Witnesses: Deputy gangs active in L.A. County Sheriff's Department

Deputy cliques continue to fester in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, witnesses told an oversight commission on Tuesday, describing how members of the internal gangs initiate work slowdowns to assert power and even deny backup to deputies who fail to fall in line.

The testimony, which included a current East Los Angeles station employee who spoke anonymously by telephone with a disguised voice, came in the first of what is expected to be a series of hearings by the Civilian Oversight Commission, which announced earlier this year a “full-scale investigation” into allegations of deputy gangs.

The anonymous employee told the panel a gang known as the Banditos still essentially runs the East Los Angeles station, despite Sheriff Alex Villanueva's insistence that he cleaned house at the station.

The witness said members of the group initiated a work slowdown as recently as last summer — essentially slowing response times to calls.

The witness also described actions members of the Banditos took against outsider deputies, saying they would be shunned publicly, with members and their supporters turning their backs to those who defied the organization. In some cases, member deputies would refuse to provide backup to outsider deputies in the field.

According to witnesses, roughly 12 to 15 deputies are tattooed members of the Banditos at the East L.A. Station, with another 10 to15 considered associates.

Sheriff's Lt. Larry Waldie, who conceded being a member of a group of deputies known as the Gladiators when he was a deputy at the Compton station, told the panel he had run-ins with a tattooed gang known as the Executioners when he became the station captain.

Waldie described how the Executioners launched a work slowdown in 2019 because he wouldn't assign a member of the gang or one of its supporters to the powerful position of scheduling deputy — who controlled where deputies were assigned and to which shifts.

Waldie confirmed statistics that showed an uptick in criminal activity in the station's coverage area during the shutdown.

Waldie also said members of the Executioners would hold celebrations in response to deputy shootings.

Villanueva was invited to attend the commission's meeting, but he did not appear.

Villanueva did tell ABC7 on Tuesday the hearing was a “political stunt” that allowed witnesses to testify without cross-examination. In the past, the sheriff has said that “not one deputy gang member has been identified.”

He has repeatedly downplayed the influence of socalled deputy cliques, saying discipline cannot be meted out solely because deputies have a particular tattoo — only if it leads to some type of criminal behavior.

He has also blasted the work of the Civilian Oversight Commission and Inspector General Max Huntsman, saying they are political pawns of county supervisors, who the sheriff has repeatedly clashed with over budget and policy matters.

The sheriff has said he cracked down on the Banditos presence in East Los Angeles as one of his first acts upon being sworn in. He told reporters he removed the station's leadership and about 30 deputies.

Retired sheriff's Cmdr. Eli Vera, now a candidate for Villanueva's post, challenged that assertion in his testimony Tuesday, saying none of the transfers from the station were forced.

Vera was demoted from a division chief to commander when he announced his candidacy for sheriff.