Opinion ID: 783483
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Conspiracy and Murder of Manuel Luna

Text: 29 On August 7, 1993, Aguirre shot and killed Mexican Mafia member Manuel Rocky Luna. The police found Luna's body riddled with gunshot wounds in the driver's seat of a car parked in Ramona Gardens. 30 E. Castro testified that an informant named Mad Dog Roselli had been placed on the Mexican Mafia hit list. On July 4, 1993, E. Castro, Gallardo, Aguirre, and another Mexican Mafia member saw Roselli at a park. E. Castro wanted to kill Roselli, but Gallardo interceded and told him that Luna had the assignment to kill him. Subsequently, E. Castro saw Luna with Roselli twice but Luna failed to kill Roselli. E. Castro raised Luna's failure to carry out his assignment during a meeting with Gallardo, Therrien, and other Mexican Mafia members. After the members present raised other complaints about Luna, they voted to kill him. 31 The following day, Gallardo told E. Castro that Luna was dead. E. Castro testified that Aguirre told him he killed Luna, and that Gallardo, Therrien, and another Mexican Mafia member were present. Aguirre explained that initially they wanted to stab Luna, but Gallardo objected that stabbing would create too much noise and blood. Instead, Gallardo furnished a gun, which Aguirre used to shoot Luna. E. Castro also testified that when he saw Gallardo at Arias's house a week after Aguirre killed Luna, Gallardo admitted he had hid the barrel of the gun used in the murder at the house. 32 A September 3, 1994 audiotaped visit at Pelican Bay State Prison between Peters and Paz Gutierrez corroborated E. Castro's testimony. During a conversation regarding Gallardo's problems in Ramona Gardens, Gutierrez told Peters that Hazard was in, was in a lot of trouble. Peters responded, It's behind Rocky [Luna], when they killed Rocky. And then they killed Rascal [Ricardo Gonzales] and they, they, and they thought Smilon (Gallardo) did it. 33 The indictment charged the conspiracy and murder of Luna as a racketeering act, and the jury found the crimes proven as to Aguirre, Gallardo, and Therrien. The jury also convicted (1) Aguirre, Gallardo, and Therrien of Luna's murder to maintain or increase their positions in a RICO enterprise; and (2) Aguirre of knowingly carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to the murder.