Los Angeles cops take on notorious street gang

More than a thousand law enforcement officers descended on the homes belonging to key members of a notorious street gang that has defied authorities for decades.

Prosecutors say the Avenues have terrorized a Los Angeles neighborhood for years and preyed on community members, with two named suspects accused of attacking a resident in a parking lot then shooting him to death when he tried to call for help.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Neuman said another woman who was pistol-whipped then shot at survived to identify an assailant by a tattoo on his chest of a Fedora-wearing skull.

About 1,100 police working with nearly 300 federal agents and other law officers carried out the series of raids Tuesday. The pre-dawn operation marks an ongoing focus on the Avenues gang, prevalent in northeast Los Angeles since the 1950s.

Forty-six were arrested, another 33 were already in custody and nine remained at large, authorities said.

The investigation into the gang increased in intensity following two acts of violence against police officers that rocked the law enforcement community last year.

The first of these, in February 2008, allegedly saw Avenues gang members opening fire with handguns and an AK-47 on Los Angeles police officers. Police shot back, killing 20-year-old Daniel Leon and injuring another man.

Then on Aug. 2, 2008, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in front of his parents' home in the Cypress Park neighborhood northeast of downtown.

Earlier this year, police charged three men in his death and a fourth suspect remains at large.

The indictment details several possible motives for Escalante's murder. Carlos Velasquez, one of the men accused of killing the deputy, was allegedly heard in a wiretapped telephone conversation telling another Avenues gang member that he killed Escalante in retribution for the death of Leon, nicknamed "Clever."

The 222-page indictment also alleges Avenues members posted inflammatory remarks on Web sites, including "Avenidas don't get chased by the cops. We chase them," and, "Avenidas don't just hurt people. We kill them."

City Councilman Ed Reyes told a news conference the bust would improve his district.

"There are parents today that don't have to run to the bus stop to make sure that their kids don't get jumped because they have an iPod or because they are carrying books or because they have lunch money," Reyes said. "This is the daily terror that gangs like Avenues impose."

Members of the largely Hispanic gang would also spray paint racist threats around neighborhoods to intimidate black people, according to prosecutors.