A Mexican Mafia member and shot-caller of a street gang that operates in Santa Fe Springs and Whittier was sentenced Monday to life plus an additional 30 years in federal prison for leading the wide-ranging criminal enterprise and for murdering a rival gangster at a San Gabriel Valley restaurant.
Jose Loza, 41, of Whittier was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who also set a June 1 hearing to determine the amount Loza will pay as restitution to his victims.
Loza is the lead defendant in a 2016 federal grand jury indictment charging 51 gang members and associates with racketeering and other related offenses. Prosecutors have secured four-dozen convictions so far.
After a month-long trial in August, Loza was found guilty in Los Angeles federal court of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances, and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
Loza was convicted of the April 19, 2016, killing of a rival gang member who, according to prosecutors, wanted to expand his influence and challenge the authority of other Mexican Mafia members in the San Gabriel Valley.
During the confrontation at a restaurant in the unincorporated community of Bassett, the rival was fatally shot, his bodyguard was severely wounded and an innocent restaurant patron was shot six times in the abdomen, back, buttocks and legs, according to federal prosecutors.
Loza was also found guilty of aiding in the trafficking of methamphetamine on behalf of his gang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Loza’s accomplice in the 2016 murder, Leonardo Rowdy Antolin, 25, of Whittier, pleaded guilty to five felonies and was sentenced on Jan. 27 to 40 years in federal prison for his crimes.