A shift in gang tactics means drive-bys are giving way to walk-ups, observers say

March 27, 2015, 5 a.m.

Ricardo Nunez was trimming a tree outside his Echo Park home on a Sunday morning last month when a white truck pulled up and a person inside opened fire, killing the 35-year-old father.

Ray Martinez, the LAPD detective investigating the case, is seeing fewer such fatal drive-by shootings. When Martinez goes behind the yellow tape, he's more commonly working on cases where a gunman has walked straight up to the victim — a walk-up shooting.

As gang culture has become less overt, the killings have become more targeted — and at the same time more chilling.

"They get to see the whole reaction," Martinez said. "It seems more daring."

Jorja Leap, a UCLA anthropologist who studies gang culture, agreed. "In a walk-up, you see who you're killing," Leap said. "You're going to listen to what they say as you shoot them."

Fatal drive-by shooting statistics were not publicly available from the LAPD, and there are no recent national statistics. But Leap sees a shift in how gangs operate.

Once known for street intimidation, gang colors and the violence made famous in the movie "Boyz n the Hood," over the years black and Latino gangs have had truces to stop drive-by shootings. In 1993, the Mexican Mafia prison gang — known by police as "La Eme" — ordered thousands of Latino gang members to halt them.

In the 21st century, Leap said, gangs have become more strategic and focus more on criminal business enterprise — where the most money can be made.

"Drive-bys just don't work as well," she said. "When you do a drive-by, that's where you have the greatest sense of inaccuracy.

"Gangs want to survive," she added, "and gangs want to put their work in."

A high-profile shooting can taint their business dealings.

"Nobody is going to buy dope from them; everybody is going to stay away from them when the police are all over them," Martinez said.

He pointed to a 2007 shooting in which a 23-day-old boy was struck and killed after gang members targeted a street vendor who refused to pay a $50 "rent" near MacArthur Park. Luis Garcia was in his stroller when he was shot. The last of seven gang members convicted in the crime was sentenced in 2013 to life in prison without parole.

Funeral for Luis Angel Garcia in 2007

Eight years later, the area around where Luis Garcia was killed remains dominated by Latino gangs — the largest being 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13.

But gang activities have shifted away from violent wars over turf and drugs, said Sgt. Frank Banuelos, a gang supervisor with the Rampart Division, where Nunez was killed. Now they sell fake government documents, conduct robberies or collect taxes on drugs or on goods sold by street vendors.

MS-13 operates what police call "casitas" — after-hours parties where men go to buy drugs and have sex with prostitutes. Still, violence is not completely avoidable: Two people were killed outside a casita in 2013.

Leap, the anthropologist, says gang members want to avoid long prison sentences, so they target each other.

"It's ultimately a statement about the value of all of their lives," she said. "Outside lives have more value."

Still, the days of drive-bys are not over. Last week, two men in a gold sedan opened fire on South Rampart Boulevard, hitting a 57-year-old woman who was shopping for groceries. A gang member was the intended target. The woman, who was shot in the leg, is expected to survive.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

Photos: (Top) In 2007, a 6-year-old Joey Pacheco places a candle at a memorial while a TV news reporter films a segment in Westlake, where an infant died in a drive-by shooting. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times. (Bottom) Pallbearers wait with the casket of 23-day-old Luis Angel Garcia in 2007. He was killed when gang members targeted a street vendor. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

21 reader comments

Old news. Gangs have essentially "banned" drive-bys for years. They often miss their intended target or mistake the wrong person for the target, and they often kill and injure innocent bystanders (this is also because of the cheaper round nosed FMJ rounds gangsters usually use. They can pass through the target and continue causing damage to others). This causes public backlash against the gangs, bring more heat from authorities, and like the article says, leads to greater jail sentences. Gang vs. gang. violence is not punished nearly as harshly as gang vs. citizen.

One commenter said the gangs aren't thinking about prison sentence lengths. The knuckleheads doing the work may not be, but those at the top certainly are. Long sentences cause gang structure to fall apart. When a lower level member is threatened with a heavy sentence, they're more likely to turn on fellow members and cooperate with law enforcement. The lengthy drug sentences may have ruined many relatively good people's lives, but they're also how police picked apart the Cosa Nostra. It's the same outcome they're trying to avoid with walk-ups.

