Owner’s arrest clouds future of his markets

The plums and watermelons were still stacked just so at Numero Uno markets around South Los Angeles on Thursday, and employees and customers moved through the practiced ballet of selling and buying them.

But a day after authorities publicly charged the markets’ owner, George Torres, 50, with crimes that included orchestrating murders, bribing city officials, extorting customers and exploiting illegal immigrants, an air of uncertainty hung over the operation.

“I’m shocked,” said Lloyd Hinton, 53, standing in the parking lot of the store at Vermont and Vernon avenues. The unemployed cafeteria worker said he frequently saw Torres and his brother when they came to check on operations and that the men seemed like friendly, caring businessmen.

“You always think people are good people when they feed you,” Hinton said, shaking his head. “It’s a community market. Beautiful cashiers. Nice security guards.”

Torres’ markets have been celebrated for providing fresh produce and decent food to underserved urban areas, particularly in South Los Angeles, which saw many businesses flee after the 1992 riots. A UC Davis study singled out the chain, which stocks mountains of fruits and vegetables and provides free rides home to bag-laden shoppers, as a model

Authorities, however, say the supermarket company and its owner had a dark side. A 59-count indictment unsealed Wednesday accused Torres of beating and exploiting his employees, even as he ordered murders and moved stolen property. The indictment also accuses Torres of an effort, unsuccessful, to bribe city commissioners for permission to sell alcohol. Torres denied the charges.

Also named in the indictment were Torres’ brother Manuel, 53, his son Steven, 26, and two former Los Angeles planning commissioners, George Luk, 58, and Steve Carmona, 39.

Many of the crimes allegedly took place at a market and adjacent warehouse on Jefferson Boulevard, the indictment said.

Authorities say Torres employed dozens of illegal immigrants, paid them under the table and sometimes assaulted them at a nearby house that he owned. They charge that stolen property, including a load of the astronaut beverage Tang, moved through an adjacent warehouse. They also allege that Torres was at that store when he ordered a hit on a rival and that an associate carried out the killing across the street from the market.

Those allegations were belied Thursday by the placid scene of smiling shoppers chatting to one another over bargains and being shuttled home in numerous store vans.

“Everything is clean. Everything is nice,” said Eladio Brambila, 61, squinting in the sun in the parking lot as mothers with children swirled around him loading their cars.

Federal authorities say U.S. marshals have taken over management of the 11 Numero Uno stores. But employees said they knew nothing about that.

They also denied knowledge of charges in the federal indictment that security guards demanded money from suspected shoplifters in exchange for not turning them over to authorities.

“We only work here,” said one employee at the Jefferson Boulevard location, saying he had no idea if the charges were true. He declined to give his name.

A mile or so away, at another Numero Uno on Vermont, shopper Sonia Leslie, a 59-year-old immigrant from Belize, said she had heard about the charges and didn’t know what to make of them. She liked the market though. “It’s really good. Things are really cheap.”

Nearby, store manager Florinda Nunez stood chatting with a security guard. She said she loved her job, which allows her to support her two children and that she worked well with Torres.

“For me it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I really don’t know what to think about it.”

jessica.garrison@latimes.com