Three men and a woman from Los Angeles County will be sentenced in October for participating in the racketeering and drug distribution activities of a South Los Angeles street gang.
Jose Dorado, 34, Tannous Fazah, 26, Jose Sanchez, 40, all of Huntington Park, and Giselle Casado, 33, of Downey, were convicted late Tuesday following a two-week trial in federal court.
All four defendants were found guilty of both racketeering and drug trafficking conspiracy, the latter charge based on the Florencia 13 gang’s sales of narcotics in the Hyde Park area of South Los Angeles and attempts to smuggle drugs into the county jail, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell set sentencing for Oct. 24.
Dorado and Fazah alone were found guilty of conspiring to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering for a gang-related beating in Huntington Park that ultimately led to the shooting death of the victim.
The pair were also found guilty of possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute heroin and methamphetamine, and of each being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Additionally, Sanchez was found guilty of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, based on his possession of a handgun at one of the gang’s gambling establishments known as “casitas,” according to federal prosecutors.
Dorado and Casado were arrested three years ago as part of a large-scale takedown of more than 20 members and associates of the gang. At the same time, Fazah and Sanchez were transferred to federal detention from state custody, where they had been incarcerated on separate charges.
Evidence at trial showed that Dorado, Fazah and Sanchez were Florencia 13 “soldiers” who engaged in narcotics trafficking, violence, and/or firearms possession in furtherance of the gang.
For her part, Casado was shown to be a “secretary” who assisted the extortion-related tax collections and drug trafficking activities of the gang’s two “shot callers” on the streets, prosecutors said.
She also repeatedly visited the operational leader of the gang — incarcerated Mexican Mafia member Leonel “Wizard” Laredo — to relay messages, evidence showed.
The defendants face sentences of between 10 years and life in federal prison, prosecutors said.
Dorado, Fazah, and Sanchez have all been held without bond. Casado had been released on bond since her August 2013 arrest, but O’Connell ordered her into federal custody immediately following the verdicts.
–City News Service