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The gunman claimed allegiance to the Avenues, a once-powerful gang that has lost its grip on the neighborhood in the last decade, and said Diaz and his group were was in its territory, the law enforcement source said. The suspects taken into custody were Avenues gang members, according to a source familiar with the arrests.
The Avenues gang, named for the avenues that cross Figueroa Street, has a long, ugly history dating back to at least the 1950s, when it was linked to many shootouts and killings. It is thought by some that the group’s origins can be traced back to some of the hundreds of families displaced from Chavez Ravine, now home to Dodger Stadium, and the Rose Hill area.
The group’s insignia, which many members have tattooed on their bodies, is a fedora-topped skull with a bullet hole in it. Various cliques claim Highland Park and parts of Cypress Park, Glassell Park and Eagle Rock as their territory. The gang is closely linked to the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which demands that the Avenues and other Eastside gangs send up a share of the taxes they collect from low-level drug dealers and others selling goods on their turf.
This gang is also notorious for its members committing brutal hate crimes, in fact the first time federal hate crime statutes were used against a street gang was against this gang. These hate crimes were incredibly brutal, but it is absolutely no surprise there was not as much outrage or attention paid to them as compared to other hate crimes.
The gang that is thought responsible for this shooting, the notorious Avenues gang, was also responsible for the execution of a sheriff's deputy in 2008.
Every single member of this gang should be treated like a terrorist. That's essentially what they are. Find out who they are and hunt them down and send them far far away forever.
Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti, at times fighting back tears, said many young people talk about becoming police officers but eventually pursue other professions. He thanked Diaz’s family for their sacrifice and dismissed the “what if” possibilities that led to Diaz’s fatal encounter. Diaz carried the wherewithal to do what was right when spotting something wrong, the mayor said.
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