Luis De La Rosa Rios, Jesse Contreras, Ernesto Cisneros and Haylee Grisham have been charged in federal court with Arroyos' killing. Homicides dropped to 10 last year. More than 20 people were killed. Out of the 36 defendants named in the six indictments, 11 were arrested today, 16 were already in custody, and authorities are searching for nine fugitives. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, What GOPs plan for Medicaid work requirements would mean, Column: A centrist, third-party alternative for 2024 is a nice idea but a nightmare in practice, Chinese man who reported on COVID to be released after 3 years. Latino Gang Tried to Drive All Blacks From California City I believe one of his objectives is to get [transferred] to federal prison to further his business plan, Enriquez said. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. An official website of the United States government. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Three of the defendants were previously arrested in this case before todays enforcement activities, and eight are fugitives. All cliques must make sure you dont get infested by rats, P.C.s, or 25-debriefers gang members who cooperate with law enforcement by checking the paperwork, or court files, of every Florencia-13 member coming out of jail. Criminal charges offer new details on Fashion Place mall shooting but According to The Los Angeles Times, F13 was formed in South Los Angeles in the 1950s and is largely controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which is made up of about 140 men, most of them incarcerated. On October 6, 2019, four men, ages 20s to 50s, were killed and five injured at KC Tequila, a Hispanic-themed bar and restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas. The Southern California Drug Task Force is comprised of federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, the ATF, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Pasadena Police Department. The district attorneys office devoted a prosecutor to Florence-Firestone gang cases. In the rules seized by law enforcement, Arturo Castellanos allegedly told his gang that he and his brother have shown you all our love for the barrio by making sure you homies never get taxed or green lighted by no one.. The sentence imposed by the court removes a drug trafficker and violent offender from our streets and sends a clear message to others who may choose to engage in such criminal activity.. Other edicts allegedly issued by Castellanos guided Florencia 13 into a turf battle against rival gangs. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images). In 2007, 102 members of Florencia 13 were listed in indictments, under the operation, leading to the biggest gang raid in American history at the time, with 96 of the 102 members taken into custody. The verdicts remove these violent defendants from our community and deal an important blow against the Florencia 13 gangs campaign of drugs and violence., Dorado and Fazah alone were found guilty of conspiring to commit a Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR) for a gang-related beating in Huntington Park that ultimately led to the shooting death of the victim. An official website of the United States government. That order, which wascommunicated during a recorded call over the LACJ inmate telephone system, included instructions both to beat the victim severely and to kill him. Braulio Castellanos has been serving a life sentence since 1988 for two counts of second-degree murder. The indictment cites as evidence the rules allegedly written by Castellanos from his prison cell that established leadership positions within the F13s territory in the Florence-Firestone area of Los Angeles. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. You can also view a larger version of this document. Their tireless efforts, commitment to their agencies, and dedication to their communities have led law enforcement to a victory in the continuing battle against the gangs and drugs that plague our communities.. This case was investigated by the DEA-Tri-Cities Task Force, METRO and Pasco Street Crimes Unit, United States Marshals Service, and Benton County Sheriff's Office. LOS ANGELES A federal jury late Tuesday convicted three men and one woman from Los Angeles County of conspiring to participate in the racketeering activities of the Florencia 13 criminal street gang (F13 Gang), as well as of related drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Four charged federally in killing of LAPD officer who was shot while The indictment concerning the Mexican Mafia-La Familia Project represents the largest crackdown on the prison gangs members since the United States Attorneys Office brought a series of RICO cases against the leadership of the prison gang in the 1990s. Killing of LAPD officer brings scrutiny on one of L.A.'s - Police1 The gang is named after the Florence area of Los Angeles County, controlled by the Mexican Mafia. The edict led to indiscriminate shootings of Black and Latino residents, as Florencia-13 members prowled the streets for targets and East Coast Crips committed retaliatory shootings of their own, witnesses testified. