Richard Trino Savala has tattoos on his left arm depicting an Aztec warrior, prison towers and "ENE XIV," a reference to the Norteños street gang.
On his right arm are the letters "BRK," which Savala said stand for the Broderick neighborhood in West Sacramento.
Savala, a Sacramento gang counselor, said he helped found the Broderick Boys in the 1970s. But he said he is a reformed gang member who disputes the current reputation of the Broderick Boys, identified by the Yolo County District Attorney's Office as a subset of the Norteños.
"The Broderick Boys gang is dead," Savala said from his cubicle at The Effort, a Sacramento nonprofit group that provides counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. "What you got now are little wannabes living off the reputation of the Broderick Boys name," he said.
Many longtime Broderick and Bryte residents are questioning the current threat – and mere existence – of a Broderick Boys gang. They say Yolo County prosecutors are overreacting, with anti-gang injunction orders being considered in Yolo Superior Court.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig secured an injunction for nine alleged Broderick Boys on Dec. 19. Prosecutors on Jan. 31 will argue to apply the injunction to a dozen other alleged gang members, who are named, and to 400 alleged, unnamed, gang members.
Savala, 47, has been tracking area gang problems for the past six years to educate others and help at-risk youth.
He said organized crime in West Sacramento hit its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, before original gang members went to jail or decided to get jobs and raise families.
The Broderick Boys are no longer recognized by the Norteños or any street or prison gang, Savala said.
Yolo County prosecutors have said in court documents that Broderick Boys terrorize and intimidate the community in the Broderick and Bryte neighborhoods by "gathering in groups, flaunting their gang tattoos and brandishing their name Broderick Boys as a sword to strike fear in the community."
The Broderick Boys were named as suspects by victims in more than 800 criminal cases between 2002 and 2005, according to the West Sacramento Police Department.
"Judges and juries have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the Broderick Boys are a real criminal street gang within the meaning of California law," Reisig said. He points to court records showing convictions of self-proclaimed Broderick Boys for serious and violent felony crimes, such as assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and drug dealing.
Alleged gang members who are served with the injunction in West Sacramento would have a 10 p.m.-to-sunrise curfew. They would be prohibited from gathering in public and undertaking certain activities in the Broderick and Bryte neighborhoods.
A violation of the order would result in a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
A previous injunction, granted in 2005 and struck down by a state appeals court in April 2007, was criticized for being overly broad. Appellate justices did, however, acknowledge that West Sacramento was plagued with enough crime to warrant a possible gang injunction.
Police report that violent crimes in neighborhoods encompassed by the original injunction decreased from 189 in 2004 to 135 in 2006.
Civil rights advocates and some residents say the injunction violates citizens' rights and unfairly targets minority groups.
Law enforcement officials have touted the injunction as an effective crime-fighting tool that allows them to address gang crime before it escalates.
West Sacramento Police Chief Dan Drummond said a revised gang injunction process for his city will have more checks and balances. Thumbing through a stack of about 350 confirmed gang members, Drummond said he and other officers have been weeding out those who no longer belong on the gang list.
Drummond expects to cut the list to about 150 confirmed gang members. About 60 Broderick Boys with serious criminal history and documented gang activity will be served an injunction, if the court allows it, Drummond said. An estimated 140 people were served in 2005 with the first injunction.
The Bee's Lakiesha McGhee can be reached at (916) 321-1121 or lmcghee@sacbee.com.
