3 Alleged Gang Members Held in Wilshire District Slayings : Murder: Police say the four victims were killed in a ‘narcotics rip-off.’

Three alleged gang members suspected in the recent execution-style murders of four men in a Wilshire District apartment were arrested Tuesday, Los Angeles police said.

Kenneth Epps, 24, Nigel Merritt, 24, and a 17-year-old youth, who police did not identify because he is a minor, were taken into custody after detectives and special weapons and tactics officers served arrest warrants at a suspect’s home, Lt. Victor Guzman said.

Epps and the youth were arrested at a home in the Wilshire area. A short time later, Merritt surrendered to officers at the Wilshire Division police station. Merritt told authorities that family members had advised him of the warrant for his arrest.

The three were each booked for investigation of four counts of murder and one count of robbery. Police allege that the three went to an apartment on South Burnside Avenue, where two of the victims lived, to engage in a drug transaction on June 12.

“It was a narcotics rip-off,” Guzman said. “The suspects led the victims to believe that there was going to be some kind of transaction; that there was going to be a purchase of drugs, when, in fact, the victims were going to be robbed.”

The lieutenant declined to give further details about why the murders occurred.

The bodies of Robert Marks, 59, William Terry, 27, Gene McCullars, 28, and Celedinio Ligtas, 33, were found June 12 in a bedroom of the Burnside Avenue apartment, where Marks and McCullars lived. Terry and Ligtas had been invited to watch an NBA championship game.

Neighborhood residents said they suspected drugs were being dealt out of the apartment.