns illegally.

In tracing every gun used in a crime, authorities hope to get to illegal gun dealers and discover how the guns wind up in the hands of criminals.

Sometimes agents trace guns back to gun stores; other times to out-of-state gun shows and burglarized homes, Torres said. And the firearms can also trace back to legitimate gun dealers who sold a firearm to a ``straw purchaser'' who in turn handed the gun over to a criminal.

This tracking process can take a lot of resources, Bostic said.

ATF agents, including a dozen based in a Van Nuys office, routinely work with the LAPD. In the past two months, ATF agents, with the help of local police jurisdictions, have seized several machine guns in Van Nuys, Torres said.

Throughout the LAPD's jurisdiction, 700 to 800 guns are seized monthly, said Detective Mark Warschaw, in the LAPD's gun detail unit.

While the firepower is stronger, Bostic noted that overall violent crime is down 70 percent in the Valley in the past 5-1/2 years.

What is most concerning to authorities is the gang-on-gang crime - which has become more violent in nature with more automatic weapons being used - and the potential for innocent bystanders to be hit, police said.

``Their method of warfare is unbelievable,'' said Capt. Donald Floyd, the commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division.

``It's the brazenness - that they think nothing of driving down the street and spraying gunfire at homes,'' Floyd said.

Of particular concern to Floyd is the Van Nuys corridor area - a section plagued by gang and drug activity.

The corridor basically extends from the southern edge of the city of San Fernando to the north, the 210 Foothill Freeway to the east, Osborne Street to the south and the Golden State Freeway to the west.

Citywide, the LAPD has already begun a crime gun-fighting program called the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Program, an $11 million dollar federally funded strategy to similarly work with ATF agents in tracking guns, Warschaw said.

``We're really in the infant stages,'' Warschaw said. ``We're hoping that the program will get the guns out of the hands of youths and reduce gang violence.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1) John Torres of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms looks at a Mac-11 in the ATF evidence room.

(2) This Lorcin chrome-plated .380 is being held by the ATF.

John McCoy/Daily News