Injunction Targets Culver City Gang

SANTA MONICA — A Superior Court judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction that in essence bans a Culver City gang from associating in what police describe as the gang’s Mar Vista drug trafficking turf.

Judge Patricia Collins granted the request as part of a civil suit filed against the gang by Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn. A trial will be set for the lawsuit within 60 days, Deputy City Atty. Brooke White said.

Prosecutors and police contend that the Culver City Boys gang, including 75 individuals named in the suit, are a threat to public safety.

The injunction creates a “safety zone” between Venice, Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards and Centinela Avenue. In that area, gang members cannot associate, consume alcohol in public or carry weapons, spray paint or pagers. The lawsuit also sets a 10 p.m. to sunrise curfew for all gang members in Mar Vista and the Oakwood section of Venice, home to another gang.

The only area where the injunction does not apply is the Mar Vista Family Center on Slauson Avenue, which employs two members of that gang and has helped find jobs for several others.

On Thursday, the courtroom was crowded with about 45 gang members. Some snickered and shook their heads as the judge read the injunction. Nine gang members were transported there from state prison, County Jail and juvenile detention centers.

A series of shootings during October 1998 in Santa Monica and Mar Vista has been attributed by police to a war between the Culver City Boys and a Santa Monica gang. About five years ago, skirmishes between the Culver City Boys and the Venice Shoreline Crips resulted in numerous deaths.

A similar injunction against the Venice Shoreline Crips was filed May 24. A hearing on that lawsuit is scheduled June 24.