Personal History for Al Adams Moreno

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The True & Unfiltered Story of the �Los Angeles Street Gang Wars�

By Al Adams Moreno

The true and unfiltered story of the �Los Angeles Street Gang Wars�, Al Adams Moreno, tells of the Politics, the Corruption, and Conspiracy that lead to the proliferation of the Los Angeles�s street gangs throughout the United States and its International drug connections. Murder of thousands of innocents throughout the years in the United States and the growth of the uncontrollable drugs trade as its cornerstone; this is the legacy of our war on gangs and drugs.

Al was there at the outset of the so called war on gangs, one of L. A�s finest! He fought the hypocrisy and paid for it with the job he loved more than anything in this world.
Just a moment of your time, this timely story affects us all in a profound way.

Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2008, page one headlines, �Gang Mayhem Cripples Big Area,� thousands stranded, schools locked down as notorious group battle the LAPD after a drive by-killing. The violence began around noon when a 37-year old man police described as a bystander was shot more than a dozen times by suspected gang members as he held the hand of a 2 year old girl.

The Avenues gained national attention in 1995 when several members opened fire on a car that made a wrong turn into a Cypress Park alley, killing 3-year old Stephanie Kuhen.

The Five Years of Nine Unfounded Disqualifications

I applied for the Los Angeles Police Department on October 19th, 1970, and was finally hired on August 4, 1975. For five years I fought city hall to overcome nine erroneous medical disqualifications. They simply weren�t hiring many Hispanics at that time. I fought a myriad of non-existent medical conditions including one for allegedly being psychologically fit for any work other than law enforcement. I hold the record for the most disqualifications while trying to become a Los Angeles Police Officer.

In January 1976, I graduated 18th out of a class of 58, and was assigned to Venice Division to complete my probationary period. As a probationary officer, I was allowed to work an L-Car, (a one man unit) which was unheard of, to allow a probationer to work alone. This was due to the fact that I demonstrated superior police skills at the outset. I lead the division in felony observation arrests and was recognized as the most productive officer in the division. I seriously pissed off the old crew of lazy officers that had been in Venice Division for many years.

The day after I completed my probation, I went to my first off duty police party with a couple of Venice Coppers in Hermosa Beach. The party was hosted by some 77th Division officers. It was a typical police party; there were plenty of war-brides and or camp followers. Everyone was getting stupid drunk and all forms of debauchery was in the making. Well into the party, one of the Venice officers approached me and said he was being hassled by one of the drunken 77th officers. I told him to chill and that if anything went down I would back him up. A few minutes later, I went to his aid. This thing broke out into a hell of a fight. After the fight, the score was six 77th coppers on their butt and 2 Venice coppers getting their pick of the war-brides. After the fight, several South Bay law enforcement agencies responded to the disturbance, resulting into a full blown IAD investigation. IAD investigators recommended a five day suspension for me and my partner. My position in this matter was, �I didn�t start the fight and I refused to take the five day suspension�. I demanded a trial board and pissed off the department. Well, I got my trial-board and ended up getting a twenty-two day suspension!

Shortly after my suspension, I returned to work and was transferred to Hollywood Division. Again, in a very short period, I became one of the most productive officers in the division. I ultimately got a spot with the division�s elite SPU unit (special problems unit). We dressed like the street dirt bags and drove piece of shit cars to fit into the low life crime element. It worked big time.

The Shootings

On Thursday, September 29, 1977, while working Hollywood P.M. watch patrol. I was involved in my second OIS (officer involved shooting). Twenty year old Vincent Erick Bell was rampaging up-and-down Hollywood Blvd. swinging an Axe at the good citizens of the community. I confronted Vincent with my piss-ant .38 Caliber and ordered him to drop the axe. Vincent was high on PCP. At this moment he lunged at me with the axe and stated �Shoot me, shoot me, this world is fucked up, God wants me to do this.� I shot him right above the right knee-cap. He didn�t even flinch. Two rounds later in alternating shots to both legs, he went down. He was spared that night from an early, senseless death. The local newspapers made a big deal about me shooting Vincent in a non-lethal area and sparing his life. At one point, I was approached by my field supervisor, Sgt. Terry Cunningham. Terry said that I was being considered for the department�s highest honor, the Medal of Valor. However, if I was awarded the Medal, would I be willing to take it under the table? The department was concerned about setting a dangerous precedent by recognizing my tactic�s in the shooting. They feared that all other shootings would be measured and judged by my actions in choosing to fire for an extremity as opposed to the 10 ring. The city would be inundated with law suits because they didn�t do what Officer Moreno did, they killed the suspect instead. Actually, the department was right on this one.

