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STOCKTON - A collection of law-enforcement agencies snared leaders and soldiers of the Norteño street gang in a months-long operation culminating in a series of arrests made Wednesday as 130 officers swept through San Joaquin County.
Assembled law-enforcement officials lined up next to a table laden with drugs, guns and more than $40,000 in cash to describe Operation Monster at a press conference at the Stockton Police Department after the morning raids.
"The key is taking the hierarchy out of these gangs, which makes them basically dysfunctional," said George Anderson, director at the state Department of Justice.
State-of-the-art technology and cooperation between state, local and federal agencies were part of the investigation, he said.
Officials said the Norteño street gang's activities include methamphetamine trafficking, drive-by shootings, residential robberies, attempted murder, aggravated assault and carjacking. The gang has ties to and takes direction from the Nuestra Familia prison mafia, according to officials.
About half of the 29 alleged gang members and affiliates arrested since the investigation began in October were taken Wednesday, and more arrests are anticipated, law enforcement officials said at the news conference after dozens of officers, including five SWAT teams, raided 15 locations in Stockton, Lodi, Tracy and Galt on Wednesday.
It was reminiscent of the scene a year ago, when a similar operation dismantled the leadership of the Loc Town Crips, a violent Cambodian gang operating in Stockton.
Since that operation, the number of Asians who were victims of violent, gang-related crime has decreased, said Stockton Police Chief Tom Morris.
But the Norteños stepped in and increased their activities with the removal of the Loc Town Crips, according to a statement from Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Norteños are controlled by Nuestra Familia, first organized in Folsom State Prison in 1968, according to Brown's office.
Atop the pyramid of an organizational chart on display at the news conference was Charles Edwin Oak, 33, of Stockton. He was booked into San Joaquin County Jail on Wednesday on suspicion of committing drugs, weapons and other violations. He was held in lieu of $2.24 million bail. He's also known as "Peanut," according to the Sheriff's Office.
Across the room from the chart was a table strewn with evidence. One plastic bag was stuffed with folded stacks of $20 and $100 bills. The money lay next to an ounce of cocaine, three-quarters of a pound of methamphetamine, a bullet-proof vest and 18 firearms, including a semi-automatic assault weapon.
"That weapon is designed for close-quarter combat," said Stockton police Lt. Eric Ingersoll.
The two primary functions of the targeted gang members are street-level drug deals and committing violent crime.
The investigation and arrests take gang members off the streets in San Joaquin, Sacramento and Stanislaus counties and shake up the gang's leadership, Ingersoll said.
"It disrupts that gang activity."
Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or [email protected].
STOCKTON - A collection of law-enforcement agencies snared leaders and soldiers of the Norteño street gang in a months-long operation culminating in a series of arrests made Wednesday as 130 officers swept through San Joaquin County.
Assembled law-enforcement officials lined up next to a table laden with drugs, guns and more than $40,000 in cash to describe Operation Monster at a press conference at the Stockton Police Department after the morning raids.
"The key is taking the hierarchy out of these gangs, which makes them basically dysfunctional," said George Anderson, director at the state Department of Justice.
State-of-the-art technology and cooperation between state, local and federal agencies were part of the investigation, he said.
Officials said the Norteño street gang's activities include methamphetamine trafficking, drive-by shootings, residential robberies, attempted murder, aggravated assault and carjacking. The gang has ties to and takes direction from the Nuestra Familia prison mafia, according to officials.
About half of the 29 alleged gang members and affiliates arrested since the investigation began in October were taken Wednesday, and more arrests are anticipated, law enforcement officials said at the news conference after dozens of officers, including five SWAT teams, raided 15 locations in Stockton, Lodi, Tracy and Galt on Wednesday.
It was reminiscent of the scene a year ago, when a similar operation dismantled the leadership of the Loc Town Crips, a violent Cambodian gang operating in Stockton.
Since that operation, the number of Asians who were victims of violent, gang-related crime has decreased, said Stockton Police Chief Tom Morris.
But the Norteños stepped in and increased their activities with the removal of the Loc Town Crips, according to a statement from Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Norteños are controlled by Nuestra Familia, first organized in Folsom State Prison in 1968, according to Brown's office.
Atop the pyramid of an organizational chart on display at the news conference was Charles Edwin Oak, 33, of Stockton. He was booked into San Joaquin County Jail on Wednesday on suspicion of committing drugs, weapons and other violations. He was held in lieu of $2.24 million bail. He's also known as "Peanut," according to the Sheriff's Office.
Across the room from the chart was a table strewn with evidence. One plastic bag was stuffed with folded stacks of $20 and $100 bills. The money lay next to an ounce of cocaine, three-quarters of a pound of methamphetamine, a bullet-proof vest and 18 firearms, including a semi-automatic assault weapon.
"That weapon is designed for close-quarter combat," said Stockton police Lt. Eric Ingersoll.
The two primary functions of the targeted gang members are street-level drug deals and committing violent crime.
The investigation and arrests take gang members off the streets in San Joaquin, Sacramento and Stanislaus counties and shake up the gang's leadership, Ingersoll said.
"It disrupts that gang activity."
Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or [email protected].
