LOS ANGELES – The “shotcaller” of a violent South Los Angeles street gang plead guilty today to federal racketeering and drug trafficking charges.
He admitted to crimes committed by the Harpys, a South Los Angeles gang that is controlled by Danny Roman, an incarcerated member of the Mexican Mafia, officials said.
Today’s guilty pleas by Manuel Valencia come after the daughter of Danny Roman admitted to acting as her father’s “voice” to convey orders to the Harpys street gang, according to authorities.
Roman’s daughter, Vianna Roman, 37, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty on May 1 to racketeering, narcotics and weapons offenses.
When she pleaded guilty, Vianna Roman admitted that she acted as a conduit for her father’s orders as he exercised control over the Harpys gang.
She is facing about 20 years in prison but could get life.
The gang is controlled by Danny Roman, who is serving a life-without-parole sentence at Pelican Bay State Prison. He was not charged in the federal RICO case.
According to court documents, Vianna Roman and Valencia, 38, of Walnut, orchestrated a scheme that allowed Danny Roman to continue to control the activities of the South Los Angeles street gangs from the Special Housing Unit of Pelican Bay Prison.
Vianna Roman used coded language to pass information to and received orders from her father during trips to the Pelican Bay prison in Northern California. She would pass the orders to Valencia and other high-ranking members of Harpys, who oversaw the violence and drug trafficking within both Harpys territory and the broader area controlled by Danny Roman.
Valencia controlled and enforced the collection of tax payments from Latino gangs under Danny Roman’s control and issued orders to other gangs regarding drug sales and the use of violence.
Vianna Roman and Valencia also orchestrated the extortion of vendors at the Alameda Swap Meet, which is outside of Harpys territory but within the area controlled by Danny Roman. The Alameda Swap Meet was in teritory controlled by the 38th Street gang, another gang under the control of Danny Roman.
In addition to outlining Danny Roman’s control of the Harpys and of other gangs in South Los Angeles, the indictment charged specific criminal acts, including the distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin; the murder of a gang member over a drug debt; robberies against residents and rival gang members; and conspiracies to commit murder, including a plot to kill a witness in a state court case against a member of another gang.
In a plea agreement, Valencia agreed to serve 27 years behind bars.
The Harpys gang, which claims territory southwest of downtown Los Angeles and north of the University of Southern California, is one of more than a dozen Latino gangs across a wide swath of South Los Angeles.
Prosecutors allege in court documents that the gang maintained a “climate of fear” in the neighborhood.
Roman will be sentenced in July and Valencia in September.
Two defendants, who were scheduled to go on trial in two weeks, pleaded guilty on Monday:
- Jaime Montano, 34, of Los Angeles, who is linked to the East Side Trece gang, pleaded guilty to two racketeering offenses that could send him to prison for as long as 30 years. In his plea agreement, Montano admitted leading a conspiracy to murder a man who testified at trial against another gang member.
- Edgar Gonzalez, 30, also linked to the East Side Trece gang, pleaded guilty engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, admitting that he conducted Harpys business and represented Danny Roman while incarcerated in an Arizona state prison. Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Montano and Gonzalez are scheduled to be sentenced in July and August.
With the guilty pleas of Vianna Roman and Valencia – and Montano’s and Gonzalez’s guilty pleas on Monday – a total of 24 defendants charged two years ago in a federal racketeering indictment have now pleaded guilty.
Out of the 29 defendants named in the indictment, one is still pending trial, three are fugitives, and charges against one were dismissed following his conviction of first-degree murder in Los Angeles Superior Court.