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Life & Times Transcript

2/20/07

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Gangs are nothing new in Orange County, so why are police especially concerned about this one?

Brian Levin>> First and foremost, I would say that this is a criminal syndicate that is dressed up in White Supremacist garb.

Val Zavala>> And then, think Los Angeles doesn't have much history? Wait until Cris Franco puts locals to the test.

>> "You didn't say this was like a quiz show (laughter)."

Val Zavala>> It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> If you think gangs are made up of blacks and Latinos from the inner city, think again. Police are targeting a gang that started in Long Beach, spread through Orange County and all the way to the Arizona border. Besides the usual guns and drugs, this gang cloaks itself in White Supremacy. Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, has our story.

Roger Cooper>> There's a gang operating on these streets of Costa Mesa, a gang not quite like any other. Part White Supremacist, part criminal enterprise, Public Enemy Number One has been growing in numbers, spreading and getting a lot of attention.

Melissa Carr>> We have taken an interest in Public Enemy Number One, the PENI skinhead group, because they are a dangerous element in the community.

Roger Cooper>> Founded in Orange County and Long Beach, the gang is known for its ever-present tattoos and it goes by a number of names. Public Enemy Number One, PENI, PENI Death Squad and Needle Nazis.

Brian Levin>> This is a dangerous group. It really has to be kept on the radar screen of law enforcement.

Roger Cooper>> And the gang rocketed to the top of the radar last December. That's when investigators discovered an alleged gang hit list with the names of a district attorney and five police officers.

Melissa Carr>> And that raised the activities and the interest in the PENI group to a completely new level. When you start to target law enforcement, you've crossed a line.

Roger Cooper>> Melissa Carr is with the Anti-Defamation League in Orange County. It's been researching and tracking Public Enemy Number One for the past year. The ADL has just released a report on how the gang operates.

Melissa Carr>> They have introduced a neo-Nazi ideology into part of a gang mentality that we have yet to see. Their activities transcend typical gang activity and they also transcend what we usually see in a White Supremacist organization, so they've become a hybrid.

Roger Cooper>> Costa Mesa Police Lieutenant, Clay Epperson, has a lot of experience dealing with Public Enemy Number One.

Lieutenant Clay Epperson>> It doesn't act like a traditional street gang. It's not turf-oriented. In other words, it doesn't take a couple of city blocks and hold it and defend it.

Roger Cooper>> Lieutenant Epperson says that, although it has racist dogma, PENI's prime focus is crime.

Lieutenant Clay Epperson>> And they also have this racist ideology which tends to intimidate and cause a lot of fear, but the reality is that they rarely act out on this racist ideology. They're really a less evolved form of organized crime. They're drug dealers. They're thieves. They're experts in identity theft.

Brian Levin>> First and foremost, I would say that this is a criminal syndicate that is dressed up in White Supremacist garb.

Roger Cooper>> Brian Levin is Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. He says the PENI gang operates both on the streets and inside prison.

Brian Levin>> The significance of Public Enemy Number One is that they're filling a void that has been left by the incapacitation of a large number of members of other hate groups that have been based in prison. These include Aryan Brotherhood and Nazi Low Riders. So PENI, or Public Enemy Number One, is a group that has been undertaking criminal activity ranging from drug trade to counterfeiting to a variety of other types of crimes in large part filling that void left by increased enforcement against these other hate groups.

Roger Cooper>> How big is the PENI gang? There's no definite number, but the Anti-Defamation League report has an estimate.

Melissa Carr>> They have evolved into a group of at least five hundred. We suspect the numbers are greater.

Lieutenant Clay Epperson>> For a while, it was the fastest growing gang inside the California Department of Corrections, so they've grown exponentially.

Roger Cooper>> So how dangerous are they? Should the average person be concerned?

Melissa Carr>> It's not that they're a danger to the common person on the street. I don't think that they are a typical threatening force on the street. Where they become dangerous to members of our community is that they are out there running a drug business by capturing taxpayers' information so that they can turn identities and raise money.

Roger Cooper>> Another cause for concern is that the PENI gang has migrated beyond Orange County.

