Trial Begins for Alleged Leaders of Street Gang

Frank “Pancho Villa” Martinez was a tattooed Mexican Mafia member serving time in federal prison for being in the United States illegally, while his wife, Janie Garcia, collected food stamps and recycled discarded cans in her Monterey Park neighborhood.

But behind the veneer of poverty, a federal prosecutor charged in court Wednesday, the couple earned hundreds of thousands of dollars running one of the most lucrative street gangs in Los Angeles.

The Columbia Li’l Cycos raked in about $85,000 a week--more than $4.4 million a year--providing protection to street-level drug dealers in the MacArthur Park neighborhood, Assistant U.S. Atty. Luis Li said during opening statements in the racketeering trial of Martinez, Garcia and two accused subordinates.

When FBI agents raided homes occupied by Garcia, her mother and sister in 1999, Li said, they seized about $450,000 in ill-gotten cash.

In addition, he said, the couple had acquired three homes, several vehicles, a restaurant and a used car business.

Martinez, 38, Garcia, 51, and co-defendants Anthony Zaragoza, 29, of Maywood and Alberto Pina, 29, of Los Angeles are also accused of complicity in three gang-retribution slayings and three attempted murders.

In their opening remarks to the jury, defense lawyers said their clients were innocent and asked the panelists to keep an open mind.

Twenty members or associates of the Li’l Cycos, a clique of the notorious 18th Street gang, have previously pleaded guilty in the case. They include Garcia’s sister and daughter and Zaragoza’s wife and father.

Pleading guilty in January was Ismael Jimenez, 24, of Los Angeles, who two years earlier received a $231,000 settlement from the city over his beating by a police officer inside the Rampart Division station house in 1998.

The Li’l Cycos turf was in the area patrolled by Rampart’s anti-gang unit, which was disbanded after allegations of illegal shootings, beatings and evidence planting.

The trial is being held in a high-security courtroom in the downtown Roybal federal building. About a dozen relatives and friends of the defendants attended Wednesday’s session.

Li told the jury that he and co-prosecutor Bruce Riordan would present incriminating evidence from more than 400 court-approved wiretaps and numerous letters and coded financial records seized during a three-year investigation headed by FBI agents.

In sketching out the prosecution’s case, Li said that while Martinez was serving time in prison for returning to the U.S. after being deported, Garcia acted as his proxy, receiving “taxes” or “rents” collected by gang members from dope dealers on the streets.

In exchange, he said, the gang protected the dealers from poachers and robbers. The prosecutor described the area controlled by the gang as a “veritable outdoor emporium” for crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

He said well-heeled professionals and businessmen working in nearby downtown high-rises found it convenient to buy illicit drugs there.

Zaragoza, who has gang insignias tattooed on his cheek and neck, was described by Li as a gang “shot caller” in charge of seeing to it that Martinez’s orders were carried out.

The prosecutor quoted from letters Zaragoza wrote from jail referring to Martinez as “dad” and to Garcia as “mom.”

In one letter to Garcia, Zaragoza expressed his appreciation to “dad” for giving him an “allowance of five and a half weekly” while behind bars. Li said that meant $5,500 a week, or $286,000 a year.

Zaragoza’s lawyer opted to respond to the government’s allegations later in the trial, but attorneys for the other defendants offered rebuttals.

Martinez’s lawyer, Gerald Scotti, said his client may seem like “an unsavory character from the things he said, but he never killed anybody or ordered anyone to be killed.”

Garcia’s attorney, Terrence Roden, said his client was simply holding money given to her for safekeeping and never knew where it came from. He accused the prosecution of quoting out of context from wiretapped telephone conversations between Garcia and Martinez.

Marcia Brewer, who represents Pina, said he was not an active participant in the gang when the alleged crimes took place.

The trial is expected to last about two months. If convicted of racketeering charges, the four defendants could receive life prison terms.