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THE BAY BRIDGE SERIES ALL TIED UP WINE DOCTOR Fassero helps Giants even Ernest Bates: series with Brain surgeon, Oakland C1 vintner, pioneer D1 MAY 22, 2005 . SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA $1.25

Sunny and warm Santa Rosa | High: 85 Low: 46 SONOMA JAZZ + Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Bodega Bay | High: 63 Low: 50 Details, Page B8 Mavis Staples headline the 3-day festival Q AHARDER EDGE TO GANG VIOLENCE

As Sonoma County gangs TEEN AT A CROSSROADS become more entrenched, bloodshed more common By JEREMY HAY THEPRESSDEMOCRAT n a May evening in 2003, a group of Asian Boyz Crips, Oaged 15 to 20 and wearing blue, drove to Rohnert Park looking for their rivals, the LOK, or Loked Out Khmer Bloods. They found them, four young men also aged 15 to 20, wearing red and playing bas- ketball at Sunrise Park. Fists, feet, sticks and broken beer bottles were wielded in a fight that lasted only a few min- utes. Finally, a 9mm handgun was fired. INSIDE Roeun Kloat, an XXXX XXX 18-year-old XXXX XXXXX LOK member, Vvg dgvvdfkghf was shot in Judy vf vfgv fgvf fvgf the abdomen Lampee fv fjvf fv f / A12 and died at Nb bdvdfgkvd BREAKDOWN Santa Rosa jfbn fhkbf f jf fjhvf OF GANGS Memorial Hos- fvff fgvfjhf fjhvfjhf A list of some pital. fjhvf ffjhf fhfguhg of county’s Kloat lived fvgfdvdfhkgv. gangs / A12 his short life in a slice of Sonoma County society in which gang culture is at once more widespread and more entrenched, where violence is more commonplace and increasingly serious. The violence often is more public, too. It erupted in gather- ing spots like Sunrise Park and more recently at Santa Rosa Plaza, where two shots were fired through a door at Sears in January. Last weekend, a 25-year-old man was shot in the leg on a South Park street, apparently by gang members who mistook him for a rival, police said. Although the number of gang members appears to be holding steady, police and prosecutors say their caseloads are growing as gangs cleave into new factions, fostering rival- Hopes, concerns ries that spur more violence. Trauma surgeons are treating more stabbing and shooting raised by study of victims. The number of homicides and other serious crimes involving gang members is ris- breast-cancer pill ing. “The nature of our gang cas- JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat By ROB STEIN es has changed,” said Chris- Eric Rodriguez, 17, got the tattoo of the Angelino Heights gang in 2002 after he was shot in the face during an WASHINGTONPOST TURN TO GANGS, PAGE A13 altercation with a rival gang. Rodriguez is under house arrest after spending three months in juvenile detention. WASHINGTON — Neva Hart’s mother, grandmother and aunt all battled breast cancer. SIGNS OF THE TIMES So when Hart heard about an experiment test- ing a pill that might protect women like her IN THE COURTS ‘I just don’t know what I want’ from the malignancy, she jumped at the chance Prosecutions of serious gang crimes to volunteer. have nearly doubled in the past half-dozen years. his teenage years, helped shape his identity and “I wish science could find something aside Once he’s free from house arrest, nearly cost him his life, will again beckon. from chopping off parts of the body to fight this ON THE STREETS That, too, Rodriguez knows. disease,” said Hart, 57, of Wirtz, Va. “I decided Gangs are blamed for a growing Eric Rodriguez says he’ll be torn between What he doesn’t know is how he will respond. to donate my body so people might not have to percentage of Santa Rosa homicides. go through that kind of torture.” From 1991 through 1997, 27 percent a fresh start and a return to his gang “Sometimes I want to go back,” he said. “Some- times I want to make a life. Make a life with my girl- The study that Hart joined and a similar one of the homicides involved gang By JEREMY HAY members as either victims or suspects friend and my son and get out.” based in Europe are raising hope that a new or both. From 1998 through this THEPRESSDEMOCRAT His mother, Jovita Rodriguez, 38, a Head Start class of drugs may offer women at high risk of month, that number has grown to hursday will come and Eric Rodriguez will teacher, can’t imagine what more she could have breast cancer a safe way to protect themselves. 58 percent. turn 18. His house arrest, which has con- done in the past four years to steer her son from the But the experiments also raise thorny questions about whether the potential benefits out- IN THE E.R. fined him 24 hours a day for the final life he chose to lead. weigh the risks. At Memorial Hospital’s trauma center, Tweeks of a three-month juvenile hall sen- “He wants to change,” she said, sounding hopeful. patients with penetrating wounds — tence, is set to end that day. “He has a good heart.” “Studies like this raise serious ethical is- shootings and stabbings — rose from These things he knows. His father, Victor Rodriguez, 39, blames himself sues,” said Michael Grodin, a bioethicist at the 45 in 2000 to 96 in 2004. The gangs and violence and drugs that have ruled TURN TO CROSSROADS, PAGE A13 TURN TO CANCER, PAGE A10