Lieutenant Clay Epperson>> It's a regional gang. It's all over the entire southern California region.

Melissa Carr>> We see them starting to infiltrate the Pacific Northwest and the Arizona area.

Roger Cooper>> With that in mind, Lieutenant Epperson says that law enforcement is using a coordinated cross-jurisdiction effort that's working against Public Enemy Number One.

Lieutenant Clay Epperson>> This is one gang problem that I feel like we have a comparatively, relatively good handle on. We're able to suppress their activities and the fact that they're drug addicted, the fact that they're not very sophisticated in the way they do organized crime allows us to be fairly effective against them.

Roger Cooper>> Professor Levin says, while the gang's Supremacist aspects concern him, he's more worried about hate groups that try to pass as mainstream.

Brian Levin>> So I'm more worried about groups that are trying to have one foot in the mainstream and one foot in the extreme and getting more membership today. Hate groups are as concerned about getting their message out through the internet and by exploiting mainstream issues, so they don't need actual members. What they need are fellow travelers and some of these fellow travelers will go out and take bigoted messages and commit acts of violence without necessarily tying themselves to these organized hate groups.

Roger Cooper>> The Anti-Defamation League has posted its report on Public Enemy Number One on its website. They feel exposing hate is the best way to attack it.

Melissa Carr>> We have a brochure called "101 Ways of Fighting Hate in Your Community". If think, if you are a parent and you have children, it's important to instill respect for all people.

Brian Levin>> And what that means is, we have to fight these stereotypes in our schools and not just in the back of patrol cars.

Roger Cooper>> After discovery of the hit list late last year, a massive sweep by three hundred officers resulted in the arrest of sixty-seven alleged gang members. But many more are still out there and police and the ADL are trying to see that they don't live up to their name of Public Enemy Number One. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> California's "Death With Dignity" law is getting revived. The assisted suicide law failed in California a couple of years, but now it's being re-introduced in Sacramento and this time it has the support of the Speaker of the Assembly. Hena Cuevas talked with Lloyd Levine, a Democrat from Van Nuys who's co-sponsoring the bill.

Hena Cuevas>> Assemblyman Lloyd Levine from Van Nuys, where did the idea come from to put forward this bill for assisted suicide?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> Well, it actually came from a personal experience that I had about three or four years ago. I knew about the concept as it was in Oregon. It wasn't as if I invented the concept, but when my grandmother passed away back in late 2001, having had conversations with her over the course of the last year or two or three of her life prior to her being diagnosed with cancer and then subsequent to her cancer diagnosis and watching what she went through, I kind of thought, you know, this is something that I've come to personally experience and believe in.

I wish my grandmother had been able to do what she probably would have wanted to do instead of having to go into hospice care. We gave her the best care we could, but that's not the way she would have wanted to live the end of her life.

Hena Cuevas>> But you knew this would be a controversial proposal after having seen everything that happened with Oregon and what they've been trying to do.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> Oh, of course. But just because it's controversial doesn't mean, you know, I'm not willing to tackle it. It doesn't mean it's not a debate worth having. There's plenty of controversial issues that move society forward. The discussions that take place with it are very important.

Hena Cuevas>> With the stepping down of John Ashcroft who has been one of the greatest opponents from the Bush administration, was it timed, the introduction of the bill, with him stepping down? Do you think that's going to help at all?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> I don't know that it will help or hurt. You know, it wasn't timed to do that. I completely disagree with John Ashcroft. I think this decision should be made between the doctor and the patient and it's not up to John Ashcroft or anybody else to insert their moral values because that's really what this was.

There were no arguments other than John Ashcroft, you know, morally didn't feel that this was right and that's fine. John Ashcroft is entitled to his moral beliefs, but he doesn't need to put that in between the relationship between me and my doctor, you and your doctor or anybody else. It should be entirely left to the patient and the doctor in that regard. So there was no timing whatsoever. We did it when we felt it was best to introduce it after lots of research and some public hearings.