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF. The second indictment unsealed Tuesday charged 31 members of the Florencia 13 street gang, which operates in south Los Angeles County, with federal racketeering (RICO) violations, as well as . Click on the image and hit the 'text' tab to read a typed version of the communique. Florencia 13 has a long history of being involved in drug trafficking in Los Angeles, where they have held a leadership . The notes, he said, were written by Arturo Castellanos in his cell at Pelican Bay State Prison, where he was and still is serving a life sentence for murder. Arroyos and his assailants exchanged gunfire and he was hit once, federal authorities said. These defendants beat and shot a young man to death and increased the flow of illegal drugs into our community, said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. According to information disclosed during court proceedings, Leon was under Department of Corrections supervision for a drive-by shooting conviction when he was indicted in three separate federal indictments, all involving separate criminal conduct from January 2019 until April 2020. Dorado, Fazah, and Sanchez have all been held without bond since entering federal custody. 13 indicted, 8 arrested in Calif. drug cartel investigation Click to reveal A separate indictment released in August alleges Mexican Mafia members attempted to form an alliance with operatives from a powerful Mexican drug cartel, with approval from leaders at Pelican Bay. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The trial further found that the gang was controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. He has pleaded not guilty. Central District of California | Federal Indictments Target South Los LOS ANGELES - A federal jury late Tuesday convicted three men and one woman from Los Angeles County of conspiring to participate in the racketeering activities of the Florencia 13 criminal street gang (F13 Gang), as well as of related drug trafficking and firearms offenses. For a monthly payment, typically between $200 and $250, he said, members of Florencia-13 and other gangs are warned that the business is under the auspices of a Mexican Mafia member. The illegal contraband included methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, and cell phones. During this mornings takedown, 14 of the 31 defendants named in this indictment were taken into custody. A third indictment charges two F13 members with being felons in possession of a firearm and ammunition, namely an AK-47-type rifle. On October 6, 2019, four men, ages 20s to 50s, were killed and five injured at KC Tequila, a Hispanic-themed bar and restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas. Earlier this summer, Castellanos and three other inmates organized a two-month hunger strike over conditions at Pelican Bay, where they and hundreds of other men have been held in special windowless cells, usually alone, for more than a decade. Sign up for our daily newsletter. Jose Rodriguez-Landa, also known as Fox and Fox Tapia, 49, of Michoacn, an alleged Mexican Mafia member currently in custody in a Los Angeles County jail; Michael Moreno, aka Boo, 55, of Fresno, an alleged member of the Mexican Mafia, who was arrested this morning; Fred Anthony Montoya, aka Fast Freddy, 46, of Antioch, California, an alleged Mexican Mafia member who is currently in custody in a California state prison; Freddie Montes, 44, of Castaic, an alleged member of La Familia, who was arrested this morning; Luis Gerardo Vega, aka Little and Little One, 30, of the Pico-Union district of Los Angeles, an alleged Mexican Mafia member who is currently in custody in a Los Angeles County jail; Manuel Larry Jackson, aka Cricket, 49, of Monterey Park, an alleged Mexican Mafia member, who was arrested this morning; Jimmy Ruben Soto, aka Rube and Old Man, 77, of Visalia, an alleged member of the Mexican Mafia, who was arrested this morning; Raymond Lozano, 36, of San Diego, an alleged Mexican Mafia associate who is currently incarcerated in a federal prison; Efrain Isak Rosales, aka Tucn, 35, an alleged member of La Familia who resides in Michoacn and who is currently being sought by authorities; Sonia Apodaca, aka Shorty, 44, of El Monte, an alleged secretary of the Mexican Mafia, who was arrested this morning; Claudia Garcia, aka Giggles, 42, of the Gramercy Park district of Los Angeles, an alleged associate of the Mexican Mafia, who was arrested this morning; Adam Rios, aka Blanco, 35, of Slymar, an alleged associate of La Familia, who was arrested this morning; and. Four years ago, authorities arrested dozens of members of South Los Angeles' Florencia 13 gang in connection with the killing of blacks because of the color of their skin. [10] The Mexican Mafia, whose members are generally senior members of street gangs such as Florencia 13, also exercises control over and directs the narcotics trafficking activities of Latino street gangs across Southern California and in prisons. Los Angeles Police officers attend a candlelight vigil for fallen Officer Fernando Arroyos, who was shot and killed during an armed robbery attempt outside the Olympic Community Police Station Jan. 12, 2022, in Los Angeles. The sentencing of six Florencia 13 gang members to life in prison appears to bring to a close a prolonged and terrifying spate of violence in the Florence-Firestone district allegedly brought on by orders from a prison gang member in solitary confinement 700 miles away. This investigation into the Mexican Mafia started in May 2010 and also involved the Montebello Police Department, the Bakersfield Police Department, the Long Beach Police Department, the Glendale Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the United States Secret Service, the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency, the United States Bureau of Prisons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation-Special Services Unit, and the Huntington Park Police Department. At the conclusion of the brutal beating that ensued, Fazah brandished a handgun and shot the victim in the face, killing him. Gang members have been charged with offenses ranging. