EME POLITICS ON THE CENTRAL COAST?
We got an interesting bit of information regarding Eme expansion into the Central Coast. According to what we heard, SOCAL shot callers have been given their marching orders to start organizing in places like Guadalupe, Santa Maria, Lompoc. Orcutt, Nipomo and Oceano. These areas have traditionally been tax-free zones but they may not stay that way for long. The goal, of course, is to collect street taxes and whatever else can make homies some bucks. One of the shot callers is from the Black Angels and another from Hawaiian Gardens. They now have a crew of about seven who are starting politics in these virgin areas.
From the law enforcement side, we know that Nipomo had two drive-bys in eight days, which is a lot for that town. So this may be an indication that some muscle is already being flexed. One of the drive-bys happened on South Oakglen Avenue in Nipomo. A 53-year old male was driving south on Oakglen at around 2:00 AM on July 8 when somebody opened up on him. He survived a couple of bullet wounds. Police are now looking for VICTOR "SPEEDY" GONZALEZ. During the investigation, they found a bunch of spent shell casings in SPEEDY's front yard and they're looking for him as a witness to the event.
Last week, SAN LUIS OBISPO sheriffs arrested 20 meth dealers, most of whom were Caucasians, and seized a whole lot of crystal. Those bustees are being prosecuted by the US Attorney in Los Angeles. Ouch! That's a Federal beef and a lot of time could be had by all. But among those arrested for the crank was one homie with solid connections to the brothers. So we'll see how this shakes out.
Right now, LE in SLO, says they've seen no evidence of Eme involvement. Yet! But they've also said they wouldn't be surprised if a validated homie shows up in their investigation. One set that seems to be figuring prominently in the action is NIPOMO 13. Stay tuned for more.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Monday, July 12, 2004
THE OFFICER NEXT DOOR MIGHT BE SCAMMING.
It's not my intention to make this "beat on a cop" week, but you have to wonder what gives with correction cops. Last week we covered the four CDC officers that were fired for being SNOOP DOGG'S hired guns. Now a CYA officer will probably go to jail for scamming the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's "OFFICER NEXT DOOR" program.
Under this program, HUD would provide a 50% discount on a house to any law enforcement officer who moved into a low-income and/or high-crime neighborhood. The catch was the officer had to live in the house for at least three years before he could sell it or rent it. The goal was to put LE residents in these hoods and hopefully provide some sort of stability or security or set some kind of role model. Frankly, at the time this program was announced, it sounded like another government pie-in-the-sky social engineering experiment. The kind that usually crash and burn because nobody considers the unintended consequences.
On July 8th, CYA officer James Derrick Stewart, a Corona resident, took a guilty plea to submitting false documents to HUD about the house he bought at $50,000 off the asking price. Nice discount. It seems he never lived in the house. He rented it out.
Stewart agreed to pay pack the money but he could still face 5 years in prison. This is a federal beef and if he does the time it'll be in Lompoc.
This post is not to beat up on cops but to illustrate the point that government programs, no matter how well-intended, need to be made crook-proof. I've read that a full third of medical welfare money in California is lost to fraud. That's billions of dollars in the pockets of crooked doctors and scam artists.
The US Attorney caught this one cop in this one program. But there are thousands of programs with tens of thousands of recipients. Did you ever wonder why no matter how much they raise in taxes it never seems enough? Now you know.
It's not my intention to make this "beat on a cop" week, but you have to wonder what gives with correction cops. Last week we covered the four CDC officers that were fired for being SNOOP DOGG'S hired guns. Now a CYA officer will probably go to jail for scamming the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's "OFFICER NEXT DOOR" program.
Under this program, HUD would provide a 50% discount on a house to any law enforcement officer who moved into a low-income and/or high-crime neighborhood. The catch was the officer had to live in the house for at least three years before he could sell it or rent it. The goal was to put LE residents in these hoods and hopefully provide some sort of stability or security or set some kind of role model. Frankly, at the time this program was announced, it sounded like another government pie-in-the-sky social engineering experiment. The kind that usually crash and burn because nobody considers the unintended consequences.
On July 8th, CYA officer James Derrick Stewart, a Corona resident, took a guilty plea to submitting false documents to HUD about the house he bought at $50,000 off the asking price. Nice discount. It seems he never lived in the house. He rented it out.
Stewart agreed to pay pack the money but he could still face 5 years in prison. This is a federal beef and if he does the time it'll be in Lompoc.
This post is not to beat up on cops but to illustrate the point that government programs, no matter how well-intended, need to be made crook-proof. I've read that a full third of medical welfare money in California is lost to fraud. That's billions of dollars in the pockets of crooked doctors and scam artists.
