By Joe Nelson, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 08/25/13, 7:19 PM PDT |
The second phase of a trial in which a man suing two San Manuel tribal members, alleging they had the Mexican Mafia try to kill him, begins Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
The jury has already awarded Leonard Epps, 43, formerly of San Bernardino, $4.5 million in compensatory damages after the first phase of the trial ended last month.
Jurors determined that San Manuel tribal member Stacy Nunez-Barajas, 30, was responsible for paying 45 percent of the damages to Epps and that her brother, Erick Barajas, 40, was responsible for paying 33 percent.
Now, the jury will determine how much in punitive damages, if any, the Barajas siblings must pay Epps, who maintains he has had to relocate and needs 24-7 protection for the rest of his life because of an execution order — called a “green light” in gangster lingo — placed on him by high-ranking members of the Mexican Mafia.
Once someone has been “green lighted,” the order is permanent, Epps said in his victim impact statement to the court in 2008, when he filed the suit.
“Stacy and Erik were the primary reason for the ‘green light’ order for my death from the Mexican Mafia,” Epps said in his victim impact statement. “I am afraid to go into crowded restaurants, movie theaters, parks, etc., for fear that someone, anyone, will approach me and shoot me down.”
The case has wound its way through the court over the last five years and has been reassigned to five judges, Epps’ attorney, Frank Peterson, said before the trial started.
The trial revisited the Mexican Mafia’s stronghold in the Inland Empire and its alleged affiliation with some San Manuel tribal members, including the Barajas siblings.
San Bernardino police and federal drug agents learned of the murder plot against Epps in 2006 during a joint investigation into the Mexican Mafia’s methamphetamine rackets in San Bernardino. They said the Barajas siblings, both of whom were convicted in the murder conspiracy case, had conspired to have high-ranking members of the Mexican Mafia — Salvador “Toro” Hernandez and his brother, Alfred Hernandez — order Epps killed after a squabble Epps had with Erik Barajas at the now defunct Brass Key bar in Highland.
The Barajases were convicted in April 2008. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors that some observers considered exceedingly lenient, Nunez-Barajas pleaded guilty to attempted murder with a gang enhancement, transportation of a controlled substance for sale and possession of drugs in jail. She was given probation and electronic monitoring, as was her brother, who pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement.
Nunez-Barajas was subsequently sentenced to 17 years at the California Institution for Women in Chino for violating the terms of her probation.
The Hernandez brothers were also convicted in the case. Salvador Hernandez, 48 — who police say was the Mexican Mafia’s shot caller for the San Bernardino area at the time of the crime — was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His brother, Alfred Hernandez, 44, was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
The case unveiled the influence and ties some San Manuel tribal members allegedly have to the Mexican Mafia and local street gangs.
According to federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigative reports filed in San Bernardino Superior Court, police and DEA agents learned during their investigation that the Mexican Mafia had “infiltrated” the San Manuel reservation and had been working with some tribal members on a lucrative methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution empire.
To read entire story, click here.
Is it not interesting that this article only mentions SBSD providing law enforcement services for San Manuel?
Funny how San Bernardino Police and the Feds uncovered this debacle. Nothing mentioned in here is favorable to the present situation at the reservation either.
Just have to ask yourself why SBSD never seems to find issues like this with those they are connected to politically.
San Manuel band of Mexican Mafia Indians.
San Manuel Band of Mexican Mafia Indians? LMFAO!
NOTE TO RED: NOW THAT YOU’RE GONE, I JUST TALK TO MYSELF)
Anonymous on May 23rd, 2012 5:49 pm
Red Anon;
No thank you, I think I will stick to calling for the Federal Courts to abolish the Reservations.
IN THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO Mr. Cone was recently murdered by his wife,so she could go to the Indian San Manuel’s Tribe Casinos and spend his life insurance money, and that after she had spent his life’s saving at the San Manuel Casinos.
IN THE CITY OF REDLANDS, eight young students died recently also, all in one year, from a black tar heroin over doze, who was arrested? Twelve Mexican mafia members. Where is Redlands? Just 5 minutes away from the San Manuel reservation, where it it common knowledge Russian mafia members reside, along with the well known EME Mexican Mafia…
SAN BERNARDINO POLICE OFFICER speaks out against plea agreement
By Mike Cruz on October 27, 2008 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
By Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/25/2008 10:13:29 PM PDT
A San Bernardino police sergeant Saturday criticized county prosecutors for pleading out a murder conspiracy case to two San Manuel tribal members that may enable them to serve house arrest and probation.
