Burglary Exposes Possible Underground Casino

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - A Reseda storefront that appeared to be a weight loss clinic may have actually been an underground illegal casino operation, according to the LAPD, whose investigation is ongoing.

The address looks like the kind of place that you drive past a thousand times without noticing.

But a closer look at this one and you might notice that it had red flags all over it.

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One LA Politician's Request

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - Last week, I had productive dialogues with several Los Angeles politicians.  My rule for engaging is simple: conversation or respond directly to emailed questions.  I don't accept prepared statements from their media personnel because they are a dodge that answers questions that aren't posed rather than those that are.

One of those dialogues took place as I made my way to the scene of yet another random sidewalk death, this one in still-un-represented Van Nuys, thanks to the resignation of Nury Martinez, LA's irrefutably racist former City Council president.

Except the politician didn't address any of the questions I emailed.

Instead, while offering validation for my recent columns, the politician expressed a wish that I would also, "recognize in your writing some of our work and efforts in the district."

Easier said than done.

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Scandal-Scarred City Hall Remains Opaque, Paranoid and Bureaucratic

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - LA City Hall has carved for itself an ignominious place in the recent annals of local political history.

Some of its politicians went, or are headed, to federal prison with their bag men or, if you prefer, their bag people of indeterminate identity.  Four other power players destroyed their lives when busted as racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic.  Agencies, like LADWP, LAPD and LAFD, to name a few, are embroiled in one scandal after another.

Things have been so bad that you would think that those remaining in, or rising to, power would opt for the simplest, cheapest way to build public trust.

Transparency.

But no...

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Shalom, y'all!

Hugo Soto-Martinez Deserves An Apology

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - At 2am on Monday morning, Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) veep Jerretta Sandoz was on Fox News Channel perpetuating a debunked story about socialist LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.

Sandoz, a former LAPD detective, should have known better.

There's no way she didn't.

I'm neither a socialist nor proponent of defunding the LAPD, but her actions ostensibly speaking for the LAPD rank and file, is the type of law enforcement-related dishonesty that may be at the root of the ongoing ACAB (All Cops Are Bad), anti-police sentiment at a time when the LAPD is hemorrhaging officers.

LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez. Photo: Gary Coronado - Los Angeles Times

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A Random Street Death Becomes Vivid And Real

By Daniel Guss

@TheGussReport - However many people lose their lives on the streets of Los Angeles on any given day, it is easy to see them as statistics, perhaps as a coping mechanism.

Numbers are cold and one-dimensional, at least until you meet the family and friends mourning their passing.  Then their death can quickly go from random and gray to vivid and real.

This is the story of one of those people, and his name was David Isaac Soto-Toral.

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