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THE BAY BRIDGE SERIES ALL TIED UP WINE DOCTOR Fassero helps Giants even Ernest Bates: series with Brain surgeon, Oakland C1 vintner, pioneer D1 MAY 22, 2005 . SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA $1.25

As Sonoma County gangs TEEN AT A CROSSROADS become more entrenched, compassion bloodshed more common By JEREMY HAY 60-year-old dedicated her life to helping THEPRESSDEMOCRAT people like driver accused of killing her n a May evening in 2003, a group of By JOSE L. SANCHEZ Jr. Asian Boyz Crips, THEPRESSDEMOCRAT Oaged 15 to 20 and The 60-year-old Sebastopol woman who died wearing blue, drove to Rohnert Friday when a suicidal driver on the wrong Park looking for their rivals, side of the road slammed into her, dedicated the LOK, or Loked Out Khmer her life to helping troubled people like the wom- Bloods. an accused of killing her. They found them, four Judy Lampee was on her way to the Shiloh young men also aged 15 to 20, halfway house she co-founded in Windsor when wearing red and playing bas- her car was struck head-on by a woman police ketball at Sunrise Park. said was driving recklessly Fists, feet, sticks and broken and likely under the influence beer bottles were wielded in a of drugs. fight that lasted only a few min- Leslie Ann Gomez, 43, of utes. Finally, a 9mm handgun Windsor, remained in Sono- was fired. ma County Jail on Saturday, INSIDE Roeun held without bail on suspicion Kloat, an MOORLAND of murder and driving under 18-year-old the influence of drugs. GANG TIES LOK member, Neighborhood Even as they grieved for was shot in Lampee, her family expressed Judy has long history the abdomen Lampee of violence / A12 forgiveness for Gomez. and died at “The woman involved with Since 1980, BREAKDOWN Santa Rosa this accident was the type of she has helped OF GANGS Memorial Hos- person my mother had a heart seniors, homeless, A list of some pital. for,” her daughter, Shawna troubled teens of county’s Kloat lived Lampee, said Saturday. “I’m and drug addicts. gangs / A12 his short life very upset, but I know that in a slice of my mom would be 100 percent forgiving, so I Sonoma County society in am 100 percent forgiving for this lady,” Lampee which gang culture is at once said. more widespread and more en- Gomez told police she intentionally drove on trenched, where violence is the wrong side of the road and struck the on- more commonplace and in- coming car. The crash occurred about 1:20 p.m. creasingly serious. at a curve on Shiloh Road. The violence often is more Gomez appeared to be under the influence of public, too. It erupted in gather- a stimulant, probably methamphetamine, said ing spots like Sunrise Park Windsor Police Sgt. Ed Hoener. and more recently at Santa Lampee was a sociologist who had been work- Rosa Plaza, where two shots ing at Santa Rosa Junior College as a lecturer were fired through a door at Sears in January. and activity leader at senior citizen facilities in Last weekend, a 25-year-old Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. man was shot in the leg on a She also had served as director of the Sebasto- South Park street, apparently pol Senior Center for 15 years. by gang members who mistook In 1980, Lampee was “saved,” said her hus- him for a rival, police said. TURN TO FATAL, PAGE A10 Although the number of gang members appears to be holding steady, police and prosecutors say their caseloads are growing as gangs cleave into new factions, fostering rival- Hopes, concerns ries that spur more violence. Trauma surgeons are treating more stabbing and shooting raised by study of victims. The number of homicides and other serious crimes involving gang members is ris- breast-cancer pill ing. “The nature of our gang cas- JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat By ROB STEIN es has changed,” said Chris- Eric Rodriguez, 17, got the tattoo of the Angelino Heights gang in 2002 after he was shot in the face during an WASHINGTONPOST TURN TO GANGS, PAGE A13 altercation with a rival gang. Rodriguez is under house arrest after spending three months in juvenile detention. WASHINGTON — Neva Hart’s mother, grandmother and aunt all battled breast cancer. SIGNS OF THE TIMES So when Hart heard about an experiment test- ing a pill that might protect women like her IN THE COURTS ‘I just don’t know what I want’ from the malignancy, she jumped at the chance Prosecutions of serious gang crimes to volunteer. have nearly doubled in the past 6 years. his teenage years, helped shape his identity and “I wish science could find something aside Once he’s free from house arrest, nearly cost