L.A. Gangs Find Vegas An Easy Hit - So Far

LAS VEGAS - Like corporate raiders seeking new markets to exploit, Los Angeles gang members have come gunning for easy money on the high-rolling Strip.

In a spree of brazen invasion-style heists - three of them in the last three months - suspected gang members have stormed into casinos, rifled through the cashiers' cages and made off with tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of seconds.

No bystanders have been injured in any of the attacks, which reflect the continuing evolution of some South-Central Los Angeles gangs into profit-driven enterprises.

But the robberies, captured on dramatic surveillance videotape, have stunned this mushrooming tourist mecca and forced image-conscious proprietors to begin beefing up their intentionally low-key security measures.

"When you see these guys jumping like animals over the counters with their pillow cases ready to fill with bounty, that really strikes fear in people's hearts," said Beecher Avants, security chief at the Gold Coast and a candidate for Clark County sheriff. "This is going to continue . . . as long as we leave cash laying out there like candy."

Starting with a November 1992, robbery at the San Remo Hotel and Casino, there have been seven casino heists in Las Vegas, including holdups at the Aladdin, Flamingo Hilton, Harrah's and the San Remo again.

Although Los Angeles gangs are suspects in five of the assaults, authorities have had enough evidence to file charges in

only two.

In almost every case, at least three or four masked gunmen have burst into the neon-bathed gambling halls, waving shotguns and shouting for everyone to hit the floor.

A few times, the crowds failed to even hear the commands, drowned out by the clatter of slot machines and the unshakable lounge bands.

Vaulting over the belly-high counters of the cashiers' cages, the robbers have scooped up bundles of large bills, then sped away in stolen cars. One group of alleged thieves was caught in Las Vegas after a high-speed chase. The 15-year-old triggerman in another casino robbery was arrested in South-Central Los Angeles after an informant overheard him boasting about his feat.

None of the loot, which has ranged from $47,000 to $158,000, has been recovered.

"It's like they think we're the new frontier, that we're easy pickin's," said deputy district attorney Victoria Villegas, who successfully urged a 30-year prison term for the juvenile shooter. "We're trying to send a message to L.A. gangs that this is not going to be looked upon lightly."

For much of the last decade, Los Angeles gangs have been evolving from turf-oriented neighborhood cliques into business-minded outfits. Some of the more sophisticated factions have helped fuel a nationwide drug-trafficking network, while others have been linked to the alarming rise in Southern California bank robberies.

"Our gangbangers are master opportunists," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Wes McBride, who fields calls from law-enforcement agencies around the country seeking information about gang members migrating from Los Angeles. "Like any predator, they take what they can get."

With the crack cocaine market saturated and banks rapidly bolstering security, gang experts say, the fast cash of Las Vegas became a lucrative target. Not only are many of the cashiers' cages wide open, but there is little chance that a security guard would risk firing a gun in a casino crowded with tourists.

"No matter what gets taken in a robbery, it's not as much as they'd have to pay if grandma gets shot at the damn slot machine," said Jim Galipeau, a deputy probation officer in South-Central Los Angeles. "It's well-known in the gang community that you can go in and take anything you want from a Vegas casino as long as you can get out the door."