RIOTS SPOTLIGHT ALLIANCES\Latino inmates called initiators.Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff WriterIn the mind of recently released inmate Thomas Williams Thomas Williams may refer to:
Housed until Friday at the Saugus center's maximum-security North Facility, the scene of much of the fighting, the 26-year-old African-American said his Latino dorm mates were the aggressor AGGRESSOR, crim. law. He who begins, a quarrel or dispute, either by threatening or striking another. No man may strike another because he has threatened, or in consequence of the use of any words. in an obviously pre-meditated attack. "Everything was cool, and we were sitting around. Then they (the Latinos) had a little meeting in the back of the dorm," Thomas said Monday. "Then they just came at us. "We (African-Americans) just stood together, and tried to defend ourselves but we were outnumbered. They were sticking people with shanks
The shanks and tattlers are wading bird species in a number of genera characterised by a medium length bill and long, often brightly coloured legs. . I came out all right. I guess the Lord was with me. I was blessed." Thomas said rumors were strong on the inside that the Mexican Mafia The "Mexican Mafia" (MM) or "La eMe" (eMe) is a Mexican-American criminal prison gang in the United States. History It was formed in the late 1950s by Chicano street gang members incarcerated at the Deuel Vocational Institution, a youthful offender facility located in prison gang was behind the brawling. The violence was reportedly in retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and for moves by African-American gangs in state prisons. Mark Squires, chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. custody division, said the scene described by Thomas was played out throughout the Pitchess center. Investigators do believe the Mexican Mafia is behind the rioting, but do not know the impetus, Squires said. "It happened (that) way all over the system," he said. "What we do is put our ear to the ground and you slowly develop information. You can make all sorts of speculations, but we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why." Not everyone was as lucky as Thomas in the worst brawling to ever take place in the county jail system. More than 160 inmates have been injured in the fighting that started en masse en masse adv. In one group or body; all together: The protesters marched en masse to the capitol. [French : en, in + masse, mass. Wednesday and continued with minor brawls Sunday. On Monday, for the first time since the rioting started, restrictions were lifted for inmates at the Saugus jail, who had been confined to their dorms and beds, officials said. Overtime cost to quell the violence was estimated Monday at $600,000, Squires said. Thomas, a Hawthorne resident, spoke Monday outside the downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or Inmate Reception Center, where he had come to collect some belongings after his release. His story, and those of inmates' family members interviewed Monday, largely support what Sheriff's Department spokesmen have been saying since last week: Latinos have been the aggressors in the rioting that has involved more than 2,500 inmates. "The word was that Mexican Mafia in the pen said that the blacks were trying to take over some business," said Thomas, referring to contraband trading in state prison. "That's what everybody was saying." Moe Everett, a 31-year-old African-American, said his brother is at the top security North County Correctional Facility North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) is a Los Angeles County Jail, run by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Located approximately 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, it is one of four jails located within the Pitchess Detention Center (named after former at Pitchess. After worrying about him for days, he finally heard from him last night. "He told me when he was asleep, two Mexicans rushed him. He had to defend himself," said Everett, of Long Beach. "I didn't even know if he was dead or alive." Several Latino inmates who were released from custody Monday afternoon declined to comment about the rioting, but Barbara Baze, a 37-year-old Latino mother, said her son told her he was forced to participate. "He said he had to, they make you," said Baze, of Pomona. "I was told he was involved and lost his privileges. He just said it was racial tensions. He said he was bruised up." Squires said he believes investigators may eventually be able to root out the cause, but even so, stopping another one may be difficult." "When you look at this one you say, 'Wow!' " he said. "In my estimation as long as there is that zest to follow a dictum, you can watch and you can intervene but you can't prevent." Squires said jail officials had heard rumors there would be orchestrated rioting. A jailwide alert had been issued and extra deputies were on duty to respond. "We had a basic time frame and that turned out to be accurate," Squires said. "We didn't know what the depth would be." |
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