The Department of Homeland Security assisted the Glendale Police Department in Operation Neighborhood Guardian, an investigation that brought down a city criminal street gang that has operated in the area for more than thirty years.
Glendale Police report a 2010 murder began their investigation into the street gang known as Grandel. This criminal gang actually began as a prison gang just for Glendale residents back in the 1970’s, but has grown into a much larger force over time. The goal of Grandel was to control all aspects of criminal activity that occurred on the streets of Glendale.
Glendale Assistant Police Chief Rick St. John said the gang wanted the Mexican drug cartel to go through them for their drug deals, but since this arrangement would cost the cartels money – they would have to pay Grandel – the cartels refused to do so, and, thus, violence and conflict erupted.
According to Glendale police, although the investigation is still far from over with more than another half dozen or more suspects still left to arrest, Operation Neighborhood Guardian has made a significant reduction in crime in the area.
In phase one of the year-long investigation, police arrested fifty-two and solved forty violent criminal cases. In phase two, which ended this past Wednesday, law enforcement officials arrested seventeen more alleged gang members and 151 offenses were charged, which included homicide, armed robbery, aggravated assault, weapons violations, home invasion burglary, theft and money laundering.
Original story can be found here.
