Is idyllic Catalina now a gangsters' paradise?

On July 2, nearly four dozen mainland deputies came ashore in four boats and two helicopters and hauled away six suspected gang members for alleged probation violations. The youngest was 15.

Lt. Ed Cook said his staff has spotted suspected members of the Florencia 13 gang — a South Los Angeles gang with ties to the Mexican Mafia — with local teens. And deputies are hearing rumors that Brown Pride Locos are feuding internally and may split.

"When that happens, we'll really have problems because right now they're just one gang," Cook said. "They don't like each other, but at least they're all together."

'Like a cancer'
Some residents support the crackdown. Grocery store supervisor Brian Vidaillet, 31, said he recently turned over a possible gang member who was stealing alcohol from his store. Vidaillet, who moved to Catalina a year ago, said residents are angry because they are used to being left alone.

"I think there's a problem," he said. "If we don't do anything now, it'll grow. It's like a cancer."

The mayor and other longtime residents scoff at these doomsday scenarios. They insist the alleged gang members are a group of childhood friends who are going stir-crazy on the 76-square-mile island.

"We don't have no gang. They're the ones who created this problem. Every time they stop a kid, the first thing they say is, 'Are you a BPL?' Or, 'Tell me who is,'" said Miguel Rodriguez, whose 15-year-old son is on the sheriff's list of gang members.

Rodriguez, an information technology specialist, said his son was arrested last week and taken to juvenile detention for allegedly associating with known gang members, which violated his parole. Rodriguez, who drained his retirement account to send his son to a Nevada reform camp, said the boy did nothing wrong.

"In Avalon, you only have two blocks. Everybody walks the same two blocks, everybody sees everybody," he said. "It's not like LA, where you can go the other direction. If you see somebody and say, 'Hey Joe,' you can get arrested for violating probation."

Mertens, the gang enforcement deputy, said Rodriguez and others are in denial.

"Nobody wants to think that 'Yeah, I live in a place where there's gangs,' especially in a place like this," he said as he patrolled a cliffside neighborhood overlooking yachts bobbing in the cove below. "It's a beautiful town."

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