When a Los Angeles drug dealer wouldn’t pay taxes to the 18th Street gang, the order to kill them allegedly came from a high-ranking female member known as “Moms.”
Along with allegedly ordering the 2022 murder, prosecutors accuse Keiko Gonzalez — also known as La Señora and La Reina — of overseeing the gang’s criminal activity, collecting rent, extortionate taxes and fines and disciplining members, including one shot in the leg and repeatedly struck in the head with a brick.
Prosecutors laid out the case in an indictment, unsealed Thursday morning, charging seven suspected members and associates of the gang, including Gonzalez, 59, with racketeering and other charges. Gonzalez allegedly received her marching orders from her husband, Jorge Gonzales, a Mexican Mafia member held in a California state prison.
On Thursday, authorities announced they arrested 12 members and associates of 18th Street, including Keiko Gonzalez; another six remain at large. The gang allegedly controlled MacArthur Park as an open-air drug marketplace, using tents to blend in with the homeless population and avoid detection by law enforcement, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.
“For far too long, 18th Street and other criminals have been allowed to turn one of the city’s most beautiful public spaces into a crime-infested pit. That ends today,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “We are committed to eliminating violent organized crime and open-air drug markets from Los Angeles.”
Essayli called 18th Street “one of the largest and most violent gangs in there western hemisphere.”
During the investigation, federal and local law enforcement seized more than 175 pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl. On Thursday, authorities said they seized around $80,000 in cash, 10 pounds of fentanyl, five pounds of methamphetamine, and six firearms.
In addition to Gonzalez, the defendants identified in Thursday’s indictment were Edward Escalante, Edward Alvarenga, George Carillo, Carlos Beltran, Felipe De Los Angeles and Edwin Martinez.
According to the indictment, 18th Street was controlled by at least three Mexican Mafia members in federal prison and one in California state prison. Prosecutors allege it was the latter — identified in the indictment only as “Co-Conspirator 1” — who maintained ultimate control over the gang.
Federal authorities identified “Co-Conspirator 1” on Thursday as Jorge Gonzales, who was allegedly able to orchestrate drug trafficking and other activities via calls on contraband phones.
Gonzales, 70, who has been incarcerated since 1980, is serving a 15 to life sentence for murder he committed when he was 23, according to state prison records. In 1983, he stabbed an inmate to death at Folsom State Prison and was convicted of manslaughter.
Seven years later, Gonzales was transferred to Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit, then the most restrictive facility in California, where he was held in solitary confinement for about 25 years. He is currently held at High Desert State Prison in Susanville.
According to the indictment, the imprisoned Gonzales controlled 18th Street on behalf of the Mexican Mafia from within prison by issuing rules and orders to his wife Keiko and others.
Keiko Gonzalez directed drug trafficking, violence, and other criminal activities within 18th Street territory, including extortion and mediating gang disputes, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege Gonzalez and Escalante supplied 18th Street gang members and associates with meth and other narcotics. Martinez would allegedly operate “casitas” within the gang’s territory, from which 18th Street members and associates would engage in illegal gambling and sell drugs.
According to the indictment, Gonzalez, Carillo, Beltran and De Los Angeles would participate in disciplining members or others deemed to have interfered with the gang’s criminal activities.
Among the alleged crimes was the murder of a drug dealer identified in the indictment only by their initials, M.Z. Prosecutors allege that around July 2022, Gonzalez ordered the murder of M.Z. for failing to pay extortionate taxes on drug trafficking activities in 18th Street-controlled territory.
Times staff writer Matthew Ormseth contributed to this report.