Since the 1970s, there have been at least 18 gangs within the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and they continue to brutalize
and even murder community members today. My name is Cerise Castle
and I am a journalist. In the summer of 2020, I was working for a local radio station
here in Los Angeles, and I was out covering the George Floyd rallies that were happening
across the country across the world. I was shooting photos
of people protesting, and while I was doing that two cars
with police officers on them in riot gear rolled into the area
where people had gathered and they shot people
with less lethal munitions. And although I identified myself as press, I was shot and the resulting injuries
landed me in the hospital. A few days after that happened,
the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department killed a teenager who was working at his job
in the Compton area. Very quickly after this
young man was killed. His name is Andrés Guardado,
it was reported that his killing may have been part of a gang initiation,
and there are some new allegations against the deputy involved in Guardado's case
who did not fire his weapon. Civil rights attorneys accused Christopher
Hernandez of being part of what some call
a sheriff's department clique or gang. While I was bedridden,
I started researching the history of the gangs in the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and I found out that this dates back
at least 50 years. I spent six months researching deputy gangs within the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department. Conservatively, I estimate I read about
100,000 pages of legal filings. And what I came away with
was a 15 part series detailing 18 gangs that I was able to confirm the existence
of within the department. There are the Little Devil's posse,
the Wayside Whities, the 2000 Boys, the 3000 Boys, the Jump Out
Boys, the Bandidos, the Executioners, the Spartans, the Cowboys,
the Rattlesnakes and the Tasmanian Devils. They have killed 19 people,
all of whom were men of color, several of whom were in a mental health
crisis when they were killed. Government from the county level,
the state level, and the federal level has known about this issue
since the early 1990s, and no significant action, policy change has been brought forth. So let's do a quick run
through of the gangs of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,
all of them have stuff in common. You usually have official gang tattoos,
a hand signal and a way to join, usually by shooting or killing a civilian or doing
something like falsifying paperwork. These are just a few of the gangs
operating within the L.A. Sheriff's Department. The Wayside Whities. The Wayside Whities was a gang of white
deputies at the Pitches Detention Center in northern L.A. County in the 1980s and 1990s. Their sign was having their middle
fingers crossed to create a "W" for White. The Lynwood Vikings. The Vikings were a gang based
out of the Lynwood station. Their tattoo was of a Viking
and their hand sign was an "L" made with the thumb
and index finger for Lynwood. And they were one of the most powerful
and most violent gangs. A lot of their members
became leaders in the department. The 3000 Boys. the 3000 Boys were based out of the men's
central jail in downtown L.A. The 3000 boys are particularly violent
because that's where the department would transfer deputies convicted of crimes
to keep them away from the public. The Jump Out Boys. the Jump Out boys operated across the county
in the Operation Safe Streets unit. Their tattoo was of a skeleton
with glowing red eyes holding a revolver and the dead man's hand, a popular poker
holding among law enforcement officers. They kept their manifesto in a notebook. The Regulators. Out of the Century
Station, you have the regulators who allegedly have many members
working in department leadership. The Executioners. At the Compton Station,
you have the Executioners. Their tattoo is of a skeleton with a Nazi
helmet holding an assault rifle. Black people and women are
not allowed to join the gang. The Bandidos. The Bandidos operate
mainly out of the East L.A. station, and their tattoo is of a skeleton
wearing a sombrero with a smoking revolver
and a sheriff's badge. They have a culture of working backwards,
arresting or shooting civilians and coming up with probable cause later
by planting and manufacturing evidence. There are others like the Rattlesnakes,
