Christine Pelisek

Eight local and federal law-enforcement agents loudly knocked four times on the door of a two-story condo complex in a middle-class neighborhood of Van Nuys before dawn Tuesday. When no one came to the door, officers kicked it in and rousted awake 28-year-old Jose “Crusty” Cardoza, an alleged associate of......

Luisa Prudhomme proudly shows off photo after photo of her son: As a newborn baby boy swathed in a white bonnet and blanket. As a 2-year-old bathing in the bathroom sink. As a 5-year-old dressed in Michael Jackson attire. And a teenager checking out his first car, a used red......

A rather large mural depicting the famed Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, graces the front of artist Hanaa Al-Wardi’s two-story, white stucco building near Alhambra’s Main Street corridor. “It took me one year to do it,” says Al-Wardi as she stands outside the building she bought with her husband in......

When a gang member fatally wounded Burbank Police Officer Matthew Pavelka in 2003, officers vowed that they would not rest until they stopped the gang that killed one of their own. The officers lived up to their promise Tuesday with the help of more than 1,300 federal and local law-enforcement......

Photo by Gregory BojorquezSenior Lead Officer John Pedroza aims his hand-held video camera toward a gathering of past and current rivals: a team of LAPD officers and Ramona Gardens housing project residents who are facing off inside a Boyle Heights gym to play each other in basketball. “I used to......

Photos by Ted SoquiThe storage facility in the San Fernando Valley has all the charm a slab of concrete can muster, which is to say very little. “It is very bloody,” warns the middle-aged manager as he walks through the dizzyingly hot, antiseptic-white third-floor hallway toward the yellow police tape,......

Monah Li, Clothing Designer Monah Li is in the process of selling her Silver Lake home, where she’s lived for four years. She is moving to a 2,000-square-foot loft in downtown L.A. "I don’t know how I got myself into buying a house. I don’t want to fix anything or......

Bet Tzedek Legal Service Provides free legal assistance to low-income Angelenos, including seniors and the disabled. Counselors write letters, give advice and occasionally file suit on behalf of tenants. No walk-ins. Call for an appointment. 145 S. Fairfax Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles; (323) 939-0506. Community Legal Services Gives free......

Don’t let your apartment manager tell you otherwise: Tenants living in rental housing do have rights! Here are a handful of facts gathered from the California Apartment Association, the Coalition for Economic Survival and the City of Los Angeles Housing Department that every apartment dweller should know: 1. An apartment......

Photo by Kevin ScanlonThe last thing Jesus Cuellar had on his mind, as he and his brother traversed the USC campus on their way to meet up with a friend, was becoming a central figure in the ongoing drama engulfing the school’s Greek system. It was around midnight on a......