OAKLAND — In a series of early morning raids on Wednesday, federal and state authorities rounded up eight members of two Sureño gangs whose members have come up time and time again in some of the East Bay’s most shocking crimes of recent memory.

A federal grand jury indictment, unsealed Wednesday, targets nine alleged gang members, men either allegedly aligned with the San Antonio Park Sureños or the more prominent SSL-502 Sureños, including those in the gangs’ hierarchy. The latter clique has been linked to a mass shooting in Richmond, the brutal slaying of a woman who allegedly knew too much about it and several other incidents of deadly violence targeting rivals, loved ones and people who were deemed “rats” for suspected cooperation with the police, according to court records.

In total, investigators have linked the gangs to 31 homicides, including 24 in Oakland, as well as other “brazen” other crimes, like robberies, nonfatal shootings, and intimidation, authorities said at a Thursday news conference. Authorities served 10 search warrants on Wednesday and seized firearms.

A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice said the men were indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy in connection with two murders, three attempted murders, narcotics and firearm distribution and other related crimes allegedly committed on behalf of the two Oakland-based Sureño street gangs.

“Like people everywhere, the residents of Oakland deserve safe and peaceful neighborhoods, not ones filled with fear and senseless violence,” Northern California U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said in a news release.

The release identified the defendants as Marvin Bonilla, 24; Edwin Cano Merida, 24; Cesar Rolando Lucas Pablo, 28; Walfer Mendoza Mendoza, 31; Gonzalo Pablo, 25; Jeronimo “Orlando” Pablo Carrillo, 41; Mario Pablo Matias, 24; Raymundo Pablo Matias, 31 and Carlos Ramiro Mendoza, 28. The indictment was filed Oct. 9, but remained a secret until after the Wednesday morning raids.

Only one of the nine defendants, Gonzalo Pablo, is at large, authorities said. Lucas Pablo and Pablo Carrillo were already in custody when the indictment was filed, with Pablo Carrillo facing a pending murder case in Alameda County. A number of the defendants are unlawfully residing in the United States, federal prosecutors said in a news release. Aside from the nine federal defendant, others are facing state charges, including for attempted murder authorities said,.

Four of the men were arrested in Oakland, and two others were arrested in Modesto and Stockton, respectively, authorities said. They were arraigned on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu.

The indictment charges two 2019 homicides, both involving young men killed at East Bay parties. It is a tragic pattern that has repeatedly come up during the rivalry between SAP/SSL-502 and their primary rivals, the M2 Norteños.

Each defendant is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In addition, the indictment alleges that special sentencing factors apply to six defendants in various cases.

Ramiro Mendoza, Lucas Pablo, Mendoza Mendoza, Pablo and Pablo Carrillo are charged with the Jan. 5 drive-by shooting of Ramio Bautisa-Perez, 25, of Oakland. He was killed during a Marimba party on Embarcadero in Oakland, while alone in a pickup truck. Police say a car registered to Ramiro Mendoza and containing several people circled the area several times before closing in on Buatisa-Perez and opening fire. The motive was a gang rivalry, according to the indictment.

Pablo Carrillo, Ramiro Mendoza, and Raymundo Pablo Matias are also charged with the Jan. 19 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Sleyter Ramirez-Jimenez of San Leandro, during a baptism party. Once again, federal prosecutors allege the defendants believed him to be a gang rival. Ramirez-Jimenez was outside a home on the 2000 block of 22nd Avenue in Oakland when he was shot, police said.

In state court, Pablo Carrillo is already facing charges that he fatally shot his girlfriend as she slept in a bed with her 6-year-old daughter in 2023. He was arrested in that case last February, after U.S. Marshals found him hiding out in Michigan, authorities said.

Both gangs were founded by teenagers who immigrated to the U.S. from Central America with their parents, and incorporated their birth countries’ culture into the gang. The “502” in SSL-502 represents an area code in Guatemala, for instance. In the late 2010s, police say Central Americans were targeted for violence at Oakland high schools by Norteños, prompting young men from those countries to band together and eventually form gangs under the banner of the Southern California-based Sureño gang, the Norteños’ rivals.

Over the years, the gangs began actively recruiting younger members at Oakland High, Fremont High and Castlemont High, and began hanging out at Oakland’s San Antonio and Arroyo Viejo parks, using blue spray paint to mark their turf, authorities said. Oakland police say there are now more than 70 confirmed members of both gangs. Like the larger Sureños gang, their members generally recognize the primacy of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, and use the color blue and the number 13 as symbols.

The Sureño gangs requires new members to undergo an initiation — either a 13-second beating, or in some cases, an act of violence against a rival, police said in court records. In 2018, for example, Lucas Pablo was convicted of assault for allegedly attacking an M2 Norteño member with a baseball bat during an gang initiation, records show.

The rival gangs’ history of violence in the East Bay is well-documented, as is its history of turning festive celebrations into scenes of murder and mayhem. The most jarring example is the June 20, 2021 massacre in Richmond, where SSL-502 members allegedly opened fire at a house party where people were celebrating the Guatemalan Summer Solstice, killing three and wounding four. Four months later, on Oct. 18, 2021, 31-year-old Carolina Carrillo-Mendoza was lured to the Oakland hills and shot in the head, allegedly by SSL-502 members who feared she would talk to police about shooting that also had happened on Father’s Day.

In 2018, an SSL-502 member named Polo Pablo Calmo was shot and killed at a house party in Oakland. A police informant who was present at the shooting later identified an M2 Norteño member as the suspect, authorities said.

In 2020, member of both Sureño gangs confessed to the fatal stabbing of Preston Miller on Sept. 6 of that year, on the 200 block of Broadway in Oakland. Police have also linked the February 2022 killing of 22-year-old Erick Ahilon Mendoza in Stockton to members of the SSL-502 gang.

Assistant Oakland Chief of Police James Beere said in the news release the gangs were responsible for “lasting damage to our community for years.

“Their violent actions, including shootings and homicides, have left families mourning and communities forever changed,” Beere said.