the Pirates and the Buffalo Soldiers that we know a lot less about. [Protesters shouting] Jail Killer Cops! Without that badge you ain't nothing! Wihtout that badge
you ain't nothing mutherfuckers! You are nothing! Anyway, I'm here today at a rally. Two year anniversary
of the killing of Paul Rea, 18 year old young man
at a traffic stop by Hector Saavedra, who is an East L.A. sheriff's deputy, who was the prospect for the deputy sheriff gang Los Banditos. Now how do I know that? Because two deputies who worked here were interviewed on national TV. [Journalist] L.A. Sheriff's Deputy Hector Saavedra Soto
is he a prospect for the Banditos. [Whistleblower] Yes, he is. He's a prospect. Paul Rea is my son, he was murdered on June 27, 2019. It was a supposed to be a traffic stop. They pulled him out of their car with guns, and when they're questioning
where they're getting pulled over. They were scared because they didn't know
why they were getting pulled over. And they're getting pulled over with guns,
you know, to their heads and being told that if they move, they're going to shoot
their fucking heads off. They pulled the driver of the car, and when they pulled my son out,
they're going to handcuff my son. And I know my son was feared for his life,
him just from childhood. You know, growing up,
seeing me harassed before he ran, he didn't even get four feet away when Hector Saavedra shot
multiple times in the back. Paul's father was actually killed
by sheriff's deputies, so he grew up his whole life
being afraid of this deputy gang. So when they asked him to get out
of the car, naturally, he was afraid. So he attempted to exit that interaction,
which is perfectly within his right since he was not the driver. Unfortunately, Saavedra pursued Paul and shot him in the back
multiple times right here, and Paul died. The two deputies that killed Anthony Vargas were also prospects
for the East L.A. sheriff's gang. Anthony Vargas was shot by Sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Perez
and Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Rojas. Are they also part of the Banditos gang
or prospects for the Banditos? [Whistleblower 1] Prospects?
Yes. [Whistleblower 2] they're prospects. [Journalist] How do you know
were, [Whistleblower 2] You know, just personal conversations
with them and them saying that was one of their main goals
to be a part of this gang. August 12th of 2018, my nephew, he had attended a barbecue. He was just following what he always did, you know, whenever there was a barbecue
he showed up, took his rub. He thought it was the best rub so hey,
get it out there, right? He took it and you know, that was the last time, that's the last day that we seen
in was August 11th. There was a robbery call
that had went into the East L.A. Sheriff's Department, where an individual had said that they had their twelve
dollar watch stolen. They gave a description of an individual
30 to 40 years old over six feet tall. You know, nothing of Anthony's description wearing a completely different color shirt
than my nephew had on him. You know, two deputies from the East L.A. Sheriff's Department were,
you know, servicing the area at the time, and they saw my nephew walking down one of the fire paths on his way home. And they targeted him. My nephew was punched in his head multiple times, punched in
his ribs by these deputies. You know, before falling to his knees,
where he was shot at 16 times. It was just like, Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
Like continuous shots. [Reporter] One man shot and killed
by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. Investigators say
the young man did have a gun on them, but they're not sure
if he was a part of the robbery. Anthony was not known
to carry a gun on him. He slept in a room with my mom,
which is his grandma. He slept directly across
from my seven year old niece at that. She was seven years old at the time. Anthony was not known to carry a gun. You know, he was not known
to carry weapons. He was. [Off camera]
You've never seen him with a gun? No, never. [Whistleblower 1] If you get in a shooting,
that's a definite brownie point. [Journalist] And according
to these deputies, to justify those shootings, they plant
weapons on the people they stop. [Whistleblower 2]
There's been multiple occasions where they say, Hey, we got a guy
that has a gun and he's running from us. In reality, that person never had a gun
and they would say, Oh, it was a phantom gun.
