Mexican Mafia member who ran county jail rackets is killed in prison
1 year, 5 months ago

Mexican Mafia member who ran county jail rackets is killed in prison

LA Times  

Michael Torres, a member of the Mexican Mafia, was stabbed to death on July 6, 2023, at California State Prison, Sacramento. Michael Torres, a Mexican Mafia member who oversaw gangs in the San Fernando Valley and controlled drug and extortion rackets in the Los Angeles County jails, was stabbed to death in prison Thursday, authorities said. A gang member called Smokey had told Torres that David “Diablo” Mendoza had been shaking down drug dealers and prostitutes by claiming to be a Mexican Mafia member. As Mendoza approached the doorway, Torres asked if he was a “carnal” — a term for a Mexican Mafia member. Torres distributed the Men’s Central Jail proceeds among all Mexican Mafia members, his lieutenant told authorities in 2017, while splitting the money from Wayside, the jail complex in Castaic, between himself and another Mexican Mafia member, Jose “Joker” Gonzalez.

Prison California According County Mendoza Jail Torres Smokey San Fernando Mexican Mafia Mexican Mafia Member Mosca Member Told  killed  member  told  county  torres  mexican  mafia  jail  ran  according  rackets  prison  san  fernando

History of this topic

The Mexican Mafia’s long reach and longer memory
1 month ago

The Mexican Mafia’s long reach and longer memory

LA Times  

Weapons seized by police during a 2023 investigation into a gang linked to the Mexican Mafia. And here’s today’s enewspaper The Mexican Mafia’s long memory followed a man to a homeless camp, records reveal Samuel “Negro” Villalba was found shot to death in a homeless camp in 2021, years after the Mexican Mafia kicked him out and put a target …

Reputed Mexican Mafia member wounded, another man killed in L.A. County shooting
1 month ago

Reputed Mexican Mafia member wounded, another man killed in L.A. County shooting

LA Times  

A Florencia-13 gang tag in the Florence–Firestone area of L.A. County. Authorities said Juan Garcia, a reputed Mexican Mafia member originally from the Florenica-13 gang, was shot Saturday in La Mirada and another man was killed. A reputed member of the Mexican Mafia was wounded in a shooting Saturday that left a second man dead in Los Angeles County, authorities …

Mexican Mafia settled scores with killing at Long Beach homeless camp, records reveal
1 month, 1 week ago

Mexican Mafia settled scores with killing at Long Beach homeless camp, records reveal

LA Times  

Weapons seized by police during a 2023 investigation into a gang linked to the Mexican Mafia. “All the rules that we live by today, he’s the one that started them,” another Mexican Mafia member, Raymond Shryock, said at the meeting. “But his family believes that they’re beyond reproach.” Shryock, Villalba and about a dozen other Mexican Mafia members had gathered …

Lawyer accused of enabling Mexican Mafia rackets could avoid prison with guilty plea
3 months ago

Lawyer accused of enabling Mexican Mafia rackets could avoid prison with guilty plea

LA Times  

Gabriel Zendejas Chavez leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. Indicted in 2018 in an investigation of the Mexican Mafia’s rackets in L.A. County jails, Chavez pleaded guilty in federal court to a rarely filed charge called “misprision of a felony.” A lawyer accused of helping members of the Mexican Mafia traffic drugs, collect extortion money and expose government …

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: A mobster helped the feds arrest drug dealers. Local cops suspected him of homicide
3 months, 2 weeks ago

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: A mobster helped the feds arrest drug dealers. Local cops suspected him of homicide

LA Times  

Lucio Rodarte’s death was not a mystery. When Rodarte said $20,000, the report says, Rocha replied: “Wrong answer.” Rocha told the tattoo parlor’s owner to call his “carpet guy” because he might need to replace it, according to the FBI report. “It’s amazing you can do,” one said, marveling at Rocha’s access to Armenian organized crime figures and Mexican drug …

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: How an informant nearly brokered a cartel alliance
3 months, 2 weeks ago

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: How an informant nearly brokered a cartel alliance

LA Times  

From a federal penitentiary in Virginia, Jose Landa-Rodriguez reconnected with an old friend in California. That’s been our Achilles heel from day one.” But when Rocha showed up at Moreno’s house in Fresno, “Mike starts backing out.” “This is what you became a carnal for,” Rocha said he told Moreno. Imprisoned on the other side of the country, Landa-Rodriguez was …

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: Secret recordings reveal greed, betrayal — and a deal with the feds
3 months, 3 weeks ago

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: Secret recordings reveal greed, betrayal — and a deal with the feds

LA Times  

In a city full of secrets, Ralph Guy Rocha kept more than most. The proposed alliance between the Mexican Mafia and La Familia was “a very serious proposition,” one of his handlers told The Times, and could not have been broken up had Rocha not infiltrated the negotiations. Rocha was trying to make his life sound “as interesting and riveting …

L.A. crime boss ‘Wicked’ stabbed to death in prison after purge of gang
5 months ago

L.A. crime boss ‘Wicked’ stabbed to death in prison after purge of gang

LA Times  

Ezequiel Romo, a gang leader who ordered murders of rivals and followers alike in a bid to maintain control over drug and collection rackets in Panorama City, was stabbed to death Sunday at Centinela State Prison, authorities said. Blythe Street, a gang that takes its name from a few crowded blocks between Van Nuys Boulevard and Brimfield Avenue, was in …