Hena Cuevas>> What are some of the limitations in the bill to make sure that, once assisted suicide is approved, if it is, it would be as ethical as possible? What are some of the restrictions within the bill?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> Oh, there are a number of them. That's a really good question. That's a question I hear a lot. I want to do this in a very, very safe way, in a way that has a lot of safeguards. We're modeling it after the Oregon law. The Oregon law has a number of safeguards built in. Those are, first and foremost, you have to be diagnosed by a doctor licensed to practice medicine in Oregon with a disease that will likely kill you within six months.

If then you choose to ask for this option, you then have to have a second doctor diagnose the same diagnosis. You then have to prove to both doctors that you are of sound mind and, if they have any questions, they have to refer you to a psychiatrist. Now that's one rule where we may differ. We're discussing it. We may require a psychiatric evaluation without a referral. We just may make it part of the law.

Then you have to make the request in writing and verbally three times and it has to be separated by fifteen days, and you have to have a witness to at least one of those who is not a family member, not a staff member at the hospital, who has no financial interest in the decision whatsoever.

Last, and very, very important that we will do here, this is something you do to yourself. You have to self-administer the drug. This is not something that somebody does to you. The doctor doesn't do it to you, your family doesn't do it to you. This is something you do to yourself and I believe that's very important as well.

Hena Cuevas>> How successful have other bills been along the lines of assisted suicide in the past?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> It's been tried a couple of times in different forms. It was tried as an initiative in 1992 and one of the key differences there was that it would have allowed somebody else to do this to you.

The difference between then and now is that we have seven years of Oregon's experiences to draw from, seven years of practical experience to say, you know, you raised the concern and, if it hasn't happened somewhere, we don't know what the outcome is. But now when you raise those concerns, we can look and see what happened in Oregon.

Hena Cuevas>> How important is it going to be, the Supreme Court decision regarding Oregon?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> Oh, it's going to be very important because, if the Supreme Court says we can't do this, then it's all moot. I mean, if the Supreme Court says what Oregon is doing is wrong, then we can't do it, so I think it's crucial.

On the other hand, I think when you've seen the court decisions that have come down on this issue in the past, what the court has kind of led us to believe is that this is an issue for the states and that they're going to let the states decide for themselves. We hope that the Supreme Court is consistent in their rulings on this and doesn't go back on themselves.

Hena Cuevas>> What would you tell those who are against any form of assisted suicide?

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> I guess what I would say to them is what I've said before. You know, I appreciate your views. I respect your views. I respect your religious convictions. I respect your relationship with your God. But your views shouldn't supercede my views and my relationship with my God or anybody else's relationship with their God or their doctor. So we're not saying that this is something that everybody has to do.

What we're saying is this is an option that some people may want, that those five or ten percent of patients who at the end of their lives where even the best pain medication can't help them, who lose control, are incontinent, whatever it is, and decide for themselves that this is the option they want.

You may not morally like it, but you know what? It's my decision and I want to make it and if it's wrong in the eyes of God, I will have to explain it when I meet my maker, proverbially speaking. That's what I would say to them. If you don't like it, don't prevent me from doing it. I'm not saying you have to do it.

Hena Cuevas>> Assemblyman Levine, thank you very much.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine>> Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> They have thrilled thousands, helped us win wars and propelled America into the modern aviation age. They are old planes, everything from gliders to bombers, but many of them were ending up on the scrap heap. That's where the Planes of Fame Museum comes in. Vicki Curry went to Chino and talked with General Manager, Mark Foster, about giving these war birds the respect they deserve.

Mark Foster>> Well, the mission of the museum is really to collect and preserve and display these vintage aircraft and what we want to do is really just build a future for the aviation's past and have them here for future generations to enjoy.

Vicki Curry>> And how many planes do you have here?

Mark Foster>> Oh, we have really a hundred sixty overall in the collection at various states of assembly. At the museum in Chino, there's about a hundred of them on display. We fly about three dozen of those on a regular basis.

Vicki Curry>> Really? So most of these fly regularly?

Mark Foster>> Yeah, that's correct.

Vicki Curry>> So you guys restore a lot of these old aircraft?

