The shooting subsided for a couple of weeks. But then, the insanity erupted again. One Friday in January, there were four street killings within six hours that police attributed to a war between the two East Oakland groups — one of which had merged with another group in West Oakland.
Last Friday, alleged members of an Oakland gang got a very unpleasant wake-up call. In a series of early-morning raids, 200 local, state and federal police arrested at least 18 suspected members and associates of the Case Boys.
The well-coordinated strike to serve 24 search and arrest warrants targeted various sites in Oakland, Antioch, Brentwood and Pacifica.
Oakland police officials had said publicly in January that they were planning a major operation against two groups they blamed for much of the shooting and killing in Oakland — the Case Boys and their rivals, Money Team. Members of those groups had been summoned to a Ceasefire meeting — known as a “call-in” — in October with law enforcement and community members. They were told to deliver a message to their associates. Stop shooting or else face an intense crackdown from local, state and federal law enforcement.
They pretty much blew off the warning.
[…]