tv Fault Lines Shadow System L As Secretive Sheriff Gangs Al Jazeera May 14, 2022 7:30pm-8:00pm AST
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is my 3rd attempt to rescue units look through what's left searching for more victims includes the flame started on the 1st floor, which mostly has offices, daily's fire services, say the building, had no clearance, no fire extinguishers, or proper safety equipment with a little bit of fun industrial, there was only one exit and with the flames burning, no one could escape fires are common in india. building laws and safety norms are often ignored by both builders and residents. an investigation is underway for now, that's of little comfort for families facing this loss. castillo missile, a young fellow to 0. ah, this is out there are these you top stories?
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the al jazeera journalist, sharina black lay, has been laid to rest in occupied east jerusalem. 3 days, alt is riley forces shaunte and killed her thousands gathered for her funeral on friday. but sharon's funeral procession was disrupted when israeli forces attacked munoz carrying her casket in strong widespread condemnation. but a muted response from the u. s. israel's police chief has ordered investigation into the offices, actions. emerald con is near the hospital. where is ready forces attack arms. there's only really one word that anybody is using. certainly palestinian is using amazon. devastated, devastated, though sure. in a barclays of funeral was not a dignified one, that it was actually a fraught with violence from the israeli forces. those pictures that we've seen from the hospital not far away from where i'm standing right now, just up the hill over there where mourners the p barrows were actually attacked as
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they carried sharon's casket out into the court yard of the hostile them there. she's left the hospital at that stage. they were in the courtyard and these really forces moved him. president palestinian president, my boss has awarded the murdered journalist, shaheen black play the star of jerusalem metal. he received a delegation from al jazeera where he committed to investigation the killing of serene abruptly. he said he would not accept the israelis taking part in investigation. hundreds of people have been rattling in london to mont feet, knock birthday on the death of serene. a blackly demonstrated march through the city, waving palestinian flags and pictures on serene like by day marks the expulsion of 700000 palestinians following the creation of the state of israel on may. 15th 1948 . okay. though she had lines fault lines coming up. next news,
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news, news, news, no identifiable, and i tried to let us know it works for me in the open buddy operate and they have more power than ever before. if you speak out, it's guaranteed you do retaliate against the career will be in jeopardy and european for your life. honestly, los angeles, california has been played with gang violence for decades. it's even been called again capital of america. but the games are not just on the streets through lawsuits and reports, we're learning that they're gangs of officers within the eli sheriff's department,
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one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the u. s. alleged gang of sheriff's deputies within the yellow county sheriff's department were talking about home grown groups with internal deputies. they pick a tattoo that they like, they all get tattooed. it's exclusive, it's also secret. and as a result, they form sort of a shadow government, sometimes like a deputy gang is really just what society associates with a street gang. the only real difference is that deputy gangs, they have a badge and they are protected by long lines investigates allegations of violence and intimidation by gangs within the los angeles sheriff's department. could have a answer to the only answer to each other that you choose to get better. again.
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when you hear these stories, they're so different, but yet they're so alike. can you take me through the day and that he was killed? what happened on that day? that morning he had actually let a prayer circle for another individual that had passed away and they were having a barbecue to honor this person's life. that was the reason that he was there. on august 12th 2018, a woman called 911 to say that her boyfriends watch had been stolen at gunpoint. after los angeles county sheriff's deputies arrived, they eventually came across 21 year old anthony bark. when he saw the sheriff's car, anthony ran, but he tripped and fell. the deputies chased him down and they see
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a fight ensued. they cleaned anthony had a gun and shot him 13 times. 10 times in the back. once in the arm and twice in the head. oh, i got the call. it was about 3 o'clock in the morning. we all got there. we kept asking the share of can you tell us if this is him? we stood there from 3 o'clock in the morning to 3 o'clock in the afternoon when they let me go and identify him. i was only able to see maybe a little bit lower than his eyebrow to his chin. and it was like just this little tiny piece. and once i seen that, i screamed and i fell to the floor.