Mark Foster>> Yes, we do. Over the years, we've restored dozens of these aircraft to flyable condition and, of course, we maintain a lot of the static displays as well, some of the aircraft that aren't really appropriate for flying, but we do keep a lot of them in the air.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> And what goes into restoring a plane like this?

Mark Foster>> Well, the first thing that we do when we have an aircraft is that we decide is it worthy of restoration? Is it something that, you know, there's enough of the plane there, it's historically significant, and we take that plane, bring it in and really start tearing into it to look and see if there's corrosion in the air frame. You know, what's it going to take?

And then, of course, the big part is building the budget to do that. You know, these airplanes take a lot of money to get restored. It's a real -- you know, it takes years worth of sheet metal work and so forth to get an airplane air-worthy again and that's probably the biggest challenge. It's just getting all your ducks in a row to go out and put these things together.

Vicki Curry>> You said the museum is about fifty years old. Aren't some of these planes about the same age?

Mark Foster>> Yeah. In fact, most of the airplanes that we operate are older than fifty years old. You know, they're World War II vintage airplanes and, you know, we're at the sixtieth anniversary now of the end of World War II. So we're operating airplanes that are sixty years old and we think based on, let's say, the last ten to twenty years' worth of wear and tear on the planes that we currently operate, that they will easily be flyable still when they're a hundred years old.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Why is it important to have these planes and especially to have them in flyable condition?

Mark Foster>> Well, you know, you can go to a lot of museums and you can see almost the same airplanes, but they're not flyable. They're parked in a hangar and it's really like going to a zoo and seeing stuffed animals, you know, instead of a real lion or a real tiger, you know, breathing and walking and you hear the sound of it roaring.

And that's what we do with these airplanes here. We want people to be able to see them in their natural environment, you know, the sky. So that's why we keep them air-worthy. We fly these airplanes every month for events, so that's something we just don't want people to miss out on. We want them to be able to know what the schedule is and get out here and join the membership and be part of it and really enjoy seeing this stuff fly.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> So how long have you lived in Los Angeles? Do you even know when the city was founded? Cris Franco takes to the streets to put Angelenos to the test.

Cris Franco>> I love L.A. and so do you, right? But what do you know about Los Angeles history? History is so five minutes ago. The history of Los Angeles?

>> "Oh, no."

Cris Franco>> No, you're going to know a lot. These are easy questions.

>> "I can tell. This is going to make me look dumb."

Cris Franco>> No, no, no. I can't do that. Only you can make yourself look dumb. All I can do is help.

>> "Okay, all right."

Cris Franco>> Okay, so you've lived here for five big years.

>> "Um-hum".

Cris Franco>> Okay. Now what is the oldest street in Los Angeles? Probably been there. Tourist place.

>> "Route 66?"

Cris Franco>> Get your kicks on Route 66.

>> "Hollywood Boulevard?"

Cris Franco>> No.

>> "Give me a hint."

Cris Franco>> It's a Spanish name. There are a lot of Mexican restaurants. In downtown.

>> "Cesar Chavez Boulevard?"

Cris Franco>> Hi, what's your name? You're an actress, aren't you? Of course. It's Los Angeles. What is the oldest street in Los Angeles?

>> "I would say Wilshire Boulevard, maybe?"

>> "I've no idea."

Cris Franco>> What is the oldest street in Los Angeles?

>> "Ventura."

Cris Franco>> What is the oldest street in Los Angeles?

>> "I would say Olvera Street."

Cris Franco>> One for one. Very good, Earl.

>> "Is it Olvera Street?"

Cris Franco>> She got it right.

[Film Clip]

Cris Franco>> How old is the city of Los Angeles?

>> "You didn't say this was like a quiz show (laughter). I don't know."

Cris Franco>> It is a quiz show with no prize. Los Angeles was established in what year?

>> "A couple hundred -- no, about two hundred-plus years ago?"

Cris Franco>> Um-hum. Do you want to do the math? Is that your final answer?

>> "I couldn't even say. I don't know. Eighteen-something?"

Cris Franco>> When was the city of Los Angeles established? It was before the Declaration of Independence? When was the Declaration of Independence?

