{"id":342148,"date":"2026-06-02T00:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T00:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342148\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T00:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T00:08:22","slug":"bonta-central-valley-law-enforcement-crack-down-on-gangs-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342148\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonta, Central Valley law enforcement crack down on gangs | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Center Square) \u2013 California Attorney General Rob Bonta and law enforcement officials in the Golden State\u2019s Central Valley announced the results of a two-month crackdown on dangerous gang activity in and around Fresno on Monday.<\/p>\n

Bonta and officers from the Fresno County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the FBI highlighted efforts to stop fentanyl and \u201cghost gun\u201d trafficking by the \u201cSure\u00f1o\u201d gang, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has long described<\/a> as a multi-national criminal street gang that is present throughout the U.S. The group is connected to the Mexican Mafia, according to the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation exposed a large-scale criminal enterprise responsible for firearms trafficking, narcotics trafficking, shootings, robberies, sex offenses involving minors, organized violence within Fresno County jail facilities and multiple homicide investigations,\u201d said Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni.<\/p>\n

Approximately 42 of 44 individuals whom officers were investigating were taken into custody during the investigation, Zanoni said at a press conference in Fresno on Monday. He also said officers served 43 search warrants, seized 73 firearms and confiscated 55 pounds of methamphetamine, three pounds of cocaine, 10 grams of fentanyl and $165,000 in cash. Many of the guns recovered were \u201cghost guns,\u201d which didn\u2019t have serial numbers on them or were illegal high-capacity magazines, Zanoni said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the investigation, an additional eight Sure\u00f1o gang members housed at the Fresno County Jail have been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and gang enhancements for their involvement in two separate violent stabbing attacks within the facility,\u201d Zanoni said. \u201cThe investigation significantly disrupted organized Sure\u00f1o criminal street gang activity throughout Central California, while exposing the continued influence of the Mexican Mafia over both street-level criminal operations and violence occurring within our custodial facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigation started in March. It spanned law enforcement agencies and suspected gang activity in Fresno, as well as the smaller, surrounding towns of Kingsburg, Selma and Reedley, according to the California Attorney General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prevented shootings and other violent crimes before they occurred,\u201d Bonta said at the press conference. \u201cWe helped avoid the tragedy, the loss of life, the destruction of public safety, as well as drug-related violence. By removing firearms, drugs and dangerous individuals from the streets, we made the Central Valley and our Central Valley neighborhoods safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a 2008 report from the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Information Network<\/a>, the Sure\u00f1o gang is a large criminal network that encompasses Hispanic gangs in Southern California. It is distinct from the Norte\u00f1o gang, which is based entirely in Northern California.<\/p>\n

The only gang to not be affiliated with either network is the Fresno-based Bulldog gang, which the Rocky Mountain Information Network report said is powerful and large enough to resist joining either gang network.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Central Valley is a hotbed when it comes to gang activity, whether it be trafficking of human beings [or] trafficking drugs. A lot of individuals use the 99, as well as the I-5 corridor, to pass through Fresno and even set up areas to operate here,\u201d Nathan Magsig, a member of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, told The Center Square on Monday. \u201cSo I\u2019m very pleased when we can see more operations where the sheriff\u2019s department, local law enforcement, and state and federal agencies work together to really clamp down on gangs of many different types that do operate here in the Central Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013 California Attorney General Rob Bonta and law enforcement officials in the Golden State\u2019s Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[7,512,14660,112,114,113,28450,734],"class_list":["post-342148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-california","tag-central-valley","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-gang","tag-law-enforcement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}