U.S. Uses Racketeering Law to Fight Mexican Mafia

Using federal anti-racketeering laws against one of California’s most notorious gangs for the first time, Los Angeles prosecutors hope to strike a disabling blow to the Mexican Mafia, a prison-based Latino gang that authorities say controls drug trafficking and street gangs through murder, intimidation and extortion.

Thirteen reputed members and associates of the mafia are on trial in a far-reaching case alleging that they conducted a continuing criminal enterprise, even while many of them were inmates in California’s prison system.

The 29-count indictment includes charges that the defendants are responsible for seven murders, seven attempted murders and conspiracies to kill eight other people. Three of the murder victims were advisors in the making of the 1992 gang film “American Me.” Initially, 22 men were indicted, but seven of them pleaded guilty to various charges; one died before he could be brought to trial, and another will be tried separately.

During a trial that is scheduled to resume Tuesday and is expected to continue for the next four to five months, the jury in a high-security courtroom in the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles will hear testimony about the gang’s activities from men who allegedly helped run the group, from gang experts and from tape-recordings and videotapes.

For the federal government, the trial that began Nov. 19 presents a rare look at the inner workings of the secretive group--commonly referred to as la Eme, the Spanish pronunciation for the letter M.

“The Feds are serious about putting la Eme out of business,” one knowledgeable expert on the local gang scene said.

Others, particularly the defense attorneys representing the defendants, say it is an attempt to lend credibility to a flawed theory that there actually is a Mexican Mafia. One defense attorney, in her opening statement, scoffed at the government’s contention that the defendants are in charge of an organized prison gang.

“You will see there was no organization that was masterminding a criminal enterprise and controlling Los Angeles’ gangs,” defense attorney Ellen Barry told the jury.

“You’re going to see that this so-called mafia, it’s not the Italian Mafia you’ve seen in the ‘Godfather’ movies,” she said. “These are not the guys who run the rackets in Vegas and Philly and Queens [N.Y.]. These men don’t wear dark suits. These men don’t control crime in Los Angeles.”

Nevertheless prosecutors, led by Assistant U.S. Atty. Lisa Lench, expect to call 80 to 100 witnesses to show that the defendants are guilty of a conducting criminal enterprise. The defendants were indicted in 1995 by a federal grand jury, which alleged that they had violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a controversial conspiracy statute first drafted as a weapon against traditional organized crime syndicates. This is the first time the statute has been used locally to fight la Eme.

U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella, the federal government’s top prosecutor for seven Southland counties including Los Angeles, says the use of the RICO statute is appropriate.

“The indictment speaks for itself,” Manella said in an interview. “It alleged that the Mexican Mafia is a criminal enterprise. That through violence and threats of violence [it] seeks to control the distribution of drugs in primarily Hispanic communities.”

None of this is news to authorities, Manella said. “The Mexican Mafia has been known to law enforcement since [its founding in] the ‘50s,” she said.

Prosecutors say la Eme’s methods will become clear through testimony. They say the jury will hear how the Mexican Mafia orders the deaths of members or others who oppose its goals or methods; requires Los Angeles street gangs to pay “taxes” for selling drugs, and votes to admit felons and gang members as members.

The government’s key witness is Ernest “Chuco” Castro, a reputed Mexican Mafia leader who agreed to testify against the group. A person who prosecutors admit has committed murder and other “heinous” crimes, Castro--with his use of tapes and video recordings--can document the group’s crimes, prosecutors say.

He was at meetings where assassinations were ordered and other Mafia-related business was discussed, Lench, the lead federal prosecutor, says. She defends the use of Castro as a government witness because of the mafia’s violent nature.

But several of the defense attorneys singled Castro out during their opening statements, accusing him of many of the violent acts their clients are charged with.

”. . . For Chuco, other lives are worthless,” said defense lawyer Barry, who is representing Alex “Pee Wee” Aguirre. “And for Chuco, the truth is worthless.”

Attorney Yolanda Barrera, who is representing Raymond “Champ” Mendez, added: “Chuco is a liar. He’s a thief. He’s a drug addict. He’s a murderer. He’s like evil incarnate. Even worse than that for purposes of this trial.”

Defense attorneys contend that the government, in exchange for his testimony, agreed not to prosecute Castro for one murder and has paid him $70,000.

Of the 13 defendants, two are alleged to be major Mexican Mafia figures--54-year-old Benjamin “Topo” Peters and Ruben “Tupi” Hernandez, 35.

Three of the murders alleged in the 29 charges involve people connected to the movie “American Me,” which starred actor Edward James Olmos. Prosecutors contend that the three were killed because la Eme considered the film disrespectful. The harsh tale, with graphic scenes of a Mexican Mafia leader being killed by his comrades, was widely believed to upset Eme leaders.

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One member, Charles “Charlie Brown” Manriquez, was killed March 25, 1992, shortly after he had been paroled from Pelican Bay State Prison. He reportedly had been marked for death because he failed to carry out an assault that he had agreed to do.

An “American Me” business card and other items connecting Manriquez to the film were among his personal possessions when he was killed, prosecutors say.

The indictment alleges that anti-gang crusader Ana Lizarraga was killed less than two months later because of her involvement in the making of the movie. She was shot in the driveway of her Eastside home.

Prosecutors say Lizarraga’s convicted killer was sponsored for Eme membership by one of the 13 defendants, David “Smilon” Gallardo, because of the murder.

Another Eme member, Manuel “Rocky” Luna, was shot to death Aug. 7, 1993, in a parking lot at the Ramona Gardens public housing project because he had spoken ill of fellow Eme members and had tried to block some Eme-sanctioned “hits,” prosecutors allege.

Luna was said to be a kingpin of Eme activities at Ramona Gardens, where some of the movie’s scenes were filmed. He was an unpaid advisor who helped Lizarraga during the filming, law enforcement sources say.

An extortion charge involving the movie’s star, Olmos, is no longer part of this case, however. In the original indictment, several of the defendants were accused of conspiring to obtain property and money from an unidentified person, referred to only as “Victim No. 1.”

In papers filed in the case that charged federal prosecutors with misconduct, defense attorney Barrera identified Olmos as Victim No. 1 and accused the government’s key witness, Castro, of instigating the plot against the actor.

“It is [Castro] that said that Olmos should be killed and/or he should print a public apology for the parts of the movie which were in controversy,” Barrera said in court papers.

In a redacted superseding indictment passed out recently to reporters, however, there is no mention of the events described in it involving either a “Victim No. 1” or Olmos.

When asked how much money was involved in the planned extortion of Olmos or why that charge was dropped, Manella replied: “I can’t answer those questions.”

After recessing last week because of Thanksgiving, the trial is to resume with the trial’s first witness, Sgt. Richard Valdimar, who works the prison gang unit for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, still on the witness stand.