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Officer Jerry Ortiz was shot and killed.
November 2, 2023
By Brian Hews
The killing of Jerry Ortiz, a 15-year veteran of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department who worked on gang suppression, rocked the city of Hawaiian Gardens in 2005. After a massive door-to-door search, Jose Luis Orozco, a 27-year-old reputed gang member with devil horns tattooed on his head, was arrested in Hawaiian Gardens.
Now, a T.V. show airing next Tuesday will document “Operation Knockout,” the most extensive anti-gang operation in U.S. history spurred by the murder of Ortiz.
After the murder of Ortiz by the Latino gang Varrio Hawaiian Gardens, the FBI formed a task force made up of over forty federal, state, and local enforcement agencies in Operation Knockout, the most extensive anti-gang operation in U.S. history.
At the time, Varrio Hawaiian Gardens waged a racist campaign to eliminate black people from the community via attempted murders and other crimes.
Almost 1,400 law enforcement officials converged on Hawaiian Gardens in a series of raids in 2009 as part of Operation Knockout.
The indictments charged 147 members and associates of the gang, while federal, state, and local law enforcement officials arrested 88 people.
The indictments detailed murder, firearms possession, narcotics, and other charges related to attacks by the gang, which was predominantly Latino.
In the show, FBI agent Kirst Kottis will talk to several agents about their part in one of the most extensive anti-gang operations in history, including:
25-year veteran, former Special Agent Maureen O’Connell, who worked in violent street gangs; homicide investigator and gang detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Gary Sloan and Michael S. Lowe, prosecutor for Central District of California in Los Angeles.
The show will air next Tuesday, November 7; check your local listings for time.