The US Attorney caught this one cop in this one program. But there are thousands of programs with tens of thousands of recipients. Did you ever wonder why no matter how much they raise in taxes it never seems enough? Now you know.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
THE TYRANNY OF WORDS.
Police Chief Bill Bratton is in a world of hurt these days for using three words he probably wishes had never been invented. The words were "tribal," "thugs," and "terrorists." He's also on the record for calling Najee Ali a "nitwit." Ali is an activist who is under investigation for a hit-and-run charge and for identity theft. Something which in fact may qualify him as a nitwit. Early on in his tenure, a heckler yelled at Bratton to control his cops. Bratton responded with, "Control your children."
After every one of these incidents, Bratton has apologized. But the apologies only seem to stoke the fires. If I were Bratton, I'd stop apologizing.
Yesterday, July 11, Bratton, David Cunningham and Andre Birotte (both on the Police Commission) attended a meeting in Leimert Park. Also present were Danny Bakewell, Councilman Bernard Parks and Tony Muhammad from the Nation of Islam. During the meeting, they showed the video of car-thief Stanley Miller being tackled and hit with a flashlight.
It was basically Bratton's turn in the barrel where the assembled citizens and activists vented their anger at the LAPD. Among the many unpleasant things hurled at Bratton was Muhammad's claim that Bratton had the mentality of a white supremicist and that the LAPD was rooted in racism. Muhammad also said the LAPD has, "no moral authority."
First of all, anyone from the Nation of Islam should be dis-invited to any future meetings of any kind. NOI is at heart a racist and separatist organization. The fundamental belief of NOI is that at one time, there was only the black race. A black scientist created a white man in his laboratory, the experiment went sideways, the white creature escaped and went on to procreate the white race that eventually subjugated its creators. In the U.S., you're free to believe any fantasy you want. And the rest of us are also free to believe you're full of shit. NOI also despises interracial marriage. And they reserve a special animosity for Jews. Louis Farrakhan has called Judaism a "gutter religion" and is full of interesting theories about Jewish conspiracies for world domination. You know. The stuff that played so well to packed stadiums in Germany in the 1930s. NOI also has proven ties to fun guys like Lybian psycho Muammar Qaddafi. In 1987 NOI leader Louis Farrakhan introduced Jeff Fort, leader of Chicago's Blackstone Rangers gang, to Qaddafi. As a token of esteem, Qaddafi gave Fort a surface to air missile which Fort smuggled back to Chicago. No doubt it was to help bring "peace" to the streets.
If I were Bratton, I would never appear on the same stage with the Nation of Islam. Their agenda is to separate the races. Their beliefs are the mirror image of the Aryan Nations and other white supremists. They both want a final "purifying" race war and the ultimate devolution of the U.S. into what? Tribal states segrated by race.
And if I were Bratton, I would not apologize for using those three words. I don't believe Bratton has a racist cell in his body. And let's face it, "tribal" "thugs" and "terrorists" is fairly apt. In his book ALWAYS RUNNING, Luis Rodriguez' first gang was called "The Animal Tribe." They not only considered themselves tribal but also less than human. And you guys reading this know as well as anybody the names homies choose for their sets -- Locos, Diablos, Killers, Assassins, Winos, Mob and even Crazy Ass.
As for Thugs, a lot of you guys reading this hang that name on yourselves with a certain machismo pride. Some guys I know would be insulted if you didn't think were thugs. Anybody remember THUG LIFE? And KNIGHTOWL has a romantic ballad with the chorus that goes, "Daddy I'm in love with a thug, don't be mad 'cause I'm in love with a gangster." Cool song by the way. But it's self-descriptive. Nobody hung that on him.
As to terrorists, there's no doubt that doing crimes in the neighborhood terrorizes the innocent and the law-abiding. Why do cops have a hard time finding wits after a homicide or a shooting? Because the wits are afraid. And another word for fear is terror. So yeah. It fits.
The word thing cuts both ways, however. There's plenty of name calling to go around on both sides of the law. There are special police units in this city and all over the state that give themselves macho names -- GRIM REAPERS comes to mind -- that don't look so good. My sense is that they'd be a lot better off if they stuck to simple stuff like SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT and OPERATION SAFE STREETS. I mean, who could find fault with SAFE STREETS?
I can appreciate the fact that high-risk door-buster units need to create unit esprit and a cool moniker helps build the necessary cohesion. There's no argument that law enforcement is a paramilitary enterprise and trigger pullers and dynamic entry teams need more than a paycheck to get their race face on and do a job that can get them killed. Let's be honest. Most civilians would not put their skins on the line every day for the kind of money cops make. You can make a lot more money in office work and never risk anything more serious than a paper cut. But at the same time, if a cop doesn't want to be called a storm trooper, it might be a good idea to drop the unit names that would imply that kind of mentality.
