Thread by @clearing_fog

revived long-standing concerns that inked deputy groups [...] Spartans, Regulators, Grim Reapers and Banditos [...] operate out of several Sheriff’s Department stations and represent what many in the community see as criminal gangs within law enforcement.

latimes.com/california/sto…

Decorated former Marine Art Gonzalez became an L.A. County Sheriff’s deputy.

When another deputy was badly beaten by other members, he reported it to Internal Affairs.

Afterward, he was texted a photo of a note written on the station’s keypad: “Art is a rat.”

For six hours, [Gonzales] testified under oath
[...]
In his testimony for an excessive-force lawsuit, he alleged that deputy Miguel Vega killed 18-year-old Andres Guardado, to impress the Executioners gang in hopes of being initiated.

good.is/a-cop-gang-all…

The existence of such fraternities has sparked multiple internal investigations and recently a federal probe by the FBI, but the groups have remained entrenched, with many civil liberties advocates accusing the Sheriff’s Department of turning a blind eye.

latimes.com/local/lanow/la…

Sept 3, 2020

Oversight Subcommittee Requests DOJ Probe into Violent Gangs Operating Within Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

oversight.house.gov/news/press-rel…

From House letter above:

“There is a long history of white supremacist gang infiltration in the ranks of LASD, dating from 1971.  In the 1980s, these gangs proliferated throughout the LASD “at overwhelmingly white sheriff’s stations that were islands
...

in Black and Latino immigrant communities.”  They have been characterized as “powerful forces with the sheriff’s department who beat and harass local residents and, at times, actively work to intimidate other nonaffiliated officers.”

Los Angeles County has paid out “roughly $55 million in settlements” in nearly 60 cases related to these gang-affiliated deputies and their violations of civil rights.  Nearly 30 years later, these gangs continue to attract younger deputies entering the LASD.