Four members of a Latino gang in Highland Park were found guilty Tuesday of unleashing a barrage of assaults and killings to push African Americans out of the predominantly Latino community in northeast Los Angeles.
The verdicts in a downtown federal courtroom marked the first time a street gang had been convicted of breaking federal hate crime laws, traditionally employed against white supremacist groups like skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan.
"I'm glad the truth is out," said Luisa Prudhomme, whose 21-year-old son, Anthony, was killed when Avenues members allegedly kicked open his door and shot him in the head as he lay on a futon.
Among crimes committed by the defendants from 1995 to 2001, according to testimony, were shooting a 15-year-old boy riding a bike; hitting a jogger in the head with a pistol; drawing outlines of human bodies in chalk on a family's driveway, along with a racial slur; and knocking a woman off her bike, threatening her husband with a box cutter, and saying, "You ******* have been here long enough."
...Martinez asked if anyone wanted to kill a black man, three of them jumped out, ran up to Wilson's windows and opened fire, witnesses said. A shot to the head killed him before the car had even rolled to a stop.
Another black man, Christopher Bowser, was harassed and beaten up by the defendants for years. In December 2000, he filed a police report saying Martinez had assaulted and robbed him at a bus stop near his house. A week later, Bowser was shot to death at the same bus stop on Figueroa Street.
[...]prosecutors said they had a witness who would testify that the Mexican Mafia, which controls many local Latino gangs, ordered the Avenues to carry out the attacks on African Americans.
Five days later, Avila told a fellow gang member, in a taped phone call from jail, that he and Martinez had been beating up mayates for weeks, using a Spanish-language epithet for blacks. After mentioning Bowser, he added, "That fool is gone." Avila was convicted in state court of the murder.
Throughout the nearly monthlong trial, defense attorneys tried to discredit the prosecutors' key witnesses — two imprisoned members of the Avenues who testified against their brethren — as well as two police officers who took the case to the FBI and U.S. attorney. The lawyers introduced black witnesses who said they had never had any problems in Highland Park.
And in a bid to show there was no gang policy of racism, they brought in two black women — the girlfriend of defendant Saldana when he lived in Arizona and the wife of an Avenues member who had nothing to do with the conspiracy and only vaguely knew the defendants.
As evidenced by the verdict, the jury did not buy the defense's line.
The defendants sat casually throughout the testimony, wearing shirts, ties, sweaters and reading glasses, hair neatly combed.
But prosecutors tarnished their junior executive image by displaying photos showing their hidden tattoos on a screen directly above their heads. Jurors studied the large chest tattoos of the gang's logo — a bullet-pierced skull wearing a fedora and a fur collar. More damaging: the slogan "43 Kills for Thrills" etched on Martinez's shaved head.
2006-08-10 08:41:02 · 21 answers · asked by Nacho Libre 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
I am outraged! As a Puerto Rican it makes me feel very uncomfortable. We, Puerto Ricans are American by birth right, but we are considered to be Latinos even though we are united states citizens, and in our part of the country, the island of Puerto Rico, there is no place for racial divisions because here you can be Caucasian, brown or even black and nobody cares about your color or even your country background. I fell that anybody who tries to control the racial composition of any given place, has two mayor problems, number one: It is very unlikely that in today's society any race can maintain traits, because of integration and second, as we advance we also progress in mental abilities, for we exchange knowledge, giving humans the advantage of greater intelligence. We would have to be of very primitive thinking to try to limit the possibilities of human integration given today's social composition.
2006-08-10 10:56:04 · answer #1 · answered by lvsshanom 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
OK, not all of these were illegal immigrants, although some may also be children of illegal immigrants. I saw earlier articles on this and the point was that these once black neighborhoods were being taken over by Hispanics, and the gangs came in at the same time. The gangs didn't like blacks being there, and no, Mendi8a, the blacks killed were not in gangs. One, for example, was merely walking with a Latino woman.
It is about racism, and may have a link to illegal immigration (certainly the Mexican Mafia has), but it isn't about immigration, per se.
2006-08-10 08:57:51 · answer #2 · answered by DAR 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I think Asians are now being lumped in together with whites by many liberals. At least, a couple of years ago when there was talk about Affirmative Action on campuses in California, Asians were NOT considered a racial minority. So I'm guessing the same logic might apply here.
2016-03-27 07:02:52 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They've been trying to tell us for years - they forced out 2 million people from California already and rising.
The Hispanic community there states California will have no Americans there is 20 years.
The ELECTED officials in Southern California are planning as Congress is what to do about illegal immigration, everything from stopping commerce to ARMED CONFLICT if the illegals don't get each and everything they want.
2006-08-10 08:51:42 · answer #4 · answered by yars232c 6 · 4⤊ 2⤋
For the most part, they are more racist than any other ethnicity that I have met. I grew up around many hispanic families and the racism was unbelievable, considering they want to be a part of this country... sounds like they just want to turn this country into mexico...
I remember in high school, there were always fights between the mexicans and the blacks. And almost always instigated by the mexicans!
2006-08-10 09:30:54 · answer #5 · answered by redwhiteandblueberry 1 · 10⤊ 4⤋
Why are trying to make it seem like Mexicans hate African Americans, I personally am not like that and I am brown and PROUD, and would never ever ever do anything like that to any living thing.
2006-08-10 09:04:36 · answer #6 · answered by stevenandteena 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Sad, I wish stuff like this didn't happen. People need to work together to get a better life, fighting among ourselves only destroys us, it accomplishes nothing.
2006-08-10 08:46:44 · answer #7 · answered by jxt299 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Border fence, Border Patrol, ICE, and employer enforcement. We're beyond 'illegal immigration' with stuff like this...
2006-08-10 09:58:38 · answer #8 · answered by gokart121 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
interesting. i am surprised. why did they hate black people? you would think that since they are minorities they could relate to others in America. i guess black people in this country cant catch a break....
2006-08-10 08:50:34 · answer #9 · answered by bumblebee 5 · 9⤊ 2⤋
It's to bad they did away with hanging. Those four would be GREAT swinging by the NECK till dead.
2006-08-10 10:03:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 3⤋