NORTENO DROPOUT KILLED IN TC.
Robert "Huero" Gratton, the Norteno dropout at the center of a massive Federal RICO case against the NF was killed in a traffic collision on July 18, 2008. Diligent students of the subject will remember that the 44-year-old Gratton, a long time NF member, dropped out, flipped and testified against a legion of NF members and associates in what came to be known as Operation Black Widow.

Although he claimed to be a high ranking member, a number of law enforcement officials close to the subject believe that he pumped up his status and hadn't climb all that high up the corporate ladder. Nevertheless, he did provide sufficient valid information to send a lot of his former associates to Federal prison.

According to the scant information, Gratton was living in Palmdale. At 1:15 AM he was apparently backing up on the 14 Freeway near Aqua Dulce Canyon when he was struck from the rear by Rafael Hernandez. Hernandez only received minor injuries but Gratton was killed instantly. The CHP suspects that both drivers might have been under the influence. If we find out more, we'll let you know.

I NOW OFFICIALLY HAVE A STALKER.
It appears someone using my names Wally Fay (screen) and Tony Rafael (print) is posting comments on the Mayor Sam website (possibly other places) and trying to make me look like a racist goon. I was just made aware of this and the person who runs that site has promised to delete all comments coming from anyone using those names. I guess you don't need to be as visible as Brad Pitt or Madonna to attract stalkers. And, just like those two, I'll go to the legal mat if required. Will it be necessary to file suit? To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca, "I'm afraid Colonel Strasser will insist." In this case, it's my publisher that will insist.

And just so you know, I'll be kept from posting until at least Feb. 4. Other projects cooking.

YEAH, THIS IS TERRORISM.
I've always been cautious about using the T word. And I'll still refrain from applying it to U.S. based street gangs and their associates in organized criminal enterprises. But what's happening south of the border absolutely qualifies as terrorism.

The difference between us and them isn't subtle. Criminal gangs and organized groups in the U.S. generally speaking are not trying to change institutions like LE agencies, the media and the authorized civilian authorities. There are exceptions like Cudahy that still need to be addressed.

The latest proof of the criminal cartels' intent of literally destroying civilian authority is the machine gunning of Tecate's recently appointed deputy chief of police, Jose Juan Soriano Pereira. He was shot fifty times while asleep in bed next to his wife. This is just one more step in Mexico's suicide spiral into total anarchy. When a dope dealer kills another dealer, it's just business. When they start killing cops, newspaper editors and writers, priests and entire families it's not just business anymore. It's an attempt to destabilize the entire edifice of civil order.

There are parts of Mexico where the local government is the drug cartel and no cop or politician who wants to remain breathing will do anything to stop it. The few that do end up like Soriano.

With our sieve-like border, it's only a matter of time before border towns on the U.S. side fall under the unchecked influence of the cartel terrorists. Twenty years ago, nobody would have imagined that the cartels would have their own highly-trained, well-funded and extremely well-armed military wing. By poking at the problem with a stick for twenty years, we now have the Zetas who are nothing less than the security and assassination arm of the cartels.

While we're sweating the small stuff like whether shooting a smuggler in the ass is out of LE policy, the cartels see it as weakness. They can't believe their good luck that this is what grabs headlines in the U.S. and what politicians spend their days worrying about. Severed heads rolled out onto a crowded dance floor? No outrage here. A Texas TV station ordering its reporters not to do any more stories on the cartels for fear of having their station bombed? No outrage from fellow journalists in less dangerous parts of the country.

When Tijuana Police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez was assassinated in 2000, Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a press release deploring the murder and that "We must bring these criminals to justice." This time around, the latest press release from her office deals with the pressing problem of global warming. We're taking our eye off the ball.

If we keep poking the problem with a stick, twenty years from now, we'll be looking back at 2007 as the time when things weren't so bad and fondly recall the days when all we had to worry about were streets and prison gangs.

YAGMAN GETS THREE YEARS.
Stephen Yagman, the attorney who claimed he didn't know it was illegal to not pay taxes, got three years in a Federal prison and two years of supervised release once he serves the time. As his case proved, Yagman put his money and house in his girlfriend's name, claimed he was broke and then filed for bankruptcy. During the penalty phase, this paragon of morality and cop-baiting ambulance chaser claimed the government went after him because of his years of bringing cases against the LAPD's SIS and the US government over the Gitmo prisoners. Then, talking out of the other side of his mouth, his lawyer apparently told the judge that due to his "experience" in trying to defraud the government out of tax money, Yagman should be allowed to teach ethics in a law school. Who better to teach ethics than someone who tramples them? So on the one hand he's innocent but on the other, he's suffiently familiar with ethics violations that he should teach a class. Using that logic, Yagman would no doubt endorse sentencing Sheriff Carona to a tenured professorship at the Orange County Sheriff's Academy teaching - what else - how to be an honest cop.

