The arrests were made during an early morning operation, with FBI agents executing warrants throughout Southern California as part of a two-year investigation. Nineteen of the suspects were already in custody, while two remain fugitives. The operation is linked to a federal indictment that charges 40 people with a variety of felonies, including racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, and illegal weapons possession.

    The Mexican Mafia, known as “La Eme,” is a powerful prison-based gang that, according to federal authorities, exerts significant control over numerous street gangs in Southern California. “Gang members who commit heinous acts like murder, extortion, kidnapping, and drug trafficking are a menace to our communities,” said Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, in a statement. “These arrests showcase the continued collaboration between federal and local law enforcement to take down violent criminals and disrupt organized crime in both our prisons and streets.”

    Among those indicted in the operation are several high-ranking members of the Mexican Mafia, including Luis Cardenas, 48, also known as “Gangster,” “Pops,” and “Tio,” who is currently serving a life sentence at Ironwood State Prison. Other individuals charged include Jose Antonio Ochoa Madrigal, 41, incarcerated in an Orange County jail, and associates Jaime Alvarado, 42, Karina Cesena, 32, and Mario Flores, 40.

    According to the 66-count indictment, Cardenas was responsible for overseeing the Mexican Mafia’s criminal activities in Orange County and its affiliated jail facilities from June 2024 to April 2026. Authorities claim that Cardenas, operating from prison, used encrypted messaging apps on contraband phones to coordinate criminal operations, including kidnappings and assaults on people who had fallen out of favor with him.

    The indictment also includes allegations related to the 2025 murder of a victim at the Akua Inn, a motel controlled by the Mexican Mafia in Anaheim. According to officials, two men, Matthew Kundrat, 29, and Manuel Ramos, 45, murdered the victim in an effort to gain membership in the Mexican Mafia and increase their rank within the organization. If convicted, the two men could face a life sentence in prison and possibly the death penalty, as per federal law.

    In addition to their involvement in violent crimes, the Mexican Mafia is accused of operating illegal drug trade networks in the region, distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine through gambling houses and other gang-controlled businesses. Alvarado and Cesena are accused of overseeing operations that involved violent retaliation against “slap houses” that failed to pay the required extortion fees, known as “taxes.”

    The operation led to the seizure of nearly nine pounds of fentanyl, over 120 pounds of methamphetamine, two pounds of heroin, more than six pounds of cocaine, 25 firearms, and over $30,000 in cash.

    Fifteen of the arrested individuals were expected to be arraigned in Santa Ana, with 10 others set to appear in Los Angeles. Twelve more individuals are currently in state custody and will make their initial court appearances in the coming weeks. The investigation continues as authorities work to dismantle the Mexican Mafia’s influence over Southern California’s criminal enterprises.

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Jerry Anthony Valdepena Jr., 29, was arrested in 2021 following a years-long investigation that identified him as the second person involved in the 2016 slaying of 26-year-old Jeremy Cooley.

Valdepena is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and a special circumstance allegation of killing for the benefit of a criminal street gang.

The prosecution and defense delivered closing statements in the month- long trial Friday, and Riverside County Superior Court Judge Laura Garcia directed jurors to return to the Riverside Hall of Justice on Monday to start deliberations, which they did.

Valdepena is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility. His co-defendant, Jerry Anthony Chagolla, 34, was convicted in 2019 of charges identical to Valdepena’s and was sentenced in February 2021 to life in prison.

According to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Cooley, his wife, identified in court documents only as “N.V.,” her two sons from a previous relationship and the couple’s newborn daughter moved into a rental home in the 400 block of Alessandro Street, near Nicolet Street, in late spring 2016. They discovered days later that a residence across the street was “an active gang” gathering place for the Eastside Banning SAPOs.

The couple encountered hostile gang members, shouting their affiliation and throwing angry looks at the family, according to the prosecution’s trial brief.

Shortly after midnight on June 5, 2016, Chagolla, Valdepena and others were partying, playing loud music and engaging in other activity, according to court papers. Cooley and N.V. decided to step onto their front porch to drink beer and casually observe the defendants and their friends.

N.V. later told Banning Police Department detectives that she stepped into the house to check on the baby, leaving Cooley alone. According to a police statement, during that period, Cooley walked beyond the residence to request that partygoers lower the noise level.

The defendants became incensed, jumping into Cooley’s face and challenging him to fight, which N.V. witnessed as she stepped back outside, according to the brief.

The woman’s then-15-year-old son, identified in court documents only as “Edgar,” was drawn outdoors by the yelling. N.V. attempted to intervene, “telling the two men that they were a family and had small children inside the house,” the brief stated.

She then asserted, “This is not the first time you guys have tried to (gang) bang on us,” prompting Valdepena and Chagolla to direct Cooley to “get your lady in the (expletive) house so we can handle this,” according to the prosecution.

“One of the defendants also said, `You’re going to catch this fade, or you’re going to catch a hot one,’ meaning that Jeremy was going to fight them, or they were going to do something worse to him, like shoot him,” the brief said.

Edgar then stepped off the porch, prompting his mother to direct him back into the house, but before she could finish speaking, Valdepena and Chagolla jumped Cooley, pulling knives on the unarmed victim, prosecutors alleged.

When N.V. tried to help her husband, an unidentified woman ran out of the party house and pulled her to the ground, the brief said. When Edgar tried to get into the fray, Valdepena allegedly turned toward him with a five-inch blade, but tripped on a rut in the grass, falling onto his back. Edgar outweighed the defendant and jumped on him, intending to pin him down to prevent him from aiding Chagolla in the knife assault on Cooley, according to court papers.

However, Valdepena began stabbing and slashing the teenager, inflicting wounds to both his shoulders and across his chest, causing the boy to roll away, the brief alleged.

