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News Dec 10, 2021
Jason Anderson. | Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office
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In June 2021, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office collaborated in an ongoing investigation – known as Operation Westside Jenga — with the San Bernardino Police Department Special Investigations Bureau, the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Justice Southern Special Operations Unit, conducting a series of short-term firearm investigations targeting members of the San Bernardino-based Westside Verdugo criminal street gang.
As a result of the operation, several hundred law enforcement agents made a total of 180 felony arrests, seized 92 handguns and 19 assault rifles, confiscated illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl and shut down 30 illegal gambling facilities.
“We will use everything in our toolkit including weapon enhancements, gang enhancements, prior convictions and prior strike convictions to ensure maximum accountability from these defendants, keeping career criminals off the streets of San Bernardino and out of our communities,” said District Attorney Jason Anderson.
Founded in the 1950s, Westside Verdugo is San Bernardino’s largest and oldest Hispanic gang. With an estimated 1,000 members and associates, the group has an extensive violent criminal history including violent assaults and murder, all while maintaining direct ties with the Mexican Mafia.
“The scale of this multiagency operation speaks to the commitment we have to eradicate criminal street gangs across San Bernardino County, particularly one with such a violent history as the Westside Verdugo gang,” said Anderson. “The success of this takedown was due to the tremendous efforts of San Bernardino Police Department and Department of Justice in conducting the investigation, and the tenacity of our specialized gang unit prosecutors.”
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