him his life, will again beckon. from chopping off parts of the body to fight this ON THE STREETS That, too, Rodriguez knows. disease,” said Hart, 57, of Wirtz, Va. “I decided Gangs are blamed for a growing Eric Rodriguez says he’ll be torn between What he doesn’t know is how he will respond. to donate my body so people might not have to percentage of Santa Rosa homicides. go through that kind of torture.” From 1991 through 1997, 27 percent a fresh start and a return to his gang “Sometimes I want to go back,” he said. “Some- times I want to make a life. Make a life with my girl- The study that Hart joined and a similar one of the homicides involved gang By JEREMY HAY members as either victims or suspects friend and my son and get out.” based in Europe are raising hope that a new or both. From 1998 through this THEPRESSDEMOCRAT His mother, Jovita Rodriguez, 38, a Head Start class of drugs may offer women at high risk of month, that number has grown to hursday will come and Eric Rodriguez will teacher, can’t imagine what more she could have breast cancer a safe way to protect themselves. 58 percent. turn 18. His house arrest, which has con- done in the past four years to steer her son from the But the experiments also raise thorny questions about whether the potential benefits out- IN THE E.R. fined him 24 hours a day for the final life he chose to lead. weigh the risks. At Memorial Hospital’s trauma center, Tweeks of a three-month juvenile hall sen- “He wants to change,” she said, sounding hopeful. patients with penetrating wounds — tence, is set to end that day. “He has a good heart.” “Studies like this raise serious ethical is- shootings and stabbings — rose from These things he knows. His father, Victor Rodriguez, 39, blames himself sues,” said Michael Grodin, a bioethicist at the 45 in 2000 to 96 in 2004. The gangs and violence and drugs that have ruled TURN TO CROSSROADS, PAGE A13 TURN TO CANCER, PAGE A10

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THE PRESS DEMOCRAT . SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2005 GANG VIOLENCE A13

with what are known as gang condi- GANGS: Battle for tions, barring them from associating with gang members or displaying gang colors, according to Probation notoriety can start Department figures. “Everybody is sensitive to the level cycle of violence of violence our kids are capable of,” CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 said Robert Ochs, deputy chief probation officer for Sonoma County. “This tine Cook, a deputy district attorney is not just boys will be boys. It’s not with the gang prosecution unit. “We petty stuff.” have a lot more multiple-defendant at- The department — which last year tempted murders, serious assaults began arming its two gang-case proba- and violent assaults than we did just tion officers — has a juvenile caseload a few years ago.” of 600 to 700 clients at any one time, For instance: Ochs said. Ç Prosecutions of serious gang One measure of how entrenched crimes have nearly doubled in the gang life may be becoming is found in past half-dozen years. Cook’s unit CalGang, the statewide gang informa- prosecuted 95 serious crimes and tion database. Under federal law, a 162 defendants during a three-year pe- person’s name must be purged from riod ending in June 2003. In the next the database if they have no contact 32 months, the numbers jumped to with law enforcement for five years. 162 cases and 286 defendants. As of April, of 3,250 Sonoma County Ç Gangs are blamed for a higher gang members currently listed on Cal- share of Santa Rosa homicides. From Gang, 930 had been listed for more 1991 through 1997, 27 percent of the 37 than five years, Sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis homicides in the city involved gang Smiley said. members as either victims or sus- Of those currently listed, 430 have pects or both. From 1998 through this been in the database since 1997, said month, 58 percent of the 26 homicides Smiley, who heads the department’s involved gang members. criminal intelligence unit. Ç Medical records also reflect ris- Where the gangs settle, violence of- ing violence. At Santa Rosa Memorial ten follows. Hospital’s trauma center, the number Countywide, the state collected re- of patients with penetrating wounds ports of 256 people aged 14 to 25 who — shootings and stabbings — rose Photos by JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat were hospitalized from 1996 through from 45 in 2000 to 96 in 2004. Santa Rosa Police Officer Rick Kohut holds a flashlight to the face of a suspected norteño gang member at the 7-Eleven on Steele 2003 because they’d been violently as- “The gang violence is probably at Lane so the victim of an assault could identify his attacker. Police say three norteños attacked a sureño gang member. saulted — an average of about 3.7 as- least 30 percent of our penetrating saults