Monday, Sept. 8, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.
Metro Police believe videotapes of crimes committed by a youth gang they say terrorized northwest Las Vegas this summer were to be made into a movie similar to the "Bumfights" video that made millions of dollars.
Police confiscated the videos from members of the so-called 311 Boyz, nine of whom face felony charges in an attack on other teenagers with rocks at a July 18 party. All of the boys come from middle to upper-middle class families and do not fit the image of a stereotypical street gang from poorer neighborhoods. All are white.
"Some gangs burglarize businesses and rob people or sell drugs to make money, but we believe that this gang was going to capitalize on profits from the sale of the video of their illegal activities," Sgt. Dave Stansbury of Metro's Gang Unit said.
"The video they were going to make is similar to the 'Bumfights' video."
'Bumfights,' produced by the Las Vegas-based Bumfights LLC, depicts Las Vegas homeless people participating in street fights and performing outrageous acts. Some of the participants later claimed they were coerced into the violence, and the video became the subject of criminal proceedings and a civil lawsuit.
About 400,000 copies of the video were sold at $20 a pop. "Bumfights 2" was released in late August and is sold on the Internet.
While police are declining to release the videos they confiscated, they say the footage has sparked investigations into as many as 10 other potential cases against the youths. Police believe there is more video of 311 Boyz activities they have not yet recovered.
Stansbury said one of the incidents on a video in police hands depicts a somewhat elaborate scheme by the youths to attack a black youth they had targeted for a beating.
The group is said to be a hate organization because 311 refers to the 11th letter of the alphabet "K" three times -- or KKK. However, authorities have no definitive proof that indicates a link to the Ku Klux Klan. Another explanation for the name is that it is a reference to the rock band 311.
In the video of the beating of the black youth, the victim is seen arriving at a party. Stansbury said the boy does not know he has been lured there as a target for a beating.
"The gang used another black youth to pick the fight," Stansbury said describing the videotape. "The one youth bumps into the targeted youth," starts an argument and challenges him.
Stansbury says the two boys fight. When the targeted boy starts to win, members of the 311 Boyz jump in and beat him up, he said.
Police have taken a statement from the victim. They are asking the other black youth in the video to come forward to question him as to whether he was coerced into his actions or willingly assisted the 311 Boyz.
The fact that the alleged gang members are from advantaged families and can afford expensive toys such as video equipment did not go unnoticed by Stansbury.
"Their affluence helped bring them down," he said, noting that, between members and associates, police believe the 311 Boyz number 37.
Nine of those youths have been charged with 13 felony counts, including attempted murder, battery and mayhem -- all with the use of a deadly weapon -- stemming from the single incident of a violent attack on three other teenage boys at a party in a gated community in July.
They pummeled the boys who were trying to flee in a truck with rocks and beer bottles. The incident left Tanner Hansen with life-threatening injuries. Hansen's friends, Craig Arnett Lefevre and Joe Grill, suffered minor injuries in the attack.
Hansen suffered broken bones and extensive facial injuries. Doctors had to reconstruct his face with two titanium plates and he could lose the sight in his left eye, police say.
Police had recommended an additional enhancement of committing a crime to promote a criminal gang, which would automatically double the penalty if convicted, but prosecutors did not add that to the charges. Prosecutors have said they would have to show that the gang has committed crimes in the past and that those crimes were to promoted the activities of a gang.
Police believe the proposed sale of a video of the alleged crime spree would satisfy that requirement. Prosecutors do not agree that such a standard can be met in the courtroom. However, the deadly weapon enhancement also doubles the penalty. The youths collectively face up to 100 years in prison if convicted.
The teens charged are Ernest Bradley Aguilar, 17; Steven Gazlay, 18; Jeff Hart, 17; 16-year-old twins Anthony and Brandon Gallion; Mathew Costello, 17; Christopher Farley, 18; Dominic Harriman, 19; and Scott Morse, 18.
Attorneys for some of the youths have said their clients have not taken part in attacks and say the police have unfairly labeled them as a gang. Several of the boys have no prior criminal records, attorneys say.
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