Los Angeles Times article, September 29, 1977, Letters to The Times. Ax-Swinger Shot in Legs by Policeman. �Officer Alfonso Moreno (�Ax Swinger, 20, Shot by Police on Hollywood Blvd.� Times Oct. 1) A relative rookie has done more for the Los Angeles Department public relations than anything I can recall. He disarmed an ax-armed man by shooting him in the legs. Recently a naked man was killed by a police officer (although he somehow had taken the officers nightstick away from him twice). Officer Moreno deserves a citation of some sort. Greg Howell, West Los Angeles

At a time when policemen�s actions in violent confrontations with suspects are being scrutinized, Moreno�s performance was a breath of fresh air. It should remind all of us that behind that gun stands a man with a brain and that the two can work together for an intelligent application of police procedures. John Scott Coen, Los Angeles

Interestingly, on November 26, 1976, Vincent�s roommate, twenty-six year old John Blasingame was shot to death by a single shot-gun blast while wielding an axe on Hollywood Blvd by L.A.P.D. Officer M. Kirkpatrick. On January 15, 1994, Vincent Bell, was shot to death by L.A.P.D. Officer Patricia Belz. Vincent had broken into a Bank of America located at 6300 Sunset Blvd.

My first shooting occurred on October 10, 1975, while I was still in the academy on my first ride-a-long. (All academy cadets are assigned to one night ride-a-longs after completing their tenth week of academy training, and did so once a week till graduation) I was assigned to 7 A 77, a Wilshire Division patrol unit. At about 9:45 p.m., we got a Code 3 call. There was an armed robbery in progress at a Kentucky Fired Chicken. Two soul brothers, armed with 357 mags, had taken five hostages in the course of the robbery. Within a few minutes we were parked street side of the KFC, just feet away from the south door exit. We immediately put out an officer needs help call and requested a SWAT roll out due to the hostage situation. One of the two suspects, Claude Milton, exited the KFC prior to SWAT�S arrival. He shielded himself with a 15 year old female hostage and demanded that we give him the keys to our black & white. Twenty-seven shots later, Claude was shot dead and the little girl was released unhurt. His homie realized we were not in a negotiating mode that night. He decided to surrender and released the other four hostages.

The L.A. Gang Wars

In 1978, I was selected to work one of the hottest specialized units on the department. OCB CRASH, L.A.P.D.s new gang suppression unit. The unit was comprised of 36 hand picked super cops. We worked Central Bureau�s five divisions. At that time, Central Bureau accounted for almost all of the gang related crime in the city of the Angels. On any given night, we handled one to three shootings. I recall one steamy August night when we rolled on five separate gang related shooting. Hell, even in my 1969 Marine Corp Vietnam experience, we were afforded some peace from the daily ambushes, fire-fights, booby-traps, and incoming rounds. Not so in CRASH. The Shootings ranged from children being all blown to hell in their cribs to grandparents being shot to death. However, mostly teens and twenty something�s were at the receiving end of the gun-fire, knives, clubs, baseball-bats, chains, and Japanese ceremonial swords. For most of my four years in CRASH, I lead the unit in gun seizures and felony arrests. Every street gun seizure and arrest was a potential officer involved shooting; each incident a story in it self. I recall that on one deployment period, I arrested armed gang members with guns thirteen out of fourteen days. I was riding such a hot spree that my field supervisors, Sgt�s Ray Noetzel and Mike Wynn called me out of the field one night and offered me a kick back desk job for a couple of deployment periods. They said that as good as you are Moreno� one night, Murphy�s Law is going to kick-in and you�re going to take a round from some ass-hole. I thanked them for their concern and continued doing what I did best. At this juncture in my career, I had received an unprecedented 60 plus commendations for superior police work. The majority of the commendations were for gun seizures from hard-core gang members and yet avoiding an OIS (officer involved shooting) while disarming those murderous reprobates.

