Hussle squad injunction

Injunction targets violent Rialto street gang
By Jesse B. Gill Staff Writer
Posted: 07/29/2011 07:25:05 PM PDT

RIALTO - Police and the San Bernardino County's District Attorney's Office on Friday barred members of one of the city's violent gangs from gathering and loitering in areas of the city.

"After today, we're going to take this Safe Zone and give it back to the neighbors," said District Attorney Michael A. Ramos on Friday. "We're going to get rid of these local terrorists."

If police find any documented Hustla Squad Clicc members congregating or loitering in the Safety Zone, officers will be able to arrest them without further probable cause. The injunction also bars gang members from displaying the gang's name, signs, or symbols.

The injunction aims to end Hustla Squad Clicc's activities within a designated Safety Zone of about 4 square miles.

The zone is bordered by sections of Merrill Avenue, Sycamore Avenue, Cactus Avenue, Rialto Avenue, Maple Avenue, Etiwanda Avenue, and Easton Street.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers on Friday served gang members with the civil injunction during a multi-agency operation - dubbed Operation: Hush-a-Squad.

Operation: Hush-a-Squad was mainly a civil exercise, with officers knocking on doors and serving papers. But if they observed any illegal activity, they made arrests.

By 8 p.m. Friday, officers had arrested at least 70 people during the operation on suspicion of drug possession, gun possession and parole and probation violations, said Chris Lee, spokesman for the District
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Attorney's Office.

Police and Deputy District Attorney Grace Parsons have worked closely since February to research, write and eventually file the injunction.

The injunction against the gang is not the first against a gang in the city. The District Attorney's Office filed its first gang injunction in 2008 against Southside Rialto, a Latino gang.

Ramos said the injunction was successful enough for his department to use it as a model for similar actions against more of the county's home-grown gangs.

"That gang injunction worked and we went on from there and did an apartment complex in Colton," he said.

The Hustla Squad Clicc formed in 2005 when members of opposing Blood and Crip sets united, according to the District Attorney's criminal complaint. The Blood and Crip members lived in apartment complexes on North Beechwood Avenue and North Glenwood Avenue.

Police have documented 105 Hustla Squad Clicc members - 27 juveniles and 78 adults.

Hustla Squad Clicc has gained strength against other rival gangs in trying to wrest control of local illegal drug sales - mostly cocaine and marijuana, said Rialto Lt. Randy DeAnda. The gang also runs guns and intimidates witnesses and victims.

The District Attorney's Office characterized the gang quickly by its "flagrant acts of violence," according to the complaint.

In March, Morgan Jerreal "P-Nut" McCaleb was sentenced to 90 years to life in state prison in Fontana Superior Court for the shooting death of Terry Green of Los Angeles and the wounding of a second teenager, Green's cousin.

Parsons said McCaleb's shooting was one of more than 100 incidents she used to craft the injunction.

DeAnda worked closely with prosecutors in 2008 to craft the injunction against Southside Rialto. He said officers now have a much easier time policing the neighborhoods the gang once held sway in.

He hopes this injunction will do the same in helping officers combat Hustla Squad Clicc.

"This helps us stay on top of the gang problem and gives us some kind of control," DeAnda said.

jesse.gill@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-386-3921

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