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Wednesday, July 22, 1998

Authorities: 'Mexican Mafia' behind 1997 quintuple slaying, other killings

By C. BRYSON HULL Associated Press Writer

The shotgun slayings of five people in a San Antonio home last August came from a single order by the top lieutenant in Texas' largest prison-based gang, authorities say.

Nine other killings over three years also have been blamed on 16 alleged members of a notorious Texas prison gang in a federal racketeering indictment unsealed Monday.

The indictment accuses the Mexican Mafia, also known as the "Mexikanemi" or "La Eme," of routinely dealing drugs, robbing, extorting and assaulting.

The Aug. 8, 1997, quintuple murders, the worst mass murder in modern San Antonio history, apparently stemmed from an order to rob the house, given by Robert "Beaver" Perez, 40, a top lieutenant in the organization.

San Antonio police Capt. Jeff Page told the San Antonio Express-News that the gang was after drugs and a large sum of money it believed to be at the West French Place duplex.

The bodies of 49-year-old Rodolfo Vara, his 19-year-old daughter, Elbira; her fiance, Ricardo Gonzalez, 18; 19-year-old Chris Tobias and Edward Medel, 18, were discovered shot execution-style amid the Vara's ransacked duplex.

The federal indictment says 28-year-old Jesse "Chango" Gomez, Roberto De Los Santos and another suspect still at large shot all five.

De Los Santos would became a murder victim of his own gang after the slayings, the affidavit states.

Six days later, Perez allegedly ordered 24-year-old mob captain Robert "Robe" Herrera and several other unnamed suspects to kill De Los Santos for talking too freely about the crime, according to the affidavit. De Los Santos was choked, beaten and run over with a car.

Officials say the gang was born and controlled from inside Texas' prisons.

"Eventually, members sought to generate income outside the walls of the Texas prison system to help inmates with legal expenses, commissary expenses and the financial needs of inmates' families," the affidavit states.

The largest source of revenue for the organization was a "street tax," or money extorted from drug dealers, authorities said. Sellers who refused to pay the 10 percent, also known as "the Dime," were robbed, beaten and killed by Mexican Mafia crews, records say.

Gang associates also sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana throughout the San Antonio area, according to police.

Federal authorities say unindicted co-conspirator Heriberto "Herb" Huerta ran the Mexican Mafia from his prison cell. Perez carried out Huerta's instructions on the street and communicated with his boss via letters, court documents show.

"Many of these letters described the struggle for power within the Texas Mexican Mafia," the affidavit states.

The infighting followed Huerta's imprisonment, and eventually led to the slaying of Luis "Blue" Adames on Nov. 23, 1994.

Perez reportedly ordered six associates to murder Adames after he challenged Huerta and Perez for leadership of the organization.

In all, members of the group are accused of at least 14 murders over three years.

"This indictment is not the first, nor will it be the last, to target dangerous members of this criminal organization," said Bill Blagg, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

Among others charged were: Juan "Jon" Johns, 25; Martin "Pancake" Ortegon, 30; Victor "Tito" Pena, 37; Michael Perez, 24; and Joe "Yogi" Sandoval, 36. Eight others are being sought, but their names haven't been released.

Each is charged with a single racketeering conspiracy count, which carries a possible life sentence.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the San Antonio police department, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.