The Mexican Mafia’s long reach and longer memory

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. I hope the weather isn’t too bad in your neck of the woods. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• The Mexican Mafia settled an old score at a homeless camp, records show.
• Mayor Karen Bass said she’d save L.A.’s shelter animals, but more dogs and cats are dying.
• “Wicked” and “Gladiator” set the stage for gravity-defying box office weekend.
• And here’s today’s enewspaper

The Mexican Mafia’s long memory followed a man to a homeless camp, records reveal

Samuel “Negro” Villalba was found shot to death in a homeless camp in 2021, years after the Mexican Mafia kicked him out and put a target on him, according to authorities.

Villalba joined the gang in the 1980s while being held at Folsom for drug possession. But he fell out of the Mexican Mafia’s graces in the mid-2000s after he assaulted a fellow member, my colleague Matthew Ormseth reports.

Authorities recently arrested a suspected gunman in Villalba’s death — Andrew Reyna, who worked under the Mexican Mafia but was not a full-fledged member, according to a law enforcement official. Reyna has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

A photo of Andrew Reyna from April 2023. Reyna has pleaded not guilty to murder charges for the 2021 killing of Mexican Mafia member Samuel “Negro” Villalba.

(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Villalba’s story gives a glimpse into the inner workings of the Mexican Mafia. Here are a few key points from Matthew’s extensive reporting, but the entire story is really worth reading.

Villalba wasn’t just any member of the Mexican Mafia

After being released from prison in the late 1980s, Villalba took part in a plan by the Mexican Mafia to bring street gangs under their control through “taxes.”

At meetings in parks and community centers, the street gangs were told they had to pay the Mexican Mafia, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

Anyone who refused to pay up would get the “green light,” which meant they’d be shot on the streets and stabbed behind bars, Matthew reports.

In 1994, Villalba was among 22 Mexican Mafia members and associates charged in a landmark racketeering case. Villalba went on the run after the indictment, but authorities caught up to him at a motel in Buena Park in 1995. He pleaded guilty a year later.

Federal prosecutors also accused Villalba of being among those who voted to murder three Mexican Mafia members who had fallen out of favor with the gang.

One of them was Charles “Charlie Brown” Manriquez, who was an informal advisor to “American Me,” a 1992 film that depicted the Mexican Mafia’s rise to power. The movie angered the gang, especially when it came to a scene showing a founding member being sodomized. Manriquez was gunned down in the Ramona Gardens housing project in 1992.

A fight behind bars put a target on Villalba

While serving his sentence in the racketeering case, Villalba assaulted James “Rube” Soto, a respected and aging member of the Mexican Mafia, Matthew reports.

The gang did not give Villalba permission to carry out the assault, and inmates associated with the Mexican Mafia attacked Villalba in retribution. A prisoner sucker punched Villalba while he exercised, and two other inmates beat, kicked and throttled him with a ligature, according to prison video.

By 2021, Villalba was out of prison and living in a tent near the 91 Freeway in northern Long Beach. His muscular physique had grown thin, and he suffered from cirrhosis and open sores on his hips, according to a coroner’s report.

On the night of Jan. 10, 2021, two men crept through the homeless camp carrying guns in gloved hands and asking for Villalba, prosecutors allege in a complaint. He was later found dead.

Ramon “Mundo” Mendoza, a former Mexican Mafia member, said Villalba made the mistake of returning to a neighborhood within the organization’s reach.

“Sooner or later, someone’s going to report back: ‘Hey, guess who I saw?’” Mendoza told my colleague Matthew in 2021. “The guy is an open target.”

(Eiko Ojala / For The Times)

More stories from inside the Mexican Mafia

If you’d like to learn more about the Mexican Mafia, my colleague Matthew recently wrote about the “Mexican Mafia Tapes.”

The three-part series looks at how the Mexican Mafia and a drug cartel called La Familia in Mexico wanted to broker an unprecedented alliance. La Familia would provide an unending supply of methamphetamine if the Mexican Mafia protected the cartel’s leaders in U.S. prisons.

But what neither side knew was the man who took charge of the negotiations was an informant for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

You can find links to the entire series below, and you can also hear Matthew talk about the series here.

