White Gangs Terrorizing America!
- Thread starter Howey
- Start date
PENDLETON, OR.- Meet Michael Mason, he might not appear that threatening, but Mason was recently caught with a loaded sawed-off shotgun.
Mason claims to be a part of an Aryan gang, European Kindred, a gang focused on white supremacy. Police tell KEPR Mason -- is just one of many now threatening the community.
"The individuals are typically unpredictable because of their dependency on drugs, alcohol, also some of the mindsets some have are individuals that are enamored with white supremacist ideology," said Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts.
Also known as E-K -- the gang started more than a decade ago at Snake River Correctional Institution. Since then, it's spread throughout Oregon and into Pendleton. Police say those claiming to be in the E-K are growing and becoming more violent. Members are blamed for break-ins to homes and storage units all over town -- looking for weapons.
"It is a situation where they are slowly, but surely, becoming more and more brazen with their activities," said Chief Roberts.
Vince Sapienza explains, "when it comes to these types of offenders, police say the hard part is not putting them in jail, it's keeping them there. Oregon State Law gives police a 36 hour window to prosecute such offenders, otherwise they are released back into the general public."
Nearly 300 police officers from more than two dozen federal and local law enforcement agencies fanned out across Southern California on December 14, 2006, to execute a series of search and arrest warrants at some 75 different locations. The extensive sweep resulted in the arrest of 67 alleged members of the large and violent white supremacist gang known as Public Enemy Number 1 (PENI).
The raids capped a 10-month long investigation into PENI led by the Anaheim Police Department that had already resulted in a number of PENI-related arrests in the week before the mid-December raids. Authorities took action after learning in November of an alleged PENI "hit list" that contained the names of an Orange County prosecutor and five police officers in several different departments. The suspects were arrested on a variety of charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, possession of illegal weapons and narcotics, forgery, probation violations and identity theft.
The Fluffy Bunny Crew, a street gang, was formed years ago on upscale high-school campuses in the northeast Valley, a far cry from the low-income neighborhoods believed by many to spawn second- and third-generation gang members.
Members of the predominantly White gang of suburban young people first attracted police attention by mugging classmates at northeast Phoenix parties.
During the past two years, they have evolved from a party crew into a street gang known for armed robberies, drug deals and violent crime, police say.
Phoenix police say the Fluffy Bunny Crew is under investigation in a Phoenix homicide and other crimes in northeast Valley communities.
Phoenix police Lt. Larry Giebelhausen said investigators at the Desert Horizon Precinct want more parents to be aware of the gang that started as a joke before escalating into a public-safety threat.
"They're getting more and more violent," said Giebelhausen, adding that the Fluffy Bunny Crew is now a recognized Arizona street gang. "Parents need to know who their kids are hanging out with."
The violent exploits of the 100 or more members have played out in upper-middle-class neighborhoods around Desert Ridge, Cave Creek and Deer Valley, police say.