A San Jose officer has been arrested as part of a gang sweep conducted by police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DEA.
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Authorities said the sweep capped an investigation of the gang’s operations within San Jose’s large Vietnamese community that began in March and went under the name “Game of Thrones”. It’s part of a bigger sweep they’re calling “Operation Gang of Thrones”.
Pedestrians walk past the Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose, Calif. where a San Jose Police officer was booked Tuesday after being arrested on suspicion of five felonies during a citywide gang takedown. “Gang members frequently operated out of Vietnamese cafes and routinely extorted cafe owners through various means”, Sgt. Enrique Garcia said in a press release.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, the officer arrested has been identified as nine-year San Jose police veteran Derrick Antonio.
Allegations against the officers come at a time when both agencies-the SJPD and the Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the county’s two jails-have been struggling with low morale and staffing shortages.
The department has been watching Vietnamese street gangs for a while now.
The officer arrested had 9.5 years of service with the department. Court documents from those charges show that investigators suspect Saunders associated with a known member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
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According to Transparent California’s public employee database, Antonio made $251,000 past year, including $106,000 in base pay and $17,600 in overtime.