“Valdepena then joined Chagolla in his attack on Jeremy,” the narrative said.

The victim broke away and stumbled into his home, bleeding profusely, after which the defendants fled, according to the brief.

N.V. was able to go to her husband’s aid, immediately calling 911.

Cooley was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy revealed 24 stab wounds throughout his body. Edgar was also treated there, receiving 26 staples to close his knife wounds, from which he recovered.

Detectives identified Chagolla as one of the perpetrators 10 months later, culminating in his trial and conviction. Valdepena’s alleged involvement was not confirmed until he was positively identified almost five years later.

Court records show he has a prior conviction for felony evading. Chagolla’s priors were not listed.

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Kenyelo Centeno Guzman, 19, of Lake Elsinore was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation in the 600 block of West Lakeshore Drive, near South Lindsay Street.

Guzman is charged with attempted murder, possession of a loaded stolen firearm and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Judith Clark, who scheduled a bail review hearing for April 10 at the Southwest Justice Center based on a motion by the defense.

Guzman is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

His co-defendant, 41-year-old Belica Guzman, was arrested alongside him and charged with child endangerment. She’s free on a $35,000 bond and is due for arraignment May 9 at the Murrieta courthouse.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jarrod Meissen, shortly after midnight on March 22, Kenyelo Guzman was involved in an apparent gang-related confrontation on Lakeshore. During the encounter, Guzman pulled a handgun and opened fire on the man, whose identity was not disclosed, inflicting “multiple gunshot wounds,” Meissen alleged. Another man, also not identified, was in the line of fire but wasn’t hit.

Meissen said the defendant fled before patrol deputies converged on the location minutes later.

The wounded victim was taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar for treatment and was expected to make a full recovery.

After gathering information at the scene, the investigation was turned over to the sheriff’s Gang Task Force, whose members identified Guzman as the alleged assailant, according to Meissen.

An arrest warrant was served on the defendant at an apartment on West Limited Avenue a week later. He was taken into custody without incident. His relative, Belica Guzman, was also arrested at the residence and booked into the Murrieta jail, but she posted bond and was released hours later.

Neither Kenyelo nor Belica Guzman has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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A Riverside jury deliberated nearly two days before finding Steven Daniel Carrillo, 24, of Riverside guilty of killing Derrion Thomas of Rialto in 2020.

Along with the murder count, jurors convicted Carrillo of attempted murder, special-circumstance allegations of killing for the benefit of a criminal street gang and perpetrating a hate crime, as well as sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

They acquitted him of one attempted murder charge.

Jurors started deliberations Wednesday morning, after the prosecution and defense delivered closing arguments Tuesday afternoon. The panel announced it had reached a verdict late Thursday afternoon.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 28 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Carrillo, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The defendant is a documented member of Riverside’s oldest street gang, prevalent in the area along the University Avenue corridor, authorities said.

In late October 2020, Carrillo was staying with fellow gang members in a room at the Motel 6 near the intersection of Iowa and University avenues, according to briefs filed by the District Attorney’s Office and the defense.

Staying in a room nearby were Sharon Mayweather, Isaiah Smith and Thomas, all related. On Oct. 24, Mayweather was released from the downtown Riverside jail, where she had been held for unspecified reasons, and she became intoxicated at the motel, according to court papers.

“She was hanging around Mr. Carrillo’s (black Jaguar) in the parking lot, and he told her to get away from his vehicle,” according to the defense.

There was a hostile exchange before she returned to her room.

Two days later, on the night of Oct. 26, Thomas and Smith were preparing to drive in the latter’s Saturn sedan to pick up food, and Mayweather was trailing behind when she encountered Carrillo in his car, leading to another confrontation, during which she told Smith and Thomas the defendant had threatened her. They doubted her claims and “ushered” her into the car, the defense said.

Prosecutors said the defendant was incensed, possibly because he had been publicly challenged by a woman in front of three juvenile gang members.

Although his Jaguar had been pointed in the direction opposite to where the victims were going, he turned around and pursued them eastbound on University, according to the prosecution’s brief.

Court papers state the victims tried to avoid further contact, racing through traffic lights until they reached the left turn lane to go into the Food4Less grocery store parking lot at University and Chicago avenues. Carrillo pulled alongside and shouted profanity-laced challenges, at which point Thomas pulled a semiautomatic handgun and “fired up to 11 rounds at Mr. Carrillo,” the defense said.

The Jaguar’s driver’s side window was blown out, but Carrillo and the youths with him were not hit. Smith tried to pull his own pistol out of his front pocket, but the trigger caught on his pants, and he shot himself in the right thigh, according to court documents.

Carrillo pulled his own 9mm pistol and fired into the Saturn, striking Thomas twice, including a fatal wound to the chest, according to the prosecution. Smith tried to flee when the shots were fired but crashed into a traffic sign. He stumbled out of the car and hobbled away to get help.

Mayweather was not injured. Thomas stepped out of the car and collapsed.

Carrillo fled the scene.

Thomas was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Smith underwent surgery to his leg and fully recovered.

Relying on security surveillance video from the motel and businesses along University, Riverside police detectives were able to identify the perpetrator, and an arrest warrant was served on him without incident two weeks later at a residence in the 2300 block of Candlestick Way in Perris.

Investigators seized his journal, in which he “bragged about the shooting,” according to the prosecution’s brief, which said he referred to the victims as “snails” and wrote that “there is a sort of war” between groups.

“The defendant noted he was proud he was able to show the little homies how to gang bang,” the brief said.

The defense blamed Mayweather for provoking the altercation, additionally asserting Carrillo was not the one who initiated violence that night.

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