GANGLAND GODFATHER

David Garcia, 43, of San Diego, was arrested by federal and local authorities at Russ Boulevard and 24th Street about 3:30 p.m. Monday, FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth said. Garcia is suspected of selling methamphetamine. Foxworth said Garcia was one of 36 defendants named in federal criminal complaints alleging racketeering, firearms and drug offenses involving the Mexican Mafia, local gangs and the Arellano-Felix drug cartel. More than a dozen gang members with alleged ties to the drug rings were arrested Friday. The FBI said Ernest Matthew Soqui, 32, Lance Agundez, 27, and Jorge Lerma-Duenas, 31, remain fugitives. The arrests have come after a year-long federal investigation dubbed “Operation Keys to the City.” The title was taken from a Mexican Mafia term for delegating authority: giving “the keys” to a person put in charge of certain criminal activities in prisons and on the streets, Foxworth said.

The detectives say they stumbled upon and thwarted the home invasion involving the "Mexican Mafia" on Wednesday while conducting a probationary search."They were in the right place at the right time," Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said of the detectives.The drug unit detectives initially searched the home at 2011 Gerber Dairy Road for weapons and narcotics. They found methamphetamines and drug paraphernalia, deputies say.As a result, detectives arrested three people who live at the home: Connie Jarvis, 39; Jessica Carden, 26; and Casey Nance, 24. They say they also arrested another person who happened to be at the home, sitting on a couch with a gun on his lap, 27-year-old David Valles of Winter Haven.While the investigation was ongoing, one of the detectives saw a vehicle pull into the home's driveway.The detective approached and saw Manuel Garza, 24, of Wauchula, and Catherine Hale, 22, of Lake Alfred. He determined Garza didn...

Members of Sureño street gangs are coming to the Salinas area in increasing numbers and are becoming better organized, the commander of the Monterey County Joint Gang Task Force said Wednesday.Cmdr. Dino Bardoni made the comment following a statewide summit of anti-gang law enforcement agents at Sherwood Hall in Salinas. The two-day gathering was the third such meeting sponsored by the county gang task force. Bardoni said the Mexican Mafia, a well-established prison gang also known as "la Eme," is teaching more sophisticated criminal tactics to local Sureño street gangs. Sureño gang members are regarded as mostly Mexican immigrants with ties to their native homeland. Their rivals are Norteño gangs comprised primarily of U.S.-born residents of Mexican descent.Salinas, long a stronghold for Norteño gangs, is seeing more Sureños coming into the area who are organizing in ways they haven't before, and that iscreating more violence in Monterey County, Bardoni said.Wednesday...

Salvador Orozco Hernandez, 43, identified in federal documents as a Mexican Mafia leader in the San Bernardino area, agreed to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder charge and conducting the crime to benefit a criminal street gang. Tribal member Stacy Cheyenne Barajas-Nunez, 25, also pleaded guilty to attempted murder charge and admitting criminal gang activity. She also pleaded guilty to charges of transporting methamphetamine and possessing illegal substances in a jail. Her brother, Erik Barajas, 35, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault with a firearm and admitted gang membership. Both tribal members will receive probation when they return for sentencing Aug. 7. Two others also charged in the case, Janette Amaya, 51, and Alfred Orozco Hernandez, 39, brother of Salvador Hernandez, also pleaded guilty. Amaya pleaded guilty to one charge of transporting methamphetamine and the sentencing enhancement of criminal gang activity. She pleaded no contest to a forgery...

Federal judge in San Diego sentenced seven members of a notorious state prison gang to life in prison Thursday. The sentence by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw capped an extensive prosecution into the Mexican Mafia that targeted upper echelon members of the gang on racketeering and conspiracy charges. seven members of the gang sentenced yesterday were convicted by a jury after a month-long trial that ended Jan. 4. The defendants were charged with a variety of acts including two murders, attempted murder, drug sales and money laundering. In October, two top members of the gang, Raul Leon and Salvador Perez, pleaded guilty to similar charges and will be sentenced in April. Sentenced Thursday were Eduardo Gonzalez-Gallegos, George Fernandez, Thomas Durkin, Salvador Perez, Richard Valenzuela, Cesar Abarca, and Joshua Cruz. Several already are serving life sentences in state prison.

Ralph "Perico" Rocha and Rafael "Cisco" Gonzalez-Mu oz committed what is considered a mortal sin among the ranks of the dreaded Mexican Mafia prison gang: they encroached into the drug territory of a senior gang member. Their transgression marked them for death according to county prosecutors, who in early December charged six individuals with trying to murder Rocha and Gonzalez-Mu oz on behalf of another "made" Mexican Mafia member, Jaques "Jocko" Padilla. The six, including Padilla's wife, La Puente resident Maria "Lola" Llantada, are in L.A. County Jail awaiting a March 7 court date. Despite the arrests, Rocha and Gonzalez-Mu oz are likely still in mortal danger; sheriff's officials have confirmed that Rocha was shot last week in the Norwalk area. His injuries were minor, however, and he was treated from a local hospital and released. Law enforcement investigators and gang associates say the Llantada case, along with a spate ...