Gangs and the Military presentation at the Northwest Gang Investigators Association , Missoula, Montana. October 2007 - Al Valdez, Ph.D. University of California - Irvine & Carter F. Smith, J. D., Austin Peay State University
Slideshare presentations with YouTube video embedded (high-quality, may take time to load).
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Conspiracy involving gang yields 40 arrests
Credit union lost $500,000 in scheme
Originally published 2:00 a.m. May 14, 2009, updated 10:32 a.m., May 14, 2009
Depositing counterfeit checks and withdrawing the cash before banks discover they are fake is a common crime that happens several times a day in San Diego County.
But having a street gang behind a conspiracy that caused a credit union to lose $500,000 could be a first in state history.
State and federal law enforcement officials made that announcement yesterday morning with the arrests of 40 people in the check-cashing scheme, including some active members of the military. Twenty more people are being sought.
“This is the first time a violent street gang has been targeted for its involvement in complex bank fraud in California,” District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said. “It clearly shows gangs are moving from street corner drug dealing and pimping to complex fraud.”
Of the 60 suspects who have been identified, 16 are documented members of a gang that claims San Diego's Lincoln Park neighborhood as its territory, authorities said.
Many of the defendants are not in the military but are somehow affiliated, either by working on a base or through a relative. That gave them membership to Navy Federal Credit Union, which absorbed the losses.
Three members of the Marines, one member of the Army and one member of the Navy have been identified as suspects. Two have been arrested.
During a news conference, Dumanis explained that gang members would create a fraudulent check and then have a credit union member deposit it into his or her account. The member would then travel to Barona Casino and withdraw the money before the credit union could determine that the check was counterfeit.
The checks ranged from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, and the account holder would receive a commission of several hundred dollars.
When Navy Federal contacted the credit union member about the fraud, the account holder would say that his or her identity had been stolen and would sign an affidavit swearing to that. The credit union would then absorb the loss.
Gang members also were indicted in a mortgage-fraud scheme last month. Dumanis noted the trend of gangs getting into more sophisticated crime and vowed to prosecute them.
The credit union fraud started in 2005 and was used to pay for luxuries such as new cars, clothing and jewelry, San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne said. Authorities do not believe the money was used to finance more crime.
“This one was surprising to us,” Lansdowne said. “There was no financial plan in this. It was take it and use it.”
In 2008, an investigator at the credit union noticed a pattern among the transactions: Most of the people were similar ages, all of the withdrawals were made at Barona Casino and the checks looked alike, Deputy District Attorney Joan Stein said.
The credit union contacted the U.S. Secret Service, which started a 10-month investigation.
Authorities said Barona was used because the ATMs there, which are not owned by the credit union or the casino, allow much larger withdrawals.
The casino's surveillance system played an important role in the investigation, Edwin “Thorpe” Romero, chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians, said in a news release.
Some account holders admitted their role in the fraud, but gave agents incomplete names or nicknames to identify the ringleaders. The agents turned to San Diego police for help, and gang-unit detectives identified the leaders, Lansdowne said.
As law enforcement officers began interviewing people in December, the fraud stopped. Authorities also believe the equipment used to make the counterfeit checks was disposed of at that time.
On Tuesday, law enforcement officials spread out around the county to make arrests. Suspects were brought to the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot for processing.
Superior Court arraignments are scheduled to begin today. Account holders will probably be charged with fraud, a felony, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Because many of them have no criminal record, they will probably be sentenced, if convicted, to probation and ordered to pay back the credit union, said Stein, the prosecutor.
The implicated sailors are believed to be account holders.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service was involved in the investigation.
The ringleaders face maximum sentences of about 17 years in prison, Stein said.
Staff writer Dana Littlefield contributed to this report.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Gang members attack former gang member
Police arrested two suspected gang members Friday evening after they attacked a 23-year-old security guard at the Gilroy Premium Outlets in what sources said appeared to be revenge for his leaving the gang life.
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Sgt. Jim Gillio would not confirm or deny if the victim from Morgan Hill, ever belonged to a criminal street gang, but sources suggested the young man was trying to turn his life around. Jerry Sarmientoluna, 21, and Nathaniel Gonzalez, 19, apparently weren't having it, though, when they approached the victim at his job just before 6 p.m. Friday and yelled gang slogans before attacking him with their hands and feet.
