Long Beach Insane Crips Leader, 15 Others Arrested

The head of a Long Beach gang and two deputies, along with 13 others, have been arrested for an array of crimes that include 13 shootings over several years, police announced.

Those arrested are listed at the end of the article, 16 people in total, ages 18 to 29, and Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell and homicide detectives detailed how the case was put together. A key early break came with forensic results that linked several shootings.

Members of Long Beach Baby Insane Crips gang, also known as "BIG," including its alleged leader, Sabrille Acklin, 29, were taken into custody, and two top deputies in the gang.

Acklin didn't even live in Long Beach but ran the criminal operationg from his Rialto home, ordering up burglaries and murders, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said at an afternoon press conference.

"They were terrorizing everyone from individuals to retail establishments," the Press Telegram quoted the chief as explaining to reporters.

To see photos of the gallery of arrested suspects, click here and here.

The full press release follows:

The Long Beach Police Department is pleased to announce the arrest of numerous members of a notorious criminal street gang, believed to be responsible for three separate shooting series’ totaling 13 shootings and at least one murder, after several months of investigation. 

Detectives from our Homicide, Gang, and Career Criminal Apprehension Details began this investigation when the first shooting occurred in November 19, 2009, when a shooting occurred in the 3600 block of Santa Fe Ave, which resulted in the murder of 19-year-old Frank Castro of Long Beach.  Detectives had limited suspect descriptions to work with and the case went unsolved.

In mid 2010 and early 2011, detectives identified a series of shootings that were related to one another through ballistics.  The victims were gang members and generally uncooperative, which left detectives with little information to go on. Two additional shooting series’ involving two more weapons were also identified through ballistics.

As detectives reviewed each of the reports and re-interviewed witnesses and victims, a profile began to emerge.  The profile revealed that all three shooting series’ were being committed by the Baby Insane Crip criminal street gang. Interviews with other gang members helped detectives identify a specific group within the gang who may be responsible for these crimes.

News Releases were sent out asking for the public’s help as new information was obtained on the murder of Frank Castro, and detectives continued to conduct follow-up interviews and were able to acquire information on potential suspects. Detectives investigated these possible suspects, identifying their associates and conducting surveillance.  Through the dedicated efforts of homicide detectives assigned to this shooting series’, they were able to locate witnesses who provided the necessary evidence to identify the suspects in the murder.

Homicide detectives were able to uncover evidence which revealed this gangs involvement in additional shootings, and one additional murder in the Southern California area. Our detectives are working closely with five agencies to provide them with the evidence we discovered during our investigation which involved 32 property and violent crimes.  Further evidence was uncovered that this gang was also involved in multiple residential and commercial burglaries throughout the Southland and detectives have been working with those law enforcement agencies as well.

Today, June 13, 2012, we concluded the second wave of arrests related to this investigation. During the course of the entire investigation, the Long Beach Police Department served 27 search warrants at locations in the cities of Long Beach, Rialto, Perris, and San Bernardino, taking 16 suspects related to this investigation into custody. 

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has charged 22-year-old Johnney Smith of Long Beach, who was already in custody for an unrelated armed robbery, with the murder of Frank Castro.

During the investigation, detectives were able to construct a current organizational chart of the gang with the objective of tearing down its leadership and solving as many crimes as possible.  Sabrile Acklin, who was identified as the leader of the Baby Insane Crip Gang, ran his criminal enterprise in Long Beach from his home in Rialto. Acklin would direct his gang to target other gang members, commit robberies, burglaries, and identity theft.

Other top leaders, which include Kendale Gipson, Winton White, Donovan Holcomb, Johnney Smith, and Durrell Shell, were Acklin’s top Lieutenants in the gang who terrorized our community committing shootings, burglaries and robberies. Additional associates of the gang were also arrested for their involvement in aiding the gang.  Detectives believe these suspects are responsible for additional shootings, burglaries and robberies.  With all of these suspects in custody, we are hoping that victims and witnesses will be willing to come forward and provide additional evidence needed to charge these suspects with additional crimes.   A list of all the suspects arrested and their charges are identified below: 

Name:                          Age:     City of Resicence:        Charge:

Sabrille Acklin               29         San Bernardino             accessory to murder; commercial burglary         

Johnney Smith              22         Long Beach                  murder

Kendale Gipson             27         Long Beach                  possession of loaded firearm; identity theft

Darwin Cordova             18          Long Beach                  possession of loaded firearm; auto burglary

Hacking Wells               21          Long Beach                  violation of gang injunction

Donovon Halcomb          23         Perris                            commercial burglary; conspiracy

Durell Shell                   26         Long Beach                  commercial burglary; conspiracy

Wynton White               19         Long Beach                  residential burglary

Deondre Whitfield           22         Long Beach                  residential burglary

Wardell Wood                22          Long Beach                  residential burglary

Jeffrey Obrien                 23         Long Beach                  residential burglary

JJ Adams                      24         La Palma                      ex-felon in possession of firearm

Rachel Williams             22         Perris                            conspiracy; burglary; possession of stolen property

Karessa Williams           25         Perris                            conspiracy; burglary; possession of stolen property

Milton Harris                  25         Long Beach                  commercial burglary

Nicholas Campbell         19         Long Beach                  robbery

Our department has worked closely with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to ensure these individuals are held to answer and face the maximum penalties allowed for the protection of our neighborhoods and community.  This investigation continues our efforts to reduce violent crime in our community by not only targeting those responsible for the crimes, but the gang leadership and those who assist them in terrorizing our residents.

The Long Beach Police Department could not have accomplished the efforts of this operation without the hard work and diligence of the detectives involved in the case, and the cooperative efforts of the media and the community.

Anyone who may have any information regarding other crimes is asked to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Malcolm Evans and Todd Johnson at (562) 570-7244.  Anonymous tips may be submitted via text or web at by visiting www.tipsoft.com.

Information relating to the murder and 13 shootings, which are part of the three separate shooting series’ are as follows: 

Date:                                       Time:                           Location:

November 19, 2009                   11:30 p.m.                    3600 block of Sante Fe Avenue

May 18, 2010                            6:21 p.m.                      1000 of Myrtle Avenue

June 7, 2010                            10:37 p.m.                    2200 block of Lime Avenue

July 9, 2010                              4:20 p.m.                      1000 block of E. 21^st Street

July 9, 2010                             11:56 p.m.                    700 block of E. 15^th Street

January 24, 2011                      4:37 p.m.                      2000 block of E. 10^th Street

July 22, 2011                            11:17 p.m.                    700 block of Cherry Avenue

July 26, 2011                            10:21 p.m.                    1300 block of E. 14^th Street

July 27, 2011                            11:35 p.m.                    1000 block of Cherry Avenue

July 30, 2011                            9:26 p.m.                      5600 block of Linden Avenue

September 10, 2011                  10:38 p.m.                    1700 block of E. 8^th Street

September 17, 2011                  9:25 p.m.                      500 block of Orange Avenue

October 4, 2011                        1:46 p.m.                      1700 block of E. 7^th Street

December 3, 2011                     10:16 p.m.                    2200 block of Earl Avenue