The Grim Reapers

Having the chance to see the science behind Pixar, its co-size newest exhibit now open, my mind is blown. Heitzboxer, a huge fan of Pixar, this allows you to step into the world of your favorite films, exploring the artistry, the imagination, the cutting edge science that brings Pixar stories to life. If you've ever wondered how it works, all the while combining math, science, and every level of steam you could imagine, this is for you. Co-size newest exhibit, the science behind Pixar, now open. Get your tickets and find out more at co-size.org This is Jana Kramer from Windown with Jana Kramer. Every Mother's Day, I tell myself I'm going to be more thoughtful than flowers, because flowers are beautiful, but they don't last. In my house, everyone always ends up in the kitchen, friends, family, the kids, and I love having things around that spark conversation and feel special. That's why I love the Lennox spice village and your mom will too. 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When you book your first laser center appointment, you'll get a $50 Caps Med Spa gift card. So don't wait, book today at experiencecaps.com. Caps, where confidence begins. Warning, this podcast contains explicit language and details acts of violence. Listener discretion is advised. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has historically been known for its brutal violence against residents. In the 1990s, the Vikings caught the attention of a skeptical press for their brutal policing in Linwood and ruthless revenge plots on colleagues who would not conform to the gang's policies. But the Vikings were just one of the deputy gangs on the streets in the early 1990s. In LA's Lennox neighborhood, a gang of deputies calling themselves the Grimm Reapers formed at the local station. The Grimm Reapers were originally based out of the Lennox station in South LA. The station closed back in 2010 when the brand-news South Los Angeles station opened. Members of the gang can be found throughout the department these days, often in powerful positions, like Sheriff Alex Vien Wei of his former chief of staff. Being a deputy gang member can come with perks and career advancement, and the Grimm Reapers have used their brutal, often fatal policing style to network to the top of the department. Members of the Grimm Reapers have a tattoo on their calf of a black hooded skeleton holding a scythe. That's the medieval symbol of death. To get a tattoo, it's alleged that deputies need to participate in killing a civilian. This is a tradition of violence, a history of deputy gangs inside the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. By the late 1980s, deputy gangs were in style within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. But only people working on the inside were people with a connection to a deputy knew that they existed. Many people thought of the LSD as a place free of corruption, until they saw otherwise. My name is Randall Higgins. I worked for LSD as a deputy sheriff. Randall joined the LSD in the summer of 1988. What made you want to become a deputy sheriff? I wanted money. I'd done a lot of faith-based work with youth mentoring, youth activities, which didn't pay anything. And then I was living in Moore Park, and much to my surprise, I was looking through the one ads for another job. And there was an advertisement for LSD doing the qualifying test at Moore Park College. Randall grew up in Moore Park, a mostly white middle-class town just north of L.A. in Ventura County. It's known for its civil war reenactments and apricot festival. Lots of police live in the area. So growing up, the city was full of police officers, mostly LAPD and LSD. And so at the church I went to as a kid, I knew Academy staff from LAPD. I knew transportation staff from LSD. And they're good people. They took me backpacking. We did all kinds of stuff together. So I knew these guys. And I was like, this is it. My uncle was LAPD. Retired after 30 years. And so it was very much a family, friends, neighbors. What do people do when they need a job? Do you want to share our department? So he went ahead and applied. And those childhood connections helped. It was not particularly difficult to get hired. I talked to some of my deputy friends who happened to be former partners with background investigators, who happened to pull my file out of the back of their file and put it on the front of their file. So my application process went by really fast. And boom, all of a sudden I was a deputy sheriff and getting good money. Randall says the Academy wasn't particularly difficult. The department had recently shortened the length of the program by five weeks. After graduating from the Academy, Randall worked at the Peter J. Pitches Detention Center in Castellet, California for the next 19 months for his custody training. He finished in July of 1990 and was assigned to the Lennox station for patrol training. At that time, Lennox was regarded as one of the best stations to be trained at. At that time, Linwood, Firestone and Lennox were the triangle stations. And as far as statistics, they were more felony arrests there than anywhere else. Carson was just a big station. And kind of on the borders of the triangle, so you know, pretty busy. But yeah, they trained more trainees and they were staffed by more deputies. Busy stations like Lennox had informal quotas. Well, as a deputy, you don't have to do anything. All you have to do is leave the station, answer your calls. If you feel like it, you know, you can always say I answered the call and no further action required. But there had to be some evaluation. And you got to annual evaluation. And so if you literally showed no arrests for the entire year, you're going to get a negative evaluation. So there's a couple ways you can build some kind of credibility that