"They exist everywhere, and they will always exist." — the sheriff gangs of Los Angeles are hardly any secret at all anymore. What with numerous exposes, very public trials, and an entire Wikipedia page listing the known ones, I'd venture so far as to say that this is no secret at all. Former county Sheriff Alex Villanueva insists that he oversaw subgroups, not gangs, despite the evidence to the contrary. In fact, his statements now embrace the idea but try to re-frame it, note his omission of one particular keyword. "It's no secret there are subgroups within the Sheriff's Department".
These "subgroups" have an awful lot in common with the civilian "subgroups" they're supposed to be tough on. The parallels between sheriff gangs and civilian ones are rampant. Aren't gang tattoos a pretty good indication of organization, especially if they're affiliated with murder or hate crimes or something else blatantly illegal that law enforcement is supposed to… enforce?
Villanueva stated the department could not fire employees for tattoos, even going as far as to say that when an employee with a swastika tattoo was discovered, they could not be fired for having it.
Villanueva further pontificated that deputy gang ink simply commemorates an era in a station's history: "Tattoos from a subgroup are a point in time of a given place." He also said he did not inquire about several former executives' deputy gang tattoos and membership
Cerise Castle, LA Public Press
Hell, I'd subpoena him myself for his use of passive voice alone.
