This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
After several years of investigations and planning, the FBI announced today that 99 members of the Orange County street gang the Mexican Mafia were targeted and charged with a range of criminal activities, from racketeering to firearms distribution to murder.
The operation was carried out by over 500 federal agents and officers, and those charged include some gang members who were still on the streets as well as some who were already imprisoned for other crimes. Five federal indictments were handed down to collectively charge the defendants.
Many of those arrested claimed Costa Mesa as their territory, as part of the Forming Kaos gang, which has extensive ties and allegiances to the Mexican Mafia.
Known as one of the largest and most powerful Hispanic prison gangs in the state, the Mexican Mafia punishes members of other Hispanic gangs that don't acquiesce to their demands with physical violence, said the FBI in a statement.
In the same statement, John Torres, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division, had this to say:
"A dangerous criminal street gang has suffered a critical blow to its organization and to its ability to intimidate and extort residents in the Orange County area...Today’s operation has removed and insidious threat to the stability of our communities, and has sent a clear message to those individuals involved in gang activity that they will be pursued, prosecuted and removed from the very streets they seek to terrorize."