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and that was really pantry. it helped in grow. did i we have a lot of people say, well, why did your kid run in our community when there's a sure of that out there at that late over time. there's a fear of being shot. so anybody is going to run from them a year and a half after anthony was killed, the eli district attorney released an investigation into his death. it found that there were no fingerprints on the gun. and dna testing was inconclusive. the burglary victim said anthony was not the person who stole his watch. still, the report concluded that the deputies acted in self defense. that's not what
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anthony's family beliefs. they say, the sheriff's deputies who shot him jonathan rojas and nicholas perez used excessive deadly force. be filed a lawsuit after his death, alleging the deputies were members or prospects of the banditos, who are the bundy, those? it's a gang within the establish sheriff's department. these are people that are working as detectives as deputies in our communities. the vargas lawsuit claims the bandito was promoted a culture of fear, intimidation and violence inside the sheriff's department. and they say this was a major factor and anthony shooting, are you about the dose game member? no, i'm not. in depositions, the deputies who shot anthony denied that they're associated with the group shooting. oh, don't believe murray's law in order to personally understand. right. that's not why
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partial these people are untouchable. it's not about human life. they want exactly what every gang member wants. the power and control these cleans are not new. these groups have existed in the sheriff's department for at least 50 years. the department calls and flicks are subgroups and argues that their social in nature, like fraternity at their widely known as deputy gangs. a deputy gang is a group of law enforcement officers who band together like a traditional street gang under a common symbol. the gang tad too often. very menissi, very violent. jumped out boys, for example. that's a tattoo of a skull holding a revolver. and for each kill
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a bullet and smoke is added to the chamber of the revolver. and what are the kinds of things that you have to do to become a member? you have to break the rules early, which often means racially profiling. people having unconstitutional arrests, val, arising excessive use of force, shooting people. but it's done in the name of law enforcement, where the group members think they are the best, most hard working, effective law enforcement officers in the county. i believe that 85 percent of the department is not affiliated with the deputy gangs, but they're incredibly influential. since the 19 seventy's at least 18 deputy gangs have existed in the sheriff's department, some of which are still active. probably the most reported on as the banditos or the executioners, but they are new ones that are created probably every year. i would say it seemed
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to cluster around areas of los angeles where there are lots of people of color, easily low income. there are no deputy gangs in malibu when deputy sat in a deposition of europe cubby, executioners would celebrate a bar after a deputy shot someone in any mortgage. the shooting is not in the case alleging the involvement of eli deputy gangs his late shooting rogers were others have also gotten coverage. was that done by the member or a huge a big in lawsuits. diabetes of alleged that. those who want to join a gang often engage in aggressive policing history. i would say in the service, according to our report, by le, you'll a law school, sheer of stations with active gangs had the highest rates of deputy involved
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shootings. a more than 80 percent of those shot were black or latino. our name, i am the ems of anthony vargas with the v. i'm finding a lot bye to library family that have experience the exact same violence from st sheriff's department isn't going to happen. it will step up now and put something in place. let me think about a time these los angeles were anthony was killed, has had the highest number of deputy in both shootings in the county since 2016, according to lula. in court testimony. deputies have said that the banditos controlled the station around the time of his fatal shooting. we went to easterly station to see if we could learn more about the banditos and the culture here.
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deputy david bundle has been with the ally sheriff's department for 10 years in this car right here. ok. he transferred to the east tele station 6 months ago. you obviously had to deal with a lot street gangs. right. so then if you hear people saying, oh, there's gangs within the sheriff's department, but i say, where show me, oh yeah yeah. why do you think they're saying i have no idea. i'm not saying that there's never any bad people with the sheriff or i think there's bad with in any profession i haven't personally experienced. and so i will tell you. but if someone said, hey, there's game theory still a, it's a showing war. kennedy hall, an incident that happened in this building brought out some of the most detailed and damming claims against the banditos to date. in september 2018, the easterly station hosted a party here for new deputies. by the end of the night,
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young officer suit angered, alleged banditos during their training were beaten up in this parking lot. at least 2 of them were taken to the hospital. after the assault 8 deputies filed a lawsuit against the county saying the banditos earning legal, racist, and sexist criminal organization that engages and intimidation, harassment, and bullying. and that they even encourage planting guns on victims. they see after they complain to the county, they were retaliated against the benito with held back up on dangerous halls, stole the bullet proof best of a deputy and let dead ranch outside their hands. with a died a bad debt. this eli sheriff's deputy told us they worked closely with members of the banditos. they decided to come forward for their 1st on camera interview,
