EL MONTE >> Two leaders of El Monte’s primary street gang, one of whom is also a Mexican Mafia member, pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges this week after admitting their roles in violently extorting “tax” payments from local drug and fraudulent document dealers, authorities announced Saturday.
Mexican Mafia and El Monte Flores member James “Chemo” Gutierrez, 53, along with El Monte Flores “shotcaller” Kenneth Cofer, 36, both of El Monte, accepted plea deals Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles in connection with a 61-count indictment targeting 41 members of the El Monte Flores gang that was unsealed in July of 2014, U.S. Department of Justice officials said in a written statement.
“Street gangs present one of the most dangerous criminal elements in Southern California, and we will use every tool at our disposal to restore order to neighborhoods affected by their violence and other criminal activity,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Eileen M. Decker said.
“We have effectively targeted criminal enterprises that operate as street gangs for two decades, using the federal racketeering statute to dismantle the leadership structure and incarcerate street-level operatives,” she said.
If the plea arrangements are accepted by U.S. District Judge John A. Krondstadt, Gutierrez and Cofer will each receive a sentence of 15 years in federal prison, according to DOJ spokesman Thom Mrozek.
Gutierrez is scheduled to be sentenced July 28, while Cofer is due to face sentencing on Sept. 8, officials said. Nineteen other defendant named in the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act indictment have already pleaded guilty in the case.
Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the RICO Act, as well as conspiring to distribute controlled substances, including methamphetamine and heroin, and conspiring to launder money, Mrozek said. Cofer also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug crime.
“The indictment in the case alleged that members of the El Monte Flores gang members committed crimes that included acts of violence — ranging from battery to murder, drug trafficking, robbery, burglary, carjacking, witness intimidation, kidnapping, weapons trafficking, credit card fraud, identity theft and money laundering,” Mrozek said. “The indictment outlined a dispute between Gutierrez and other members of the Mexican Mafia who were vying for control over the gang.”
Gutierrez and Cofer each admitted using threats of violence to extort “taxes” from drug dealers and fraudulent document dealers at Crawford’s Plaza, near Valley Boulevard and Garvey Avenue.
“Gutierrez acknowledged in his plea agreement that he authorized an attack on a rival gang member,” according to Mrozek. “Cofer specifically admitted that he authorized the shooting of a person who had a dispute with another member of the gang.”
The gang allegedly held meetings and sold drugs out of the nearby Boys and Girls Club on Mountain View Road, which was subsequently shuttered by the organization’s board of directors in August of 2014, about a month after the RICO indictment targeting El Monte Flores was unsealed.