Was the killing of a drug dealer in his Placentia front yard an act of Mexican Mafia retribution orchestrated by the head of the Orange County faction — or was it an unsanctioned robbery gone wrong?
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Those opposing narratives of the 2017 slaying were presented by attorneys to jurors at the beginning of a federal trial on Monday morning, July 13, years after a local case related to the same killing but handled by Orange County prosecutors was tossed out of state court.
Robert Rios, 35, was gunned down that January during a confrontation with three armed men as a getaway driver waited nearby.
Whether Rios was targeted by Mexican Mafia higher-ups after refusing to pay “taxes” on money he earned selling drugs in a gang-controlled neighborhood, or if his slaying was instead the result of a “side-job” by a Mexican Mafia shot caller that had nothing to do with the larger organization will soon be up to a federal jury.
Previous attempts to prosecute the slaying at the state level failed, when a judge determined a sheriff’s deputy who served as a gang expert was dishonest in testimony.
Johnny Martinez, a longtime gang leader known by the street name “Crow” who authorities allege was the Mexican Mafia chief for Orange County at the time of Rios’ killing, had faced a murder charge.
Federal prosecutors ended up sweeping the Rios murder into a massive racketeering indictment targeting Martinez and many other Mexican Mafia leaders and associates.
On trial in this case are Ysrael Jacob Cordova — the alleged shooter — and Ricardo Valenzuela. Federal prosecutors say the two were part of a crew tasked by Gregory Munoz, an alleged Mexican Mafia shot caller, to collect “taxes” that Rios owed the gang for selling drugs.
Martinez gave Munoz and the crew the “green light” to confront Rios, federal prosecutors said. Martinez and Munoz were behind bars in separate state prisons, but both used contraband cellphones to communicate.
Munoz used his “errand runner,” Charles Coghill, to assemble the crew, to get them guns, masks, zip ties and tape and to serve as a getaway driver, according to prosecutors. Along with Cordova and Valenzuela, the crew allegedly included Augustine Velazquez.
“They are all loyal to the Mexican Mafia, and Robert Rios broke Mexican Mafia rules,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Campbell told jurors.
The confrontation quickly turned deadly.
“Robert Rios came outside, they pointed their big guns at him and after a brief struggle they shot him dead,” Campbell said.
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Velazquez, allegedly shot in the leg, was the only one to get convicted in state court, though his case was overturned by an appellate court that found his rights had been violated and he is awaiting a new trial.
Coghill — the accused driver — is cooperating with prosecutors and expected to testify against Cordova and Valenzuela. Also cooperating with the federal government is Omar Mejia, another former Mexican Mafia shot caller who shared a prison cell with Munoz at the time of the Rios killing and who, prosecutors say, overheard the plot’s details.
Martinez and Munoz later had a falling out. Munoz was attacked and stabbed during a pair of prison incidents, and shot in the street after his release. He survived, and is being tried separately.
Attorneys for Cordova and Valenzuela, while not admitting their clients were there, told jurors that Munoz orchestrated the attempted robbery of Rios as a “side job” for his own profit, with no connection to the Mexican Mafia.
“This case is about an attempted robbery that went sideways and as a result a drug dealer was killed,” William Harris, an attorney representing Cordova, told jurors. “It was not sanctioned by the Mexican Mafia, and it was against Mexican Mafia rules.”
In setting up the robbery, Munoz wrote in a text that the crew was “going to score on a drug dealer,” the defense attorney said, and wrote that “we are all going to get paid.”
The “kill order” against Munoz that led to the vicious attacks he survived were ordered by Mejia — the former Mexican Mafia shot caller turned government cooperator — in retribution to Munoz’s role in the attempted robbery turned killing of Rios, the defense attorney added.
Martinez is not a defendant in the current trial. But the larger racketeering indictment alleges that Martinez shares responsibility for the crimes committed by his alleged subordinates. If prosecutors prove their case and that Martinez led the O.C. Mexican Mafia at the time the crimes were committed, he would face a severe prison sentence.
Some lower-level Mexican Mafia leaders were convicted in earlier trials as part of the larger racketeering case, including three men found guilty of carrying out a 2017 killing in Orange.
Comprised of 150 to 200 senior members of Hispanic street gangs — most serving lengthy prison sentences — the Mexican Mafia exerts widespread control of thousands of gang members on local streets and narcotics in prisons and jails. Those who oppose the Mexican Mafia or violate the organization’s rules are often targeted for beatings or death.
Prosecutors have previously argued that Martinez orchestrated a wave of bloodshed that included Rios’ slaying while trying to fill the void created with the death of longtime gang chieftain Peter Ojeda, who for decades ruled over the Orange County faction of the Mexican Mafia despite a pair of racketeering convictions of his own.
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