per 1,000 people. wounds,” said Brian Schmidt, chief tions are norteños and sureños; both In that same eight-year period, surgeon at the hospital’s trauma cen- primarily Latino and each an umbrel- 48 people ages 14 to 25 in the 95407 ZIP ter, where the medical staff asked for la for many smaller gang “sets.” code — which includes most of south- a briefing from gang investigators af- The two gangs attained roughly west Santa Rosa and the neighbor- ter seeing a big spike in serious inju- equal numbers early this decade, as hoods of Roseland and Moorland — ries in 2002. immigration swelled the ranks of were intentionally shot, stabbed or The roots of the gangs run deep: sureños. That parity has led to a more beaten, a rate of about 9 in 1,000, a Nearly a third of the known Sonoma sustained level of violence, gang inves- Press Democrat analysis found. County gang members have been on a tigators say. In the 95492 ZIP code that takes in state gang list for at least five years. “They consider themselves to be at Windsor — where Dylan Katz, 16, was Several factors contribute to the war with one another,” said Santa beaten nearly to death in 1996 by gang growing intensity of gang rivalries Rosa Police detective Robert Scott, a members from the West Side Windsor and the increasingly violent conflicts, gang investigator since 2001. sureños who mistook his red sweat- say police, probation officers and in- Norteño gangs have been in the shirt for a sign of norteño affiliation tervention workers. county for at least 20 years. There are — 22 people between ages 14 and 25 “The numbers haven’t really 1,400 to 1,800 members, most locally- were intentionally shot, stabbed or changed a lot, but it’s become more born Latinos, although many are beaten from 1996 through 2003, the mature,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Lorenzo white and a lesser number are Afri- state data shows. Duenas, who heads the county’s Multi- can-American, American Indian or That’s about 7 per 1,000, the Press Agency Gang Task Force. Asian, Duenas said. Democrat analysis shows. “Before, I’d say they were trying to Police estimates of the number of “The issue is the youth,” said Due- find their way, establish their identi- sureño gang members — typically re- nas, who grew up in Roseland and ties, and now they’re farther along cent immigrants from Mexico and now helps police his old neighbor- and they’re playing hardball,” Duenas elsewhere in Latin America — grew hood. “The violators are becoming said. from about 200 in 1991 to between younger and they’re more willing to Rafael Vasquez is a gang preven- 1,400 and 1,500 today. The seven-fold A task force meets to discuss strategy for a search on a house containing gang be more violent, and they’re more apt tion counselor who grew up in west increase took place as the county’s members suspected in a drive-by shooting in the South Park area of Santa Rosa. to use weapons.” Santa Rosa. He is often a critic of po- Latino population nearly doubled to Among the group that went looking lice tactics, saying teenagers from 80,000 over the 1990s. There are about 200 known Asian said in the hallway, according to for rivals in Rohnert Park that May poorer communities are too quickly Vasquez believes fractured relation- gang members in the county, most in court documents. 2003 evening was a high school stu- labeled as gang members. ships between economically-pressed Santa Rosa, with the Asian Boyz In 2004, a 17-year-old who claimed dent named Yai Phanchanh. But on this point, he is in agree- immigrant parents and children grow- Crips outnumbering LOK. Each has to be a founding member of LOK was He had no prior criminal record, ment with Duenas. ing up in a foreign culture are a ma- ties to nationwide Asian crime gangs, paralyzed in a drive-by shooting, the but was a documented member of the “It’s all about sending messages,” jor factor pushing many teenagers and each gang also clashes with fourth to target his Campbell Drive Asian Boyz Crips. He was 16 when he he said. into gang life. sureños, Scott said. home. shot Roeun Kloat at Sunrise Park. The battle for notoriety takes place “I think it’s one of the greatest prob- The Asian gangs’ enmity led to A troublingly large number of gang He was 17 in 2004, when he was sen- against a backdrop of crime that in- lems I find when working with my Kloat’s slaying and has grown be- members in the county are teenagers, tenced to 25 years to life in prison for cludes drug dealing, robberies, bur- community, the Latino community,” cause of it, Scott said. police say. the murder. glaries and auto theft, which often pro- he said. “And when a child turns 13 In September 2003, at a preliminary Of 3,250 Sonoma County residents voke their own violent encounters, or so, there is a sense of being lost.” hearing for the Kloat murder trial, in a statewide law enforcement gang News researcher Teresa