A top federal prosecutor Friday asked an Orange County Superior Court judge to show some leniency when sentencing a former jail informant who he argued was instrumental in taking down the county’s top Mexican Mafia bosses.
In August, Perez’s attorney, Richard Curran, asked Prickett to consider releasing Perez with credit for time served behind bars, which then amounted to about 17 years, but the judge said he wasn’t inclined to do that. Prickett had invited Curran and prosecutors to provide more information about Perez’s work as an informant as an argument for leniency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe McNally, who last month won racketeering and criminal conspiracy to commit murder convictions against Mexican Mafia chief Peter Ojeda, told Prickett that Perez’s cooperation with authorities in two operations to crack down on jail violence helped get Ojeda’s rival, Armando Moreno, to plead guilty.
Moreno’s cooperation, in turn, helped authorities negotiate plea deals in at least two dozen more cases and ultimately assisted in again taking down Ojeda, who was serving a 14-year federal prison term for racketeering when he was indicted again, McNally said.
Prickett said it was the first time he had heard that Perez’s aid to federal authorities played a role in getting Moreno to plead guilty and then cooperate with prosecutors. Moreno testified against Ojeda, who is awaiting sentencing in May.
Perez, who is now in the federal witness protection program, helped identify about 30 gang members who were targeted with death or assaults, his handler, Special Agent Anthony Garcia told Prickett. About six or seven of those gang members were on “hard candy” lists, meaning other gang members were tasked with trying to kill them, Garcia said.
Those targeted gang members were moved elsewhere in custody to spare them, which helped quell gang violence in Orange County’s jails, Garcia said.
“The jail was very quiet — there weren’t a lot of assaults going on,” in 2010-11 when Perez was helping authorities as an informant, Garcia said.
Perez risked his life helping investigators, Garcia and McNally said. In fact, the informant is beyond the “hard candy” list — he would be considered a “kill on sight” target by the gang, Garcia said.
Prickett said Perez’s case was “very unique” because he was being asked to consider leniency against someone who was convicted at trial. Usually, informants plead guilty and then agree to help investigators before sentencing, the judge noted.
McNally agreed with Prickett that he is “rightly concerned about the risk (Perez) poses to society” if released, because of his violent past as a leader in the local Mexican Mafia.
There is, however, little risk of Perez returning to his gang activities because he snitched on the Mexican Mafia, which is absolutely forbidden, McNally said.
“He knew there was no turning back” when he agreed to be an informant, McNally said.
It also appears Perez is making “good faith” efforts to reform while in custody, McNally said.
McNally told reporters after the hearing that there is a “void” in the local Mexican Mafia now that Ojeda and Moreno have been convicted.
Ojeda had appointed Moreno to look after the Orange County turf while he was serving time on the East Coast, but he quickly came to realize that the “young buck” was a threat to his leadership and a war between the two followed. Perez was on Moreno’s side, which lost the war.
The struggle between the two led to a spike in local jail violence, which prompted authorities to launch Operation Black Flag and Operation Smokin’ Aces.
Some of those cases went to federal court and some ended up in Orange County Superior Court, where evidence of the handling of informants in them became central in a move to disqualify the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history.
Perez testified in an evidentiary hearing on the motion to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting Dekraai, which resulted in a judge dumping them from the case, a ruling that is under appeal. Perez was Dekraai’s neighbor when he was arrested and relayed damning statements the defendant made about his murders.
Perez told Prickett that he was ‘deeply, sincerely sorry” for anyone he hurt because of his gang-related activities.
“I am no longer the person I was when I was involved in the gang life,” he said.
Perez begged for mercy so that he could reunite with his family and three children.
“It’s been nine years since I’ve held my children,” he said.
Perez, who often choked up during his statement to the judge, assured Prickett that, “I spend each and every day determining how to make myself a better man.”
One of his jobs in custody is working in the kitchen, and he recounted how one day he was asked if he would like to try his hand at baking. Eventually, he was appointed the “number one baker,” Perez said.
“I know how trivial that might sound to some,” Perez said, but given his background it was an achievement he said he was proud of.
“When I ran with a gang I thought I was a man,” he said. “I know now I was not a real man then.”
Perez said if he is given a chance to be freed from custody, “I will make you all proud of me.”
Prickett said he would issue a ruling on sentencing next Friday.
— City News Service