'The Executioners': LA Sheriff's Department infiltrated by Nazi tattoo-sporting gang, claims whistleblower
A gang of deputies who sport tattoos with Nazi imagery has infiltrated the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in order to enact civil rights abuses against the public, according to a claim made by a whistleblower,
In June, a claim filed by Deputy Sheriff Austreberto Gonzalez against Los Angeles County said that a gang which calls itself the Executioners consists of a fifth of the 100 deputies at the Compton Station (CPT). A further 20 deputies are close associates of the gang and considered to be "prospects." Apparently members of the Executioners "operate at CPT with impunity" - against their fellow deputies and the public in order to enhance their standing in the organization.
"Members become inked as 'Executioners' after executing members of the public, or otherwise committing acts of violence in furtherance of the gang," the claim alleges, Daily Mail reported. The members are recognizable by their matching tattoo of a skull with Nazi imagery and an AK-47, which is heavily associated with gang activity and not with law enforcement. The gang has "inking parties" during which officers involved in fatal shootings are tatted and recruited. According to the criteria of the gang, African-American deputies and women cannot be part of the gang.
The claim named Deputy Jaime Juarez as the inked 'shotcaller' for the Executioners. It detailed how Juarez and other gang members deliberately slowed down their work when trying to sway Captain Larry Waldie to change the Training and Scheduling deputy position and stopped performing their duties so that they could "impose their will" on CPT. The position was coveted for the gang as it gave them the power to hand out shifts to deputies and they wanted to use the power to give preferential treatment for their own members.
Once he obtained that coveted post, Juarez tried to make it difficult for Gonzalez -- a decorated Marine veteran serving the department since 2007, who had spent the last 5.5 years at the Compton location -- to take time off work to care for his sickly daughter. He forced him to use CFRA/FMLA leave and even went as far as to assign Gonzalez the "early morning shifts," forcing the father to have to use six to eight weeks of PTO, while an inked Executioner was given better scheduling.
"We have a gang here that has grown to the point where it dominates every aspect of life at the Compton station," Alan Romero, an attorney representing Gonzalez, explained to the Los Angeles Times. "It essentially controls scheduling, the distribution of informant tips, and assignments to deputies in the station with preference shown to members of the gang as well as prospects."
The gang participated in illegal arrest quotas after being reprimanded for low arrests. As a result, the CPT arrest statistics increased by roughly 300 percent in just a month. Gonzales and other deputies were eventually "demoted" and placed on traffic duty as they failed to meet new arrest requirements.
After the filing went public, Sheriff Alex Villanueva took to Facebook to announce that though he did not believe such a gang existed within the department, he was putting his foot down when dealing with disingenuous deputies. "Swift administrative action" is taking place, he assured, adding, "I take these allegations very seriously and recently enacted a policy specifically addressing illicit groups, deputy cliques, and subgroups." He also stressed on the strict policy that prohibited officers from forming any kind of gangs.
Last week, Inspector General Max Huntsman said that he was "aware of no implementation whatsoever" of the policy adding that investigating into secret societies proved difficult "because of the obstruction of the Sheriff’s Department."