Jose "Boom Bat" Negrete had "total control" over the gang's activities and used money from the gang's kitty to purchase guns he gave members to carry
As head of the Latin King street gang, Jose "Boom Bat" Negrete had "total control" over the gang's activities and used money from the gang's kitty to purchase guns he gave members to carry out his deadly orders, an ex-Latin King testified in court yesterday. Esmeraldo "Esmo" Rodriguez said if any Latin King wielded a gun -- to shoot up a rival gang member's house or commit a murder -- it was done with Negrete's express permission. "Anything that went on, anything that happened went through him, especially beef," Rodriguez said, referring to gang-related violence. "There was nothing going to happen without that man's say so. He had control over all of us. He was militant. He was the one giving the orders, making the plans, in venting what to do." Negrete, 27, is on trial for the murder of Jeri Lynn Dotson, 23, a female member of the Latin Kings who was shot to death execution style in her Chestnut Street home in Augus...