Meikle gang investigators say. The county’s gang atmosphere has friends of an LOK member involved database, 851, or 26 percent are 19 or contributed data analysis and news Immigration has distinctly influ- intensified as Asian gangs — mostly in the deadly fight threatened two younger. And 2,323, or 71 percent, are researcher Michelle Van Hoeck also enced how Sonoma County’s gang Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodians women and a child, family members between 20 and 28. contributed to this report. You can reach presence has developed. from refugee families — have grown of the Asian Boyz’ defendants. From March 2004 to March 2005, 267 Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or The county’s two largest gang fac- and developed their own rivalries. “Kill ‘em, Kill ‘em,” the young men juveniles were ordered onto probation [email protected]. CROSSROADS:‘It made me feel like, if anyone messes with me, they’re going to back me up’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 street gang he’s hung with since he mother said. staying away from the life altogether. was 14. I kept on thinking The family, growing desperate, “I would just try to kick back, not for working too many long days at “ The beginning moved again, to its current home in do any crimes,” he said. “It would the Petaluma chicken farm where he to myself that in north Santa Rosa, and sent Eric to only last a few weeks.” is a supervisor, for spending too little At the start of it all, his family live with Victor Rodriguez’s parents His friends asked him: “What are time with his son. lived in Roseland, on Sunset Avenue. another minute I’ll in Guadalajara, Mexico. you going to do about it?” “I had to start staying away, and It was a rough neighborhood but one There were a lot of girls there, and So for a time he carried a gun and that’s when, I assume, I lost him,” he they could afford, Jovita Rodriguez be dead and I won’t he liked his grandparents, liked work- looked for whoever it was that shot said. said. ing as a cook at his uncle’s restau- him. He didn’t find him; nor have the He and his wife immigrated sepa- She shook her head. Eric blames be here. I’ve never rant. But he was told he’d have to police, and the case remains open. rately from Mexico three decades ago. the neighborhood, she said, but she stay back a year in school, and he The bullet that still causes Rodrigu- They met at a dance in Guerneville, and Victor tried. They don’t drink; been so scared.” worried he’d fall behind his friends. ez to get headaches also elevated his and have since climbed from rural they don’t smoke; they tried hard. ERIC RODRIGUEZ He was 15 when he returned to Santa status with the gang, saving him the poverty into a solid working class “I used to talk to them,” she said On the 2002 shooting that left Rosa. trouble of getting jumped in. His life, into a two-story home and mort- about her children. “I would check up a .22-caliber bullet lodged in his sinus He no longer lived in Moorland. friends told him, “That’s it, you’re al- gage in north Santa Rosa. on them. They played soccer with But it was still his neighborhood, he ready from the ‘hood,” he said. They have five children and Eric is their dad.” Middle School for fighting the same said. Angelino Heights was still his ‘I have hope’ their second son, the troubled center His parents always were working, gang. of a storm that has consumed so said Rodriguez. He was bored and year the family bought a house off Gangs, drugs, violence. He stayed Moorland Avenue. His parents began “After two months he started get- much of their hearts and minds. wanted out. ting back with his friends,” his moth- in the life. He was violent at home. They are willing to talk about their Don’t go across the street, his moth- accompanying him to his counseling Last year, he and his 16-year-old girl- sessions for drug abuse and anger er said. She and Victor attended troubles, they said, because perhaps er said. But his father said, “He’s get- parenting classes, “for weeks and friend had a son and named him An- something can come of them. ting older, let him grow up, have management. gel. Eric came home late and chal- He resisted the counseling — “it ir- weeks.” Torn between family, gang more freedom.” “I think I did more than I was sup- lenged his father to fights, frightening He was 12 and playing soccer on a ritated me,” he said — but the move his mother. His sisters cried. His par- Eric Rodriguez has a shaved head, was good for his aspirations as a gang posed to do,” she said. “We did a lot Roseland field — he was a good play- to help him, and it’s been working ents’ marriage grew strained. His old- chestnut brown eyes and when he er back then, he said — and some old- member. er brother grew angry at the disrup- smiles, which is frequently, a look of He’d avoided getting “jumped in” to with my other kids, but not with er