East coast crips gang arrests in various schemes involving burglary, pescription drug trafficking and prison smuggling.


Gang members suspected of 5,000 burglaries arrested in Torrance-led police raids



By Larry Altman, Daily Breeze
POSTED: 08/26/16, 8:35 AM PDT | UPDATED: 3 DAYS AGO 9 COMMENTS


Torrance police arrested 13 reputed South Los Angeles gang members today in a massive pre-dawn operation to break up an organized ring believed responsible for some 5,000 residential burglaries in five Southern California counties. Photo Courtesy Torrance Police Department

An army of law enforcement officers led by Torrance police arrested 13 reputed South Los Angeles gang members Friday in a massive pre-dawn operation to break up an organized ring believed responsible for some 5,000 residential burglaries in five Southern California counties.

The operation, dubbed “Operation Money Bags,” culminated nearly four years of investigation to not just arrest and prosecute suspected burglars but to tie their crimes to their gangs, using gang-related sentencing laws that could add years to their prison terms, Torrance police Sgt. Paul Kranke said.

“We were looking for ways to solve our residential burglary problem,” Kranke said. “This is our long-term plan we came up with.”

More than 400 officers from 18 police agencies joined the Torrance police force to raid 28 locations, primarily in South Los Angeles. The locations targeted members of the East Coast Crips gang, tying them to residential burglaries committed in Torrance and other South Bay cities as well as communities across Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Search warrants were served without any problems, Kranke said. Two other suspects were arrested earlier in the week.

“We have 13 arrests today,” Kranke said. “We recovered seven firearms and various amounts of narcotics and U.S. currency.”

The raids were carried out with no problems or use of force, Kranke said.

Others suspects were arrested as the investigation proceeded over the years, including some on other charges, police said. A few suspects are still being sought.

Investigators said the operation was part of what they hope is a long-term solution to a sharp increase in residential burglaries that police officers say began when prison overcrowding relief efforts resulted in shorter sentences for offenders committing nonviolent crimes. The so-called “realignment” has allowed burglars to return to the streets to commit more offenses, said undercover police officers involved in Friday morning’s operation.

“They are going to be sentenced and assigned to state prison as opposed to being in a revolving door,” one of the officers said.

Additional crimes attributed to the East Coast Crips occurred in Alameda County in the Bay Area, along with locations in Washington and Colorado, police said. Some crimes were committed simply because gang members had traveled to those locations, police said.

The gang members also are believed to be partly to blame for a recent high-profile increase in residential burglaries on the Palos Verdes Peninsula causing angst among residents and demands for a crackdown, investigators said.


In addition to the raids Friday, state corrections officers performed searches in the cells of 50 inmates in prisons across the state. The inmates are suspected of helping to direct the burglaries using illegally held cellphones behind bars or benefiting financially from cash proceeds delivered to them from the crimes, police said.

When Torrance police began noticing the increase in burglaries in 2012, patrol officers studied the numbers and locations, and adjusted shifts to try to tackle the problem. Following some arrests, Torrance police administrators assigned the department’s gang unit to join its burglary investigations team when they found that many of the thieves they were arresting were East Coast Crips gang members. East Coast Crips is a primarily black gang made up of various factions located in neighborhoods east of the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles.

According to investigators, gang leaders had figured out that developing an organized burglary plan could be extremely lucrative. Each day, burglars had a goal of finding $5,000 and a gun, sometimes heading out to commit crimes four or five times a week. Each gang member targeted Friday was suspected of involvement in 125 to 150 crimes.

Police have tied more than 50 gang members to the crimes.

Gang leaders planned the burglaries in meticulous fashion, picking out neighborhoods to target, dressing professionally and using high-end rental cars in an attempt to not draw attention to themselves. “White pages” apps on their phones were used to call phone numbers along streets to see if anyone was home.

Asians were targeted by the burglary crews. Gang members would check for Asian names on targeted streets and look for shoes left on porches, a sign that an Asian family might live there. Gang members, police said, believed Asians kept money in their homes and “had the best gold.”

Following many crimes, police said, gang members kept their profit and stolen property for themselves to live a luxurious lifestyle. Others fenced stolen goods. Stolen guns ended up on the street and were used in other crimes, police said.

But gang members didn’t stop there. Those involved in the burglaries began flaunting their riches on social media, posting photographs of themselves holding thousands of dollars in cash on Facebook, Instagram and other sites. Sometimes they even recorded themselves committing crimes and put it online to boast, police said.

Detectives paid attention. The posts became tools for gang members to promote their gangs and recruit new members, and detectives and prosecutors decided to use their boastful posts against them, investigators said.

Gang detectives began scouring websites with a new idea. Instead of prosecuting a gang member for a burglary or two, crimes that might get them limited time behind bars, detectives worked to connect burglars to the ring, using their social media boasts to show their crimes were specifically benefiting their gang. So-called “gang enhancement” charges often are tied to murder cases, where prosecutors allege murders were committed for the gang’s benefit.

