‘Slick 50s’ Gang Members Guilty

SANTA ANA â€”  In a case focusing on what prosecutors called a new breed of street gang in suburbia, a jury Wednesday convicted four members of the Slick 50s --so-called for their 1950s hairstyles and clothing--and a 21-year-old associate of attempted murder.

The teenagers were tried as adults, and all five were convicted on additional counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The sentences carry additional years because the crime was committed by a criminal street gang.

Jesse Grist, 17, of Laguna Niguel and Josh Carlsen, 21, of Dana Point face up to 17 years in prison for the attack on Galen Thorne, 17, outside a party in Aliso Viejo last year. Thorne was stabbed three times, and his face was severely scarred when a beer bottle was broken on it.

Steven Crader, 17, of Aliso Viejo, Kurtis Pinedo, 17, of Laguna Hills and Joshua Riazi, 16, of Dana Point each face up to 15 years in prison.

Grist and Riazi covered their faces with their hands, and relatives and friends of the defendants sobbed quietly as the verdicts were read in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Except for Carlsen, the defendants had been out on bail during the six-month trial. After the verdicts were read Wednesday, the teenagers were taken into custody.

“Of course it wasn’t fair,� Yolanda Redig, Crader’s mother, said of the verdict.

Emotions flared briefly outside the courtroom. One woman tried to block news photographers from taking pictures of the defendants’ relatives and friends.

Ken Crader, 34, who had been estranged from his son for years until he read a newspaper article about the case, confronted the prosecutor and a district attorney’s investigator in a courthouse elevator.

“You got lucky on this one,� Crader told Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Kelley and investigator Alex Correa. “I am not going to let it go this easy. He is just a boy.�

Kelley said Crader’s reaction was normal for such an emotional case.

“We received a lot of criticism from the community and media for pursuing these charges,� Kelley said. “And the only way to respond to that was with a jury verdict.�

The jury was unanimous in deciding that the Slick 50s were a criminal street gang.

“I thought they were gang members because of their history, their motive . . . their clothing,� said juror Christine Farris, 50, of Santa Ana. “The legal definition of gang doesn’t read, ‘Someone who paints graffiti on walls and wears a certain type of clothing.’ We thought this fit it.�

According to authorities, the Slick 50s is a group of about two dozen teenagers in south Orange County with an affinity for the style and culture of the 1950s. They wear Converse tennis shoes, cuffed jeans and T-shirts and slick their hair back like James Dean. They also look for trouble, the authorities say, often picking fights.

Last summer, one of those fights went too far. The group attacked Thorne outside a party, police said, he made an obscene gesture toward some Slick 50s members.

Witnesses gave conflicting accounts during the trial, but authorities said they believe Grist and Carlsen were the principal participants in the assault. One witness testified that he saw Grist cleaning a knife shortly after the incident.

All five defendants were charged with attempted murder on the theory that they acted as a group and were all responsible for the charges.

“How is Galen Thorne any different from somebody who gets stabbed in L.A. because he flipped some gang off?� asked Kelley during closing remarks last week. “It is not a crime to be a gang member in California, but if you go out and commit crimes, then the circumstances change. They made their choices and now they have to suffer the consequences.�

But to the defendants’ parents and others, Kelley’s words reflected an overreaction by the Sheriff’s Department and prosecutors. The label “gang� did not apply to their boys, they insisted.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 8 in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Times staff writer Eleanor Yang contributed to this story.