After years of resisting, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva finally testified under oath on Friday about the alleged existence of deputy gangs within the Sheriff’s Department.
Villaneuva appeared before the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, a panel created in 2016 by the Board of Supervisors to address allegations that gangs of deputies branded by tattoos were operating with impunity.
Villanueva has maintained that deputy gangs do not exist. His successor, Robert Luna, however, has taken a “zero tolerance” stance and appointed an independent office to investigate.
In May 2023, Luna also ordered deputies to submit to interviews and reveal their tattoos. Those who balk could face discipline or get fired, he said.
During Friday’s hearing, which was held at Loyola Marymount University’s Law School courtroom in L.A., special counsel Bert Deixler asked Villaneuva to comment on a Los Angeles Times report that members of a deputy gang threatened and assaulted a group of teenagers outside a bowling alley in Montclair in 2022.
A defiant Villaneuva questioned the source.
“You said ‘according to the Times,’ and you want to use the Times as a source of information. That is not a valid source of information for anything,” he testified.
Villanueva said the behavior of the deputies, as described in the article, did not constitute gang activity in his view.
“It is misconduct by deputies at a social event outside of the scope of work,” he told commissioners.
In March 2023, the Oversight Commission issued a 70-page report that found deputy gangs “rooted in secrecy and exclusivity” not only exist today but have been documented since 1973. It cited testimony from dozens of witnesses, many of whom required anonymity over fears of retaliation.
“They create rituals that valorize violence, such as recording all deputy-involved shootings in an official book, celebrating with “shooting parties,” and authorizing deputies who have shot a community member to add embellishments to their common gang tattoos,” the report states.
Names of the alleged gangs include the Vikings, Jump Out Boys, the Executioners, the Banditos, the Regulators, the Spartans, the Gladiators, the Cowboys and the Reapers.
“They undermine the Department’s leadership and supervision, foster insubordination, and are detrimental to the morale of other deputies and staff by exercising power and decision making that is fundamentally inconsistent with the para-military, chain of command structure of law enforcement agencies such as the Department,” commissioners said.
Villanueva, who was defeated by Luna in 2022, is now seeking a seat on the Board of Supervisors.