Gangs' tendency to change names, cops' hazy info on membership make it difficult to gauge impact of arrests

Gangs' tendency to change names, cops' hazy info on membership make it difficult to gauge impact of arrests
By: KYLE PEVETO, The Enterprise
06/10/2008

BEAUMONT - On the heels of a multiagency crackdown that swept up 67 people with suspected gang links in Southeast Texas, including four in Beaumont, police said they are working to scratch the surface of gang problems here.

GANG NAMES
Here are the 22 Southeast Texas gangs identified in last week's crackdown:

83 Mob
Brown Pride 13
Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos
Tango Blast Houstone
La Primera
La Quarenta
La Tercera Crips
Latin Kings
Mexican Mafia
Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
NICA'S
North Side Crips
PVL (Puros Vatos Locos)
Raza Unida
Ruthless Kings
Sacky Crew
Southside Bloods
Southwest Cholos
Sureno 13
Texas Syndicate
VNS (Barrio North Side)
Westside G.

Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

City police Monday said they are trying to identify gangs, whose names change frequently, by creating a database of information provided through schools and various agencies.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security, arrested 34 people in Beaumont last week, including four suspected gang members or associates, said Carl Rusnok, agency spokesman. Nearly 150 were rounded up in the crackdown in Southeast Texas, including Houston.

However, local police could not say how the crackdown would affect the city's gang network or shed light on its extent.

"We couldn't tell how many gang members there are in the city of Beaumont," said Lt. Jim Clay of the Beaumont Police Department's special crimes division. "We have a lot more that are juvenile-type members that want to claim membership - not what you would call hard-core offenders."

Clay noted that gang activity seems to be on the rise in Beaumont, where telltale graffiti has been popping up more frequently.

"We do have identifiable gangs here in the city," Clay said. "As far as the membership goes, we have no idea. We would only have a guess."

The Beaumont arrests were part of a six-day operation focusing on gang-related activity and immigration violations, according to an immigration agency news release.

Its officials did not release the names of those arrested under the crackdown, dubbed Operation Community Shield. Formal charges still had not been filed Monday.

Officers from the Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur police forces and Jefferson County Sheriff's Department took part in the program, providing information and support during the arrests, Rusnok said. Advertisement

"Especially on these gang-related operations, the local law enforcement provides a really vital part because they have the intel," Rusnok said.

Local intelligence was gathered from interrogations of gang members in prisons, where tattoos often denote gang affiliations.

Beaumont Lt. Ky Brown said it's not so easy to identify gangs outside of prison, because gang names change so frequently that it's hard to get a handle on their membership numbers.

Last week's operation included arrests from Beaumont to Corpus Christi, with suspected members of 22 gang organizations, including MS-13, caught in the sweep, the agency said.

Since Operation Community Shield began in February 2005, the agency has arrested more than 8,000 gang members, the agency said.

"When it first started, we were exclusively targeting MS-13," Rusnok said. "The more we worked on the gang issue, the more we focused on spreading out to all other street gangs."

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