SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO - The raid and gunfight Thursday in Petaluma that wounded three federal agents marked what authorities called a turning point in an 18-month, triple-homicide investigation that began on gang-riddled streets in South San Francisco.
Victor Flores, a 20-year-old known as "Little Creeper" and who was living in Petaluma, was among 13 suspects arrested Thursday during 11 federal raids in three Bay Area cities in an effort to take down a South San Francisco street gang.
Flores and three other men were charged with three counts of murder, among other crimes, and if convicted could face the death penalty, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag declined to confirm whether Flores was the suspect arrested after the pre-dawn exchange of gunfire at a home on McNeil Avenue in east Petaluma.
Haag on Thursday afternoon stood among two rows of officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and other federal and Bay Area police agencies who reported the arrests at a news conference in South San Francisco.
"Three were killed and three wounded not far from here on Dec. 22, 2010, during a senseless shooting," Haag said. "They will be brought to justice for the pain and sorrow they have caused."
The indictment charged 19 reputed members or associates of the 500 Block and C Street gangs, including six previously in custody, of an array of crimes, including drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and murder. The two Norte? gangs worked together against not only Sure? gangs but also against rival Norte? groups, federal officials said.
The arrests "will have a significant impact on the gang," South San Francisco Chief Michael Massoni said. "Still, some members of the gang are still out there."
The investigation stemmed from the 2010 shootings that killed Gonzalo Avalos, 19, Omar Cortez, 18, and Hector Flores, 20.
The indictment accused Victor Flores and three other men - Joseph Ortiz, 22, of South San Francisco, Justin Whipple, 19, of San Bruno and Benjamin Campos-Gonzalez, 21, of San Mateo - of the three slayings.
Flores, Whipple and Ortiz shot at seven people "who they believed were rival gang members, hitting six of the individuals and killing three of them," the indictment said. Campos-Gonzalez was identified as the driver in the attack.
The investigation quickly broadened as authorities uncovered what they said was the group's involvement in drug and weapons trafficking as well as other acts of violence.
Nineteen people, almost all from the San Francisco Peninsula, are charged in a 29-count indictment returned by the grand jury April 24 and unsealed Thursday. The charges include racketeering, conspiracy to commit violent crimes that include murder in aid of racketeering, use of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence, robbery affecting interstate commerce, accessory after the fact, and obstruction of justice.
Fifteen defendants are being held in federal custody and scheduled to appear today in federal court. Four defendants in state custody will be turned over to federal authorities next week to face charges.
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