Witnesses called police while the incident occurred, and officers caught up with and arrested the suspects who fled on foot shortly thereafter. No weapons were used during the attack, which did not cause any serious injuries even though the victim his head against the cement, police said.
Sarmientoluna, who has been denied bail, was arrested for violating the terms of his parole, and police charged both the suspects from Gilroy with assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime. Gonzalez also remains in jail with a $30,000 bail, and investigators are trying to add gang enhancement charges to both cases, which would stiffen the penalties the men face. The pair are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections.
A police report also indicated Gonzalez's occupation was "U.S. Military," but a soldier at the U.S. Army recruiting center on Westwood Drive said he could not look up service records, and spokespeople in a national military office could not be reached late Tuesday afternoon.
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/256050-gang-members-attack-former-gang-member
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Fort Sill responds to 7NEWS questions about gang activity on post
Lawton_Does Fort Sill have a gang problem? That's a question 7NEWS has been asking post officials for the last 6 months. It all began back in November of last year when The Oklahoman newspaper quoted the Lawton Police Gang Task Force and a former City Council member, who all said there are gang members in the military assigned to Fort Sill.
Immediately after the stories were published, we started asking Fort Sill for a response.
This is what they had to say:
Questions from Channel 7 Reporter/Weekend Anchor Monte Brown and PAO responses.
1.) Can Fort Sill definitively say there are no active duty military members stationed on the post who claim gang affiliations or participate in criminal gang activity? How was the answer to this question determined?
A1. No, and we have never made such a claim. We said last November that no evidence of a Fort Sill soldier participating in gang activity has been presented to Fort Sill by civilian law enforcement. No Soldier has been arrested for gang activity or identified by police as a suspect in gang activity. This is still the case as far as we know. It doesn't mean the possibility doesn't exist.
2.) Why did Fort Sill authorize members of the post's criminal investigation division (or military police) to ride along with members of the Lawton Police Department's Gang Task Force following a story regarding Fort Sill gang members which was published in The Oklahoman in November?
A2. Fort Sill law enforcement personnel and commanders of units at Fort Sill are offered the opportunity to ride along with civilian police as a matter of community involvement and information. It helps them understand what the police are dealing with off post, and gives them a better idea of what information needs to be passed on to their Soldiers to keep them safe. ROTC and West Point cadets who visit this summer as part of their leadership training will also take part. This program has been in place between Fort Sill and the Lawton Police Department for years.
3.) Does Fort Sill consider pictures of soldiers "throwing gang signs" gang activity?
A3. If you are referring to pictures of anonymous individuals displaying such signs on social networking sites, the answer is no. Displaying such pictures is not a crime, and a screen name does not allow us to identify the individual, even if the person is wearing military-style clothing. You will see similar pictures displayed on social networking sites around many military installations. If a Soldier is positively identified in such a picture, then his chain of command can take action to investigate and, if needed, counsel the Soldier about his behavior. Individual cases of specifically identified Soldiers known to participate in gang activity may result in criminal or administrative action against the Soldier.
4.) If a soldier is arrested by Lawton Police for any crime considered "gang related" does Fort Sill consider that soldier to be affiliated with a gang and participating in gang activity?
A4. Not necessarily, but it does allow military authorities to investigate further and his chain of command to counsel the Soldier about his activities. If the Soldier is convicted of the crime, then his commander can take action to discharge him from the Army.
5.) Are soldiers who claim gang affiliations allowed to do so in the U.S. Army?
A5. Commanders have the inherent authority to prohibit any activity that detracts from a unit's good order and discipline or morale. Participation in an extremist organization, such as a gang, can result in criminal and administrative sanctions against the Soldier.
6.) How does Fort Sill and the U.S. Army deal with soldiers who are found to claim gang affiliations and participate in gang activity?
A6. Soldiers who participate in extremist activities detract from a unit's good order and discipline and morale. While commanders evaluate each case on an individual basis, Soldiers who do participate in extremist organizations are subject to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and administrative sanctions, to include involuntary separation.
7.) Why has Fort Sill refused repeated requests from this station to talk on camera about this issue?