you're actually doing something instead of just collecting that paycheck. You write two traffic tickets a day. That was like the minimum standard of production. Go out, write two traffic tickets, and nobody can say you didn't do anything because you wrote two traffic tickets. But as far as your peer respect, especially when your peers are saying, tell me about it. What'd you do today? You don't have any stories to tell. They're going to say, what a slug. Why don't you do something? Why don't you make an arrest? Like Randall, most deputies were in it for the money. That determined what kind of arrest they made. You could go and spend all day in court and you could get eight hours of overtime pay for spending that time in court. So if you arrested somebody and it resulted in a court case, then you could literally collect eight hours of overtime. That was just you clock in in the morning, you clock out at eight, you know, at the end of the day. You couldn't really do more than eight hours because the court closed. But that's overtime pay. So there's a high motivation to get to court. Well, the kind of cases that got to court was just like a rock or some other felony. You wanted a felony. Guns were good because that was always going to go to court. A rock was good because it was always going to go to court. A rock, meaning a rock of cocaine. Randall was a deputy during the height of LA's crack epidemic. He says deputies would arrest people per possession of the drug to break up hours and hours of overtime, testifying in court. You know, there's not too much else to do that you can guarantee is going to go to court. Domestic violence, you know, you make an arrest at a domestic violence call. It's probably not going to go to court. They're probably going to resolve it. So nobody wanted to spend a whole lot of time making an arrest and, you know, We basically had a problem with deputies kissing off domestic violence arrests. What was the environment like in the Linux area at that time? Linux was not a bad area. It was the most affordable area near the airport. There was gangs, Linux 13, Serenio Hispanic gang, you know, and it really, they were really more of a social organization. They could be violent. They could do terrible things. But in reality, they were really a social organization. And they were the guys that grew up together and they bonded and got tattoos and did what they did in stole stuff, cars and chopped cars and sold drugs and, you know, I mean, it happened. But you know, they weren't horrible. And then in Vermont, there was drug dealers and gang members and same thing. But for every hardcore gang member, there was 10 people just trying to get through high school or college and doing the best they could. Deputies who didn't see any difference were like, if they're walking on the street, they're fair game. They're a suspect. Randall says most of the deputies he worked with were open about their racism. But Linux, specifically, you're dealing with nearly all white deputies in a community of color. So deputies were racist. I had very few deputies that I actually talked to who didn't openly admit to being a racist. And I had one partner who I said, you know, can you give the guy a break? He's just a human being. He said, well, my dad is a fireman and he got stabbed by an inmate on a jail call. This inmate was sick and he pulled out a stabbing implement. It was some kind of a razor blade or something and stabbed my dad with it. And that justifies everything I've ever said about any person of color. And I said, you're a racist. He was also very religious. And I said, how can you go to church and say that you hate your fellow man? He's like, it's not an issue. I hate my fellow man. And I was just like, wow, I guess I don't get your religion. Had another deputies, he constantly said, because he knew it irritated me. Just put up a fence around the whole place, let them kill each other inside there. And we can just sit on the outside and make sure none of them get out. I'd be like, so what do you see the boundaries of this fence? It doesn't matter. Make it as big as we can. Let them all kill each other in there. Don't let any of them out. Just like you're, you're the definition of racist. You know that, right? And he said, I don't care. And he knew I went to church. And he said, what, you think God is going to punish you for being racist? He's not going to punish me. There is no God. And I was like, well, but what if there is? What if someday you have to answer for your racism? Now, I'm not going to answer for my racism. I have never done anything wrong. I was like, really? Even a little bit? Nope. I don't care. I've never done anything wrong. Besides racism, corruption was also pretty rampant. But when I got there, the major narcotics task force had just been indicted for arco-narco. And so that had a huge effect on the deputy behavior. Arco-narco was a huge scandal where LSD deputies and L.A. police department officers were caught stealing money from drug dealers. It drew national attention. So what happened was there was a trailer, like a mobile home, double-wide, in the back of Linux station in the parking lot, behind the library. And that was the headquarters of major crime investigations, detectives. So these guys had worked at patrol stations and they'd become task force members. The LSD started looking into the task force in October of 1988. They were tipped off through an anonymous letter from a deputy's wife, who said that the narcotics officers were stealing from their suspects. The feds joined the investigation, and ten months later, they caught nine members of the task force, taking $10,000 bundles of cash from an alleged drug dealers bag and putting it into one of their own. On September 1st, 1989, FBI agents and other sheriff's deputies raided the homes and offices of the task force members and found more money. 