Lynwood Vikings

rdf:langString Lynwood Vikings

rdf:langString Lynwood Vikings

rdf:langString Logo of the Lynwood Vikings

rdf:langString The Lynwood Vikings is one of the many deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, appearing to meet the legal definition of a gang when taking into account the department's repeated illegal conduct. The Lynwood Vikings faction was based at the now-defunct Lynwood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), whose members are sworn deputy sheriffs in the LASD. Its members have included Paul Tanaka, deputy sheriff and LASD second-in-command to the sheriff, Lee Baca, and, allegedly, Idaho Sheriff Robert "Bob" Norris. After lawsuits repeatedly surfaced concerning the group's activities, the Vikings were described by federal judge Terry Hatter as a "neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang" engaged in racially motivated hostility. The 1992 Kolts Commission report stated there was a lack of evidence of racist deputy gangs but that some Lynwood Viking deputies did engage in brutality and ganglike activity. Other sources have described the Vikings as a social organization.