San Jose Police announced the arrest of seven men at a news conference Thursday, under the city's three-year-old law that makes it a crime to promote or organize sideshows.
A group that called itself "The Hockey Team" on social media, organizing and promoting at least 22 sideshows in San Jose, attracted the attention of San Jose police. Now seven men who were allegedly part of this "team" of sideshow promoters could be facing up to five years in prison if they are convicted under the city's "promoter ordinance," which was passed in 2021.
The law makes it illegal to even tweet about a sideshow to spread the word, but the seven men arrested did more than that, police say, designing and posting flyers, picking locations, and garnering an Instagram following to help draw hundreds of cars and spectators to each sideshow.
Of the seven suspects taken into custody Wednesday, five are from San Jose, and two are from Oakland, as Bay Area News Group reports. Their names, per the Chronicle, are Elijah Moore, Tyler Richardson, Luis Hau, Jasson Flores, Irving Esparza, Luis Ronquillo and Jonathan Ramirez.
Two suspects remain at large, and San Jose police have warrants out for their arrest: Rafael Gaytan of Sunnyvale and Daniel Vazquez of Salinas.
"San Jose is truly a model and is leading the way in how communities can respond to the sideshow epidemic," said San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph at Thursday's news conference. "Our message today is clear. In San Jose, watching a sideshow is illegal, participating in one is illegal, promoting one is illegal. If you do it, we will find you, take your vehicle and take you to jail."
Police initiated Operation Penalty Box in order to identify the members of The Hockey Team, and they note that the events had themed and were heavily marketed, with cinematic names. Per the Chronicle, one sideshow was billed as "Season 3 Pt 1: The Resurrection," and when the group's Instagram account hit 20,000 followers, they organized an event with the title "20k Block Party." The group allegedly collaborated to select potential sideshow locations, and to post recap videos afterward.
It's not clear whether this group was connected to any of the large recent sideshow events in Oakland, San Francisco, or on the Bay Bridge.
Santa Clara County Chief Assistant District Attorney Jay Boyarsky spoke at Thursday's news conference, saying, "“My children, your children, are not expendable characters in anybody’s amateur vision of 'Fast and Furious,'" adding that the defendants “will face the full force of the law.”
San Jose passed laws in 2020 and 2021 following a spate of pandemic-era sideshows, banning "spectating, promoting, encouraging, instigating, assisting, facilitating or aiding and abetting" sideshows. The laws represent the strictest crackdowns to date on what has been a Bay Area-wide problem for decades — though some critics and lawmakers have argued that while sideshows are not entirely harmless, it is too draconian to start jailing people for just being spectators.
The arrests of these seven men mark the first time that a local law enforcement agency has filed felony conspiracy charges relating to an anti-sideshow law.
Of any Bay Area city, San Jose has made the most sweeping efforts to discourage crack down sideshows, but that hasn't stopped events like this one in June in which rowdy sideshow participants brazenly attacked, jumped on, and tried to vandalize a police vehicle that arrived on the scene.
In November 2022, San Jose police used the new sideshows laws to issue 700 citations in one night, after creating a blockade around one large sideshow, penning in all participants and writing them all tickets.
"We may not catch you the night you attend or promote or participate in a sideshow, maybe not the day or week after, but you will be caught. You will be held accountable,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan Thursday, noting that participants in sideshows could see their cars impounded, and/or face jail time. "Don’t sentence your future self for the mistakes you made today."
Photo via San Jose Police
