Cypress : Two Men Sentenced for Vendetta Murder

Two men convicted of shooting a farm worker to death in a Cypress strawberry field in a long-running vendetta were both sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Friday.

As interpreters translated, Superior Court Judge Robert H. Green in Santa Ana imposed the sentence on Odon Borja, 30, of Cypress and Juan Cruz Torres, 22, of Hawaiian Gardens.

Both were convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of Gumaro Pineda, a Mexican farm worker, in full view of more than 130 other field laborers. The shooting occurred last April 17 in a field on Katella Avenue.

“They went to the strawberry field,” Green said Friday. “The victim was picking strawberries. He had nothing in his hand but strawberry crates. The victim turned and he was shot four times.”

The murder was the last in a bloody family feud spanning three years, thousands of miles, and leaving six dead, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward R. Munoz.

The feud began in December, 1983, after an argument broke out between brothers of Borja and Pineda at a harvest festival near Acapulco, Mexico.

Three Pineda brothers were gunned down. Within a week, the Borja family patriarch had been murdered, followed by his assailant, according to Munoz.

The Cypress killing was done in revenge for the murder of Borja’s father, according to Munoz. While Borja shot Pineda, Torres fired into the air to keep the other workers at bay.