On top of that, it's a better way to vet young up n' comers. It takes far less cunning, guts, and ruthlessness to fire out of a moving window at a target you only get a glimpse of and doesn't have time to fire back. To walk up to someone and kill them, where you can look them in the eyes and witness the consequences of your violence, that takes a certain kind of person.

Yes, there are still drive-bys, but they're either special situations where a walk-up seemed impossible or too risky, and there was low risk of collateral damage, or you're dealing with a situation where someone is breaking the rules, and will likely be reprimanded for it. Finally, there's people outside the gang culture who still may be in the criminal/drug world. They may not know or care about the rules set out by the elders.

In general, gangs have become far more concerned with making money and avoiding attention. The little street gangs might make a ruckus, but they still answer to the real powers above them. I live in a gang infested neighborhood, but aside from the tags, you wouldn't know they were there. The age of blatant tattoos and colors is slowly dying off. Often, when I do see someone covered in the gang tats of a bygone era, they're not even involved anymore.

— Rhino May 22, 2016 at 8:56 p.m.

Lorenzo, you miss the entire point of Reagan's actions. It was a cold war for the USA, but a WAR nonetheless. His goal was to defeat those who would import communism into our country. Race and class warfare were tools of the USSR in getting that in-road. The proxy wars were bound to have a ripple effect. Better a ripple than a wave. Could you imagine if we'd LOST the cold war? Where would Latin America be now? Electing their political freedoms? I doubt it.

Secondly, racism FROM Latin America is what worries me. They are not beholden to such quaint notions/restraints as political correctness. Attend any chapter of MEChA and you can see that. Economic opportunity is the answer. Reagan provided that like no one before, or since. White, black, or brown... a person with hope (economic, religious, etc) will not lash out at his fellow man, rather he will seek to help better his plight. More so, he'll do it without needing to be taxed by politicians who are really just following their own agendas. Today's divisive political climate coupled with race/class warfare is the problem. Give people a way to earn their own prosperity and they'll earn their own respect.

— Wilbur March 30, 2015 at 7:10 a.m.

La Eme has taken a page from the Italian Mafia by reducing their 'footprint' in criminal activities. It's much more profitable if law enforcement is less aware of La Eme's activities. With Mara Salvatrucha, this is an entirely different beast. The Salvadorian organization is 100% up in your face money or lead politics. Much of Mara Salvatrucha beginnings can be attributed to President Ronald Reagan's pathological desire to keep Central America from freely electing their own political freedoms. In my firm and honest opinion, President Reagan suborned terrorism and now it's come to haunt America. Years of latent racism againts the Latino population is also to blame for many of SOCAL's woes. I am fully aware this will offend many of my Caucasian brother and sisters, but this must be said. To circumvent the oncoming rage that I'm about to incur, I have more Caucasian friends that Latinos and everyone I know is aware of my feelings in this matter.

— lorenzo fuentes March 28, 2015 at 7:46 p.m.

Leap may be a good anthropologist, but her gang knowledge is marginal. The notion that gang members only kill each other to "avoid long prison terms"is ludicrous.

For one, gangs target each other because they are enemies. Who else would they target? If you're in the drug business, the only entity (other than police) that could cut into your business is another drug gang. So they're the target.

And the implication that law enforcement somehow goes easy on you if your victim is another gangster, nothing is further from the truth. Law enforcement and DAs love gang murder cases because they always involve more than one suspect.

These murders are generally "team efforts" conducted by a crew - shooter, gun bearer, driver/backup shooter and lookout. With that many people involved, it's easier to flip one of the suspects on his co-sonspirators. And the DA bags himself a murder/conspiracy case with multiple perps.

Honestly, a little research could not have hurt.

— Tony Rafael March 26, 2015 at 11:24 p.m.

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A shift in gang tactics means drive-bys are giving way to walk-ups, observers say

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