the LA county sheriff has to testify about sheriffs deputies in gangs... yeah, this scandal is getting some primetime exposure

"Let the truth come out," LA County Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey said before ordering the sheriff to testify under oath before the inspector general.

It’s been more than a year since the county’s inspector general hit Villanueva with a subpoena. The sheriff, an elected official, said the subpoena was “too broad, harassing, and not within the scope of the authority granted by state law and county ordinance.” He had tried to quash the subpoena in court, but that attempt was denied by the judge.

Villanueva has offered to talk to the inspector general “voluntarily,” but not under oath. His attorney, Linda Savitt, reiterated that offer in court Monday.

“He just doesn’t want to testify under oath,” Savitt said.

“He’s going to be forced to testify under oath,” said LA County Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey, cutting her off. “Period.”

You know what the police say to guilty people? What, what have you got to hide? If you have nothing to hide, there's no problem!!

“Is he a public servant?” Mackey asked calmly, referring to Villanueva. When Savitt replied yes, Mackey said, “Then the OIG has the right to go into this information.”

Little was asked of the county’s lawyer, during the hearing, although he did offer that Villanueva “has no valid legal reason to avoid testifying under oath.”

After the hearing, a spokesman for the county, in an email, called the ruling “historic,” noting that it is believed to be the first time a California court has affirmed an inspector general’s subpoena authority under a new state law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020.

The issue of deputy gangs, or “cliques,” within LA County Sherriff’s department, the law enforcement agency that patrols most of the county that’s not part of the city of Los Angeles, has long been a thorny one. Lawsuits, media reports and public commissions have detailed the their existence going back to at least the 1970s.

“The cop gangs include the Reapers, Jump Out Boys, the 3000 Boys (whose members earned their tattoos — their ‘ink” — by breaking the bones of inmates), the Spartans, the Regulators, Vikings, the Pirates and the Banditos,” according to one lawsuit filed in 2019. 

“The culture of officer gangs, and lack of accountability for bad cops, is so ingrained in the department, that many Sheriff’s Department employees, as well as Sheriff Villanueva, refuse to recognize or accept how outrageous it is for there to be “gang cops” — they find it, and the accompanying violent criminal behavior to be normal, acceptable, and the status quo.”

As a matter of fact, the sheriffs dept was using intimidation techniques to try and stop any investigation into the deputy gangs, ON THE FBI, and brother, that's no shit. 

the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission commission’s chair, Sean Kennedy said. “Despite years of documented history of this issue, the department has failed to eliminate the gangs.”

https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-orders-la-sheriff-to-testify-about-deputy-gangs

An attorney for Villanueva also said that the sheriff would not consent to his testimony being transcribed by a court reporter, when being deposed by Attorney General Huntsman last year

https://abc7.com/villanueva-sheriff-deputy-gangs-lasd/11711628/

At least 41 Los Angeles County deputies have been identified as being tattooed members of the Banditos or Executioners gangs, according to the county's inspector general.

Last year, journalist Cerise Castle authored an investigation into gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. She detailed the long history of these gangs and how prevalent they still are in Los Angeles, in an investigative series published by Knock LA.

"There are at least 18 gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department," according to the investigation, and they are allegedly tied to the deaths of at least 19 people, all of whom were men of color.

California law requires that law enforcement agencies maintain a policy prohibiting such "law enforcement gangs." Yet numerous reports have shown the existence of these deputy gangs within the county's sheriff's department.

California's legislature has defined law enforcement gangs as "peace officers within a law enforcement agency who may identify themselves by a name and may be associated with an identifying symbol, including, but not limited to, matching tattoos." Lawmakers have said the problem appears to be most prolific in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/25/1088905429/lasd-gangs-investigation-los-angeles

For a really good article, read https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-24/civilian-oversight-commisson-deputy-gangs-investigation