Santa Ana, California, Police Chief David Valentin. | santa-ana.org/
An Orange County crime task force's investigation into illegal California casinos that led to seven arrests and three sets of indictments last month is only the tip of the iceberg of illegal gambling dens, a U.S. attorney said in a news release.
Operation Community First, the investigation that targeted narcotics, illegal gambling and gun trafficking, was launched by the Orange County Asian Organized Crime Task Force in February 2021, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release issued May 25.
U.S. Attorney for California's Central District Tracy L. Wilkison during a news conference in April
| twitter.com/USAO_LosAngeles/
"The number of illegal gambling dens has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, dramatically impacting the quality of life in many Orange County neighborhoods," U.S. Attorney for California's Central District Tracy Wilkison said in the news release. "These illicit businesses are a breeding ground for drug trafficking, violence and even police corruption. We will continue to work with our local and federal law enforcement partners to eradicate this blight in our communities."
On the same day that the news release was issued, seven of the nine defendants were arrested on three counts, alleging a wide range of criminal conduct, including drug trafficking, attempted extortion, robbing a small business, bribing a police officer and operating illegal casinos.
One of the three federal indictments alleged a series of illegal casinos in Santa Ana, California. That indictment also mentions a shooting at one of the alleged illegal gambling dens in which an employee was wounded in the neck.
Illegal gambling locations spawn increased violent crime, "adversely impact the quality of life of our communities, and cause disruption to our neighborhoods and our law-abiding business partners," said Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin in the news release.
"This is something our agency will not tolerate," Valentin said. "[These] collaborative efforts, following a years-long extensive investigation with our local, state and federal partners, leverage our police department's strong enforcement strategy [named 'Operation Community First'] that was launched in February 2021 to target illegal gambling, narcotics and gun trafficking."
Operation Community First was a multi-agency investigation, said Kristi Johnson, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, in the news release.
"[This] operation is the result of a joint effort among partners at the federal, state and local level in Santa Ana to dismantle an illegal gambling network that generated a variety of criminal activity causing great harm to the communities in which they operated," Johnson said. "The defendants flouted the law and used enforcers with rival gangs to get victims to comply through the use of intimidation and violence in order to further their illicit network and generate profits."
