"By age 14, he'd lost two close friends to gun violence, according to court records. By his 18th birthday, Mexicano had not only joined a notorious subset of the Nortenos, he'd killed for the gang, twice. Both shootings targeted homeless men in Salinas, who were perceived as rivals by their killers."
"Mexicano's tragic life, detailed in court filings before his sentence, say he became a gang member or associate at age 11. In September 2020, when he was 17, he and other SAP members accosted two men in a dark wooded Carr Lake area behind the Acosta Plaza townhomes in Salinas. They made the victims get on their knees, then shot them."
"His prison sentence, handed down on Jan. 13 by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman, was part of a massive prosecution aimed at Norteno regiments in Salinas and San Jose, as well as seasoned members of the Nuestra Familia prison gang who control them."
Salvador Mexicano's life has been shaped by gang violence, poverty, and crime. His father received a 30-year sentence when Mexicano was five, and he witnessed his stepfather's fatal shooting at age seven. By 14, he'd lost two friends to gun violence. At 18, Mexicano joined the Salinas Acosta Plaza Nortenos and committed two murders targeting homeless men perceived as rivals. He became a certified gang member through tattooing. At 19, while imprisoned for drug dealing, he participated in a targeted jail stabbing. Now 22, Mexicano serves a 19-year federal sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman as part of a major prosecution against Norteno regiments and Nuestra Familia prison gang members.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]