In brief: Feds target members of ‘Hazard’ gang in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES – More than two dozen suspected members of a gang that terrorized a housing project for a half-century and controlled drug dealing in an East Los Angeles neighborhood were arrested Wednesday on charges related to a federal racketeering indictment.

The indictment named 38 members of the Big Hazard gang with ties to the Mexican Mafia who authorities say are linked to crimes ranging from drug dealing to extortion to murder.

“For the last two decades, my office has been fighting the influence of the Mexican Mafia both in prison facilities and on the streets of Southern California,” Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura said at a news conference. “The indictment unsealed today is the latest salvo in that battle.”

The Mexican Mafia is a powerful collection of prison inmates from various Latino gangs who call shots on violence behind bars and drug dealing and street crime.

The FBI and Los Angeles police led early morning raids at more than a dozen homes. They nabbed 24 of those named in the indictment, along with four others charged with crimes related to the gang.

Seven people, including the gang’s leader, were already in custody. One defendant was killed in a shooting over the weekend.

Man rescued at sea to reunite with son

HONOLULU – The estranged son of a 67-year-old Hawaii fisherman rescued after 12 days at sea said the ordeal is leading him to reunite with the father he hasn’t spoken to since the 1990s.

The father, Ron Ingraham, arrived Wednesday to the Hawaii island of Molokai, where he lives on his boat. He was found dehydrated and hungry Tuesday after going missing on Thanksgiving, when the Coast Guard picked up his mayday call saying his boat was in danger of sinking.

Zakary Ingraham said he’s making arrangements to travel to Hawaii.