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but asked us to hide their identity for fear of retaliation, which they say is ramping in the department in law through the notes on the will though that res, personal vehicles so that the bill can fall off the earth, doug's fear or not, who says it's the los angeles county are counting to protect them when deputies try to join the gang, it's called chasing inc. referring to the tattoo was chasing and have anything to do with being in boardman shootings. if you get involved in shootings and situations where you're united states or they respect that. and if you are chasing linda, look for sure. and doing that, looking for trouble getting involved in suiting will help you get into a deputy gang dot and to tate. ah,
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why did you feel like it was important to speak out and share this information with us? of hole boldly. sure. be in work defense. these guys, i alex vienna, you saw simply the power that the hold rector alex villanueva worked at easterly station. early in his career. he was elected in 2018. the come in the latest in a string of eli county sheriff's, who's had to address concerns about deputy gangs, even share of alex the an where he told the local news reporter that the banditos were in charge at the time. the kennedy hall attack pretty much they were, they were calling the shots. they were dictating the decisions of the station and that as a very bad outcome. obviously. in february of 2020, i approved the department policy a little over a year into his term. he created a policy prohibiting deputies from joining what he calls clicks. any employee who
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aligns with a quicker sub group which engages in any form of misconduct will be held accountable . but it's unclear if anyone has been disciplined or terminated under the policy we went to ask sure if you knew about what exactly has been accomplished around these groups, the social function people band together, unit pride. he says the issue was over blank, pottery, in the absence of good supervision. yes, it could be harmful, but other groups they have tattoos. in fact, all of them engage in charitable activities. he told us internal affairs investigation found no misconduct by the deputies in the shooting of anthony vargas . there was no wrongdoing. if they're not engaged in misconduct, there's no action for employer to be involved. which means the department won't investigate the deputies in one of these groups unless
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a crime has been committed. i don't make decisions based on perception. i need facts, evidence, as someone uses a gun unlawfully because of in furtherance of again, i have never ever seen that. the allegations have been there, men made there by plaintiffs attorneys because they get to add more zeros to the check. when the county settles. you're telling me that somebody who lost a loved one, that their motive is purely financial. well, if your love one fought with the deputies armed and the depth is we're able to overcome the resistance and they resort to the deadly force. at some point i have to say, timer is exists, accept the facts in don't tarnish your organization because you just cannot accept that. i'm sorry, but that's bull crap. i'm not gonna sit here and i'm not going except that he knows there's a gang within his department's. he knows that he needs to do something about it
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and my son deserved better. he had aspirations. now he wanted to be the next barbecue pit master. amazing cook o growing up his siblings is to pick on him because he was such a mama's boy. and as he became a preteen, he became a grandma's boy. one. he was very jolly, always helping. now were left here wondering how my son would have been, what they did to him was not fair. and what we believe is when done in darkness comes to like, what we all call me for you to understand, you know, different hill or children or kill the individual. we're taking down the whole family. and now we're going to pick up the pieces just like when you do an
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investigation, you want people to walk away with you. where did with notice. mm. for the answers. even the inspector general bloss angeles, whose job is to provide oversight of the sheriff's department, says he's been left in the dark, asked about them our ability to investigate which is granted by state law and local law has been completely shut down by the current church administration. how by refusing to respond to subpoenas by refusing to provide document or instructing people to refute. so he's saying that you need all the facts, but he's blocking you from getting all the facts at gra, view bandido investigation. so this is the report as you can in his report, he says, an internal investigation by the sheriff's department almost completely ignored evidence of the bandito role in the kennedy hall attack. deputies refused to speak . that's an example of a code of silence that is enforced from above. he says that sheer villanueva has
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promoted a culture of intimidation, that extends to oversight. officials like him see that, that sweeps for bugs, because i get inform. it's telling me that he's are bugging my e mail. he has a team of politically charged investigation team. and the way they work, as the sheriff announces the target, he tells the public, the person's a criminal. and in that team goes and tries to make it the stick in court. i wrote a report about on him re hiring a deputy, a gang member, a guy who had previously been fired and they put me under criminal investigation. one actually was just doing my job. why do you think that he did that? what was a message he was trying to send you? ah gang bustling is not appreciated. oversight is not appreciated. who did not want us to be able to collect information. he wants to be the only source of information for the sheriff's department. everything is legal ruined title. so he has,
