I-Team: Street Gangs Growing, Evolving in Las Vegas
Posted: May 10, 2013 3:22 AM BST
Updated: May 10, 2013 10:53 PM BST
By George Knapp, Chief Investigative Reporter - bio | email
By Matt Adams, Chief Photojournalist - email
LAS VEGAS -- An estimated 20,000 street gang members and their associates prowl neighborhoods all over southern Nevada, the highest number for the valley yet. Metro Police said the number of known gangsters in Las Vegas has increased 10 percent in each of the past two years, and there are now almost 600 individual gangs.
But numbers aren't the only challenge for police. The gangs have grown more sophisticated.
Bloody turf wars are largely a thing of the past now that new hybrid gangs have emerged. In order to adapt, Metro created the GAP team, and allowed the I-Team to ride along with the tough-as-nails officers.
"Wait right there. Right there," an officer commands a suspect.
Working the gang-infested corridor near Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway, Sgt. Will Huddler is cautious every time he and his team pull someone over.
His instincts were right. The driver had an outstanding warrant, but the GAP team had more pressing priorities on this night, such as stopping to chat with someone who matched the description of a gangster who's pulled three armed stickups in the area.
Huddler makes a point of engaging the residents of the weekly rental places known as havens for gang bangers, to let regular citizens know that the police are around.
"Our entire shift we're being proactive, creeping through neighborhoods," Huddler said. "We turn in on an unmarked car, the element of surprise and caught in the act ... The likelihood of us contacting someone who has a reason to run is higher."
Because of who they target, the gang unit is more likely than most cops to get into some rough stuff.
"Our background is training in defensive tactics," Huddler said. "We have a likelihood of high-risk contacts, foot pursuits, fights, things like that."
A duo with telltale tattoos and a blue bandana in the back pocket caught an earful from one GAP officer.
"I asked you once to fix your feet and you immediately went back and did it again," the officer said.
What the wiseguy had done was a gesture with his feet called teeing off, the equivalent of flipping the bird at the police.
"They tee their feet toward the officer," he said. "It's like looking at you and spitting, disrespecting law enforcement. And he did it again."
It ends amicably. Even with known gang members, it makes sense for police to keep the channels open. One never knows where valuable tips might originate.
As the I-Team cruises along with Huddler, a mystery tipster -- possibly a rival gang member --calls to report a 300-pound Pacific Islander felon in a wheelchair, and a longtime gangster from California, is carrying a gun in the area. Huddler advises to not be misled by the wheelchair.
"He has a serious criminal history, did time for attempted murder and is in the chair because someone shot him," Huddler said.
Within minutes, they've got him. Officers get permission to search his chair for weapons. It takes several men to lift him onto another perch. Instead of a gun, they found a bullet, which is illegal for him in light of his prison record. A subsequent search of his rental unit uncovers two firearms.
"It's a rather frequent occurrence," Lt. Chris Petko said. "We confiscate guns. We are taking them out of the hands of the criminal element."
Petko's team is one part of Metro's anti-gang efforts.
Intelligence detectives get involved in enforcement as well, such as chasing a suspect through a gang stronghold near Sunrise Mountain. But their primary job is to investigate the big picture stuff, such as identifying the shot-callers in local gangs. Inside the jail, another team identifies and studies gang members, their affiliations and tattoos. About half of the inmates in Las Vegas area jails are affiliated with a gang.
But the days of Crips versus Bloods vendettas and street-corner turf wars are mostly over. Huddler said the new hybrid gangs might be Crips and Bloods and include members who are black, white and Hispanic, making it less obvious to police and less hostile to each other. Illicit profits are their goal, and social media are their most valuable tools. Metro police have had to likewise adapt.
"They have now come to the conclusion that it is better to pursue their business interests rather than shooting at each other and everybody makes money," Petko said. "We are under funding constraints and are having to evolve at a very rapid pace in order to counter the criminal element."
One trend that's been documented by GAP officers is a new type of initiation rite for some gangs: they require new members to prove their loyalty by kicking in the door of a house as part of a home invasion robbery.
video
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/22212685/street-gangs-growing-evolving-in-las-vegas