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Indictments Point To Prison Hunger Strike Leader As Leader Of Florencia All 13 defendants are charged in count one of the indictment, which outlines the Mexican Mafia-La Familia alliance and alleges a conspiracy to distribute narcotics. One of the indictments alleges that the gang is a criminal enterprise as defined by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Florencia 13 - WikiMili, The Best Wikipedia Reader At the time of sentencing, all defendants will face a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment on the RICO Conspiracy and Drug Trafficking Conspiracy counts, as well as mandatory minimum prison terms of 10 years based on the amounts of methamphetamine at issue. He also ordered the gang to attack the local Crips gang, whose members are black. Matthew Ormseth is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Two male Florencia members, aged 19 and 20, were arrested for involvement in the incident. Dorado and Casado were arrested on August 6, 2013 as part of a large-scale takedown of more than 20 members and associates of the F13 Gang. Three years after the Florencia indictment, residents say, a measure of calm has come to Florence-Firestone. The indictment unsealed today follows a 2007 crackdown on the gang that led to more than 100 members and associates being charged, and five of them receiving sentences of life without parole in federal prison (see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/pr2010/025.html). This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The organization is made up of about 140 men, all but a handful of them imprisoned, who rose through the hierarchies of local street gangs and the penal system by displaying a readiness to commit violence or an ability to make large amounts of money, according to law enforcement sources. ATF remains steadfast in its stance to disrupt organized gang activity and seek prosecution of anyone who chooses to offend at will, denying law abiding citizens a community or workplace free from violence.. Florencia did the opposite, law enforcement officials say, absorbing smaller gangs and expanding their extortion and drug dealing rackets on the orders of its leaders, who are incarcerated many hundreds of miles away. This case is an example of what can be accomplished when local, state, and federal agencies collaborate to investigate, arrest, and successfully prosecute these violent criminals.. The two suspects were also charged for a shooting at a group of people at a Taylorsville, Utah cemetery on January 6, which did not harm anyone. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. A second indictment unsealed today alleges that five F13 members and associates, working out of a South Los Angeles hookah lounge, participated in a scheme to distribute methamphetamine. All rights reserved. Police say he was with his girlfriend, looking at a house that he was thinking of buying, when two men robbed him at gunpoint of his wallet and jewelry. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Florencia 13 Gang Member Sentenced to 160 Months in Federal Prison It was among the deadliest acts of violence in modern Kansas history. Years of violent conflict over that territory with other gangs lent Florencia an identity and reason for being. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! The gang appended the 13 to its name in the 1990s, signaling its allegiance to the Mexican Mafia. The violence left dozens of people dead, including many with no gang affiliation, and required enormous county resources to combat. Four Florencia-13 members have gone on to join the Mexican Mafia, law enforcement officials have testified in prosecutions of the gang: Arturo Castellanos, known as "Tablas"; his brother Braulio, nicknamed "Babo"; Juan "Topo" Garcia and Leonel "Wizard" Laredo. In August, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles named Castellanos in an indictment alleging a host of narcotics, firearms and fraud offenses, all carried out from his cell at Pelican Bay. So all you homies doing so, the rules say, get a job!, The document lays out which drugs can be sold where: Jailed Florencia-13 members in need of money were permitted to sell heroin in the county jail, but not speed, glass, crank, or crystal. No heroin was to be sold in gang territory on the streets. Juries have found in a number of recent trials that Florencia-13 amounts to a racketeering enterprise, but in those cases, prosecutors had evidence recorded calls, intercepted letters and jailhouse notes that its leaders had directed the drug deals, shakedowns and murders that formed a pattern of racketeering activity. You dont gotta worry about that punk no more.. There were seven members of the Florencia 13 group, including the five arrested and charged, and the two still on the run identified by the initials A.G. and L.M. The rules, written in a cramped hand, state that every Florencia-13 clique should elect by majority vote a president and vice president, who were to hold weekly meetings. To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. Leaders of the hunger strike, including Castellanos, only agreed to call off the protest after California lawmakers promised hearings and possible legislation to address complaints about prison gang policy and isolation units. Prosecutors allege Castellanos continued to discuss gang business in meetings with visitors at Pelican Bay as recently as 2011 and in the aftermath of an earlier hunger strike. According to an FBI agents affidavit, one of the defendants has admitted that they were driving around, looking for someone to rob, when Rios spotted Arroyos and remarked, He has a nice chain, lets get it.. In an indictment brought in 2007, authorities accused the gang of attacking members of rival Black gangs in an attempt to drive them from the Florence-Firestone area. In this case, the crime seems more opportunistic. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. This indictment charges 31 defendants and alleges violations of the federal racketeering (RICO) statute, as well as a host of narcotics, firearms, and fraud offenses. Prosecutors alleged Castellanos was a Mexican Mafia member and undisputed leader of Florencia 13 and its associated cliques, and that he received payments from the gangs illegal activities into his inmate trust account. The suspects were alleged members of Florencia 13, and are facing murder and attempted murder charges.[12]. LA SHERIFF ASKS FEDS TO HANDLE PROSECUTION IN OFF-DUTY COP SHOOTING OVER CONCERNS DA TOO LENIENT: REPORT. A locked padlock The officer collapsed in an alley, mortally wounded. Prosecutors alleged that Mexican Mafia member Arturo Tablas Castellanos essentially created a crime wave in the Florence-Firestone district. Garcia was released from federal prison in 2020 after serving a 17-year sentence for racketeering. In recent years, however, Florencia-13 members have been directed to eschew violent inter-gang rivalries in favor of pursuing new rackets, said a former member of the gang, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Various defendants are charged in six other counts in the indictment that allege substantive narcotics-distribution offenses, five of which relate to methamphetamine and one of which concerns marijuana. In April 2017, one defendant, Samuel Flores Mejia, a.k.a. Leon pled guilty to two out of the three federal indictments. That has reduced payback killings as well. Those rules and letters from Castellanos attempted to adhere those prison rules to the street, he said. A lock ( Have a question about Government Services? During the course of this investigation, authorities seized more than 600 pounds of methamphetamine and charged an additional six defendants in state court. An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. because they are minors. Four more await trial; two have died and four are fugitives. The indictments targeting the Mexican Mafia and the La Familia drug cartel are the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department; and the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA)/Southern California Drug Task Force, a federally funded group led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). [13] The indictments included charges of drug trafficking, attempted murder, murder and extortion. Stay in touch. The court heard in disturbing detail at trial how these Florenica 13 gang members lured the victim into an alley and beat him unconscious, said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Los Angeles Field Division Special Agent in Charge Eric Harden. [8] Court testimony and the judges ruling found that F13 members had targeted African-Americans based purely on race. The three men are members of F13, Grisham is a gang associate, and they carried out the attack to increase and maintain their position within thegang, the Justice Department said. Arroyos and his assailants exchanged gunfire. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c0660170e4a056a The gang now has at least two dozen cliques across South Los Angeles, Huntington Park, South Gate and Maywood. Los Angeles gang areas highlights of this tour An 11th defendant, Alejandro Rincon, will be retried in April. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A locked padlock Federal prosecutors charge alleged gang members with killing off-duty Florencia-13 has opened unlicensed dispensaries in South Los Angeles, selling not just marijuana out of the storefronts but cocaine and methamphetamine as well, the former member said. Castellanos ordered gang members to stop rampant infighting; to tax drug dealers in their neighborhoods, as well as prostitutes, fruit vendors and vendors of phony ID cards in nearby Huntington Park; and to funnel the proceeds to him and other mafia members. It is alleged that the Florence 13 gang has members in Los Angeles, New York City, East Orange, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit, Arkansas, Miami, Texas, Atlanta, Sinaloa and Mexico. These two investigations disrupted the criminal activities of the Mexican Mafia, the Los Angeles street gang Florencia 13, and the Mexican Mafias relationship with the La Familia drug cartel, which is responsible for using firearms to commit violent crimes and trafficking hundreds of thousands of pounds of controlled substances into the United States, Said Steven J. Bogdalek, ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division. It is the hoods responsibility to clean the hood of such trash, the rules state. That same night, in an alley in Huntington Park, Dorado, Fazah and other members of the gang circled the victim and proceeded to punch and kick him repeatedly, after which Fazah brandished an illegal handgun and fatally shot the victim in the face. Had it been an incorporated city, that rate would have ranked it among the nations worst. A lock ( All rights reserved. Beginning in 2004, the unincorporated Los Angeles County area north of Watts was the site of one of the regions worst gang sieges since the early 1990s, evolving into what some residents felt was a race war. The Mexican Mafia has a powerful grasp on these [Latino] gangs, said Peter Hernandez, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case. United States District Judge Beverly Reid OConnell sentenced the two men this week after presiding over a four-week trial that culminated last July with a jury returning guilty verdicts on multiple charges against the defendants including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR), drug trafficking conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, and felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
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