LOS ANGELES—Four high-ranking members of
an entrenched criminal street gang were found guilty this afternoon of
participating in a racketeering enterprise responsible for the September 2007
shooting of a street vendor near MacArthur Park that resulted in the murder of
a 3-week-old infant.
Following an eight-week trial, a federal
jury convicted the four defendants, three of whom are members of the Columbia
Lil’ Cycos (CLCS), which is a “clique” of the 18th Street Gang.
After being found guilty of a host of
federal offenses, all four defendants now face potential sentences of life
without parole in federal prison.
The four defendants found guilty today
are Eduardo Hernandez, 35; Vladimir Iraheta, 31; Leonidas Iraheta, 31; Javier
Perez, 35.
The four convicted today were among 43
members and associates of the CLCS Organization who were charged in a 2009
federal racketeering indictment that alleged acts of violence, narcotics
distribution, money laundering, and violent crimes in aid of racketeering
(VICAR). The charged defendants included attorney Isaac Guillen, who laundered
over $1.3 million in drug and extortion proceeds on behalf of the CLCS
Organization and Mexican Mafia member Francisco “Puppet” Martinez. With today’s
guilty verdicts, a total of 37 people have been convicted in the case
investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police
Department.
“The results in this case are proof that
the members and the leaders of the 18th Street Gang will be held accountable
for the violence and intimidation they use in their efforts to terrorize the
law-abiding residents of the City of Los Angeles,” said United States Attorney
André Birotte, Jr. “The members of the 18th Street Gang, including those
convicted today, thought that they controlled neighborhoods and territory
within this city. Today’s verdicts prove otherwise, and law enforcement at
every level will work together to continue to make our streets safe.”
According to court documents and
evidence presented at trial, the CLCS Organization used violence and
intimidation to control narcotics distribution in an area adjoining MacArthur
Park in the Westlake District of Los Angeles. Under the orders of gang
leadership, narcotics suppliers, and street dealers paid “rent”—typically a
percentage of proceeds from the sale of narcotics—in exchange for permission
from the CLCS Organization to sell narcotics in the organization’s territory.
Those who paid rent received the exclusive authorization to sell narcotics in
CLCS Organization territory, as well as protection from rivals. Street vendors
operating in CLCS Organization territory were also required to pay rent to the
organization in order to be allowed to sell their wares near MacArthur Park.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Vladimir and Leonidas Iraheta and
Eduardo Hernandez were making thousands of dollars a week extorting the street
vendors. The failure or refusal to pay rent and otherwise follow the gang’s
rules would result in retribution, including acts of violence.
A street vendor who refused to make a
$50 rent payment to the CLCS Organization was targeted by members of the gang
in a shooting on September 15, 2007. Although the man survived despite being
shot four times, a 3-week-old infant sitting in a stroller next to the vendor
was struck and killed.
Shortly after the failed attempt to
murder the vendor and the resulting death of the child, CLCS Organization
leaders ordered the kidnapping and murder of the shooter in order to make
amends with the Mexican Mafia. The shooter was thereafter taken to Mexico by
Javier Perez and other CLCS Organization gang members under the false premise
of hiding the shooter from the police. Once in Mexico, the shooter was driven
to a remote area where he was strangled. But, unbeknownst to the would-be
killers, the shooter survived the attack.
The four defendants found guilty today
are scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson
in September.
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