The Los Angeles County district attorney charged 13 members or associates of the Mexican Mafia prison gang March 14 in connection with drug smuggling and a violent assault in the county’s jail system.
Two defendants were arrested Thursday and one was arrested Friday. Two are still sought by the sheriff’s department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) San Gabriel Valley Safe Streets Task Force.
Eight of the defendants were already in jail on unrelated charges, the FBI announced in a press release Friday.
According to the FBI, law enforcement agencies began investigating reports of drug smuggling in the Los Angeles County jail system and the violent attack on an inmate beginning in February 2022.
“The narcotics smuggling and violent assault are alleged to have been coordinated by several high-ranking associates of the Mexican Mafia from outside of the jail under the authority of a Mexican Mafia member in state prison,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a press release Friday.
That inmate was charged with operating inside a Los Angeles County facility on behalf of the Mexican Mafia criminal enterprise, Ms. Eimiller added.
A Mexican Mafia “facilitator” allegedly relayed orders to mafia associates—known as “Sureños” or “soldiers”--within the jail system to attack one inmate who allegedly falsely claimed to be a member of the mafia, according to investigators and the county’s deputy district attorneys.
Multiple “soldiers” allegedly attacked the victim, who was taken to a hospital for treatment.
During the investigation, a mafia secretary and inmates known as “shotcallers” allegedly coordinated drug smuggling into the jail system. The drugs were reportedly moved to different locations within the jail to be sold to other inmates, according to investigators.
In another incident, a mafia shotcaller within the jail allegedly reported to a facilitator that drugs belonging to a mafia member had been smuggled into the jail by an inmate. Investigators identified the inmate allegedly in possession of the drugs. Sheriff’s deputies seized over 30 grams of heroin as a result, according to the FBI.
A search warrant allowed law enforcement to search the facilitator’s house, resulting in the seizure of about 10 ounces of methamphetamine, a firearm, numerous mafia communications, and about $16,000 in cash found in envelopes labeled with the names of several shotcallers within the jail system, the FBI reported.
The defendants charged Thursday were Estela Guerrero, 50, of Long Beach; and Daniel Arochi-Gonzales, 24, of Carson. Rosa Christina Martinez, 35, of Compton, was arrested Friday, the FBI reported.
Defendants who were already incarcerated are Jose Martinez, 36; Pharoah Brooks, 47; David Fraysure, 28; Jackie Triplett, 40; Jessie Quintero, 44; Andy Dominguez, 30; Angel Grajales, 33; and Daniel Garcia, 37.
Marco Lujan, 47, and Ariel Pereyra, 28, are fugitives and sought by law enforcement, the FBI said Friday in the news release.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau, which specializes in organized crime and prison gang investigations, is conducting investigations in the case and providing investigation services to agencies in the county.
The FBI’s task force is made up of law enforcement officers and special agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the sheriff’s department, and several local police agencies.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the cases.
