LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities yesterday accused a Los Angeles County street gang of a litany of crimes, including the murder of a sheriff's deputy and racially motivated attacks designed to drive blacks from their town.

The charges, part of a massive racketeering case, were outlined in several indictments charging 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang with murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and witness intimidation.

The gang, also known as VHG, is so pervasive in Hawaiian Gardens that one in 15 people living in the 1-square-mile city about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles has ties to it, said Sal Hernandez, the FBI's top agent in Los Angeles.

"Imagine living in a community where one in every 15 of your neighbors swears allegiance to an organization committed to the spread of violence," Hernandez said. "The good people deserve to live in peace."

The probe into the gang began in 2005 after Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Ortiz was fatally shot by a Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang member he was trying to arrest in connection with the shooting of a black man. The shooter, a veteran gang member with devil horns tattooed on his forehead, has since been convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien, speaking at a news conference yesterday, touted the case as the "largest gang takedown in United States history."