Police Chief Bill Bratton is in a world of hurt these days for using three words he probably wishes had never been invented. The words were "tribal," "thugs," and "terrorists." He's also on the record for calling Najee Ali a "nitwit." Ali is an activist who is under investigation for a hit-and-run charge and for identity theft. Something which in fact may qualify him as a nitwit. Early on in his tenure, a heckler yelled at Bratton to control his cops. Bratton responded with, "Control your children."
After every one of these incidents, Bratton has apologized. But the apologies only seem to stoke the fires. If I were Bratton, I'd stop apologizing.
Yesterday, July 11, Bratton, David Cunningham and Andre Birotte (both on the Police Commission) attended a meeting in Leimert Park. Also present were Danny Bakewell, Councilman Bernard Parks and Tony Muhammad from the Nation of Islam. During the meeting, they showed the video of car-thief Stanley Miller being tackled and hit with a flashlight.
It was basically Bratton's turn in the barrel where the assembled citizens and activists vented their anger at the LAPD. Among the many unpleasant things hurled at Bratton was Muhammad's claim that Bratton had the mentality of a white supremicist and that the LAPD was rooted in racism. Muhammad also said the LAPD has, "no moral authority."
First of all, anyone from the Nation of Islam should be dis-invited to any future meetings of any kind. NOI is at heart a racist and separatist organization. The fundamental belief of NOI is that at one time, there was only the black race. A black scientist created a white man in his laboratory, the experiment went sideways, the white creature escaped and went on to procreate the white race that eventually subjugated its creators. In the U.S., you're free to believe any fantasy you want. And the rest of us are also free to believe you're full of shit. NOI also despises interracial marriage. And they reserve a special animosity for Jews. Louis Farrakhan has called Judaism a "gutter religion" and is full of interesting theories about Jewish conspiracies for world domination. You know. The stuff that played so well to packed stadiums in Germany in the 1930s. NOI also has proven ties to fun guys like Lybian psycho Muammar Qaddafi. In 1987 NOI leader Louis Farrakhan introduced Jeff Fort, leader of Chicago's Blackstone Rangers gang, to Qaddafi. As a token of esteem, Qaddafi gave Fort a surface to air missile which Fort smuggled back to Chicago. No doubt it was to help bring "peace" to the streets.
If I were Bratton, I would never appear on the same stage with the Nation of Islam. Their agenda is to separate the races. Their beliefs are the mirror image of the Aryan Nations and other white supremists. They both want a final "purifying" race war and the ultimate devolution of the U.S. into what? Tribal states segrated by race.
And if I were Bratton, I would not apologize for using those three words. I don't believe Bratton has a racist cell in his body. And let's face it, "tribal" "thugs" and "terrorists" is fairly apt. In his book ALWAYS RUNNING, Luis Rodriguez' first gang was called "The Animal Tribe." They not only considered themselves tribal but also less than human. And you guys reading this know as well as anybody the names homies choose for their sets -- Locos, Diablos, Killers, Assassins, Winos, Mob and even Crazy Ass.
As for Thugs, a lot of you guys reading this hang that name on yourselves with a certain machismo pride. Some guys I know would be insulted if you didn't think were thugs. Anybody remember THUG LIFE? And KNIGHTOWL has a romantic ballad with the chorus that goes, "Daddy I'm in love with a thug, don't be mad 'cause I'm in love with a gangster." Cool song by the way. But it's self-descriptive. Nobody hung that on him.
As to terrorists, there's no doubt that doing crimes in the neighborhood terrorizes the innocent and the law-abiding. Why do cops have a hard time finding wits after a homicide or a shooting? Because the wits are afraid. And another word for fear is terror. So yeah. It fits.
The word thing cuts both ways, however. There's plenty of name calling to go around on both sides of the law. There are special police units in this city and all over the state that give themselves macho names -- GRIM REAPERS comes to mind -- that don't look so good. My sense is that they'd be a lot better off if they stuck to simple stuff like SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT and OPERATION SAFE STREETS. I mean, who could find fault with SAFE STREETS?
I can appreciate the fact that high-risk door-buster units need to create unit esprit and a cool moniker helps build the necessary cohesion. There's no argument that law enforcement is a paramilitary enterprise and trigger pullers and dynamic entry teams need more than a paycheck to get their race face on and do a job that can get them killed. Let's be honest. Most civilians would not put their skins on the line every day for the kind of money cops make. You can make a lot more money in office work and never risk anything more serious than a paper cut. But at the same time, if a cop doesn't want to be called a storm trooper, it might be a good idea to drop the unit names that would imply that kind of mentality.
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