The District Attorney’s Office signed on to add the gang enhancement to burglary cases.

“Hopefully, it will reduce burglaries,” Kranke said.

Doctors allegedly sold prescriptions to gang members profiting for cash from burglaries
By Larry Altman, Daily Breeze
POSTED: 08/29/16, 6:26 PM PDT | UPDATED: 5 HRS AGO 0 COMMENTS
Two doctors have been charged with selling prescriptions for powerful drugs to gang members who allegedly bought them with profits from thousands of residential burglaries committed in the South Bay and across Southern California, prosecutors said Monday.

Drs. Sonny Oparah, 75, of Long Beach and Edward Ridgill, 64, of Ventura surrendered Friday to federal authorities hours after Torrance police led some 400 police officers on raids in South Los Angeles that resulted in the arrests of 13 gang members allegedly involved in the burglary scheme.

The physicians face charges that could send them to prison for the rest of their lives.

“Operation Money Bags” resulted from nearly four years of investigation to not just arrest and prosecute suspected burglars, but tie their crimes to their gangs, using gang-related sentencing laws that could add years to their prison terms for the break-ins.

But it turned into much more.

GANGS BUY PRESCRIPTIONS

Torrance police detectives said they discovered that East Coast Crips gang members in South Los Angeles were allegedly buying prescriptions for drugs from Oparah and Ridgill with the proceeds from their burglaries. Gang members filled the prescriptions and resold the drugs on the street, police said.

Two criminal complaints charge the physicians with illegally prescribing the painkillers hydrocodone — commonly known as Vicodin or Norco — and codeine in exchange for cash.

The prescriptions also included promethazine with codeine cough syrup, which is mixed with Sprite or Mountain Dew and Jolly Rancher candies to produce “purple drank,” a popular party drink. The doctors also allegedly prescribed the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and a muscle relaxer best known as Soma, prosecutors said.

Oparah wrote nearly 13,000 prescriptions from July 2014 to July 2015, and Ridgill issued more than 21,000 such prescriptions from July 2011 to July 2014, prosecutors said.

MAXIMUM STRENGTH

All of the drugs were prescribed at or near maximum strength.

Prosecutors said Oparah or Ridgill sold prescriptions to undercover officers in exchange for cash 12 times without any examinations or legitimate medical basis for the prescriptions.

Bank records showed Ridgill deposited $500,000 in cash into his bank accounts in less than three years, prosecutors said. Police seized cash from both men.

“The investigation determined that these doctors were significant suppliers of drugs to a street gang,” U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said in a statement. “As the charges in the indictments demonstrate, these doctors enabled the gang’s criminal activity just like street-level drug dealers.”

DOCTORS SURRENDER

Both men were charged with issuing prescriptions for drugs and sedatives without a medical purpose. The men surrendered and appeared Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They were released on bail and ordered to return to court Sept. 15.

At dawn Friday, police served search warrants at 28 locations, primarily in South Los Angeles. During the investigation, more than 50 gang members were allegedly identified as part of the burglary plot. Police suspect about 5,000 break-ins that affected residents in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties are attributable to the gang.

Torrance police detectives said they noticed a trend as they made arrests that showed many of the culprits were East Coast Crips gang members. Detectives scoured their social media websites to find photographs of gang members showing off wads of cash and stolen loot.

The boasts, police and prosecutors believe, can be used against the gang members to show their crimes benefited their gang with profits and recruitment efforts. Prosecutors filed burglary charges along with gang enhancements that could add years to their prison terms.

LAUSD teacher charged with bringing cellphones, heroin to death row inmate from Carson
Bruce Millsap is on death row for the murders of eight people in Los Angeles County in the 1990s.

By Gary Klien, gklien@marinij.com, @garyklien on Twitter
POSTED: 08/29/16, 2:21 PM PDT | UPDATED: 5 HRS AGO 0 COMMENTS
A Los Angeles Unified School District assistant teacher has been charged with smuggling heroin and cellphones to a Carson man on death row for killing eight people in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Teri Orina Nichols, 47, of Bellflower was arrested Thursday during a visit with Bruce Millsap, an East Coast Crips gang member responsible for a series of armored car robberies and killings, including one outside Curtiss Middle School in Carson in 1996.

Millsap, 50, received eight death sentences for his crimes plus an additional 200 years after he was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2000.

During the visit, a prison officer noticed plastic bags in the trash can of a visiting chamber occupied only by Nichols and Millsap. The bags didn’t look like any packaging from snacks available from the vending machines, so officers removed Millsap for a strip search. The search turned up nothing.

