Sacramento PD: Area cops join crackdown on biker gang(vagos)

http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2010/03/sac-pd-area-cop.html

March 18, 2010

Sac PD: Area cops join crackdown on biker gang
By Bee Staff

The Sacramento Police Department and other Sacramento area law enforcement agencies participated in a major crackdown on California's largest motorcycle gang, a police spokesman said today.

Officers responded to eighteen locations throughout the region Wednesday, arresting six Vagos associates for gun charges, stolen property, narcotics, counterfeit money, and warrants, said Sgt. Norm Leong.

About 30 members of the Vagos were arrested as part of the crackdown in Riverside and Shasta counties in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah after the attacks on police in Hemet, Calif., according to an Associated Press report.

The sweep was prompted by three booby-trap attacks on an anti-gang task force in Hemet, AP reported.

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco declined to detail evidence he said links the Vagos to the attacks because the investigation was ongoing.

On Dec. 31, someone drilled a hole in the roof of the gang unit's headquarters and diverted a natural gas line from a heater, filling the space with flammable gas, AP reported. The trap was discovered before anyone was hurt.

Last month, a gun rigged to shoot when a headquarters security gate was opened sent a bullet whizzing past an officer, AP reported. Again, nobody was hurt.

The third incident involved the discovery of a dangerous device near an officer's car, AP reported.

Pacheco said the Vagos specialize in methamphetamine sales, weapons trafficking and violence, particularly toward law enforcement officers.

Sgt. Leong said the following people were arrested in the Sacramento area:

-Eric Privett, 32, on a stolen-car warrant.

-Eugene Privett, 54, on a stolen-car warrant.

-Eugene Privett, 35, on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and parole violation (the relationship of the Privetts to each other wasn't available).

-Kari Rawls, 27, on suspicion of possession of stolen property and counterfeiting.

-Joseph Delnero, 28, on suspicion of being a felon with guns, possession of a stolen gun.

-Marilyn Kimbrell, 49, on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine.

In the Sacramento area, the Vagos has the largest membership for an outlaw motorcycle gang with over 50 members, Leong said.

Joining Sacramento police in the local sweep were officers or agents from the Sacramento County Probation Department, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, Roseville Police Department, Folsom Police Department, Citrus Heights Police Department, Placer County Sheriff's Department, Galt Police Department, Grass Valley Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, California Highway Patrol, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Parole and Special Services.

Officials said there are about 600 Vagos in the Western U.S.,

including about 200 in Riverside County, where the gang was started in the late 1960s, AP reported.