The trial of an alleged Avenues gangster is currently underway in a Los Angeles criminal courtroom. Nicolas Real is accused of pulling a gun on a family who accidentally drove their car through gang territory in Glassell Park.

Real, 26, is charged with two counts of assault with a firearm and other gun charges stemming from the June 2, 2007 incident.

According to a law enforcement officer, Real pointed a gun at a family who was lost in the Drew Street neighborhood after the driver honked at him because he was blocking traffic. One of the victims told police that Real said: “Don't you know who I am?” The cops arrested Real on Drew Street less than 45 minutes after one of the family members called 911.

Real gained notoriety last June when he was named in a 157-page federal racketeering indictment targeting 70 members of the Avenues gang who lived on Drew Street in northeast Los Angeles. Federal and local law enforcement officers served 25 federal search warrants, and picked up 32 Avenues gang members and associates in the pre-dawn raids. Twenty-six of the gang members who were indicted were already in local and federal custody including Real and his mother Maria “Chata” Leon who is reputed to be the matriarch of a large family of drug dealing gang members. Also indicted were Real’ brothers Jose, Francisco and Jesus.

Real was indicted by federal authorities for racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and the attempted murder of the family in June of 2007.

The indictment of Real and his extended family for mostly drug related charges was a coup for local law enforcement officials who spent years trying to break up the control the family had over the Drew Street community.

Earlier, Real was arrested for driving around Franklin High School threatening people with a handgun and illegal alien smuggling along with his brother Francisco.

In 2005, Real was arrested by the Maywood Police Department on three counts of attempted murder after a shooting at the El Potero Club that left a fellow Avenues gangster a paraplegic.

Real’s half-brother, Danny Leon, died in a gun battle with Los Angeles Police Department gang officers in February.

A trial date has not been set for federal charges against Real.

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