THE YEAR OF THE RICO.
This year has to be some kind of record for Federal gang prosecutions. Following on the heels of the F13 and 18th Street indictments we now have a major MS-13 case dropping. The entity behind the MS-13 case is the Metropolitan Task on Violent Crime, a group we haven't seen officially credited with an investigation in a very long time. This was the same group, but clearly different people, that put together the three big Eme RICO cases in the mid and late 1990s. The guy behind all these indictments is US Attorney Tom O'Brien who without question qualifies for a cape and utility belt. For the completists, O'Brien was briefly in charge of prosecuting the four Avenues shooters who killed Chris Bowser, Tony Prudhomme and Kenny Wilson in Highland Park. He promoted up and the court phase of the case went to Alex Bustamante and Barbara Bernstein.

Putting together these Federal/local PD task forces is remarkably cheap in the overall picture of law enforcement spending. The way these things work is that local cops assigned to the task forces are paid their usual salary by their departments and the Federal authorities pay for overtime, cars, equipment etc. This task force also had the cooperation of Salvadoran cops working right here in LA. Accordng to Chief Bratton, the MS-13 task force worked flawlessly. In the US Attorney's press release, Bratton once again stated that gangs are the "number one problem facing our city."

Ironically, the cost of paying public defenders will probably dwarf the cost of the investigation and prosecution. In the F13 case alone, each of the 102 named defendants will no doubt have his own lawyer. String that out over the two years or so the case will last and you can see how the public cash register will start smoking.

After 9/11, there was apprenhension among local cops and pols that the Federales would divert all their resources to fighting the terrorists among us, especially here in LA. As these cases have demonstrated, when the political will is in place, the government can walk and chew gum at the same time.

FRANKIE B. - 1947 - 2007.
Legendary Emero Frankie "Chivo" Buelna, usually known simply as Frankie B has apparently died by the sword. It was all over Pomona from the minute it happened Tuesday night but we held off on posting it until it became official. He and another man, Enrique Sanchez were shot and killed in Characters Sports Bar on 1st Street in Pomona. Born on 9/29/1947, Buelna rose up through the ranks to hold the keys to El Monte, Pomona and Ontario. While on the street and from prison, Buelna was a key player in getting his part of the world assembled under the blue flag and fall in line with various policy innitiatives.

What's behind his killing? Too soon to say. It may be politics eating up the old-school shot callers or maybe it was a personal. We know that in the space of a week there's been a spike in shootings and assassinations in the area and those may be related. There's more to this, but we may not know for a long time. Or maybe never.

SOME F13 CONNECTIONS.
If you've been reading the indictments filed on F13, the observant student will notice some interesting connections. The person named as AC, an unindicted co-conspirator turns out to be Arturo Castellanos, a Mero doing all day. Known variously as "Tablas" and sometimes "Spider," Castellanos is (was) a close associate of Tigger Salinas (Avenues), Salvador "Mon" Buenrostro (Jardin) and Daniel "Spider" Arriega (Maravilla). While he was on the street, Salinas paid regular tribute to Tablas, Mon and Spider but apparently fell out of favor after he got rolled up in murder case (a personal, non business-related beef) and sentenced to LWOP.

Just to backfill some history, Mon was stabbed up in the attorney's room by Rene "Boxer" Enriquez and Ben "Topo" Peters during the first RICO trial in 1995. Mon survived. Boxer, as we all know by now, has debriefed and PC'd up some years ago. Arriega was killed in Chino (the town, not the prison) by some Border Brothers behind some deal gone sideways. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Enjoy.

CAN YOU TRUST THE POLS WITH YOUR MONEY?
It's ironic that former police chief and current council member Bernard Parks wants to divert that trash pickup tax money away from hiring more cops to providing other city services. When that tax was put before the citizens, we were told it was going directly to hire more cops for the most under-policed city in the country. Parks imperiously figures now that they have the money they should be able to do anything they want with it. This is nothing less than betrayal of trust. The rationale he uses is that the LAPD has exceeded its budget and has to live within its means. Considering the almost weekly revelations of foolish and/or criminal spending on the part of LAUSD, DWP, the foster care system and LA Bridges, to name a few, Parks should be directing his energies at brooming the deadwood and firing the miscreants in these organizations. But that would take some hard work and maybe stepping on toes of the politically connected. To this day, we don't know the name of the person that blessed the shower of money that poured on No Guns and Hector Marroquin. Maybe we can start there.

To provide some numbers, the LAPD's annual budget is around $1.8 billion according to the LAT. Jackie Goldberg's money pit known as the Belmont Learning Center has already cost roughly $750 million. It's been reported that it could wind up costing right around $1 billion. That's a significant chunk of money, even by drunken sailor political standards. If someone with the guts to start cutting out the waste, fraud, featherbedding and outright thievery I'd bet they'd find enough loose change to keep the garbage money from being poured into places it was never meant.