A Tradition of Violence

A searing exposé on one of the most insidious and long-standing issues plaguing law enforcement: deputy gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department—by award-winning investigative reporter Cerise Castle.Between 2005 and 2013, one of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s top executives was a tattooed member of a notorious gang, the Lynwood Vikings. It’s one of dozens of mysterious but highly organized and loyal groups of sheriff’s deputies—or “deputy gangs”—that have proliferated a culture of violence, corruption, and impunity within law enforcement.

The gangs form within the ranks of the department itself and have names celebrating the violence they inflict on communities, like the “Grim Reapers” and the “Executioners.” In order to join, some gangs require a deputy to shoot and kill a civilian. Additional shootings earn them special adornments to their tattoos, like the smoking barrel of a gun. Deputy gang members enjoy an exalted status among their peers, as well as choice work assignments. Command staff turn a blind eye to patrol officers who rob residents they detain. Excessive uses of force are celebrated. Questionable shootings of civilians are cleaned up with manipulated evidence.

Cerise Castle’s reporting shows that the sheriff's department has known about its deputy gang problem since the early 1960’s, yet no deputies have ever been prosecuted for their gang ties. Even today, tattooed deputy gang members are being promoted to the department’s highest levels. Meanwhile, settlements for related deaths and injuries caused by deputy gangsters have cost Los Angeles County taxpayers more than $200 million—a number that rises each year and continues to play a critical role in the looming bankruptcy of Los Angeles County.

Award-winning investigative journalist Cerise Castle has provided the most in-depth coverage of deputy gangs since their inception. Her hard-nosed, original reporting relies on public records, court archives, witness interviews, as well as her meetings with survivors, the families of those killed, and deputy gang members themselves, some of whom have openly threatened her life. Castle is often detained while reporting and is continuously surveilled by the department. To date, she has uncovered thirty different deputy gangs and more than 400 sworn participants.

A Tradition of Violence takes readers inside the brutal initiation rituals, systemic cover-ups of misconduct and abuse, and unlawful behavior that leads to the erosion of public trust between law enforcement and citizens. Presenting an up-close look at something no one truly wants to see, Castle boldly shines a light on the seedy, fermenting underbelly of policing in America—and dares us to look away.