gang members, from VSL, a long- him.” tions. surprise steals over his face. He has a time sureño set, asked to join in. VSL — the initiation rite of being Time and again, Victor Rodriguez gang tattoo covering one brawny tri- “It was like, ‘OK,’ ” Rodriguez re- beaten by gang members to gain full- Shot in the face called 911, filed assault charges cep and, since a rival gang member called. “We were hanging out. They fledged status — because his eyes It was July 9, 2002, and Rodriguez against his son, sent him back to juve- shot him in 2002, he has had a .22-cali- started smoking weed with us and were on Angelino Heights, which had and two friends had been driving nile hall. ber bullet lodged in his sinus cavity. next thing you know, I was claiming” staked out Moorland in the early around Roseland, spray-painting “I explained to Eric a lot of times, I “I kept on thinking to myself that — responding “VSL,” when asked 1990s. “Varrio AH” in the streets around prefer to see in (him) jail than to see in another minute I’ll be dead and I who he was with. “I got recruited in and I felt they Sunset Avenue. On West Avenue, (him) die,” the father said. “Believe won’t be here,” he said, recalling that were harder than any other gang,” he they saw some girls by the roadside me, before I make the decision, I dis- night. “I’ve never been so scared.” Little steps said. “If they had a problem they and started talking with them. cuss with my wife. And I cry to my- But when Thursday comes, he still He started going to parties, started could handle it. They kept their word Rodriguez, in the back seat and self. I don’t want to do this thing.” will be torn between the gang that wearing blue, the color that sureños about what they said they would do.” wearing a blue jersey, saw a car Thursday will come. “I have hope,” made him happier than his family claim. “Little by little, I started car- He started “putting in work” for parked across the road and guessed it he said. did, and the knowledge that if he re- ing about gangs,” he said. the gang, earning stripes that would was a rival. Eric Rodriguez misses fighting, turns to it he may end up dead or be- “It made me feel like, if anyone qualify him to get jumped in: “Crimes Rival gang shouts were exchanged: misses the feeling he gets when fists hind bars. messes with me, they’re going to back against rivals, fighting, just like shoot- “Norte.” “Sur Trece.” “Angelino are swinging. “I think I just want to get out of me up,” he said. ings, just stuff like that.” Heights.” Whoever his opponent, he said, this gang stuff, just get totally out of Not gangs, his mother thought, it The rules were simple, he said. For “I thought we were going to fight,” whether he knows his name or not, it,” he said. “But at the same time, I couldn’t be. She didn’t believe it at a sureño who saw a norteño, “it was he said. “Let me out,” he told his “I’m just taking out all my anger on don’t want to leave my friends, leave first. mandatory, go and challenge him.” friends. Then a bullet shattered the him. I used to like that rush.” my gang. I just don’t know what I But the signs were clear. And he started using methamphet- window. It tore into his face just be- Maybe, he said, he’ll finish high want for myself sometimes.” “I noticed right away he was differ- amine. “I’m really addicted to it,” he tween his nose and the corner of his school somewhere and get a job; he’s Indecision rules his days as he ent,” she said. “He was angry, he was said. “If I use it I won’t stop until I get left eye. interested in construction. And dur- waits for Thursday, for freedom and going with them and coming home arrested or something bad happens.” Rodriguez turned on the car’s over- ing his last stay in juvenile hall, “I all its uncertainties. late.” As they had in Roseland, his par- head light, he said, and, “I could see told my dad I loved him, because I He’s removed the three dots that She refused to buy him blue ents got to know the Moorland streets my blood squirting out like a hose.” haven’t told him that for a long time.” once were tattooed on his left hand clothes. He’d bring them home; she’d as they tried to keep him safe, rein He called his mother from the car, Victor Rodriguez still smiles when and signified his sureño loyalties. throw them out. She and Victor him in. screaming that he’d been shot. he talks about his son. But his upper left arm still carries “would go out and look for him in the “He used to go with his friends and “I told her I loved her,” said Rod- “Eric is special,” he said. “It’s more the “VAh” tattoo that tells of his mem- bad streets at night.” I used to go looking for him, knock- riguez, who left the hospital vowing important, the family, than the job. bership in Angelino Heights, the Rodriguez was expelled from Cook ing on doors in really bad areas,” his to be more careful, thinking about That’s what I’m learning now.”

