El Monte Flores Takedown.099

8/12/2019 El Monte Flores Takedown.099

1/3

NEWSRELEASE

For Immediate Distribution

July 30, 2014

Andr Birotte Jr.United States Attorney

Central District of California

Thom Mrozek, Public Affairs [email protected]

(213) 894-6947

www.justice.gov/usao/cac

@CDCANews

41 Linked to El Monte Street Gang Charged in Federal Racketeering

Indictment that Alleges Murders, Robberies and Narcotics Trafficking

LOS ANGELES More than 400 law enforcement officers this morning

conducted an operation that led to the arrest of 17 members and associates of the El

Monte Flores gang, an organization that takes direction from the Mexican Mafia prison

gang and controls criminal activity in the cities of El Monte and South El Monte.

Those taken into custody today are among 41 defendants named in a 167-page

racketeering indictment that alleges El Monte Flores gang members commit crimes,

including acts of violence (ranging from battery to murder), drug trafficking offenses,

robbery, burglary, carjacking, witness intimidation, kidnapping, weapons trafficking,

credit card fraud, identity theft, and hate crimes directed against African-Americans who

might reside or be present in the cities of El Monte and South El Monte in an effort to rid

these cities of all African-Americans.

Other gang-related crimes are outlined in the 62-count indictment, including the

execution of a former Mexican Mafia member and the fatal shooting of four others in an

El Monte residence in 1995. The indictment also outlines an ongoing dispute involving

members of the Mexican Mafia who are attempting to exercise control over the gang.

One of those Mexican Mafia members James Chemo Gutierrez, 52, who is currently

in federal custody after his supervised release following a 20-year sentence in a federal

homicide case was revoked is the lead defendant in the indictment. Other Mexican

Mafia members serving life prison terms are not charged in the indictment, but they are

listed as co-conspirators.
mailto:[email protected]://www.justice.gov/usao/cachttp://www.justice.gov/usao/cachttp://www.justice.gov/usao/cacmailto:[email protected]


2/3

The gang maintains a significant presence at the Boys & Girls Club of America

San Gabriel Valley Club on Mountain View Road, where gang members openly sold

drugs, held gang meetings and even held a car wash fundraiser, according to the

indictment. Members of the gang also regularly use and threaten to use violence to

extort taxes from drug dealers at Crawfords Plaza (at Valley Boulevard and Garvey

Avenue) and the Klingerman apartments, as well as from fraudulent document

vendors who operate at Crawfords Plaza. The indictment further alleges several

incidents dating back to early 2001 in which African-American victims in El Monte were

attacked, threatened and subjected to racial epithets.

The investigation into the El Monte Flores gang was conducted by a task force

that included the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives; IRS Criminal Investigation; and the El Monte Police

Department

According to the indictment that was unsealed this morning, El Monte Flores,

which has an estimated 800 members, operated as a criminal enterprise that used

violence and intimidation to exercise authority in the area it claimed. The multi-

generational gang was formed in the 1960s, and since then it has controlled the drug

trade in El Monte and South El Monte.

The defendants named in the federal indictment face various charges, including

conspiracy to engage in racketeering activity in violation of the federal Racketeer

Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act; violent crimes in aid of racketeering;

conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute controlled substances;

using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking; weapons charges;

conspiracy to launder money; and being an illegal alien after previously being deported.

Those taken into custody today are expected to be arraigned this afternoon in

United States District Court.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime.

Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

If they are convicted, all of the defendants would face up to 20 years for the

RICO and potentially decades more depending on which additional offenses they are

charged with. One defendant Johnny Mata, 33, of Baldwin Park, California faces a


3/3

potential death penalty if he is convicted of being the shooter in the slaying of a rival

gang member in Baldwin Park on Christmas Eve in 2010.

Out of the 41 defendants named in the federal indictment, 17 were arrested this

morning. Fifteen defendants named in the grand jury indictment were already in

custody. Authorities are continuing to search for nine defendants.

In addition to the law enforcement agencies who conducted the investigation,

several agencies provided substantial assistance during this mornings takedown,

including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security

Investigations, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Irvine

Police Department, the Covina Police Department, the Montebello Police Department,

the Azusa Police Department, the Baldwin Park Police Department, the United States

Marshals Service, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, the San Bernardino Sheriffs

Department, and the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office.

CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Jeff Mitchell

Violent and Organized Crime Section

(213) 894-0698

Release No. 14-099

Documents

El Monte Flores Takedown.099