It is the first time a ranking San Bernardino police officer has spoken out publicly against the plea agreement struck in April between prosecutors and members of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Stacy Nunez-Barajas and her brother, Erik Barajas.
Nunez-Barajas, 26, and her brother, 35, pleaded guilty to attempted murder with a gang enhancement and assault with a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement, respectively. They are facing six months to a year of house arrest and probation. They are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 6 in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Sgt. Steve Filson, a 27-year veteran of the San Bernardino Police Department who worked a seven-month joint investigation with federal drug agents in 2006 targeting the Mexican Mafia’s methamphetamine rackets in the Inland Empire, said he would have liked to have seen the case go to trial.
Local enough for YOU now, red anon?
I will not take my kids out of their school or move far away from the reservation’s criminal activity. The San Manuel Indians are harbouring the mafia… SO I PREFER TO STAY… AND FIGHT…THEY ARE THE EVIL ONES, WHY SHOULD WE RUN AND HIDE!
DON’T WORRY RED ANON, THERE ARE ENOUGH “MONSTERS” TO KEEP US ALL BUSY.
Apparently John Wayne was right when he was talking about Indians.
1. “It prompted then-tribal Chairman James Ramos, now San Bernardino County’s 3rd District supervisor, to bolster security at the reservation…..”
>>> Yes! Panic time for the reservation! DEA agents have made the Mexican Mafia/San Manuel reservation CONNECTION!!
2. “………that included installing security gates at the entrance to the reservation’s residential area, installing a closed-circuit television surveillance system,”
>>> Installing gates and closed-circuit surveillance THEMSELVES OBVIOUSLY gave the RESERVATION, Mexican and Russian Mafias TOTAL CONTROL of their surroundings and happenings and a HEADS UP… if the DEA was nosing around the reservation:
Bugs Bunny: All right, Clancey, take the boys and surround the house.
Bugs Bunny: Jiggers, the cops!
James Ramos to the DEA: Uh,no need to come into the reservation YOURSELVES boys! WE will “bolster security at the reservation” OURSELVES! (wink-wink).
3. “……….and implementing youth and crisis intervention programs on the reservation and having tribe-hosted dinner receptions and AWARDS ceremonies for SUCCESSFUL students who SHUNNED the gang LIFESTYLE.”
>>> Ahhh!! Really? Dinner parties!! That’s fighting the Mafia’s drug operations that “infiltrated” and PARTNERED UP with the San Manuel reservation??
>>> Did Ramos INVITE the DEA agents “INTO” the reservation … or to the “tribe-hosted” dinner parties [to fight the mafia]?
>>> Did any of the DEA agents receive any AWARDS for “SHUNNING” mafia winks or offers of kick backs?
>>> Did any of the DEA agents receive any RECOGNITIONS for “SUCCESSFULLY” avoiding the “allure” of a gangsta LIFESTYLE?
>>> Do any of Ramos’ ANSWERS and EXPLANATIONS make any sense?
NO, because, again, he is the “front man” he is not suppose to “think”, the BIG BOYS take care of that, man of interest- Deron Marquez:
(Marquez)Rocky: That’ll teach yous to get any ideers.
RAMOS: But Boss you know I don’t get any ideers.
Rocky: Well make sure that you don’t.
Rocky: Shut up!
RAMOS: What’d I do, boss?
Rocky: I said button yer lip.
“Deron Marquez served as chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians from 1999 through April, 2006.
In addition to leading the seven-member San Manuel Business Committee, Mr. Marquez WAS INSTRUMENTAL in designing and directing a forward looking AGENDA of social, economic and governance development for the tribal government and community.
>>> Under Mr. Marquez’s leadership, the San Manuel Band entered into a number of successful business ventures with the goal of securing critical long-term tribal government revenues well into the future. He also oversaw efforts to enhance and strengthen his Tribe’s overall governance capabilities, institute critical public services for tribal members, and solidify intergovernmental relations at the local, state and national levels under his leadership”