19 days later, the LSD disbanded its four elite narcotics squads. No one was fired at first, though, only transferred or suspended. Two years later, in 1990, a federal grand jury indicted the 26 officers for stealing an estimated $1.4 million, just over $3 million today, money laundering and tax evasion. The men were using the money to buy stocks, vacation homes, and boats. According to court documents, one deputy bought a boat for $18,000. It burned a week later, and he put $7,000 in cash down on a new one. Several of the people indicted were training officers for deputies new to patrol. Those training officers used exactly the same tactics when they were training officers, as they did when they were on the task force. That was back in the heyday, crack cocaine. So you stopped somebody in the street, they had crack cocaine. You booked it, but you kept it, because you might want to have probable cause to arrest somebody else on another day. Randall says that it wasn't only the arco-narco officers who were planting drugs. Lots of deputies were. There was even a term for it. Vision. The excellent vision, which vision is being able to see the opportunity, bebesized rock of cocaine is not ever visible through a person's clothing. But I don't know how many times I saw reports or heard a deputy say I observed a bulge in the watch pocket of the suspects Levi's in the area where most drug addicts typically stash their rock of cocaine, and I recognized it as a hidden rock of cocaine. I searched them and found the evidence, and that would fly. At least it would get you in court, and it happened over time. Dealing money was department-wide as well. Every patrol deputy had the same opportunity to take money, take drugs. You could stash it, and use it another day. The money obviously bought some boats and dates, and baby mama support, and all the things that deputies do with their money, and so it was throughout the department, and everybody knew it. He saw deputies using the money they stole to buy equipment they would use to arrest more people to steal from. There was still deputies in 1988 that were carrying revolvers. Deputies had car radios, not handheld radios, and you could buy your own handheld radio for about $2,500 and carry it on patrol. But that was a tremendous expense, and deputies didn't want to spend that kind of money. Flashlights, they had the old 2D battery plastic flashlights were issued to us, and they were saying, "Wait a minute, we got rechargeable flashlights. We've got 4 cell aluminum flashlights that will light up everything. How come we don't have those flashlights?" So deputies on patrol would find somebody with $1,000 of drug money, and they'd say, "Well, I'm going to go buy the equipment that I deserve with $500, and I'm going to book the other $500." This was standard procedure. So whoever was involved in the arrest got their share, but they were like, "No, we all get equal call on whatever confiscations we take." Some people were manipulated out of their money by deputies. That was the other part of it. there was a surrender letter. So if you got arrested with $50,000 driving down the street, you've probably been profiled or maybe somebody had actually seen you doing a drug transaction, a deputy might actually have good information that that's drug money. They make the stop, and they find $50,000 and they said, "Is this your money?" And if the person in the car says, "Yeah, that's my money." They said, "Okay, well, we're going to take you to jail for sales, because obviously you don't have a job, you don't have any investments that you just cashed out, so you got $50,000 from selling drugs, so we're going to charge you with a car." Well, then the driver of the car is like, "No, no, no, no, no, it's not my money. What happens if it's not my money?" And the officer would say, "Well, if it's not your money, we have no further business here, but that's drug money." And so they had a waiver letter and they would give it to the person. And the person would say, "This is not my money," and they would just take it. And nobody knows how many times where that happened. You didn't really have to write a report. You just did it. Training officers usually have a lot of influence on the station. They are responsible for bringing the next generation of patrol deputies up to speed, so they are generally people that others working at the station trust. In order to become a training officer, they have the meetings between a few sergeants and all of the training officers. So this is where a trust is built. In order to become a training officer, you have to have the trust of the sergeants and the existing training officers, and then they vote on who they want to allow to be a training officer. So if they don't trust you, they're not going to vote on you and allow you to be a training officer. So whenever they needed a training officer, they would say, "Oh, everybody who wants to be a training officer put in your name." And there would be a list, and they'd have a meeting and they'd go down the list, "Okay, this guy, everybody, yeah, yeah, this guy." No way, that guy's a jerk. We don't want him. Randall told me that deputies wanted to know they could freely commit crimes in front of each other. They wanted to trust each other. There were different things that a deputy could do to win that trust. For instance, when you got off training, you bought everybody beer. It just, you were a range of the trainees that all got off at about the same time, said, "Oh, we're doing beer at the bar." And they had a favorite bar, not too far from there. And the trainees had put their money together, and anybody who showed up detectives or anybody who showed up, buy them as much beer as they wanted. So that's like showing respect, building trust. The Grim Reaper's gang was