A7. We have declined all media requests for (on-camera) interviews because we didn't feel it was appropriate to engage on the topic, especially since it is not true to the best of our knowledge. It was a joint decision by the Fort Sill command and the City of Lawton mayor to not grant interviews and allow the police agencies concerned to develop their procedures and working relationships for the new gang task force. Since then we have gone through an exhaustive process to investigate the relationship between our police agencies and their information sharing procedures. After two months we re-evaluated the situation and were very pleased with the results. The indication from both sides is that the information sharing and relationship is greatly improved. Dealing with the gangs issue is a team effort between Lawton and Fort Sill, and from our standpoint both Fort Sill and the City of Lawton are pleased with the cooperation and information-sharing now taking place between our police agencies.
Posted: May 7, 2009 05:04 PM
http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=10324303
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Even the lawyers get it! Why can't the Pentagon act NOW?
With more than 1,000,000 criminal street gang members in the United States, communities everywhere are experiencing the negative effects of street gangs (National Gang Intelligence Center [NGIC], 2009). As a result, government officials are searching for innovative and effective ways to restrict the negative impact of gang-related activity on the community. One way of reducing gang-related activity is through gang prevention legislation.
In 1992, Knox (2006) surveyed members of a National Guard unit and found they estimated gang membership in the military from zero to 75%. To date, no follow up research of this nature has been conducted.
On December 12, 1995, following racially-motivated homicides at Fort Bragg, NC, the Secretary of the Army established an investigative task force to “assess the influence of extremist groups in the Army and examine the effect of those groups on the Army's human relations environment." The task force reported: "Gang-related activities appear to be more pervasive than extremist activities as defined in Army Regulation 600-20" (U.S. Department of Defense, 1996, ¶ 16).
Following the homicides at Fort Bragg, members of the Department of Defense concluded that gang members adversely affected the military in a variety of distinct ways. The authors noted there was no official accounting of the scope and nature of the problem; however, the individual branches of the military thought the problem was significant enough to publish gang identification manuals (Flacks & Wiskoff, 1998). To date, no follow up research of this nature has been conducted .
A 2006 Gang Activity Threat Assessment (GATA) by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command (CID) reported an increase in both gang-related investigations and incidents in 2006 over previous years. The most common gang-related crimes involved drug-trafficking (CID, 2006), though assaults, homicides, and robberies were also reported.
In 2007, the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), a multi-agency effort of the U.S. Department of Justice, distributed an unclassified report that identified incidents of gang activity by military and military-affiliated personnel, similar to the findings of Flacks and Wiskoff (1998) and Knox (2006), and identified gang-related crimes such as murder, racketeering, and drug distribution.
As noted in Can you prevent membership in organized criminal groups if you are the SecDef?, H.R. 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 Section 544 - became law (Public Law 110-181), and requires the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations to prohibit the active participation of military personnel in street gangs (National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA], 2008, Sec. 544). The bill was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President back in January 2008, yet here we are, more than 14 months later, with no changes to military policy on gang membership.
Gustav Eyler, Gangs in the Military, 118 Yale L. J. 696 (2009) recently concluded:
While the threat and presence of military gang members has intensified over the past decade, the military has done little to improve its existing policies. It is time for this to change. The military needs to overhaul its recruitment process, draft new regulations to detect and prevent gang influences, and improve its removal procedures. The various military services shouldSo what's it going to take?
accomplish this by coordinating with other agencies and adopting the best practices of civilian law enforcement groups. By seizing the opportunity provided by Congress, the military may realize its goal of sustaining a robust fighting force that is free from the influence of criminal street gangs.
References:
Eyler, G. (2009). Gangs in the Military, 118 Yale L. J. 696. (thanks to Court-Martial Trial Practice for the link)
Flacks, M., & Wiskoff, M. F. (1999). Gangs, Extremists Groups, and the Military: Screening for Service . Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai
Knox, G. W. (2006). An introduction to gangs (6th ed.). Peotone, IL: New Chicago School Press.
National Defense Authorization Act. (2008). (Pub. L. No. 110-181. 122 Stat. 117). Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-4986
National Gang Intelligence Center. (2007). Intelligence assessment: Gang-related activity in the US armed forces increasing. Crystal City, VA: National Gang Intelligence Center.
National Gang Intelligence Center. (2009). National gang threat assessment - 2009. Washington D.C.: National Gang Intelligence Center.
