California, Gangs | featured news

Hardened in the streets and prisons of California and deported in the 1990s to the Central American countries where they were born, the members of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang swiftly grew into a force of heavily tattooed young men carrying out kidnappings, murder and extortion.

Los Angeles police records obtained by The Times raise questions about the credibility of the man who claims he was kidnapped, assaulted and robbed by members of the Main Street Crips gang after he claimed to have a sex tape of Shaquille O'Neal.

The co-founder of the Asian Boyz gang was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole in connection with a spree of at least eight slayings and 10 shootings a decade ago in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

A notorious street gang accused of terrorizing a neighborhood for years and killing a sheriff's deputy was the target of a raid by hundreds of law enforcement officials Tuesday.