Gang member convicted of four murders, including three in El Monte, in 1990s

LOS ANGELES — A jury Thursday convicted a gang member and former international fugitive of four murders and five attempted murders in connection with a string of deadly, gang-motivated shootings in the 1990s, including a triple-murder in El Monte, authorities said.
Pierre “Boo Boo” Mercado, a 38-year old Asian Boyz gang member, faces life in prison when he returns to Los Angeles Superior Court for sentencing Aug. 24, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said in a written statement.
He was extradited from the Philippines in 2007, along with his older brother, Marvin Mercado, to face trial for the spree of gang attacks between July of 1995 and March of 1996, officials said. Seven co-defendants were convicted in connection with the crime spree in 1999, as the Mercado brothers remained fugitives.
Martin Mercado was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to multiple life terms for his role in eight gang murders, district attorney’s officials said.
Prosecutors said the Asian Boys gang embarked on a killing spree in the mid-1990s in order to instill fear in rival gang members.
Pierre Mercado was convicted of the Aug. 1, 1995 murders of Cheng Peng, 18, Paul Vu, 16, and Ben Liao, 16, who were fatally shot in a car-to-car attack on the 10 Freeway near Temple City Boulevard. Prosecutors alleged the men were killed because the Mercado brothers and their fellow gang members mistook the victims for members of a rival gang.
He was also convicted of the March 17, 1996, shooting death of a man in Van Nuys, district attorney’s officials said. Pierre Mercado supplied an accomplice with a shotgun which was used to open fire on a group of party-goers on Sherman Way, killing one man and wounding another.
Two of the five attempted murder counts Pierre Mercado was convicted of stem from a July 5, 1995 incident in which he shot at two Marines who were on their way to Camp Pendleton in an open-top Jeep on the 405 Freeway near LAX.
Jurors additionally convicted Pierre Mercado of two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email