{"id":60580,"date":"2026-03-12T13:35:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T20:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60580"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T20:38:22","slug":"mexican-mafia-leader-3-associates-sentenced-to-life-in-federal-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60580","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Mafia Leader, 3 Associates Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison, Racketeering including Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"yiv6008102085MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"76\" data-end=\"277\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7857 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo-289x300.png\" alt=\"FBI Latest Hate Crime Report: Hate Crimes Down Slightly in America\" width=\"289\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo-289x300.png 289w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo.png 636w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px\" \/>A longtime member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang and three associates were sentenced to life in federal prison for racketeering crimes that included the 2020 murder of a federal inmate, federal officials stated Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"279\" data-end=\"450\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Michael Lerma, 69, known as \u201cPomona Mike\u201d and \u201cBig Mike,\u201d was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, who also ordered the defendants to pay $10,365 in restitution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"452\" data-end=\"608\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Also sentenced to life were Carlos Gonzalez, 42, known as \u201cPopeye\u201d; Juan Sanchez, 33, known as \u201cSqueaks\u201d; and Jose Valencia Gonzalez, 44, known as \u201cSwifty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"610\" data-end=\"805\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Following a 20-day trial, officials stated a jury in March 2025 convicted all four men of racketeering conspiracy, violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder and first-degree murder within federal jurisdiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"807\" data-end=\"1084\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Prosecutors said Lerma, a full member of the Mexican Mafia, controlled and extorted drug proceeds from Latino street gangs in the Pomona area between 2012 and 2020. His criminal enterprise also carried out robberies, identity theft, drug trafficking and other acts of violence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1086\" data-end=\"1289\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">In June 2020, Lerma ordered gang members to enter a cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles and kill an inmate identified in court records as \u201cS.B.\u201d in retaliation for unpaid drug debts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1291\" data-end=\"1420\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">Prosecutors said Lerma\u2019s leadership role and direct involvement in the killing demonstrated the danger he posed to the community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1422\" data-end=\"1649\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\" data-speechifyclicktoplay-highlight=\"true\" data-speechifyclicktoplay-no-background=\"true\" data-speechifyplaybackhighlighter-highlight=\"true\"><span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">The case has resulted in nine convictions so far, including Cheryl Perez-Castaneda, 63, of Pomona, who is serving a 12-year sentence for soliciting a murder and participating in a 2013 carjacking attempt that led to a shooting.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A longtime member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang and three associates were sentenced to life in federal prison for racketeering crimes that included the 2020 murder of a federal&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mexican Mafia Leader, 3 Associates Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison, Racketeering including Murder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A longtime member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang and three associates were sentenced to life in federal prison for racketeering\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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