• Part One: Secret recordings reveal greed, betrayal — and a deal with the feds
• Part Two: How an informant nearly brokered a cartel alliance
• Part Three: A mobster helped the feds arrest drug dealers. Local cops suspected him of homicide

The week’s biggest stories

Dogs available for adoption look out of their kennels at the Chesterfield Square/South Los Angeles animal shelter in August.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Mayor Karen Bass said she’d save L.A.’s shelter animals, but more dogs and cats are dying

• More than 1,200 dogs were euthanized from January to September — a 72% increase compared with the same period a year ago, according to a Times analysis. And about 1,517 cats were euthanized — a 17% increase from a year ago.
• A spokesperson for Bass said the city has made investments in the shelters, which have seen an increase in adoption and rescue rates.

An atmospheric river is expected to move south after pummeling Northern California

• The storm, the first major rainmaker of the season, brought record rain to several areas in Northern California, raising the threat of flooding and mudslides along with it.
• Los Angeles and Ventura counties could see anywhere from a tenth to a third of an inch of rain on Saturday. A second round of rain is expected to begin Sunday, according to forecasters.

California voters rejected an increase in the minimum wage, the latest indication of a rightward shift

• Opponents said the rejection of Proposition 32 is a sign that Californians don’t want to pay the higher prices that often accompany such increases.
• The news comes as voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure to undo a decade of progressive criminal justice reform, and rejected an initiative that would have banned forced prison labor.
• The rightward shift comes as strategists debate whether California needs to stand down if Democrats want to win back American voters again.

Los Angeles officials back “sanctuary” plans as Trump says he will use the military in mass deportations

• The City Council tentatively backed a “sanctuary city” law this week that forbids employees and city resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement.
• At the same time, the city’s public school system declared itself as a sanctuary for immigrant and LGBTQ+ students.
• President-elect Donald Trump this week confirmed his deportation strategy will include a national emergency declaration and the military.

More big stories

• The Mountain fire was the third most destructive wildfire in a decade. These maps show why.
• Public support for nuclear power is the highest it’s been in more than a decade as the nation struggles to reduce its reliance on planet-warming fossil fuels.
• Phillips 66 faces federal charges over allegedly dumping wastewater into the Los Angeles County sewer system.
• Comcast’s decision to cleave off a huge chunk of its television portfolio provides a snapshot of the winners and losers as the cable industry faces increased turbulence.
• Google could be forced to sell Chrome. Here’s what you need to know.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

This week’s must reads

(Chris Ramirez/Firehouse Road)

A small New York town played host to Hollywood. Then something terrible happened. HBO’s alleged role in a raging fire on the set of its miniseries “I Know this Much is True,” starring Mark Ruffalo, still upsets residents who say they’ve been neglected amid finger-pointing over the fire’s cause.

More must reads

• San Francisco’s incoming mayor ran as the “non-politician” who could change City Hall. But he’s also the scion of one of the city’s elite old-money families.
• Fresno has a homelessness problem. So why are its leaders rejecting state-funded housing?
• Irvine EV maker Rivian hopes to emerge from its “awkward teenage years.”
• A tabloid interview led to criminal charges in the death of superstar comedian John Belushi.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

Ariana Grande, left, and Cynthia Erivo in Universal Pictures’ “Wicked”; Pedro Pascal, left, and Paul Mescal in Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II.”

(Universal Pictures; Aidan Monaghan / Paramount Pictures)

Going out

• 🎥 “Wicked” and “Gladiator” set the stage for gravity-defying box office weekend.
• 🌷 The L.A. Flower District is full of surprises. Here’s a DIY guide for newbies.
• 🍪 From a cookie workshop to high holiday tea, here are 10 kid-friendly cooking classes and activities to book this holiday season.
• 🚲 Here are 72 awesome things to do with kids in L.A. before they grow up.
• 🌴 Who needs L.A.? These 30-somethings are creating a hip, communal oasis in Palm Springs.
• 🥾 You can still hike scenic Palos Verdes. Here are five safe trails that avoid the landslides.

Staying in

• 📚 L.A. author Percival Everett won the National Book Award for his retelling of “Huckleberry Finn.”
• ❤️ Netflix’s upcoming “The Later Daters” follows singles over age 55.
• 🔪 Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, a study found. Here’s what to do.
• 🦃 These 12 recipes are the best for a classic Thanksgiving feast.
• 🍰 Here’s a recipe for Nia Lee’s “Pay It No Mind” carrot cake.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.

(Times staff and wire photos)

Which Italian artist whose works include the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” is the first non-American subject of a Ken Burns documentary? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

For the record: Yesterday’s edition of Essential California misgendered L.A. Times reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove, who uses they/them pronouns.