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A12 GANG VIOLENCE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT . SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2005 SIZINGUPGANGS History of deep-rooted violence Gangs are a fluid and elusive slice of Sonoma County society. Their names and the numbers of their members change frequently, as different loosely knit alliances appear But she knows too well the atmo- and disappear. Moorland neighborhood’s sphere in which the animosities But police have identified a number with a consistent gang ties have death grip underlying it were nurtured. influence and presence in the county’s gang scene. For the “It’s what gangs do to people,” most part, investigators say, Sonoma County gangs attach on inhabitants, their families she said. “It makes you violent, it themselves to identities not territories, but in some cases makes you want more power and the locations each tend to cluster around are identified. it makes you feel safe in a way.” By JEREMY HAY The gangs’ criminal activities vary, police say. For example, She remembers the day her THEPRESSDEMOCRAT white-power gangs focus on crimes such as vehicle theft 13-year-old son was jumped in the and property crimes, while much of the crime involving the t Santa Rosa’s southern street for his brand new red 49ers edge, amid the everyday rival norteños and sureños is violence toward other gang sweatshirt, a color the norteños members. All are involved in drug sales, police say. routines of the Moorland claim. Aneighborhood, the enmi- Soon he was rolling with Angeli- WHITE-POWER GANGS ties and violence that suffuse gang no Heights. life carry across the years. Engaged mostly in home invasions, drug sales and “His explanation was so that he property crimes: They echo down streets like Nev- could feel safer in the neighbor- Nazi Low Riders: 20 to 30 members; ties to prison ille Court, where Rogelio Bautista hood, because he had the gang to gangs; mostly in Santa Rosa lived in a concrete-floored room off back him up,” she said. a garage; down streets like Bar- Linda Gonzalez, 19, Lawson’s Barbarian Brotherhood: about 30 members around bara Drive, where the 16-year-old daughter, knows that feeling, but Sonoma County was shot dead on New Year’s Eve. from the street’s other side. It’s a neighborhood of short “I was out running the streets NORTEÑO GANGS streets, many without sidewalks, here. I was gang banging too,” she A presence in the county for at least two decades. The of ranch houses with faded paint said. membership is mostly locally born Latinos, but includes jobs and a few apartment complex- whites, blacks, American Indians and Asians. The JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat Now, with two children of her es crammed between the old North- Friends of Rogelio Bautista, 16, hold a vigil at his home on Moorland Avenue in estimated 1,400 to 1,800 members, divided chiefly among: western Pacific Railroad tracks own, she wants that past to stay in Santa Rosa. Bautista was shot and killed by gang members on New Year’s Eve. the past. When her cousins’ trial is VSRN, or Varrio Santa Rosa Norte: The oldest and Highway 101, just south of the Sonoma County norteño gang, with about 300 members Corby Avenue auto dealers. done, she said, she’s moving away, to Virginia. around Sonoma County It once was norteño territory, ac- rocks to attack the house across lived two blocks away, was on pro- cording to neighborhood lore. the street where one of her neph- bation for a gang-related offense “I’m going to be 20, and I’m VSP: 80 to 100 members, South Park area of Santa Rosa Then a man — whom some call ews was hanging out with friends. but, citing his age, won’t say if he scared to walk down the street,” Pachucos Locos: 70 to 100 members; Santa Rosa It was, Lawson said, just one in was an active gang member. she said. “That’s so embarrassing. Mike and others Mickey — moved NX4: 50 to 75 members, Santa Rosa up from Los Angeles in the 1990s, a string of conflicts that sureños In Moorland, there seems little I’m scared to walk down the and a gang named Angelino have started with her extended doubt that he was. streets that I’ve been in forever.” V.O.P. or Valley Oak Posse: About 100 members who Heights took hold. family, which has long norteño “My son was in the same gang Her mother, listening