Gangs Division
The District Attorney’s Gangs Division has the task of prosecuting the most serious gang offenders. The Gangs Division is a vertical prosecution unit which combines Deputy District Attorneys with District Attorney Investigators to handle the unique and dangerous issues that arise in gang prosecutions. Led by Division Chief Dana Greisen and Assistant Chief Robert Hickey, the division’s personnel are some of the finest in the nation.
Last year, the Gangs Division continued its proactive role with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Prosecutors and investigators participate and assist with numerous task forces aimed at gang members and the crimes they commit.
As part of this approach, the Gangs Division continued its participation in targeted gang operations. These operations have been highly successful in addressing gang crime in San Diego. The way it works is each member of a gang is targeted for the crimes they commit regardless of their role in the gang. This zero tolerance for gang crimes has resulted in the disruption of some of San Diego’s most violent gangs and resulted in convictions for charges ranging from drug sales and prostitution to armed assaults and murders. As a result, gang homicide rates in the City of San Diego remain well below the average over last two decades.
In 2011, the DA gang unit also targeted outlaw motorcycle gangs, specifically the Hell’s Angels. Using local, state, and federal operations numerous members of this club have been arrested and continue to be prosecuted for murder, kidnapping, and assault.
The Border Crimes Task Force was founded in 2009 through a federal grant and has been highly successful. Three Deputy District Attorneys and one investigator are assigned to the task force. Along with federal and state law enforcement, the task force combats violent crime including murders, kidnappings, robberies and narcotic trafficking associated with major Mexican drug cartels. This proactive task force coordinates efforts of law enforcement and prosecution to effectively combat the growing threat of serious violent crime occurring in San Diego as a result of drug cartel influence and increasing violence in Mexico. Gang members have received life sentences for engaging in attempted kidnappings and numerous other defendants await trial for participating in kidnapping and murder crews in 2010 and 2011.
Prosecutors in this division also use court-approved wiretaps, undercover operations, and gang injunctions to stop violence before it occurs. Further, they work closely with local law enforcement and community organizations to help in gang intervention to try and stop gang violence before it starts.
While there are hundreds of success stories in this division, the ongoing seriousness of gang violence in San Diego is reflected by the kinds of cases and defendants prosecuted in 2011.
Major cases included:
People v. James Carter
This case involved an eight-and- a-half year investigation and prosecution culminating in a two-month jury trial against a gang member defendant for two murders and five attempted murders. The murder victims were two women who stopped at a convenience store to purchase a fire log on their way home from midnight church services on New Year’s Eve 2002. With them in their car were two children ages 2 and 7. The defendant was the leader of a war party of gang members that went to the same convenience store to murder rival gang members. He fired approximately 30 shots from an AK-47, killing the two women and seriously injuring the 7-year-old boy as he used his body to shield his 2-year-old niece. Several of the targeted gang members suffered relatively minor gunshot wounds. The defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, two first-degree murders with special circumstances and four attempted murders. He was also found liable for gun and gang crime allegations for each count and was sentenced to four terms of life without the possibility of parole and 11 additional life terms. Operation Skylight, designed to solve this crime, helped solve two other murders and numerous other attempted murders and conspiracies, resulting in lengthy prison terms for dozens of violent gang members.
People v. Christopher Sanchez
This defendant was a member of a Southeast San Diego gang who was kicked out of a party after starting a fight. The defendant returned with an assault rifle and fired shots at the car of one of the party goers with whom he fought. One victim was shot in the arm and another, a woman unrelated to the fight that who standing outside the car, was shot and killed. The defendant was tried and convicted of the murder and attempted murder and gun allegation. He was sentenced to four life terms in prison.
People v. Abraham Franco
This southeast San Diego gang member defendant drove fellow gang members on a two separate hunts to find and shoot rivals. Both hunts resulted in shooting murders, one in which the defendant’s group killed a 14-year-old boy. The defendant was convicted at trial for both murders with gun and gang allegations and was sentenced to two 25 years to life terms. This case was solved as part of Operation Stampede which also brought convictions and life terms for these two murders against the shooter, as well as an additional murder conviction and life sentence against a third gang member.
People v. Florencio Dominguez
The defendant killed a fellow Southeast San Diego gang member for not fighting rival gang members during a prior murder. He shot the 15-year-old victim five times as the victim was being jumped into the gang. The defendant was convicted at trial for murder and conspiracy with gun and gang allegations and was sentenced to two 25 years-to-life terms in prison.
People v. Maurice Tucker
The gang member defendant was part of a group of Southeast San Diego gang members who murdered a rival gang member as revenge for beating up the defendant and one of the defendant’s friends. The defendant and his friend drove into rival territory looking for the victim. They found the victim outside his grandmother’s house where they shot and killed him. The defendant was convicted of the murder at trial and sentenced to two 25 years to life terms. His companion in the murder was previously convicted at trial and sentenced to 15 years-to-life plus 25 years-to-life in prison.
