The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is asking for an investigation into deputy gangs within the Sheriff’s Department, part of a sweeping motion to be heard on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the Board meeting.
Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s motion calls for the County Counsel, the Office of Inspector General and the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission to produce a confidential report containing the names of deputy gangs, cliques or secret groups that share tattoos or other insignias that brands members as part of unlawful subgroups allegedly working within the department.
Mitchell’s motion says there have been 27 such deputy gangs operating in the past or currently active. The motion says these cliques of deputies have been linked to “excessive force, criminal and administrative misconduct, a code of silence, and a culture of impunity that undermines public trust.”
Reports from independent groups, news agencies, county departments and the courts link deputy gangs to retaliation against whistleblowers and targeting of Black and Latino residents. The motion also says their activities result in costly lawsuits paid out by the county.
A March 2023 report from the Civilian Oversight Commission found several deputy gangs operating inside the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. It detailed numerous accounts of deputy gangs and deputy cliques “engaging in harmful, dangerous, and often illegal, behavior” within Men’s Central Jail and several Sheriff’s stations.
The report named several gangs, including the Executioners, the Banditos, the Regulators, the Spartans, the Gladiators, the Cowboys and the Reapers.
The Commission called on Sheriff Robert Luna, who had just been elected, to eliminate them.
Luna has said he is working to eliminate these deputy gangs, part of a campaign pledge. After the 2023 report was released, Luna announced the creation of the Office of Constitutional Policing, led by former U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker. This Office, staffed with attorneys, investigators, and auditors, is tasked with eradicating deputy gangs from Sheriff’s Department.
In April, Luna told the Board that a series of measures recommended by the COC had been or were being implemented to prevent deputies’ participation in internal cliques or gangs.
While Tuesday’s motion says such secret groups within the L.A. County Sheriff’s have been existing since the early 1970s, they continue to exist today.
The motion gave some recent examples of what it called deputy gang activity.
The Civilian Oversight Commission in 2024 reported a deputy gang out of the Norwalk station were using a logo with “Nazi-like imagery,” the county reported.
In another incident in 2022, Mitchell’s motion said four deputies flashed a handgun, mocked teenagers and used the N-word at a bowling alley in Montclair. Two of the four deputies involved allegedly admitted to having an “Industry Indians” tattoo, according to the board motion.
The LASD told the OIG that it did not identify any such group that meets the definition of a deputy gang, according to a report covering the period of October through December 2025.
“Deputy gangs are not a problem of the past, but a persistent issue that continues today,” the motion contends.
The Board meets at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 West Temple St., in downtown Los Angeles starting at 9:30 a.m. For more information on how to comment virtually, in writing or in person, go to: Board of Supervisors/Meetings/Agendas at: https://bos.lacounty.gov/board-meeting-agendas/