formed at one of those off-training parties in late 1990. I actually saw the invitation letter that was circulated. And of course, I wasn't eligible because I wasn't off-training yet. But I saw the invitation letter. "Hey, we're forming the Grim Revers. You know, we're going to have a meeting at probably a bar. I forget exactly. Come down there if you want to be part of the Grim Revers. And we'll form the Grim Revers." They thought it was really cool. Grim Revers. Yeah, you know, we see a lot of deaths out here. We kill people sometimes. Let's call ourselves the Grim Revers. You know, we've earned it. Let's commemorate what we've earned. We're going to start the Grim Revers. We're going to get tattoos and sounds pretty badass to me. And it was a lot of it was implied. Like if we all have the same tattoo, we can trust each other to the end. If you shed a little blood with each other, your brothers forever. And there was this bonding slash camaraderie slash loyalty that would last until death. So my first training officer, Vic Lopez specifically told me that he thought it was kind of goofy and he wasn't going to join. But he also had, you know, seniority and age that it was like, you know, these young kids kind of a dumb idea. But I hope they have fun. Not everybody accepted the invitation. We actually had a response team, which was all non-Grim Reaper. And I don't think it was just a coincidence. Every deputy in the station was on a response team. And so if there was earthquake or riots or whatever, you have a sergeant and a response team. What just so happened that my response team had no grim reapers on it, which meant that we could be assigned to details that nobody else wanted to do. Or we would be segregated from grim reapers. And for grim reapers, that was very desirable. They didn't want non-Grim reapers up in their business because they didn't trust them. Randall's second training officer, Victor Clay, asked him if he wanted a tattoo. Clay was an alleged grim reaper himself. Today, he's chief of the Harvard University Police Department. We reached out to Clay for comment and he declined. Now my second training officer said, hey, you want to get a tattoo? And I was like, I don't know. And he said, well, if you want a tattoo, there's one thing you should know. You have to tell them that you will do whatever they tell you to do if you get a tattoo. So, okay, well, I'll take that under consideration. He said, what do you got to ask your wife? And I said, I really don't think that's the question you ask your wife. I need to make a decision on my own. A couple days later, he says, you can't just leave this hanging. You got to either say yes or no. And I said, no, I don't want a tattoo. Okay, fine. But from that conversation, I know that one of their primary interests was you get a tattoo, you got to tell them you will do whatever they tell you to do. You will get up in the middle of the night and do what they tell you to do. You will leave whatever you're doing and do whatever they tell you to do. I didn't fully understand that until years later, but I saw over the course of time that they were serious. They told people to do stuff that was unthinkable. It was not just a social organization. It was there in control of your life. They will tell you to do whatever they want to tell you to do. It's not about drinking beers and going bowling. It's about life and death. What sort of things do they ask people to do? Well, on the very low end, everybody who had court would have their subpoenas in a subpoena box. And so the first person who went to court would pick up all the subpoenas and make sure that everybody knew they were going and then would go to court and clock everybody in at the beginning of the day. And then the last person who left court or the last person who lived close enough to go back to court would clock everybody out at the end of the day. So everybody who had a subpoena for any day would get a full eight hours. So that was an expected task of grim reefers. Probably it was expected of every deputy. If you were down with that, you know, grim reefers especially expected that to happen. Evidence, splitting up money, you know, taking a cut out of evidence. If a grim reefers said, "Look, do it this way. Drop in guns." Drop a gun, meaning planting a gun on someone. Collecting guns that had been found instead of booking them has lost found property keeping them in case somebody is in a shooting and they need a gun. If the victim of the shooting doesn't have a gun, they need a gun. The deputy needs a gun to say, "Yeah, yeah, a gun is right here." Drop a gun. Grim reefers would also use their gang affiliation to control work schedules. Lots of grim reefers preferred to work the late night shift. If you work in the dark, you make more arrests. If you work in the day, you don't make many arrests. It was a pretty open, hazing kind of thing. You could get off training. And if you weren't, you know, playing nice with the PM shift or the early morning shift, they would go to the scheduling sergeant and say, "This guy put him on day shift. We don't want to work with him." And that's exactly what happened to me because I refused to do some favors. schedule had been flexible while he was on training, but once he finished, he wanted to go back to a regular work week. He had a wife, kids, and wanted to be there to support his family. The Grim Reapers wanted him around to cover their shifts. And they were like, "Oh, we have plans for you. You need to work this guy's shift. You need to do this." And I was like, "No." And they said, "Well, looks to us like you're a day shift deputy." And they went to the scheduling sergeant and said, "Put him on day shift." It didn't matter to me, because that meant I got home at a decent time. I saw my kids before they went to bed, and I did what I wanted to do. But