Gang series, day 1 | Napa Valley Register

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Gang series, day 1

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

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By Register Staff

NapaValleyRegister.com is running a three-day series on gangs in Napa. The series began Sunday, concluding Tuesday.

For those of you who missed the first day’s articles, here they are for you to check out.

10 years ago, Napa woke up to gang life For years, Gavin Smith thought the biggest nuisance in his neighborhood was the traffic that ignored the 25 miles per hour speed limit while driving past his Brown Street home. But that changed on May 16, 1998, when a young gang member was shot and killed in front of Smith’s house. (Read more …)

Ex-police chief remembers when Napa came to grips with gangs During his 17 years as Napa Police chief, Dan Monez saw his share of gang violence. (Read more …)

The gangs of Napa An imaginary line in Bakersfield divides two of California’s major street gangs, the Norteños and Sureños. Members born in the north part of the state line are labeled Norteños. Those born in the south are Sureños. (Read more …)

A history of gang violence Ten years ago, Napa teen Michael Arreguin was shot and killed in a gang-related incident. In the aftermath, people ranging from school and government officials to law enforcement officers and community volunteers came together to suppress gang activity. (Read more …)

7 comment(s)

jfz wrote on Sep 29, 2008 4:02 PM:

" "Gangs of Napa" A Leonardo DiCaprio sequel??? Sign me up! "

lilybmw56 wrote on Sep 30, 2008 1:19 AM:

" Are you serious? To say that the gangs have only been around for 10 years. Where have you been since the early 70's? You remember the Badola's, and the Galvan's and the Garcia's shooting it up in the streets of Napa. And the shoot out at Fuller Park where one of the Badola boys lost an arm. They have all been doing this since way back only we didn't call it gangs back then .Then it was called the Mexican Maffia...... and the boys from Stockton would come up and start trouble.
You wanted cheap labor for the fields. You got it and all that comes with their heritage. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Gangs, or Wine Profit. You know which one will be choosen because the rich only want to get richer, and live on the mountain. "

marine1/1 wrote on Sep 30, 2008 8:09 AM:

" I'm tired of all the topics eing about gangs everyday.There are other things in our community to write about NVR. It has been a problem for MANY years now.Where have you been all these other years? I deal with these thugs every day I go to work. Start being a newspaper and don't just cover one topic for a week.Boring. I saw nothing about the crashing market yesterday.NVR is always asleep at the wheel when it comes to reporting the NEWS. "

cutiepie wrote on Sep 30, 2008 8:37 AM:

" Napa wine industry has long been encouraging Mexican's to come here to pay the low salary of picking their grapes. This practice has been going on for years. Just like ANY other culture they bring with them violence and other issues. It's sad that the wine industries couldn't look into the future and pay the average American worker a fair salary with health care and other benefits that the Americans so richly deserve. Give the jobs to the Americans now-Let's get our own people working again. The wine industry needs to seriously review these issues-especially in the worst financial breakdown in history. "

NVR-Dan Ross wrote on Sep 30, 2008 8:44 AM:

" Marine 1/1:
You should have read yesterday, then, for the bailout vote failing article was online here all day, listed above all the gang articles. Check today and you'll see the follow to that, with the article on Mike Thompson's vote. "

marine1/1 wrote on Sep 30, 2008 9:00 AM:

" NVR-Dan Ross. . . . I was refering to a headline regarding the stock market.It closed -.777 yesterday. It lead all the local news on T.V. and is being covered by several papers today. One story on the gang activities could have covered three of your headings today. It is good that you are finally getting involved with Napa crime but spread it out so it does not get forgotten. Get your reporters out in the field. There are several was to make the NVR an interesting and good source of news for the locals but you need to get out there. There should also be more follow up stories on the bigger stories that so many people blog in on. "

oohnoo wrote on Sep 30, 2008 9:18 AM:

" I agree with lilybmw56 there where gangs existing back in the 70's. I remember the incident that is spoken about in the commentary. I didn't realize the Napa Register is now the new Ethnic news piece. How about we take the focus off the issues of gangs and write about something else that has do with the other pressing issues within the community. The commentary that the wineries brought them here and all the cultural negative undertones of their lifestyle and angst is very true.

I think if you took a survery throughout America and not just here at home one would find a theme related to the overflow of illegal immigrants here. The consensus would be people are fed up. I hear more Spanish being spoken than English. All of the low income houseing is tied uip because of them. All the existing units in Napa are managed by a Hispanic which is fine but lets call a spade a spade. And the topper is the so called gangs are ravaging our community. Once again the paper leaves out the facet on reporting all the gang related violence going on in Mexico city theses days and how difficult the police force there is having in containing the drug lords.

If the Register is going to write about the issue how about somewhere in the midst of that article the word Choice and Responsiblity get added. Like the young lady that lost her boyfriend and now is faced raising a baby. She made a choice to have sex and suffered the consequences. I don't feel sorry for her. I mean honestly she had her whole life in front of her with options. "

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