Thee Rascals

Thee Rascals, also known as TRS and ATW, is a multiracial criminal street gang mainly in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. Thee Rascals were originally formed by Atwater youths in the late 1970s who were rejected from joining the Tooner Ville Rifa 13 gang.

Thee Rascals are based primarily in the lower portion of Atwater Village in the area between Los Feliz Boulevard and Carillon Street. In recent years many high ranking Rascals have been sent to prison for various crimes but still continue to control the [...] and arms trade in Atwater Village.

History

Thee Rascals originally formed in the late 1970s as a group of local juveniles led by a mysterious man named "Silent", rumored to have connections to Mexican [...] cartels. Within a few years of their formation Thee Rascals had developed a [...] distribution network that dealt mainly in [...] and [...]. At first Thee Rascals stayed out of conflict with Toilet Ville Rifa but The Two began to clash over territory used for [...] dealing. In the early 1980s an Atwater youth by the name of Timothy Joseph McGhee attempted to join Thee Rascals but was denied entrance and opted to join Tooner Ville Rifa, this decision would later come back to hurt Thee Rascals in the long run. Throughout the 80s Thee Rascals continued to sell drugs and viciously defend their turf, even developing a faction of Filipino youths known as "Pinoy Real" who assisted in [...] dealing, assaults, and murders. In the early 90s the main [...] of choice on the streets of Atwater changed from [...] to [...], giving Thee Rascals a new business opportunity. In 1997 two Rascal members, Juan Cardiel and Pedro Sanchez, were chased through the streets of Atwater by the man who once tried to join The Rascals, Timothy Joseph McGhee. Cardiel was shot in the back and paralyzed from the waist down. Sanchez took cover in a gas station, standing behind glass that he thought was bulletproof. McGhee fired repeatedly through the glass door, hitting Sanchez in the back who would later recover from his injuries. On June 3, 2000 Rascal member Ryan Gonzalez was shot by McGhee on the 3300 block Silver Lake Boulevard while walking home from a party. Gonzalez shared McGhee's nickname Huero and investigators believe McGhee's motive was simply that the neighborhood wasn’t big enough for two people with the same street name. On June 11, 2001 Rascal member Manuel Apodaca Jr. and his pregnant girlfriend Nina Guerrero were driving down Los Feliz Boulevard when their vehicle came under fire from McGhee. Apodaca was killed and Guerrero suffered severe brain damage but their baby was delivered successfully. On November 8, 2001, McGhee was allegedly prowling the streets with fellow gang members seeking revenge over the death of a comrade hours earlier. Armed with handguns and assault rifles, they came upon rival Rascal gang member Duane Natividad on the 3100 block of Hollydale Drive, a mere six blocks south of the Gonzalez [...] in 2000. Natividad was driving his Mitsubishi Montero with his girlfriend Marjorie Mendoza and her friend Erica Rhee. Mendoza and Natividad had three children, Mark, Justin, and Nathan, who were not with them at the time. At 12:01 AM, November 9, as Natividad pulled up to a residence, McGhee and an affiliate allegedly pulled in front of them, exited their vehicle, and opened fire on the Montero without warning or any verbal altercation. Natividad ducked and was struck in the right hand while Rhee ducked in the back seat avoiding injury. As her boyfriend threw the car in reverse and accelerated away, Mendoza was hit multiple times and was driven to Glendale Memorial Hospital where she later died. Tooner Ville gang member Eduardo Rodriguez was arrested the following day and a warrant was issued for McGhee's arrest on November 27, 2001. For the next two years McGhee remained on the run from the law, shifting between Atwater Village, Las Vegas, and Arizona. On February 12, 2003 McGhee was arrested in Bullhead City, Arizona after his vehicle was pulled over by more than 25 officers of the LAPD, Bullhead City Police Department, and federal law enforcement. After McGhee's arrest Tooner Ville was left without a strong leader which weakened the gang and gave Thee Rascals a new advantage over their old rivals. McGhee's arrest gained a great deal of notoriety among law enforcement which caused the LAPD to develop the Northeast Gang Unit, which specifically targeted gang members from northeast Los Angeles gangs, including Thee Rascals. Many high ranking Rascals were arrested for an array of crimes stemming from armed robbery to [...], however these high-ranking members could be replaced by younger members. Gang violence in Atwater dropped significantly after the formation of the Northeast Gang Unit, but it did not weaken gang power in the area to the extent the LAPD hoped it would. On July 12, 2012 Rascal member Carl Hutchinson was shot in the chest by rival Avenue gang members while eating at a fast food restaurant on Fletcher Drive, he would later recover from his injuries. Soon after the Hutchinson incident another drive-by shooting occurred in the Glassell Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and it is suspected that Thee Rascals were carrying out retaliation against The Avenues for their fellow gang member. On August 26, 2012 two Rascals shot a rival Toonerville gang member in the leg on Perlita Ave, in the center of Rascal territory. One suspect was arrested later that day but released soon after due to a lack of evidence. To this day Thee Rascals continue to operate a vast network of [...] distribution in Atwater Village ranging from Los Feliz Boulevard to Carillon Street, which is defended viciously through assaults and shootings.

Criminal activity

Thee Rascals' main source of income is the [...] trade in which drugs such as [...], [...], [...], and [...] are sold by street dealers. Most of the [...] and [...] in Atwater is produced in Mexico, smuggled into the United States by cartels, and sold to Thee Rascals at wholesale price. On occasion Thee Rascals buy their [...] from home chemists who produce the [...] in clandestine labs throughout Los Angeles county. The [...] sold by The Rascals comes from both home growers, who sell low grade [...] to Thee Rascals at an extremely cheap price, and medical dispensaries, who sell only to Rascal members who possess a medical [...] license. [...] (MDMA) is sold on and off whenever Thee Rascals can find a connection to an MDMA wholesaler, which can be hard at times due to constant shortages in supply. Thee Rascals also sell an arsenal of illegal and stolen firearms ranging from handguns to assault rifles as well as knives and other weapons. Other than [...] and arms dealing Thee Rascals routinely vandalize property with the tags TRS, ATW, RSCS, or simply THEE RASCALS, burglarize property such as cars and houses, and when confronted by rival gang members will commit assaults and murders.