Los Angeles Police Department, Semi-Annual �Performance Evaluation Report.� 09/01/79 to 02/29/80, (excerpt) �Officer Moreno displays particular skill when handling armed suspects, as he recovers more weapons in the field then any other CRASH officer yet has avoided involvement in an officer involved Shooting.�

�His tactics, in routine and stress situations, are exceptional and he utilizes other CRASH units in a team effort in order to maintain complete control.�

Cooking the Books & the Firing

The CRASH unit was started via an enormous federally financed grant. The department hand picked 36 super cops from its best of the best, and appointed Lt. Bill Lynch as its OIC. Unlike the normal chain of command, the Lt. reported directly to the bureau commander. The unit�s job was to finally put an end to the gang wars on the Eastside. Well, anytime someone gives you some money to do something, you sure as hell better produce, so as to justify the grant. The trick was, how were 36 cops working 5 divisions going to stop the protracted bloodbath on the Eastside? Not to mention the emerging wars on the Southside between the Bloods and Cripps? Divide 36 cops into tens of thousands of gang member and you get predictable failure. This became evident in a very short time. The units Lt. was catching hell from the brass on why the gang shooting were continuing virtually unabated. This isn�t to say that the CRASH officers weren�t doing a spectacular job, we were. Simply put, the unit was grossly under staffed at the out-set. (Does this sound familiar� Iraq?) The Eastside�s blood-feuds go back to the 1930. This shit wasn�t going to be cleaned up anytime soon, if ever!!!

Instead of the Lt. having the character to tell the brass that not even Achilles and thirty-six of his Myrmidons would ever mitigate the entrenched butchery of the L.A. gang wars, he did what any self respecting crook would do. He started Cooking the Books.
He continually watered down the criteria of what constituted a gang related crime. At one point, it got so ridicules, that the CRASH officers started to transfer out of the unit in mass. The unit lost it�s foundation of experts. The unit was consequently staffed with a
lesser talented and experienced group of officers, and in some cases, out-rights kiss-ass yes-men.

Unlike the smarter officers that left the unit, I chose to stay and fight. I violated the holly grail of silence. I went to the new commander of the bureau, Mark Krocker. He had a reputation of being a little too honest for upper management and was liked and respected by the troops. I didn�t tell him anything he didn�t already know. However, with me willing to come forth and go on the record, that would change everything. The shit was going to hit the fan and heads were going to roll! He corroborated everything I said through his interviews with CRASH Sgt�s Noetzel and Wynn. They had some serious balls backing me up. They knew that by verifying my statements, it would be their death-null for any further promotions on the job; within days, Commander Krocker initiated a �Board of Inquiry.�

A couple of days later I was administratively transferred out of the unit by Lt. Lynch to Northeast patrol division. I immediately filled a grievance and was re-assigned to the CRASH unit. The Lt. went thermonuclear and told me I was on the menu, I told him to get fucked!

Los Angeles Times Newspaper, Metro Digest / local News in Brief. Part II / Friday, February 19, 1988. �Gang Crimes Understated� Several law enforcement official who attended a summit meeting on gang violence last week admitted that political pressure in their communities has led to an under � reporting of gang � related crimes. Los Angeles County sheriff Sherman Block said. In a report to the Board of Supervisors, Block called the meeting a success and said that the participants recognized that the number of gang related crimes in the county is increasing. But Block told the board that the actual number could be much higher because several law enforcement officials said �political pressure� had resulted in some crimes not being listed as gang related.

Afterward, Block declined to identify the law enforcement officials or their communities but explained, �What they admitted was that in some communities, statistical profiles were set up so they could report the crimes but it would not come across as gang related.

�The obvious intent was to reduce the potential fear level of people coming into the community, he said. Block added that he and other law enforcement officials will press for �more accurate, objective reporting� of gang violence statistics.

