Disclosure of the recording earlier this month unleashed a citywide scandal just weeks before Election Day. The council president, Nury Martinez, resigned in disgrace, while two other councilmember…
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles detectives are investigating whether a recording last year that captured city councilmembers’ racist remarks was made illegally, the police chief said Tuesday.
The uproar began with the release nearly two weeks ago of a previously unknown recording of a 2021 private meeting involving Martinez, Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, as well as powerful labor leader Ron Hererra, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The group approached the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday and asked for the agency to open an investigation, Moore said.
The recording of the closed-door meeting revealed that racist language was used to mock colleagues, while they planned to protect Latino political strength in council districts. It’s not known who made the tape, or why.