to me, to them, they were putting me in my place, and I didn't really react to it, because I didn't really care, but they didn't want me around while they were doing what they wanted to do, because I had told them, "I don't need you to trust me." I mean, when a deputy comes to you and says, "Well, and I got this speech from a prominent deputy who has remained prominent to this day, there's nobody out there for you. We are your backup. Nobody's going to help you from this community. You need us." Who's going to back you up when you need backup if we don't? You need to do what we ask you to do in the station, out of the station, on patrol. If we need you to do something, you need to do it for us. Because if you don't, you won't have any backup. If you don't have anybody helping you, do anything you need to do. I said, "Oh, that sounds very serious." "No, I'm not going to do what you're asking me to do." It was tremendously frustrating to him and his partner, but as events have turned, not sure that he would see the logic of that anymore. Who was he? That was Larry Dillmeese, and his partner, Steve Levins, and one of their buddies, and those were the founding members of Krim Raepers. Having the chance to see the science behind Pixar, it's co-sized newest exhibit now open. My mind is blown. Heizboxer, a huge fan of Pixar. This allows you to step into the world of your favorite films, exploring the artistry, the imagination, the cutting edge science that brings Pixar stories to life. Co-sized newest exhibit, The Science Behind Pixar, now open. Get your tickets and find out more at cosine.org. This is Janna Cramer from Windown with Janna Cramer. Instead of giving your mom something that fades, give her something that becomes part of her home this Mother's Day. The Lennox Spice Village is a set of 24 hand-painted little houses that are actually spice jars, perfect for anyone who loves to cook, entertain, or enjoy the little details that make every day life special. As a mom, I love gifts that help turn ordinary moments into memories, charming, timeless, and meant to be used. This is one of those pieces she'll treasure. And once you see it, you'll want it for your own home, too. Find the full collection at Lennox.com/spicevillage. Ever thought about Botox, but worry you'll look well overdone? You're not alone. That's exactly why so many people choose caps. Their approach is all about keeping your expression natural because Botox shouldn't freeze your face. It should refresh it. At Caps, treatments are performed by licensed nurses, known for precise and subtle refined enhancements, all overseen by nationally ranked plastic surgeons. Now's the perfect time to start Botox. Book your first appointment and receive a $50 Caps MedSpot gift card. Schedule today at experiencecaps.com. Larry Del Nice would go on to become chief of staff to share of Alex Biennueva. Steve Levens was convicted of federal obstruction of justice charges in 2014, but we'll come back to that. Larry Del Nice and Steve Levens controlled the station. I mean, they had more influence than the captain did. They got what they wanted when they wanted it. They were very thoughtful about controlling other deputies and how they wanted to do that. Supreme Reapers also used women who lived in the neighborhood to help them cover up their crimes. Randall remembers one deputies who went by Big Bob who started dating a woman close to the station. He either met her at church and realized that he worked in the same neighborhood where she lived or this might be the cover story. She came into the station. I think he told her to come into the station and ask for help with drug dealing across the street from her house. I think they'd already started dating and then they wanted to have a on the record business relationship. Big Bob would hang out at the woman's house during his shift while his partner, Robert Johnson, drove around on patrol. Johnson is currently a candidate for sheriff in Santa Clara County. Big Bob would go over to her house and have dinner with her and spend the evening talking while Robert Johnson was out driving around. They had a little stash inside the house where they would leave drugs, money, a gun. I don't know. I don't know what was all in there. They let them put a lock on a cabinet and left it right there in her house and so they would stop buying, you know, hide evidence there, hide money there, hide whatever they wanted to hide in her little cabinet and she was like, okay, I guess. I spoke to another woman who was too afraid to go on tape who had a similar experience. She lived close to the Lennox station in the 1990s and started getting sexually harassed by deputies who patrolled in her neighborhood. They would cat-call her, shine lights into her windows and make ludes remarks toward her. Several were alleged grim reapers. She told me that out of fear, she eventually went along with it. In her words, if you can't make them stop, join them. Soon more deputies started showing up at her house at all hours of the night. They brought beer with them and asked her to dance strip teases for them. Eventually it all got to be too much and she fled California. Interacting with deputy gang members every day got to be too much for Randall too. He was deeply bothered by how the grim reapers viewed people living in Lennox. People continued to get on the grim reapers bad side. He was named in a lawsuit where a family had been detained by deputies in their home and had torn it apart during an improper search. When he was called to testify, he did the unthinkable. He told the truth. The operations of lieutenant stopped me in the hallway after that second lawsuit and he said, look, you want to remember every fucking detail of every incident? He'll put you on every lawsuit and you can just testify in all of them. How's that? You want that