My Undoing

One of the new yes-men, a detective II looking for an upcoming detective III spot in the CRASH unit, complained to the Lt. that I pushed a murder suspect against a wall while we were interviewing him for the sawed-off shot-gun murder of fourteen year old Kenny Joe Mosqueda (DR 81-653-6200). Additionally, a couple of weeks prior to the above incident, myself and several other off duty officers were involved in one hell of a bar fight with a group of ex-con�s and active members of the Aryan-Brotherhood while on a water skiing trip at the Colorado River. The two incidents were investigated by Internal Affairs Division. Lt. Lynch wrote a scathing �Cover Letter� as to his administrative insight of the two incidents. I was ordered to a Trial-Board and found guilty of conduct unbecoming a police officer, resulting in my termination. One of the many glaring inequities in my trial-board was that my former CRASH partner, who recently transferred out of the unit to Hollenbeck Division, was in the same fight. His new Lt. completely exonerated him of any misconduct; all charges were deemed �Unfounded�! I was unable to use that finding because the department did not classify his complaint completed until after my termination. When in fact they had completed my partner�s investigation months before my trial board started. Unlike Breaker Morant�s trial in the 1899 Anglo Boer War, they took my soul as opposed to my life. Days after my termination, the Board of Inquiry was stopped dead in its tracks and buried.

The Documentation

I have painstakingly categorized every single fact and document to substantiate the above overview. The detail in the memorialized documentation generates a riveting story that has no equal.

Biographical points of interest:

I was born on November 1, 1945, in Tijuana Mexico. Somehow my mother spirited me off to the United States and obtained a fraudulent birth certificate, it�s worked up till now.

Mom & Dad produced 12 children, eight boys and four girls. We were raised on the penurious mean streets of South Central Los Angeles. The fourteen of us lived in a small three bedroom home with one closet size bathroom. The most dad ever made in a single year was $7,500.

My father served three years in Federal Prison after the II World War for deserting his unit in time of war.

I attended St, Aloysius Grade School and was a D & F student. Due to my bad grades, I had to repeat the 6th grade. I think I may hold the record for penances in Catholic grade school.

In the second grade I was diagnosed with Leg Calves Perthes, a crippling hip bone disease. I wore a metal leg brace and walked with crutches for four years.

1964 through 1968- my American Graffiti days and street fighting period; from 64 to 68 I was in a street fist fight nearly every weekend, and on one night in 66, I was in five fights in one night. I wasn�t a thug or a bully; It just got to be something like who was the fasted gun in town.

I went to and was kicked out of four high schools. Again, I was a D & F student. I finally obtained my high school diploma via night school.

In 1965- I was arrested for Armed Robbery, Burglary, and went to a full blown jury trial for an ADW arrest. The jury hung and the case was not refilled.

1965 through 1968- I went from one shit job to another.

I enlisted in the Marine Corp in April of 68 and served with the 7th Marines in Vietnam.

I was medically discharged from the Corp in June of 1969, for the prior leg condition.

1973 to 1975- I attended Cerritos College and obtained an Associate of Arts degree in Administration of Justice in only a year-and-a-half, as opposed to the two year standard period. It turns out that I have a severe case of Dyslexia. That no doubt accounted for my D & F history in grade and high school. I misbehaved on purpose in those years to deflect the painful and embarrassing inability to read and write.

1969 to 1975- I fought a series of medical conditions while applying to become an L.A. Police Officer.

1975 to 1982- my Los Angeles Police years.

1982- I was fired from the Los Angeles Department.

1982 to 1986- I worked a shit load of degrading security jobs in down town L.A.

1986 to present- I�ve work as a Private Detective and Security Consultant.

2006 - See front page story in the Los Angeles Times, �A War Only He Can End�. Dated November 11, 2006.

Hobbies: Rock Climbing, Jogging, Sailing, and Weight Lifting.

Contact information:

Al Adams Moreno
5315 E. Ocean Blvd. Suite 5
Long Beach, CA 90803

(310) 559-1880

aam@globalinvestigations.com