Gangs in blue

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STORY

“There are at least 18 gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” according to the investigation, and they are allegedly tied to the deaths of at least 19 people, all of whom were men of color.

A pattern emerged about Compton deputies questionable stops, claims of a gun, fatal shootings, and framing of victims. ‘Something is going on.

There is a gang out here. We just don’t know it.’ Sweeney knew he had a gang because of the history of deputy gangs within the sheriff’s department. From the Little Devils and the Regulators to the Vikings to the Jump Out Boys or the Grim Reapers. It stood to reason there was a gang at the Compton station. The strange and sadistic subculture of the deputy gang has been a part of the LASD for more than 50 years.

They are often referred to by law enforcement as social clubs or “subgroups” that engage in proactive policing. But Roger Clark, a former high-ranking member of the LASD who joined a deputy gang called the Little Devils in ‘65, wrote in a court filing in the Lockett case, “I understood that they were a group of white deputies who were responsible for wreaking havoc with the aggressive policing of largely African American and Hispanic communities.”

Clark’s contention about the true nature of deputy gangs has been borne out repeatedly in LA history.