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OPERATION 13 SCOOPS: The May 2017 Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Raid and RICO Indictment It is just before twilight on the night of May 16-17, 2017 in Exposition Park, just a football’s throw from USC. The sun is moments away from peering up over the flat plain of Exposition Boulevard, the beginning of a warm spring day in Los Angeles. The only noticeable noise comes every six minutes or so from the Metro Expo Line breezing through. It is precisely the time that the casitas --gang-operated after-hours venues that sell drugs and traffick human beings-- are operating in full swing. Near the Colliseum, armored ATF, DEA, and LAPD cars slowly file out of a mini-mall parking lot. They operate on their years-long suspicion that on the even-numbered side of Western Avenue, between 37th Place and Exposition Boulevard, a humble 1930s Streamline Moderne storefront is in fact a notorious MS-13 casita. It is the concluding act of a nearly ten-year effort by federal law enforcement agencies, known by the moniker “Operation 13 Scoops.” The operation netted dozens of key members of Mara Salvatrucha 13--better known as MS-13-- as well their associates, and, most horrifically, victims of human trafficking. It was the most productive such raid by LAPD in several years. The success of this big scoop contrasted with mixed feelings across North America. Most of us were pleased to know that 43 members and associates of a horrific criminal enterprise, originally formed in Los Angeles' Pico-Union district, were off of the streets. However, the communities and nations subject to MS-13’s four-decade reign—ranging from Los Angeles (where MS formed) to suburban Virginia, to El Salvador, and well into South America—viewed the raid with wariness, embodied in the local saying, “The Mara will never end”. Aside from the initial breaking news, only Spanish-speaking outlets have released updates on the case, mostly regarding the status of the three fugitives of the indictment. Six months later, there is a lot that the American mainstream media--desperate to avoid handing credit to the current administration--has not reported about the case. Whether this is due to the rapid turnover within our news cycle, our increasingly short memories, or is in fact a reluctance to allocate credit to LAPD and the Feds, I decided to compose my own commentary upon the raid. Below: The cover sheet for the May 2017 indictment. The Operation and the Indictment The chronology of the case is documented in the extensive RICO Indictment, unsealed days after the May 2017 raid. It is a meticulous composition, listing 41 federal felony counts, under RICO and VICAR laws, constituted by nearly 350 Overt Acts, transpiring from December 2007 to early 2017. The indictment reveals infighting within the gang. It illustrates a gang with nobody willing to take sole leadership. It illustrates how truly difficult it is to track, document, and indict these folks, who live-off the-grid lifestyles and take exceptional measures to not leave digital footprints. The police informants, for their parts, have to take beatings, witness violent crimes, and smoke doused blunts to prove they’re not sus and adequately pass as gang members. Mugshots of the 43 individuals accompanied the document’s released to the public. Of these 43 individuals, 33 are mentioned in the indictment and 10 are not. Forty-three people, forty-three scoops, under the long, cold arm of the Law. This article is a look into 13 of these 43 scoops. 13 scoops, for the number 13, used by Southern California gangs to signify their allegiance to the Mexican Mafia. CLICK "READ MORE" BELOW
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Residential-Commercial Hybrids: A Relic of Central LA by Damian Gatto i. Los Angeles has a reputation for having erased so many relics illustrating its evolution as a city. To the contrary, the City has (currently) 38 historic preservation zones and more than 1,000 historic-cultural monuments. In addition, the streetscapes of LA’s historic neighborhoods bear a peculiar feature that hints at the humble origins of the City’s most major thoroughfares: residential-commercial hybrids. This article is about the residential-commercial hybrids that line the main streets of these historic neighborhoods. The four districts explored in this article are North Vermont Avenue (as it passes through Koreatown), North Figueroa Street (as it passes through Highland Park), Sunset Boulevard (as it passes through Echo Park), and, as an honorable mention, Virgil Avenue (as it passes through Virgil Village). To clarify, I am not referring to what are known as mixed-used buildings, which are buildings with commercial space on the bottom floor and residential space within the upper floors. The building pattern I am describing here is essentially an adaptive repurposing of residential properties to meet dual commercial-residential functions in lieu of having to demolish and rebuild. Above: My terrible schematic rendition of residential-commercial hybrids, if an example of a RCH were to be viewed from above (i.e. a map view). CLICK "READ MORE" BELOW
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