>> "1860 --"

Cris Franco>> 1776.

>> "1776".

Cris Franco>> Okay. That's what the musical says, so I learned it all from the musical and I don't think Benjamin Franklin sang, although who knows?

>> "1781 or 82."

Cris Franco>> You're really close. This is the closest we've gotten.

>> "I think it was 1800."

Cris Franco>> A little lower. Seventeen seventy --

>> "One."

Cris Franco>> Yes. Very good. Two for two.

[Film Clip]

Cris Franco>> Prior to 1882, Los Angeles by a part of California was under the rule of what European country?

>> "England? No."

Cris Franco>> Not quite.

>> "Spain."

Cris Franco>> Very good. Spain, Mexico, that's how we get Spanish.

>> "Right."

Cris Franco>> Prior to 1882, Los Angeles was under the rule of what European country?

>> "Prior to what year?"

Cris Franco>> 1882. Something happened.

>> "I guess it was Spain."

Cris Franco>> Very good. We got a smart one. She's very gifted. We're putting her in a special classroom. Prior to 1882, Los Angeles and California was under the rule of what European country?

>> "Spain."

[Film Clip]

Cris Franco>> What does Pasa Dena mean?

>> "That's Spanish (laughter)?"

Cris Franco>> Pasadena means?

>> "Pasadena. That is --

Cris Franco>> -- way far away. Pasadena?

>> "Pass the pasta. No?"

>> "Pass of Dena? I don't know."

Cris Franco>> Pass of Dena. Go forth to that beautiful Rose Parade.

>> "Pasadena. That's where it came from, Pasadena."

Cris Franco>> That's pathological. There's a bunch of Italians asking for food. Passa the Dena!

[Film Clip]

Cris Franco>> Can you spell Villaraigosa for me?

>> "No, I can't spell it."

Cris Franco>> Come on, sound it out. Okay, right here.

>> "Is it one word?"

Cris Franco>> Spell Villaraigosa. Yes, it's one word.

>> "Villaraigosa, yes? V-I-A-S-R-A I-G-O-S-A."

Cris Franco>> Close, but no Villaraigosa.

>> "V-I-A-A-L-. . . I have to write it down so I can spell it, but I know how to spell it.

Cris Franco>> (Laughter) Okay.

>> "V-I-L-L-E-R-A-G-O-S-A."

Cris Franco>> Close enough.

>> "Not good, right?"

Cris Franco>> Well, --

>> -- "What did I leave out?"

Cris Franco>> I'm not sure. There's an E and an A and an I and a U there sometimes.

>> "It would be pronounced that way in Spanish, so that's what I went for, you know."

Cris Franco>> (Laughter) It's phonetic.

>> "V-I-L-L-R-I-G-R-O-S-A?"

Cris Franco>> Vigrosa? Well, it might be closa (laughter).

>> "Might be closa?"

>> "V-A-I-L-L-R-A-G-O-S-A."

Cris Franco>> That's not bad.

>> "V-I-L-L-A-R-O-R-G-O-S-A, or something like that."

Cris Franco>> Something like that.

>> "It was close."

Cris Franco>> You were very close.

>> "Say it again?"

Cris Franco>> I'll say it very slowly.

>> "Are you saying it right?"

Cris Franco>> It's Villaraigosa.

>> "Okay, I got the Villa part. V-I-L-L-A. I think it's just one R. Then I thought it was A-G-O-S-A, but you're saying an I. Is there an I in there?"

>> It's V-I-L-L-A-R-A-I-G-O-S-A."

Cris Franco>> You win a hug.

>> "Oh, is that all? Oh, that's wonderful."

Cris Franco>> That's a pretty long name.

>> "R-A-I-G-O-S-S-A."

Cris Franco>> No, no double S.

>> "Oh, S-A."

Cris Franco>> Try it again.

>> "V-I-L-L-A-R-A-I-G-O-S-A."

Cris Franco>> You did it! You did it!.

Val Zavala>> But can they spell Zavala? I'm Val Z-A-V-A-L-A. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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