Yesterday's violent and fatal standoff between a man inside his home on Welby Way in Winnetka and the LAPD's SWAT team left five people dead, including 51-year-old SWAT Officer Randal Simmons and the gunman himself. Family and friends had unofficially identified the victims as being the Rivera family, and believed the gunman was 20-year-old Edwin, son of Gerardo ,54, who also was shot and killed. The coroner has officially confirmed those identities, as well as......

In El Salvador there are two prisons that are purely devoted to two gangs that originated in Los Angeles. How did this transnational network come about? Deportation for one. When a gang member serves a sentence in California and then deported to their home country, the gang business moves with them. Bruce Riordan, director of anti-gang operations in the LA city attorney's office told the New York Times that, "these gangs are the new......

Dear LAist, I just made a trip to a Liborio Market, and when I inspected my receipt I learned that tomorrow, June 3, from 10 AM to 8 PM, at the Liborio Market on 3rd and Alvarado (1831 W. 3rd), a Guiness World Record Pupusa will be created at "THE PUPUSA POWER" Thought you might want to alert the locals, just in case. please keep me anonymous Dear Anonymous Pupusa lover, Your name is......

400,000 Official reports are saying 250,000 immigration rights marchers showed up at City Hall and 400,000 walked down Wilshire Boulevard in yesterday's Day Without An Immigrant. Mayor Villaraigosa made a post-Quizno's lunch appearance (good thing he didn't try to dine in Pasadena or at Panda Express at UCLA — closed due to staffing shortages). There's a sign that immigration has either become a real issue for Angelenos or it's jumped the shark: The LA......

Decapitated antiheroes, suicide bombers and 12-year-old soldiers round out this weekend's indie and limited release picks. A History of Violence - Drama starring Viggo Mortensen, directed by David Cronenberg. In this screen adaptation of a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, Cronenberg explores how an act of heroism unexpectedly changes a man's life. [trailer | local showtimes] Capote - Drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Bennett Miller. Truman Capote believed fact......

So is this "war" between LA's most powerful Latino gang and the vigilante border patrol group actually happening? Minutemen organizer James Gilchrist claimed that Mara Salvatrucha was planning to go toe-to-toe with his team of Mexico-America border watchers because their efforts were going to limit their smuggling trade. With as many reporters there as there are minute men, we haven't heard anything about gun play and gang warfare. Mostly, there seems to be a......