A gang member was caught smuggling drugs into Los Angeles County’s main jail. He was, authorities say, just one cog in the Mexican Mafia’s lucrative operation in the county jails.
Another witness said a woman showed him a note instructing him to blame someone else for the shooting with which Torres was charged. She showed him the back of the note, where his mother and girlfriend’s phone numbers were written. “That was a threat,” he told detectives.Convicted of attempted murder, witness tampering and conspiracy, Torres was sent to prison for life in 2007.
“Half of it was going to Peanut Butter,” Gonzales said in the wiretapped call, referring to the jails. “Is that what you’re saying, that that goes to Mosca now?” The kitty is then sold within the jail, creating a secondary, cheaper market for commissary goods. The items sell quickly because they are undervalued, an FBI agent testified at a recent trial. The Mexican Mafia member controlling the kitty doesn’t care because it is all profit.
Torres raised the price of a gram to $1,000, according to gang members who worked for him. His customer base could not go elsewhere: Latinos, who make up about 55% of the county jail population, are not allowed to buy from dealers of other races. Anyone who violates the rule is beaten in 13 second intervals.