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he says that you blocked him in information. is that absolutely hogwash things? it's a, it's a joke. sheriff in wave, his office did not respond to the claim that he bunk. the inspector general's e mails are here. instead they said that he's repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to transparency and accountability even before i was sworn in, i stopped at east l. a station which was a source of all the trouble regarding the kennedy hall incident here v and way by said he fired 4 people and suspended others after the kennedy hall was always transferred a toll of 36 personnel from you stella station. he also maintains that he broke up the bandito as by moving deputies to different stations. but according to sworn testimony from the captain of the station at the time, those transfers were not disciplinary. what's more documents that fault lines exclusively obtained after interview with
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sheriff ian waiver, seemed to confirm that they showed that in 2019, after the kennedy hall incident, several alleged bandito members were promoted or transferred to coveted assignments . positions which lead to a pay raise or can help advance a deputies career. if you're a sergeant in room tenant, working homicide, these are how you repay positions is a lot of money deputies all right now making $250000.00. so what does that tell you? it's house meet that it pays to be a deputy game rubber. we asked shirt villanueva's office about this, but they did not respond directly and touted his policy prohibiting clicks, sheriffs, the in a way of a is a symptom. but the cause is much older than him. 50 years of deputy gangs in los angeles county is a failure at every level from every are of los angeles county government. which is
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why we are where will you are right now with an out of control problem. but it can be tackled if they would simply release the information about who is affiliated. he didn't deserve what happened to him. okay, we were not able to independently verify of deputy rojas, and for as are part of the banditos. and the attorneys did not respond to questions . we sent them the people that murdered him don't deserve to be in the street. what we do know is since the shooting of anthony vargas, they were promoted to training officers, putting them in a position of power over new deputies. and in december 2019 deputy perez, and another officer shot and killed a 25 year old man in east los angeles. it gives us a rage because these are people that were supposed to be here to protect. and sir,
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i wanna know who are they protecting other than themselves? who are they serving the sheriffs that actually killed my son? are still in our community. we've all seen them. sheriffs drive by in front of our house after they murdered my nephew and face no consequence. we now know what they're capable of. all my family has been wearing body cameras now, so that if anything should happen, we have everything documented. we've lived our entire lives in east. i'll lay there are gangs harry. now we're not afraid of the gangs in the streets where more on the lookout for the gangs with the badges. my family comes out every week. sometimes they come out 3 times a week. just to make sure you know that the tree can grow nice and healthy. if man,
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thank you all. i missile my crazy the vargas family is determined to take their case to trial. being able to look those officers in the face to have other people judged them the way they judged. my son is what we want. we can walk away with not getting a penny and we're fine with it. okay, so eve are here today for our special meeting on deputy gangs in los angeles sheriff's department did the special meeting is an effort for us for us to really try to hear from of with there are ongoing investigations into gangs within the los angeles sheriff's department so he really was one of them is by the civilian oversight commission. out of your business at all. my nephew, anthony was 21. when he was executed by 2 yeast alisha deputies who chose to target
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and murder him as an entryway into the deputy gang known as a banditos, instead of being held accountable, the deputies are being rewarded, eradicate deputy gangs. thank you. pam. we've been doing this for 3 years. i give it to the race for year, everything out. so it becomes part of a grieving process for us. we want anthony story to get out there because we want other people to take the strength. how many times have you seen a person in a gang related shooting? get shot, 13 times. people need to start rising up in our communities and speaking on what's going on here because we need to take our feet back and away from these criminals. nothing in this world that we can do is going to bring back my son. but i'll be damned if my son's life is gonna be in me. i'm going to fight hard to make sure that this doesn't happen to another family.
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i'm aah! along with a 74 years after that and a permanent displacement of more than 700000 palestinians a year long from the bombing. although dizzy was offices in the gaza store. and in the week that network journalist sharyn abbot was killed in the occupied west bank . we examined the situation in palestine in a one hour special program. joiners on all jazeera
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facing longer hours and shorter deadlines. south korean delivery drivers are literally being worked to death. one 0 one, east explorer, the dock side of consumer convenience and south korea on al jazeera use from al jazeera on the go and me tonight out is there is, oh me, mobile app. is that the you? this is where we dissects, analyze, to find thing, and i guess from out is there is a mobile app available in your favorite app. still just set for it and tapped. i made a new app from audi. 0 mean, i don't think it moved in hebron boys breathe and fly pigeons. but in this occupied palestinian city boys are also close to watched vice really forces at times shots and often arrested. a
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delicately told tale filmed over 5 years of a coming of age in a place where even a child's imagination is heavily restricted. the skies above hebron, a witness documentary on a j 0. ah we regret the intrusion to what should have been a peaceful procession. me said response from the white house calling shores of condemnation after the israeli attack on morning during the funeral found. is there a jealous rain, a black lane? ah. hello, i money in sight. this is out there live from.
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