U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command [CID]. (2006). Summary Report Gang Activity Threat Assessment: A review of gang activity affecting the Army. Retrieved January 26, 2009, from http://militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/2006_CID_Report.pdf
U.S. Department of Defense. (1996, March 21). Army task force report on extremist activity. Retrieved January 19, 2009, from http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=793
Thursday, March 5, 2009
G.I. Crip - The Oregon National Guard wants to send this convicted gangbanger to Iraq.
[March 4th, 2009]
More than two years ago, a well-publicized FBI report warned of gang members infiltrating the U.S. military. And while gang violence was spreading on bases, cops say returning gangsters are putting their new combat skills to deadly use in their old neighborhoods.
Now, as the military continues to suffer low recruitment approaching the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, a first lieutenant in the Oregon National Guard says he wants to take a convicted gangbanger off Portland’s streets and send him into a new combat zone—Iraq.
Police describe Levell Peters—who grew up in Northeast Portland but now lives in Vancouver, Wash.—as a longtime gang associate who’s affiliated with both the Rolling 60s and the Kerby Blocc Crips.
He’s also a private first class in the Oregon National Guard set to deploy this year with the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a letter by Lt. Michael Davis, a lawyer with the Oregon Military Department.
But the Guard faces a hurdle in deploying Peters, 22: He was convicted this year of a felony in connection with a drive-by shooting last year in North Portland. And his probation forbids him to carry a weapon—even if he’s armed by the U.S. military.
In a Feb. 10 letter to Peters’ probation officer, Davis asked that Peters’ probation be modified so he can begin training in April and deploy with his unit this summer. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Marshall Amiton is expected to rule on that request later this month.
Davis’ letter says that in Iraq, Peters will be “under the supervision of the U.S. Army and subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” and that he’ll be “completely removed from negative community influences, to wit, gang members.”
But three nationally recognized experts on gangs and the military tell WW it’s a lousy idea to send people with Peters’ history into combat.
“People are under some terrible misunderstanding that the military will change gangbangers,” says Hunter Glass, a retired police detective and private consultant. “You can’t beat blueprinted behavior out.”
Davis did not reply to repeated emails and phone calls, and Peters declined to comment.
“This is a young man who is trying to improve his life,” says Peters’ attorney, Gary Bertoni. “Certainly I would disabuse anyone of the notion that he entered the Army so he could receive training and go back to the neighborhoods.”
Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson, who investigated last year’s shooting, says Peters is known to police as a Crips associate previously involved in a drive-by outside Benson High School. Court records show convictions arrests for assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, reckless driving and other misdemeanors.
“This is not a guy you want serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere,” Simpson says. “He can’t be trusted.”
On Feb. 24, 2008, Simpson says, a house on North Commercial Avenue where Peters’ infant son was staying got shot up. The next day, Simpson says, Peters and three friends went out seeking revenge.
According to Simpson, they climbed into a 2008 Chrysler Sebring with Peters behind the wheel and drove through North Portland. They began chasing a Ford Taurus, and Peters gave his gun to a friend who opened fire, Simpson says. The Taurus returned fire and was joined by a Ford Explorer also taking shots at Peters’ Chrysler, Simpson says. The three cars drove several blocks firing on each other until police arrived.
No one was injured. But Simpson says that could change if the shooters had combat training.
“The spray-and-pray stuff they’re doing as gangbangers—that’s not what they’re doing in the military,” he says. “They’re doing precision shooting and explosives.”
When the shooting occurred, Peters had already joined the Guard. A grand jury indicted him for attempted murder and other charges on July 28, 2008, and he was arrested by U.S. marshals while training at a camp near Boise, Idaho.
On Jan. 28, a judge acquitted Peters of attempted murder but found him guilty of unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail with credit for time served and three years of probation.
After Davis asked for changes to Peters’ probation, Peters appeared in court Feb. 26 accompanied by his mother. Bertoni asked the judge for more time to review the Guard’s request, and a hearing was set for March 11.
Along with gang members, increasing numbers of convicted felons have found their way into the military in recent years under so-called “moral waivers” when they’re recruited.
“Obviously, it’s a huge problem,” says John Hutson, president of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce Law Center and a former Navy judge advocate general.
“The military is responsible to kill people,” he says. “It is responsible for the potential of great destruction of property. So you have to ensure that those people who are involved with that kind of activity are of the highest caliber.”
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3517/12274/
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