Suspects in Catering Killings Not Charged : Crime: Police say that witnesses were uncooperative and perhaps fearful, and that the men will remain targets of investigation.

Three men arrested this week in the execution-style slayings of five North Hollywood catering truck workers were not charged with murder because police could not gather enough evidence, authorities said Thursday.

Two of the men--including a former police informant who drew investigators’ suspicion because he knew intimate details of the crime--were set free. The third was being held on unrelated weapons and drug charges.

Citing uncooperative witnesses and other difficulties, Los Angeles police said they could not gather enough evidence to persuade prosecutors to charge Edward Taffolla, 24, of North Hollywood, and Tony Rivera, 32, of North Hills, with the Dec. 7 slayings of five people who were abducted in their catering truck from Lankershim Boulevard.

Taffolla, the former informant, was released. Rivera was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail after pleading not guilty in San Fernando Municipal Court to charges of possession of narcotics and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The third suspect, Lawrence Aguinaga, 36, of Santa Maria, was released Wednesday night after witnesses did not identify him as a suspect.

“I am disappointed that we were not able to file a sufficiently legal case to bring these murderers to justice,” said Police Cmdr. John White. “We believe these are the right individuals.”

The three men were arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of involvement in the slayings of the truck’s owner, Ismael Cervantes, 43, of Sylmar; his son Ismael Jr., 13, of North Hollywood; and brothers Heriberto and Jesus Sandoval, 16 and 19, and Francisco Gasca, 31, all of North Hollywood.

The victims’ bound bodies were found dumped in La Tuna Canyon near Sunland three days after the catering truck was discovered ransacked and abandoned in North Hollywood. All five had been stabbed and four had also been shot.

The catering truck was last seen in operation on Dec. 7, parked on Lankershim Boulevard near Vanowen Street--a spot where it had been a mainstay for several years.

Police said Thursday that they believe the killings may have been drug related but they would say little else.

“We are not sure about that but there seems to be a drug connection, and some of the evidence we found involves drugs,” White said.

In an ironic twist, White revealed that Taffolla appeared in February as an unidentified informant on a KNBC Channel 4 news show and said the killings were drug-related and ordered by the “Mexican Mafia” prison gang because the elder Cervantes had violated orders and was selling drugs on his own.

White refused to confirm the details of the report.

The three suspects were identified by police after Taffolla gave information in January to the California Youth Authority, where he was a parole agency informant. Detectives used the information to identify Rivera and Aguinaga, White said.

Taffolla also came under suspicion because of his knowledge of “specific details” of the crime. White said witnesses involved in the investigation viewed photographs of Taffolla, Rivera and Aguinaga and identified them all as suspects.

After the three men were arrested this week, Taffolla recanted his statements. Police said that during a lineup of suspects Wednesday, witnesses viewed the three men but only one witness made an identification--of Taffolla.

Citing the reluctance of the witnesses and the lack of corroborating identifications, White said, the lone identification of Taffolla was not enough to charge him with murder.