It was something that really wasn't there. So you have personally
witnessed that. Yes. And we started reading the DA report
and matching them with, you know, other things
that we found on our own, which includes, like,
you know, the autopsy report. You know, we found out through forensics
that the gun that they're saying my nephew had on him
had absolutely no DNA on it. None of my nephew's DNA. And I find it strange because these
these deputies are saying that my nephew has the gun in his hand and he was like
an imminent threat to them. But if he was holding a gun in his hand, there would have
been fingerprints on the gun. Immediately after I released the first part of the series,
I began receiving death threats. I regularly receive
threatening messages on my social media. I receive phone calls from people
threatening my life. I have my loved ones
have received these messages as well. The sheriff of Los Angeles
County has instructed anyone that I reported on
to personally sue me, and when I attempted to attend
a press conference featuring the sheriff's
department, I was detained. [Off Camera] Why? I think the sheriff's department has decided to target me
since I released the series. We started like just finding shit
and everything we would find out about Anthony or about the sheriff's
department, we will come out and talk. And the more we will come out and talk, the cops have passed by the House
and they would park on the corner of our street,
which they still do to this time. They would park in the corner of our house
and they would sit in thier car and they would eat their lunch. And you know, there is a corner store
from where our family residence is so the kids will walk to the store
and they can't even walk to the store because they see the sheriff's department right there and because they know
what they did to Anthony. And these are kids
under the age of like 15. [Reporter] Deputy Art Gonzalez is a documented hero, a former Marine who became a deputy
rewarded by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department
with the Medal of Valor in 2018 for saving the life
of a four year old boy. The time is 10:59
and we are on the record. OK. Now, he is sounding the alarm
of a group of 15 officers inside the Compton station with matching tattoos allegedly known as the Executioners. I now call them a gang
because that's what gangs do. They beat up other people. Deputy Gonzalez, he's he's afraid for his safety right now. He also reports that graffiti appeared
at the station entrance. "Art is a rat" and that was placed
at the keypad to get into the parking lot, so that's the most visible place
in the entire station. His lawyer says he's now on leave
from the department and in fear for his life. In addition to having to hire security guards to go with me
when I do my job, I've had to start wearing
a bulletproof vest. And these death threats are credible
and I've been told by people inside the department
that I should be careful. So I invested in this. This is a bulletproof vest. I, yeah, this guy
comes with me very often. [Off Camera] Why do you keep doing it? I continue to report on this story because no one else really is. And seeing the closure, I suppose, that I'm able
to bring to families, you know, oftentimes
they had suspected for years that their loved one
had been killed by a gang member. And I can come along and confirm that. And I've also seen my reporting make a very real difference
in some of the ongoing cases. Just recently, the Democratic Party
of Los Angeles County passed a resolution
asking for the sheriff to resign. And now that, you know, everything's
came out like there's a complete, you know, turn in like, I can't tell you
how it feels to like, see the tide turn. You know, like, it's
fucking groundbreaking, and it's like it shows you the progress
that's being made. You know, it just makes
you want to keep pushing more and more. Because when we were fighting back
then, like that push now has come, it's come even further and it's just like,
it's fucking it encourages you. [Caller] The sheriff, Alex Villanueva,
they're the lead gang member of L.A. County, he's a Bandito himself. This is 3000 boy,
Deputy Mark Romero is one of them. And now today, I believe he's a homicide
sheriff when he's a 3000 Boy underneath. We're out here spreading the word
and saying it "Google LASD gangs". Everyone should be tagging
their neighborhood with "Google LASD gangs" "Google LASD gangs"
Fuck the Banditos Fuck Sheriff Villanueva. Fuck LASD as organization. [Hasan Piker] by the way, when you're done
Googling 40% cops, Google Los Angeles
Sheriff Department gangs OK. LASD gangs. We know about your gangs. We're telling our people to "Google LASD
gangs" and we're coming for your asses. And then there's another woman, Cerise,
who has been putting together a series about the gangs
and the sheriff's department. So I'm going to take a look at all of this
as these investigations are going on. We have video proof, we have pictures. We've taken them
to the sheriff's department. We've called the COC meetings. We've done what we had to do
and nothing's gotten done. It is unacceptable. We will send a clear message to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department
that you clean your house, you get your house in order,
and we will surely help you do that. You have executioners,
you have gangs in your own house. Keep going out there
and just keep fighting and keep exposing them for what they are,
what they're doing because it's, you know, their reign of terror isn't
going to stop unless we put a stop to it. So. We're not going away anytime soon. You know, like we we're here to stay. There's a lot of different thought that into the back of his ear
came out of his mouth, he's bleeding. There's blood. And don't.