kind of attention? And I was like, hmm, there's an issue. At first, he tried to transfer to another station. At some point, somebody said, why does he transfer out of the station? And then I said, well, I put in a transfer to Malibu, they don't seem interested. And he said, of course they're not interested. They don't trust you. They're not going to go anywhere in this department because nobody trusts you. Steve Levin's stopped me for a friendly chat at the Jailer's desk one day. So let me explain something to you. There's all kinds of people who have ideals and want to see their ideals put forward in society. But in the Sheriff's Department, this is the way it works. My dad's internal affairs, Lieutenant, and he has developed this. All we do, all he does, is we say that you are an unusual person. Now what is an unusual person? It might mean you're completely insane. It might mean that you have some kind of deviant behavior. We don't have to define what an unusual person is. If the media, if LA Times comes to us, it says, why would he say all this stuff? We just say, well, he's an unusual person. And he said, you are an unusual person. And we'll put that on you anywhere you try to go. So I'm like, okay, I'm in this job for them. money. Not really loving Linux. It's 53 miles. I'm getting tired of the commute. There's an increasing level of hostility towards me. Maybe I should move on. Randall left the LSD in 1995 and moved to Northern California. He enrolled in seminary school and put the department behind him. But the Grim Reapers weren't ready to let him walk away. I had had friendly conversations with a guy who was from Marin County. I was living in Marin County and I said yeah stop by. So he knew where I lived and so he came one day. He said don't change your lifestyle and I said what are you talking about? He said don't change your lifestyle. Grim Reapers want to kill you and they did some research and they realized that you don't spend times in bars or high crime neighborhoods and they realized that in order to kill you it would be too obvious that it was a hit. I was like wow that's just crazy and he says actually the reason I came up here was they asked me to come up here. But I like you and so I'm telling you this. I don't want to just come up here and say that you know I didn't want to come up here just because they told me to come up here. I was up here and I want to be friendly with you. I want to you know give you this advice. Back in Linux the Grim Reapers continued their campaign of terror on residents. A man by the name of Lee Baka had taken over operations of the station. He oversaw 70% of the incidents resulting in misconduct lawsuits between 1994 and 1997. More than half of those cost LA County at least one million dollars. None of the 28 deputies sued were disciplined. They were promoted and they trained other deputies on how to become gang members. A deputy told the Los Angeles Times that a member of Posse, a deputy gang originating in Twin Towers correctional facility, went on right along with members of the Grim Reapers. That paper alleges that deputy went on to be involved in the death of Danny Smith. Danny was a black man who had been diagnosed with a mental illness. He was beaten to death at the jail. One deputy said that he had gotten on his colleagues bad side for quote "mouthing off." Just nine days after Smith's death the Times reported another beating at Twin Towers where the man had been left with flashlight marks on his back and a bootmark on his side. Then Sheriff Sherman Block stated that although the eight deputies involved in Smith's beating had been relieved of duty, six other members of Posse continued to work in the jail. Lenick stations chief deputy Lee Baca launched a campaign for Sheriff in 1998 against his mentor Sheriff Sherman Block. Baca wasn't doing well in the polls but Bloc died a few days before the election. Baca was the winner. One of Bocca's first moves was promoting Ben Lieutenant and tattooed Viking Paul Tanaka to be his top aide. More after the break. So we all know how Pixar movies are so magical but now we can learn about what goes into making that movie magic. Cosize newest exhibit The Science Behind Pixar is now open through Memorial Day. I went and it was so fascinating to see what it takes to bring our beloved Pixar stories to life. Pixar fans of all ages will love this one-of-a-kind experience. The Science Behind Pixar is now open at Cosize. This is Jana Kramer from Windown with Jana Kramer. The Lenick Spice Village is a set of 24 hand-painted little houses that are actually spice jars, perfect for anyone who loves to cook, entertain, or enjoy the little details that make every day life special. As a mom, I love gifts that help turn ordinary moments into memories. Charming, timeless, and meant to be used, this is one of those pieces she'll treasure. And once you see it, you'll want it for your own home too. Find the full collection at Lenicks.com/spice village. Do your body, goals, and recovery timeline. Caps is trusted for consistent, visible outcomes. Plus, when you book your surgical consultation, you'll receive a $100 Caps Meds Bob gift card, expert care exceptional results. Visit ExperienceCaps.com. The Grim Reapers didn't go away as time went on and members transferred to other areas of the department. The gang actually continued to get bigger. Well, I tell people that the, in my opinion, the Sheriff's Department is the most brutal of all the police agencies that I've encountered through my cases. Attorney Gary Castleman first came face to face with deputy gangs when he worked on the class action lawsuit brought by victims of the Linwood Vikings. When you were hearing about the Vikings for the first time, what was your reaction? What went through your head? It was just kind of surprising, obviously, because it never