nearby, are generally Latino or Eritrean, based on Northcoast The gang — whose “AHTS” graf- ties. Rogelio was in,” said Michelle laughed, shaking her head. Street, in Santa Rosa fiti is found around Moorland’s “It’s because we’re from here Southers, 51, who moved from Fort Bautista’s family, who have de- Barrios Cliques Norte: Cloverdale streets — is allied with the and they want to take it over. Bragg to Moorland in 1993, and nied his gang involvement, moved H-Town: Healdsburg, based largely along Grove Street That’s what it comes down to,” she now lives in the single-story, four- from the neighborhood in March. sureños. West Side Windsor: Windsor; members of this gang With sureños growing in num- said. “We’re the last northerners unit apartment house down the Gloria Lawson’s sister, the mother who are still here. All the others street from Lawson’s. of her jailed nephews, has moved were convicted of the 1996 attack in which 16-year-old ber, the norteños were pushed Dylan Katz was almost beaten to death aside. have moved out.” Her son has a baby boy named to Texas. More recently, it is said, some Whatever the truth of that night, after Rogelio, she said. The gang “It’s torn up our family,” Law- SUREÑO GANGS the persistent and increasingly vio- was Angelino Heights. son said. “It’s not like we don’t feel norteño families have moved back. Less organized than the norteños, according to police, lent reality of gangs in Sonoma Southers spent her son’s teenage for them, for the mother, but we And pushed back. having grown up faster and more recently. About 1,400 to County has textured life in Moor- years trying to keep him out of the think the wrong people are in jail.” So it goes, “generation to genera- 1,500 members around Sonoma County, who clustered tion,” said Gloria Lawson, who land for years. gang and failing, so instead, she One day in April, a memorial to said, “I worried all the time that along the Highway 101 corridor but also in the Sonoma from her front door can see the It shades Bautista’s death, the ar- Bautista was finally taken down Valley: driveway across the street where rests of Lawson’s nephews and the he would end up in jail or dead.” from the courtyard in front of Bautista died. stories people in the neighborhood Her son, whom she declined to Souther’s apartment. V.S.L., or Varrio Sureño Locos: about 300 to 400 She is 35, and says her “gang tell about what went down Dec. 31 identify, is now 25 and out of the When she turned 50, Southers remembers banging” days are over. The and why. life, she said. called later, her son threw her a W 9th Street Clique: an offshoot of V.S.L.; about 75 to norteño tattoo on her left forearm Two of Lawson’s nephews who Others on the street say he’s not. party. Rogelio Bautista came, she 100 members is covered with one of a tangled are charged in connection with Who is and who isn’t; what hap- said, and gave her a jewelry box. Rohnert Park Sureños rose, but she can still seem as hard- Bautista’s murder are norteños, pened to Bautista and what didn’t; He was a sweet kid, she said, Puro Sureño Cholos: about 300 to 400 members bitten as the Moorland streets prosecutors say: Dominic Nevarez, who is to blame and what will hap- and a gang member who led a life A.V.S., or Apple Valley Sureños where she was raised. 21, the alleged gunman, and Abra- pen next? that put him in danger, and in that She has a gravelly laugh and ham Gonzales, who faces attempt- In the months since Bautista way, she said, he shared in the re- ASIAN GANGS three nephews who are charged in ed-murder charges for allegedly fir- was shot, questions like these have sponsibility for his own death. About 200 members, based mostly in Santa Rosa and, to a connection with Bautista’s slaying. ing at the crowd that gathered. ricocheted along Barbara Drive. “Just being in a gang, of course lesser extent, Rohnert Park: She says someone else shot Bau- The third isn’t a gang member, ac- Southers doesn’t know the exact he did,” she said, “and so did ev- tista as he led a crowd of gang cording to prosecutors. chain of events that led to Bautis- eryone who recruited him. I hold Asian Boyz Crips: about 125 members members wielding bottles and Authorities say Bautista, who ta’s death. them responsible too.” L.O.K., or Loked Out Khmer: about 75 members

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