Also by Richard Valdemar

The prison gang defector, even after cooperating with law enforcement, is still a formidable and dangerous predator. His mental and criminal cunning, his tactical combat experience, and even his drug addiction remain dangerous to you.

The bully "Giant" preyed on more than just your skinny crew. Often he picked on the girls. But now they know that you can protect them from the Giant. Are you a gang? Not yet, but if you continue in this "solution" without some intervention, you are on your way.

Winning potential gang members' minds and hearts occurs early, often as early as grammar school. It is founded in the common experiences almost all children must endure. These negative experiences include social exclusion, feelings of fear, bullying, and victimization.

Soon the prison race war spilled into the streets. The first battles were in the Santa Monica and Venice areas at apartment complexes like the Oakwood and Mar Vista Apartments.

Gang members have found inventive ways of bringing drugs into the courts. Perhaps the most offensive method of delivery was to enlist the help of court officers.

I don't mean to sound like Los Angeles or I personally have all the answers to the world's gang problems, but during my more than three decades fighting gangs, I have seen many programs in Los Angeles that have failed. I have learned what does and what doesn't work.

We were waiting for a violent paranoid tweeker we knew was armed with a Glock pistol and running on parole. He told all of his associates that he would not be taken alive. He was also a member of the Nazi Low Rider (NLR) prison gang.

The season brings the same problems to the ghettos and barrios that face the rest of us, except in an exaggerated way. Problems like poverty, lack of education, illness, alcohol and drug abuse, and the desire to give and receive gifts we can’t afford, are all seemingly intensified by the lack of real opportunities. The resulting depression that sets in the minds and spirits of individuals and the community is often temporarily self-medicated with alcohol and drugs. This results in desperate a

For undercover police work or even off-duty use, a small gun that can easily be concealed yet fires a reasonably powerful cartridge is essential. Kel-Tec has recently introduced its PF-9, which the company touts as the slimmest and lightest 9mm semi-auto handgun on the market.

I have never arrested a gang member who lawfully possessed a gun and who purchased it legitimately. So banning legitimate gun-related purchases only disarms the lawful citizens, making it easier for the unlawful to victimize them.

Rivals within the California prison system, Norteños and Sureños sometimes unite outside of California as "Califas" when they become active in other states.

Recently the FBI published a study entitled "Violent Encounters: A study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers," which found that criminal gang members and other felons practice their skills with firearms more often and shoot more accurately then the police officers they try to kill.