occurred to me that there would be something like that. And that they would glorify doing bad stuff to people. And it seemed like their values were completely upside down. Gary represented one of the 70 people who challenged the Vikings in court with a lawsuit, Elsie Coleman. On May 26th, 1990, Elsie was walking down Antwerp Street in the Willowbrook neighborhood of LA. Witnesses told the Los Angeles Times he had just spent the evening hanging out with family and was on his way to the grocery store. Two sheriff's deputies pulled up to him, Paul Archimbal and his partner. And so my client thought that he had a warrant out for traffic ticket or something, which unfortunately turned out not to be true. But he ran because he thought he was going to get scooped up. Elsie was unarmed, but deputies claimed that he resembled a suspect in a shooting. According to witnesses, Archimbal got out of the car with his gun in his hand and started to chase Elsie. Archimbal chased him into a dead end walkway and fired repeatedly. Elsie was hit six times. Deputies found a gun that they said belonged to Elsie. He lived, but was charged for allegedly threatening a deputy with that gun. Gary loved science. He relies on it in all of his cases to make his argument and win. This one was no different. What the DA and the sheriff's department didn't know is that I spent eight hours with the emergency room surgeon prior to going to trial. Mr. Coleman, among other things, had a wound. This is radio, but if you hold your right hand out and point your finger into the meaty part of your thumb and your palm, that's where there was a bullet hole and there was obviously a hole on the other side. The wound would help Gary prove that the deputies made up the entire story about the gun. I said, "Well, a doctor can you think of any way that a person holding a gun in their hand, the usual way, would get a bullet wound in the area that would be covered by the gun?" And he says, "No." Elsie's wounds also proved that Archimbald shot him while he was down. Elsie was acquitted of all charges. The jury not only rendered her not guilty verdict, but they passed a note and said that Archimbal should be in prison. Gary was able to get Elsie about one million dollars in the civil case. Just over 20 years later, Gary found himself taking on another deputy gang, the Grim Reapers. On October 17, 2012, deputies arrested 27-year-old Gilberto Gutierrez during a traffic stop for a suspicion of possession of a controlled substance. Gilberto was arrested, then deputies took him to his house and searched it. Afterwards, he started to complain about pain in his chest and was taken by ambulance to Centinella Hospital Medical Center around 11.30 pm. Gary represented Gilberto's family in a lawsuit. "The station took him to the hospital and so they examined him and there was no medical person in the room and the deputies were there with him." Around 1 a.m. on the morning of October 18, deputies David Chevez and Laurence wants in junior, beat, shot, and killed Hodor. Alberto, as he lay handcuffed to a hospital bed. The Guziera's family filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Gilberto's two young children and against LA County and the deputies. The deputies claimed Gilberto attempted to grab their guns, and they were cleared of any wrongdoing. But Gary looked at the science and got a different answer. Evidence from medical experts showed that the deputies were standing over Gilberto when they shot him. Well, what I think happened is that there were either words or something happened. Gilberto had a tattoo on his chest that read "Fuck the Police," which was visible during the EKG he had done. Gary thinks that may have made the deputies target his client. I asked the pathologist, I said, "Can you think of any way that a man who was shot from this side could have a bullet entering on this side?" And he said, "I can't think of any." And so I thought, "Okay, we're good." My wife came up with the idea, "You know those Styrofoam heads that they put wigs on?" So when I took the pathologist's deposition, I had a knitting needle, and I had the head, and I said, "Okay, put the knitting needle in to show the path of the bullet into the brain into the head." And so he did so, and so here's the shooter over here, and here's the bullet entry. The testimony of the two deputies solidified his case. So I set the deposition of the two shooters, and then of course I videotape all of my depositions because nonverbal communication is well over 50%. And so I had this guy, I wanted him to show me his shooting position, so he got into a stance. And Gary asked about Hilberto's position in the bed. And he described what he said his position was, and then I was able to show, or at least I thought I did, how this could not have occurred. There was no way for the bullet to have been able to travel the way the deputies were describing. Evidence shows the bullet traveled downward through Hilberto's head, the complete opposite direction from what the deputies said. And Gary was able to get the shooters to admit even more. I asked a few actors to read portions of deposition transcript. Here's Gary questioning David Chevas. And by the way, do you have any tattoos on yourself, sir? Yes, I do. Objection, it's a violation of his privacy. And what part of your body are they, sir? I have a tattoo on my ankle. And what is it of? It's a tattoo of a reaper, like a grim reaper, like a grim reaper, yes. And which ankle is it, sir? It's on my left ankle. And does it have a number? Yes, it does. What's the number? 