The Region - News from Feb. 22, 1987

A 26-year-old gang member has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the May, 1986, execution-style slaying of three men in Watts who were mistaken for the operators of a “rock house.” In exchange for the plea, Ricky Palmer, who could have faced life in prison without possibility of parole, will be sentenced to a minimum of 27 years to life, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Chesley N. McKay Jr. Sentencing was set for March 18. Palmer was one of two gunmen who pushed their way into a fortified apartment in the 10400 block of South Broadway May 16, 1986, in the mistaken belief that rock cocaine pushers were still living there, McKay said.