Officers then asked Nichols whether she would consent to a search, a prison arrest report said. Nichols admitted to bringing food for Millsap in the plastic bags. She also produced a large cloth beanie under her clothing that contained 18 cellphones, 18 cellphone chargers, two unidentified blue pills and about 3 ounces of heroin, the prison alleges.

Nichols was booked into Marin County jail and released on bail. On Friday morning, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office charged Nichols with a felony count of bringing heroin into prison and a misdemeanor charge of smuggling cellphones to an inmate.

“We are evaluating how she was successful in circumventing our security measures,” said prison Lt. Samuel Robinson.

Nichols could not be reached for comment. The prison described her as an “assistant teacher” in the LAUSD.

Millsap was found guilty of the November 1995 robbery-murder of armored car guard Fernando Herrera at Queen City Bank in Long Beach; the November 1995 slaying of Ramone McKissick in Long Beach; the February 1996 robbery-murder of armored car driver James Moon at Curtiss Junior High School in Carson; the November 1996 killing of armored car guard Lamont Smith at a Wal-Mart in Highland in San Bernardino County; the January 1996 murder of Manuel Garibay, a witness against him; and the August 1996 robbery-murders of Francisco Parocua, Carlos Nuno and Patrick Barnett.

He was considered one of four gang ringleaders whose string of crimes included seven armored car robberies, killings of guards and shootings in Carson, Lakewood, Long Beach, Garden Grove, Bellflower, Los Angeles, Stanton and San Bernardino.

Even after they had money, the robbers killed armored car guards to eliminate witnesses, deputies said. Twenty-one deaths were attributed to the gang in 1997, when 21 gang members were arrested.

Moon, 43, of Culver City was shot dead shortly after he picked up money from the Carson school’s cafeteria. Three men ambushed him in the faculty parking lot when he walked out of a gate. Students reported hearing about four shots, and dropped to their classroom floors for cover. The gunmen made off with $40,000, detectives said.


Before his guilty verdict was read, Millsap accused his attorney of having Alzheimer’s disease.

“He’s incompetent, and I wasn’t allowed to put up an adequate defense on my behalf,” Millsap said.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that the prison’s security procedures do not appear to be stopping the flow of illegal drugs. The newspaper reported that six death row inmates died from 2010 to 2015 with detectable levels of methamphetamines, heroin metabolites or other drugs in their systems. The report also documented eight nonfatal drug overdoses on death row during that period.

Scorsese

Which cliques were involved in all this? This is the most interesting case in a long while involving the ECC.

It doesnt say what cliques were involved. The rolling 30s were also busted doing the same thing a while ago.

The guy on death row is one brutal mother fucker.

these sound like b.s.,trumped up charges. black gangs are pretty much defunct in LA. a few petty burglaries,and guys sipping lean,and they make it out like it's a huge conspiracy case. it's sad the way these young black men are targeted,and made out to be monsters. just by virtue of being black and from a particular neighborhood,if they associate with their friends of the same age group they are automatically a "gang" to the police and the city. in any other circumstances,these would be considered innocent kids,having fun and getting into a little trouble.instead,they'll be shipped off to prison for 10,20+ years.sad

" black gangs are pretty much defunct in LA"

Provide supporting sources.

I'm sorry but is this a serious post??

Crips in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is the only country in Europe where the Crips have a significant presence. In the major cities of Den Haag, Rotterdam and Amsterdam Crip-gangs were formed in the 80's. There are a lot of Crip-gangs in the Netherlands but only 12 of them are regarded as a serious criminal organization. The 12 criminal gangs are mostly composed of older adolescent males (in contrast to the majority of the street gangs which are composed of youths) who are involved in organized crime such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, prostitution, contract killing and extortion. The groups are mainly composed of Dutch Antilleans and Afro-Surinamese people.

Hollander,

interesting about Crips in Netherlands. I'm sure that they are in America but Dutch West Indians(& South Americans) are a super minority here. I've met 3 of them in my entire life.
I wonder if the ones who started the Crip groups over there are former resident of the States (California)who were deported back home..and then found their way to the Netherlands.

You should do stand up comedy. I haven't laughed this hard since Pryor.

The criteria for a lot of these gang injunctions is pretty much a joke.

In a lot of them, if someone even takes a picture with a gang member they can be considered gang members themselves? BS.

They break into people homes then not only post the stolen stuff on social media but they also post themselves doing the actual break in's. Just when you think they cant get any dumber.
They never disappoint. Lol

It's possible, in the 90s several Crips from the US were arrested here.

Interesting.I was under the impression that felons couldn't get either passports or entrance to certain countries.
I'm imagining that any American Crips who would make plans to relocate to Netherlands would be older and be felons, for sure.

No idea about the background of these guys or how they got here. They were involved in armed robberies. The leading set are the 'Rollin' 200 Main Triad Crips' founded in 1989. Btw the Bloods also have a presence in the Netherlands.