96. And when did you receive it? It would be sometime last year. After the shooting? Yes, it was. It was a reaper. It was described as a grim reaper. He just wants an approximate date that you've got the tattoo? Probably about, I don't know, I'd say about a year ago, maybe March of 2013. March of 2013, where did you get it? At. Well, it was a tattoo shop and I really don't remember where it was at. Well, let's start with the county, was it LA County? Yeah, I believe so. And what was the name of the tattoo shop or its location? I really don't remember. How did you learn about the tattoo shop? What do you mean, how did I learn about it? Pardon me? What do you mean by how did I learn about it? Well, why did you pick that particular tattoo shop? I'll object on relevance grounds, but go ahead. I didn't pick a tattoo shop. I really just, well, you showed up there and you got a tattoo, sir. Where did the idea come from to go to that shop? Did someone tell you? No, I really don't know why we went to that shop. Who was with you? You say we. I was with a couple of buddies of mine. From the Sheriff's department? Some of them were, yes. Please identify the people that you were with. I was with-- Just objection for the record that this violates the right of privacy to individuals not a party to this litigation. They are witnesses. Go ahead, sir. I was with Deputy Swanson, Deputy Munoz, and Deputy Mesa. I see. Well, to your knowledge, have-- did Mesa and Munoz get Reaper tattoos? Yes, they do have Reaper tattoos. Did they get them the same day that you and Swanson did? No, they did not. In which of you got tattoos that day? Deputy Swanson, and I got tattoos that day. Both on your left ankle? Yes, sir. When did you get the idea to have a Reaper tattoo? As-- it's kind of a vague question. I mean, can you-- It's not vague at all, sir. When did you get the idea to get a Reaper tattoo? I can't make it any planer than that. Objection, argumentative. Just tell him when you made the decision to get the tattoo. I've always wanted a tattoo. What about that? Do you have other tattoos? No, I do not. OK, so you always wanted a tattoo. Did you always want a Reaper tattoo? Not necessarily a Reaper tattoo, but I always wanted a Station tattoo. I've always wanted one. A Station tattoo. OK, what is a Station tattoo? As you understand it, it's a tattoo that people from different stations would get. That they would somehow show some type of pride, some type of-- it's hard to describe, but just like if you're proud of something, something you would get to show you're proud of. Chevy's partner, Lawrence Swanson, was deposed to. Why did you want to get a tattoo of-- well, first of all, what is the tattoo that you got? It's a tattoo of a Reaper. Let me just, for this entire section, object on violation of privacy. But go ahead and answer your questions. So noted. And relevancy, sorry. And what does that tattoo look like? It looks like a skeleton with a robe holding-- I don't know what the tool's called. A Scythe. Scythe. Yeah, that curved blade. Right. With a long handle or a short handle. I guess a long handle. And does that show what was the reason you decided to get that tattoo? I just always wanted a Station tattoo. Station Tissues are pretty prominent in the department. And I just wanted to show pride in where I work. All right. Does it have a number on it? Yes. And what's your number? 97. And what does that signify? The number 97. I think it means I'm the 97th person to get the tattoo. So I think we heard that WChev as was 96. So you got your tattoo after he got his? Yes. In the two others, were they before you two or after you two? Before. So they're probably 95 and 94. I'm actually not certain. And they all got their tattoos on the same location and of the same vapor. On the same location on their body? Yeah. Yes. And it was the same design. Same basic design. Yes. With all this evidence in hand, Gary was sure he had won the case. He felt even more reassured when the county offered him $2 million to settle. The offer was declined, and the case went to court. You know, I thought we had the case nailed. And I mean, the county doesn't offer that kind of money just for grins and giggles. So they were worried about the case, too. But the jury was a Friday evening. And they wanted to go home. And they were, in my opinion, not terribly impressed with the case we put on. And the county's attorney was almost nine months pregnant. Well, she's trying the case. So who knows what the chemistry of all of those factors were, but it was a defense verdict. And I was absolutely sick. And I still don't feel well about it. I have the boxes in my garage. And I look at them and just kind of mentally shake my head. You know, what could have been? And I let those people down. I felt that I had-- Hilberto's family got nothing. David Cheva's and Lawrence Swanson were never disciplined, and both still appear to be working for the LSD. In fact, they've been promoted. They're not the only deputies and the grim reapers to see career advancement after something horrible. Current sheriff Alex Viennueva had at least two working with him through his campaign, and since he's been in office. That's coming up next week. [MUSIC PLAYING] You've been listening to a tradition of violence, the history of deputy gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, posted an executive produced by Sue's castle, voiced acting from Mike Breen, Alex Fumero, Steve Hernandez and Kindle May. music by Yellow Hill and Steels. For breaking news and updates on Deputy Games, follow @LASTGames on social media. The support series is reporting and for exclusive bonus content, subscribe to the LASTGames Patreon. This allows you to step into the world of your favorite films exploring the artistry, the imagination, the cutting-edge science that brings Pixar stories to life. Kosai's newest exhibit, The Science Behind Pixar, now open. Get your tickets and find out more at Kosai.org. You're not alone. Their approach is all about keeping your expression natural, because Botox shouldn't freeze your face. 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