GANGLAND GODFATHER

Molotov cocktails were thrown into four homes in Salinas on Thursday night and Friday morning in an alleged gang-related incident, according to police.The first incident occurred just before midnight Thursday when suspects threw incendiary devices into a home in the 700 block of Garner Avenue, police said.Just after midnight Friday, more Molotov cocktails were thrown into three different homes in the 900 block of Acosta Plaza, police said.In both cases, the devices caused minor damage to the home and injured no one.

cyber-banging. Gangs now use social networking sites to recruit, communicate, and post threats.For Salinas officials, the trend brought to mind how terrorist organizations developed and triggered the idea of bringing in terrorism experts from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue was fascinated with how the military methodically figured where Sadam Hussein was by using statistical analysis. He wondered if the same approach in terms of predictability could be used on gangs.Salinas police Commander Kelly McMillan agrees and said a lot of insurgent groups the military deals with in Iraq and Afghanistan are very much structured like a street gang in Salinas.

Salinas police arrested a 37-year-old suspected gang member and convicted felon of being in possession of a firearm Friday morning, according to authorities.Officers served a search warrant in the 200 block of Winham Street around 8 a.m. and located a Smith and Wesson .45 revolver, a 30/30 Winchester rifle and gang-related items, police said.Anthony Sandoval was arrested and booked into county jail for being a suspected gang member in possession of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, police said.

violence has returned to the Salinas, leaving three people dead and five wounded by gunfire. Most of the victims in the latest surge of shootings that began Nov. 2 have been younger than 25. The youngest victim, Romeo Gose, 15, was killed after being shot multiple times in the upper body about 9 p.m. Sunday in Northgate Park on the city's northwest side off Cherokee Drive. Gose died at a local hospital a short time later, becoming the city's 23rd slaying victim of 2008. Salinas police Cmdr. Kelly McMillin said Gose was near an outbuilding in the park when two people approached him and opened fire at close range. "We have no reason to believe this had anything to do with gangs," McMillin said. He declined to elaborate. Less than 90 minutes earlier, in what police are investigating as a gang-related shooting, the 22nd slaying of the year was marked. Edgar Hernandez, 19, was fatally shot about 7:50 p.m. Sunday when someone opened fire on him and two 33-year-old men in th...

Violence in Salinas returned to the area of Hartnell College late Friday night with the slaying of one man and serious injury of another. Witnesses say a fight broke out about 11:15 p.m. at a party on the 700 block of Archer Street, leaving one man fatally shot and another stabbed. The injured man ran into a nearby apartment complex to hide until police arrived, then was taken by helicopter from the soccer fields at Hartnell College to a Bay Area hospital. Police are not releasing the names or ages of the two men or saying whether the homicide and assault were gang-related. The shot man became the city’s ninth homicide of the year and second homicide of the week.The day before, Martin Santoya, 21, was fatally shot near North Salinas High School minutes before school let out while arguing with someone in another car. Salinas police arrested Robert Sanchez, 18, Friday on suspicion of Santoya’s death — the year’s first arrest in a gang-related homicide in Salinas.This year the area around...