Crime & Safety
El Monte Mexican Mafia Members Plead Guilty to Racketeering Charges
If the judge accepts the plea agreements, the men will each be sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
EL MONTE, CA - A Mexican Mafia member who is also a member of the El Monte Flores street gang, and another man who was a "shotcaller" of the gang, have pleaded guilty to federal racketeering offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Saturday.
El Monte residents James "Chemo" Gutierrez, 53, who is the Mexican Mafia member and the lead defendant in the indictment, and Kenneth Cofer, 36, each pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, said Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In his plea agreement, Gutierrez admitted that he "regularly received extortionate 'tax' payments from individuals trafficking narcotics in the neighborhoods controlled by the El Monte Flores gang," Mrozek said.
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Cofer specifically admitted that he authorized the shooting of a person who had a dispute with another member of the gang, Mrozek said. Additionally, Cofer pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, he said.
They also each pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances, including methamphetamine and heroin, and conspiring to launder money, he said.
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The two men pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court. They were indicted in 2014 in a racketeering indictment that focused on the El Monte Flores gang, an organization that takes direction from the Mexican Mafia prison gang and controls criminal activity in the cities of El Monte and South El Monte, according to Mrozek.
The indictment alleged that members of the El Monte Flores gang committed crimes such as robbery, burglary, carjacking, witness intimidation, kidnapping, weapons trafficking, credit card fraud, identity theft and money laundering. The indictment also outlined a dispute between Gutierrez and other members of the Mexican Mafia who were vying for control over the gang.
U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt is scheduled to sentence Gutierrez on July 28, and Cofer on September 8. If the judge accepts the plea agreements, the men will each be sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock