Following the FBI and LAPD gang sweep through South Los Angeles Tuesday, Los Angeles Attorney Mike Feuer filed lawsuits against the owners of three south LA homes allegedly controlled by gang members and used for gang activity. John Cádiz Klemack reports from South Los Angeles for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 2014.
City Attorney Mike Feuer on Wednesday filed lawsuits against owners of several South Los Angeles homes allegedly controlled by a violent street gang that was busted during a massive FBI sweep one day earlier.
The lawsuits allege the homes are controlled by the Five Deuce Broadway Gangster Crips and used for gang activity including selling drugs, according to a release issued by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
"It can't be that residents of these communities are relegated to living this way," Feuer said.
The Five Deuce Broadway Gangster Crips, a gang with some 200 members, has been operating since the 1970s and is based near 52nd Street and South Broadway in South LA, officials said.
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The suits follow arrests by the LAPD and FBI on Tuesday of 50 people who are among 72 defendants named in a 213-page federal racketeering indictment for crimes ranging from murder, robbery, extortion and drug trafficking of crack cocaine, cocaine, methamphetamine, phencyclidine (PCP), Ecstasy, marijuana and codeine, according to the FBI.
"These neighborhoods and the families who live there can finally have a sense of safety and relief from the problems they faced emanating from these properties," Feuer said.
Two of the homes named in the lawsuit are within one block of Estrella Elementary School.
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One of the home's owners, who asked to remain anonymous, said he just bought the property one month ago, and he told the current residents to leave by the end of June.
"I was not aware there were any drugs being sold," he said.
He said the tenants had been living without electricity without electricity or running water for months, and the home was filled with clutter and filth (pictured).
