Los Santos County Sheriff's Department

Between April 12 and April 25, 1997, deputies assigned to the Ganton Station Gang Enforcement Team (GET), operating under the Detective Division's Operation Safe Streets Bureau (OSS), conducted a sustained suppression and intelligence-gathering operation targeting multiple criminal street gangs operating in and around the Ganton and South Los Santos area.

Over the course of the two-week operation, GET deputies identified, contacted, and formally documented thirty-two (32) individuals meeting the criteria for gang membership or association under Department guidelines. The documented persons of interest represent affiliates of seven distinct criminal street gangs operating across the South Los Santos corridor, including the Kilo Tray Ballas, Grove Street Families, Temple Drive Families, Rollin' Heights Ballas, Seville Boulevard Families, Front Yard Ballas, Toledo Hustlers Families, and the Varrio Los Aztecas, as well as associates of the Vagos criminal street gang.

Field operations carried out over the two-week period resulted in the recovery of significant quantities of narcotics and currency. Controlled substances seized included cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana, recovered in varying amounts from multiple individuals contacted during the operation ranging from personal-use quantities to amounts indicative of street-level distribution. Alongside the narcotics, deputies seized in excess of $200,000 in cash, believed to represent proceeds from ongoing narcotics trafficking activity within the area.

Intelligence gathered during the operation indicated a deeply concerning level of firearms possession among documented gang members across the South Los Santos corridor. Deputies identified multiple persons of interest in possession of or associated with a range of weapons consistent with the current street-level arms trade in Los Santos County. Recovered and documented firearms included snub-nose and full-size revolvers, semi-automatic 9mm pistols, sawn-off shotguns, and MAC-10 and MAC-11 style machine pistols, weapons commonly trafficked through the South Los Santos underground arms market during this period. Several documented individuals were confirmed to be actively armed at the time of contact. The volume and variety of firearms identified across multiple gang sets operating within the same geographic corridor is assessed by GET supervisors as indicative of an organized and well-supplied criminal network rather than isolated individual possession.

The Ganton GET and OSS will continue targeted enforcement and intelligence operations in the area. Additional persons of interest remain under active investigation. Charges arising from the operation are pending review by the District Attorney's Office. The Department extends its appreciation to all units and personnel who contributed to the success of this operation.