44 arrested in East Palo Alto anti-gang sweep

Posted on Thu, Sep. 08, 2005


44 arrested in East Palo Alto anti-gang sweep

DRUGS, WEAPONS, CASH CONFISCATED

By Elise Ackerman

Mercury News

A joint federal and local law enforcement sweep in East Palo Alto has netted more than 16 pounds of illegal drugs and the arrest of 44 people.

Officials called the sweep the biggest anti-gang operation in East Palo Alto since the early 1990s. They said seven gangs whose drug-trafficking networks were disrupted by the raids have been responsible for much violence in the small city, which has seen nearly twice as many homicides so far this year as in all of 2004.

According to information released this morning at a news conference, federal agents and local police officers also confiscated 12 handguns, three rifles, two assault weapons, five vehicles, and more than $129,000 in cash.

The arrests and seizures followed a five-month investigation by the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force, San Mateo County Sheriff's Department, East Palo Alto police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Confiscated during the operation were 6.1 pounds of crack, 3.8 pounds of cocaine, 2.7 pounds of methamphetamine and 3.5 pounds of heroin.

East Palo Alto Police Chief Ron Davis said he was confident that the removal of the drugs, guns and criminals from the streets will mean a better quality of life in East Palo Alto and beyond.

``Some of these people will not be eligible for release until after my retirement,'' Davis said.

Davis said local officials said East Palo Alto's gang violence has bled into other cities and that local and federal crime labs will be attempting to reconstruct the criminal histories of the seized weapons.

The 44 suspects -- not including 12 outstanding people for whom arrest warrants have been issued -- range from 20 to 62 years old. They are being held on suspicion of a range of drug, weapons and parole-related violations.

Officials declined to disclose the names of the seven gangs targeted in the probe, saying they didn't want to give the criminals a chance to boast that they had made the TV news.

``This is our worst type of trafficking,'' DEA Special Agent in Charge Javier Pena said about the gangs. ``All they care about is selling their dope, and they don't care who gets hurt in the process.''

East Palo Alto Mayor David Woods said he hoped the bust ``sends the message that violence is not acceptable, drug activity is not acceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be eradicated.''

Officials said they put together the task force earlier this year, when the murder toll stood at four, because they suspected gang-related activity was on the rise. The number of homicides has now reached 13. Officials said an strategic operation of this size takes time to put together, but has a big impact.

``We nipped it in the bud as quickly as we could,'' said San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman [at] mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3774.