Word: gangly
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That all changed when one of CRASH's own started talking. Perez says he was part of a tight-knit group of CRASH officers who played by twisted rules. This antigang fraternity acted a lot like a gang itself. When a new recruit joined the unit, CRASH members allegedly circled around and beat him--an initiation ritual that criminal gangs call "jumping in." In one case, a white CRASH officer leaving the scene of a police beating of a civilian--for which the city had to pay a $25,000 settlement--allegedly yelled out, "¡Puro Rampart! [Totally Rampart...
Perez has recounted a stunning collection of illegal acts, many as bizarre as they are disturbing. He told of one officer whose car tires were slashed. The cop and his partner tracked down the gang member they believed was responsible and dropped him--naked--in a rival gang's turf. Perez tells of another CRASH officer who shot a suspect repeatedly with a beanbag shotgun--a nonlethal weapon used to knock suspects to the ground...
Some of the malfeasance was more lethal. Perez's most incendiary story concerns the 1996 shooting of admitted gang member Javier Francisco Ovando. Ovando was a skinny 19-year-old whom Perez and his partner shot and then, according to Perez, planted a rifle on to make it look as if Ovando had attacked the police. Ovando was paralyzed, and may never walk again. The judge at the trial lambasted Ovando--who had to be wheeled in on a gurney--for endangering the lives of two hero policemen, before sentencing him to 23 years in prison. In September, Ovando...
...serving a 14-year prison sentence for robbing a bank of $722,000. After the robbery, Perez says he traveled to Las Vegas with Mack for a high-living gambling spree. Mack has reportedly renounced his police associations and claims to belong to the Piru Bloods, an L.A. street gang. And the Los Angeles Times has reported that Mack is being investigated in connection with the murder of Christopher Wallace--the rapper Notorious B.I.G.--who was shot to death after leaving a party...
Last week the L.A.P.D. scandal veered off in a new direction as charges surfaced that the police have illegally used deportation as a weapon. Perez reported that CRASH officers conducted routine street sweeps to check the immigration status of suspected gang members. That would violate a 21-year-old Los Angeles policy that in most cases bars the police from arresting illegal aliens and turning them over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. CRASH officers have also been accused of using the INS to have antipolice witnesses deported. They allegedly worked from a list of 10,000 Latinos they believed...