I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Via Dennis I learned that Los Angeles activist Hecor Marroquin, the founder of a group called "NO GUNS," has been arrested for selling guns. And silencers, and automatic weapons. He's a convicted felon who's said to have boasted that he runs the Mexican Mafia in Cudahy, California, and he's suspected of involvement in a shooting incident, and much more.

FEDERAL ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS AGENTS knocked first, then entered the Downey home of purported anti-gang activist Hector Marroquin on Wednesday, arresting him for selling silencers and weapons -- including three assault rifles and a machine gun -- to an undercover ATF agent.

The gun sales, some of which Marroquin, the founder of the gang-intervention group No Guns, transacted at his bar in the city of Cudahy, were captured on videotape and audiotape, said police officers present at his arrest.

Inside the house, the 51-year-old veteran of the 18th Street Gang surrendered as his daughter's boyfriend, David Jimenez, a parolee at large, jumped out a window, tossed a gun into the backyard pool and climbed on the roof, authorities said. Officials said ATF agents then confronted him, he climbed back inside and was arrested and charged as a felon in possession of a gun.

Marroquin, an alleged associate of the prison-based Mexican Mafia, has grown accustomed to such intrusions, having been arrested many times over the years while at the same time being the founder and CEO of No Guns, which has received $1.5 million from Los Angeles City Hall via the much-criticized L.A. Bridges program designed by the Los Angeles City Council to keep youth out of gangs.

Despite his recent and ongoing criminal activities, tax dollars have been flowing into the pockets of Marroquin, his relatives and various cronies:

At the time of his arrest Marroquin faced a separate gun possession charge, also reported in December by the Weekly. That trial has been delayed. Meanwhile, his son, Hector Marroquin Jr., a former No Guns officer who police say is an admitted 18th Street Gang member, has been indicted on charges of home invasion robbery and faces up to 40 years in prison.

No Guns finally lost its funding last year, after city officials found the organization had engaged in nepotism and misappropriation of public funds. Along with his wife, son and daughter, who police say is a member of the Hawthorne L'il Watts Gang, the Marroquins made more than $200,000 a year in salaries -- public funds paid by L.A. taxpayers -- to steer children away from gangs and help active gangsters escape the life.

However, a report by civil rights lawyer Connie Rice and independent audits have stated that L.A. Bridges, which has funneled more than $100 million to programs like No Guns, cannot show that it has reduced gang activity, and the city council lacks any meaningful measures for determining success. Just last week, another purported gang-member-turned-good, 30-year-old Mario Corona, with a group called Communities in Schools, also a recipient of L.A. Bridges money, was sentenced to 32 months in prison for transporting a large amount of methamphetamine and being a felon with a gun.

Marroquin grew up on the rough streets of Cudahy, a crime-riddled L.A. suburb largely inhabited by poor Latino immigrants. Ever since founding No Guns in 1996, when he was shot while protecting his son from unknown attackers, Marroquin has been a target of police suspicion. Earlier that year he was convicted of gun charges, and has violated terms of his probation two times. In 1998, he was acquitted of weapons charges. That same year he intervened to resolve gang strife in Santa Monica.

In 2005, he told the Los Angeles Times he was a changed man -- intent on fighting gangs and violence -- but he was arrested last year at his home in Downey when police, while looking to arrest his son, found an unloaded gun on the top of an armoire in his bedroom. His daughter, Charleeda Marroquin, claimed it was hers.

For its part, the LA Times now says there had been "suspicions" all along, and points to Tom Hayden as one of Marroquin's most vociferous advocates.

Former 18th Street gang member Hector "Weasel" Marroquin for years was celebrated and rewarded for having turned his life around.

He founded the anti-gang organization NO GUNS and received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city for his efforts to help steer Latino youths away from a life of crime. His champions included former state Sen. Tom Hayden.

Over the next three years, NO GUNS collected more than $1.5 million in city funds as a subcontractor.

Marroquin's organization was contracted to help find job training for gang members and to mediate cease-fires, said Angela Estell of the city's Community Development Department.

The contract continued even though in December 2005, Hawthorne police arrested Marroquin's son, Hector Jr., known as "Little Weasel" and a principal in NO GUNS. He and another man were charged with a home-invasion robbery. Police said he had several weapons in his house. That case is scheduled for trial next week.

As part of that investigation, police arrested Marroquin Sr. on weapons-possession charges, said Hawthorne Police Det. Chris Port. The case is pending.

Last summer, NO GUNS lost its city contract after it was discovered that Marroquin had used funds to hire many of his family members, said Gloria Lockhart, director of Toberman Settlement House.

Marroquin's case illustrates the potential problems that public agencies face when they hire people with criminal pasts for gang prevention work.

Hayden, author of "Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence," recalled asking Marroquin to help halt violence among Westside gangs in the late 1990s. Marroquin mediated and found construction jobs for several dozen gang members hanging drywall at the Playa Vista development, Hayden said.

"Police will tell you, when things are really violent ... these intervention workers are key to calming it down," Hayden said. "These guys perform a service. If they backslide, well, who doesn't?"

Hey, maybe armed criminals are the key to disarming law abiding citizens!

It almost sounds as if the left has borrowed the NRA slogan "when guns are outlawed only the criminals will have guns," and revised it to say, "When guns are outlawed, only the criminals should have guns!

Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

UPDATE (06/07/07): My thanks to Clayton Cramer for linking this post, and for providing other examples of armed criminals who talk the anti-gun talk.

In a related post, I look at the possible connection between bad boys and bureaucrats.