‘Like the Godfather’: Mafia informant’s brother killed years after dramatic testimony, arrest made
6 months, 2 weeks ago

‘Like the Godfather’: Mafia informant’s brother killed years after dramatic testimony, arrest made

LA Times  

Eduardo Castro, shown here in an undated photograph from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was shot to death in 2019 in Boyle Heights. One mural shows two hands holding up the letters “VNE,” an eagle alighting atop them with a banner in its beak that reads, “In memory of a homeboy.” Ernesto, whose nickname was Chuco, was a …

13 charged in Mexican Mafia collection racket in L.A. County jails
9 months, 1 week ago

13 charged in Mexican Mafia collection racket in L.A. County jails

LA Times  

A tier of Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles is shown. Authorities this week charged 13 people with collecting money from drug sales and extorted commissary goods inside the Los Angeles County jails on behalf of Michael “Mosca” Torres, a Mexican Mafia member who controlled the jail rackets until his death in July. On a recorded jail phone in …

Mexican Mafia member who ran Ventura County rackets is killed in Baja California, authorities say
1 year, 3 months ago

Mexican Mafia member who ran Ventura County rackets is killed in Baja California, authorities say

LA Times  

Martin Madrigal Cazares, shown in an undated photograph, was killed earlier this month in Baja California, authorities say. Martin Madrigal Cazares, a fugitive Mexican Mafia member who controlled gangs in Ventura County from a base in Mexico where he developed a drug-trafficking network and brought California-style prison politics to Mexican lockups, was gunned down earlier this month in Baja California, …

Enforcer for slain Mexican Mafia member stabbed to death in L.A. County jail
1 year, 4 months ago

Enforcer for slain Mexican Mafia member stabbed to death in L.A. County jail

LA Times  

An inmate was stabbed to death last week in Men’s Central Jail, an incident that authorities suspect may represent more fallout from the killing of Michael Torres, a Mexican Mafia member who controlled rackets in the Los Angeles County jails. According to the detective, Torres announced that if he ever went back to prison, Moor was “going to be his …

He built a booming black market empire inside L.A. County jails. It ended with his murder
1 year, 5 months ago

He built a booming black market empire inside L.A. County jails. It ended with his murder

LA Times  

Michael Torres was an unlikely chief executive. Torres said in court records he dropped out in the fifth grade, but a reading list later seized from his mother’s house showed his interests were eclectic: medicine, hypnosis, homemade explosives, the Freedom of Information Act, ancient Japanese war texts, and “The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense.” In 2003, Torres shot a man …

Contraband cellphones, coded messages help Mexican Mafia operate in California prisons
1 year, 10 months ago

Contraband cellphones, coded messages help Mexican Mafia operate in California prisons

LA Times  

The business call began with pleasantries and self-deprecating humor. He’s going to end up driving him to the car show.” The four men on the line were members of the Mexican Mafia, held in prisons throughout California. Instead, a department spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said in a statement, “The use of contraband cell phones by incarcerated gang members and associates, including …

Mexican Mafia member sentenced to 11 years for role in cartel alliance
2 years ago

Mexican Mafia member sentenced to 11 years for role in cartel alliance

LA Times  

Michael Moreno, a reputed member of the Mexican Mafia, has been jailed for more than nine years on a charge that he helped orchestrate a novel but ultimately thwarted alliance with a Mexican drug cartel that wanted to trade money and drugs for protection in prison and muscle on the streets. Out of my nine brothers, five of them are …

The high school teacher turned lawyer accused of being a fixer for the Mexican Mafia
2 years, 1 month ago

The high school teacher turned lawyer accused of being a fixer for the Mexican Mafia

LA Times  

Sheriff’s deputies led Luis Garcia from his cell to the visiting room at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. And as a new lawyer who’d never met a Mexican Mafia member, “I had a fear that if he felt I did a poor job, there’d be retribution,” Chavez said. But “once they see this,” Chavez said — Garcia testified …

A ‘calculated business decision’: Mexican Mafia member convicted of murder in Paramount
2 years, 8 months ago

A ‘calculated business decision’: Mexican Mafia member convicted of murder in Paramount

LA Times  

Around noon one day in May 2016, Hector Velasquez walked over to the passenger side of a black Chrysler 300 sedan and leaned into the open window. When Hinojos said “promotion,” he meant that he’d been offered membership in the Mexican Mafia, Enriquez testified. Hinojos said he was there to help Velasquez collect a $10,000 drug debt from a leader …

Danny Roman, Mexican Mafia member and South L.A. gang chieftain, is stabbed to death in Corcoran
4 years, 6 months ago

Danny Roman, Mexican Mafia member and South L.A. gang chieftain, is stabbed to death in Corcoran

LA Times  

Danny Roman, a Mexican Mafia member who controlled swaths of South Los Angeles from various prison cells throughout California, was stabbed to death Wednesday at a substance abuse treatment facility in Corcoran, the state prison system said Thursday. On May 16, 1988, three years after entering the state prison system, Roman was inducted into the Mexican Mafia, a Los Angeles …

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