Gangs like the Bloods and Crips are well-known criminal enterprises and are often vilified as evils of society. But another gang, a gang in blue, walked the streets of Los Angeles in the 1990s: the C.R.A.S.H. Unit of the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.
In one of the biggest LAPD screw-ups of all time, the impact of the LAPD Rampart Scandal was widespread, rippled through thousands of cases, cost the City of Los Angeles millions of dollars, and ruined countless lives. Los Angeles Police corruption included planting evidence and beating people in custody, but went beyond pedestrian fraud to include potentially murdering rapper The Notorious B.I.G. and working with gang members so they could get away with their crimes. Misconduct is common in undercover cop stories, but the scandal involving the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division actually led to reforms and changes in the police department and sent several officers to jail.
14 Facts About The Rampart Scandal, A Corrupt Anti-Gang Unit That Terrorized LA, crime, police, other, True crime,
The Case Broke When A Cop Was Caught Stealing Cocaine
A main source of revenue for the corrupt cops of Rampart was selling confiscated drugs to dealers. Rafael Perez was a former Marine who joined the LAPD in 1989. He was a good cop, until he started committing the kinds of crimes he was sworn to prevent.
In 1995 he joined an anti-gang unit called CRASH, where he started stealing money and drugs at the direction, he says, of his partner Nino Durden. The scandal broke in 1998, when Perez was caught stealing eight pounds of cocaine. Rather than serve a hefty sentence, Perez informed on his fellow cops. Even so, it seems he bent the investigation to serve his agenda, accused other cops of misconduct as revenge.
The Officers May Have Been Involved In The Murder Of The Notorious B.I.G.
On March 9, 1997, rapper Notorious B.I.G. was leaving a party while visiting Los Angeles, when he was shot to death in a car. The murder has gone unsolved for over 20 years, but one theory holds that the LAPD and Rampart officers were involved in the plot to kill Biggie.
The rapper's mother was so convinced the police were involved, she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department on the grounds that police officer David Mack (who later went to jail for robbing a bank) and Death Row Records owner Suge Knight planned the murder. The suit, which was dropped in 2010, alleged that Mack asked a friend from college to kill the 24 year-old rapper.
The LAPD Ruined The Lives Of Completely Innocent People, Not Just Gang Members
Though some of the people ensnared in the web of corruption, evidence planting, and drug dealing were known gang members, CRASH officers also brought cases against totally innocent people that ruined their lives. Israel Cid Carrillo lost his green card and was deported when officers planted a gun on him. He also served 18 months in prison for a crime he did not commit.
A warehouse worker making minimum wage, Nestor Zetino also had a gun planted on him and racked up tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting for his freedom and right to stay in his adopted country. Others lost their life savings, homes, and were forced into drug programs they didn't need. Once an honor student with a bright future, Miguel Fuentes was wrongfully deported to Mexico and has a stain on his name after being duped by police into pleading guilty to a cocaine charge for drugs he wasn't carrying.
These and hundreds of other lives were ruined needlessly by overzealous cops who claimed their heavy-handed tactics were needed to "clean up the city" when they really destroyed the lives of those they were sworn to protect.
Officers Murdered An Unarmed Man And Planted A Gun On Him
One of the most disturbing revelations the scandal uncovered involved the death of Juan Salanda, who was killed by police in 1996. According to Rafael Perez, CRASH unit officers stormed an apartment building looking for gang members involved in a drive by shooting. When officers entered the building, there was a shootout and police wounded two men and killed one, a 21-year-old named Juan Saldana, who they shot in the back.
Police claimed that Saldana had a gun, but officer-turned-witness Perez said they planted a gun on him while he lay bleeding to death rather than calling an ambulance, in order to justify the killing. One officer involved in the shooting was fired from the force for an unrelated reason, while the others were suspended.
Cops Beat And Illegally Detained Innocent People
Sometimes breaking the law also means breaking arms, and several Rampart Scandal cops did just that. Rampart officers practiced intimidation, illegal detention, assault, and intimidation of gang members, even when they were not accused of a crime and there was no justification for detaining them.
In once case Gabriel Aguirre, an alleged gang member, accused officers Rafael Perez and Ethan Cohan of breaking his arm. Another man, Ismael Jimenez, accused officer Brian Hewitt of beating him so severely while he was restrained that he vomited blood. Jimenez said that the officer assaulted him because he wouldn't give him an untraceable gun.
The Scandal Led To Over 100 Convictions Being Overturned
It can be said that thanks to the Rampart Scandal, justice was served. Rafael Perez admitted to improperly investigating crimes, planting evidence, and framing suspects to get them convicted, and over 100 of his convictions were overturned.
Investigators further scrutinized an additional 15,000 cases due to the corrupt actions of police officers. In addition to the overturned cases, civil lawsuits brought against the City of Los Angeles cost over $125 million.
CRASH Cops Had Gang-Like Initiation Rituals And Power Structure
The cops who formed the CRASH unit were able to get away with their crimes because they created an insulated membership that avoided oversight from the LAPD leadership structure. To join CRASH, an officer needed an existing member of the unit to sponsor him. This ensured corrupt officers could choose like-minded individuals for the unit.
Once a part of CRASH, cops had to prove their loyalty by planting evidence on suspects, and were monitored to ensure they didn't turn snitch against their fellow officers. The Rampart division gained notoriety within the department as an entirely corrupt section. Thus, honest cops requested to be transferred out of the division, while corrupt officers flooded its ranks.
The officers reduced crime in their division, but their brutal tactics and criminal activity undermined any success they had. One gang member said that, "CRASH was basically an organization that was created like a gang." While it may seem that a gang member comparing the police to criminals is a cliche, officers in the unit would get tattoos commemorating kills in the line of duty, and used covert symbols to identify themselves in the same way gangs do.
Cops Got Paid Big Money Working Security For Death Row Records
Some officers in the LAPD apparently had no problem with working for a record label that produced a song called "F*ck tha Police." In fact, Death Row Records employed several off-duty officers as security guards. At the time, the label was under investigation by federal agencies for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to money laundering.
The police officers working for the label included Rafael Perez, a central figure in breaking the case. The cops working for Death Row were also not exactly discrete. One officer didn't hide his extra income at all. He regularly wore pricey clothing, and drove a Mercedes Benz.
One Officer Robbed A Bank
During the Rampart Scandal, it was revealed some officers thought playing cops and robbers meant they could be both at the same time. Officer David Mack crossed that line in 1997, when he stole $722,000 from a Bank of America.
He was implicated when he traveled to Las Vegas with his undercover partner Rafael Perez, and the two gambled away exorbitant amounts of money for men on a public service salary. Mack was also accused of working for Death Row Records by providing tips and advice about police tactics, and even watching out for police activity while gang members associated with the record label carried out drug deals. Later, Mack completely disassociated himself from the police force and joined the Bloods.
The Racially Charged, Road Rage Frame-Up
In 1997, undercover LAPD cop Frank Lyga, a white man, shot and killed a black, off-duty officer named Kevin Gaines. Initially, investigators were told by other officers seeking to exonerate Gaines that Lyga was a part of a white-supremacist group, and killed Gaines in an act of racial hatred. However, they uncovered a much more surprising, and complex, web of intrigue.
In reality, Gaines was the aggressor in the incident and Lyga was cleared of any wrongdoing. The investigation uncovered that Gaines had been working for Death Row Records, was driving a car registered to a company related to the label, and was dating Suge Knight's ex-wife at the time he was murdered. Interestingly, the Rampart Scandal broke when officer Rafael Perez was caught trying to steal cocaine from an evidence locker, to get revenge on Lyga for the killing.