Three Southern California gang members were sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the August 2017 murder of a Costa Mesa gang associate, a crime carried out in connection with their ties to the Mexican Mafia.
Federal judges handed down the life sentences to Mike “Risky” Escobar, 43, of Anaheim; James “Buck” Mendez, 47, of Garden Grove; and Kevin “Minor” Trejo, 38, of Anaheim. The trio was convicted during a 10-day trial in October 2023 on charges of murder in aid of racketeering.
According to trial evidence, the victim was a Costa Mesa street gang member and Mexican Mafia associate who managed drug trafficking and tax collection from Orange County gangs on behalf of an imprisoned Mexican Mafia leader.
On the night of the killing, Escobar, Mendez, and Trejo lured the victim into a vehicle and drove him to a residential neighborhood in Orange, California. Once there, the men shot the victim seven times in the back and once in the head.
The incarcerated gang leader who allegedly ordered the hit is slated to go on trial in August 2027.
Federal officials emphasized that law enforcement will target those who command acts of violence from inside correctional facilities as aggressively as those who carry them out.
“Gang members directing murders from behind bars will be charged and prosecuted just like those who pull the triggers,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case charged both the shooters and the perpetrator who ordered the murder. The Criminal Division will maintain its commitment to eradicate gangs at all levels and make America safe.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California noted that the sentences ensure long-term accountability.
“We will never tolerate violence ordered by imprisoned gangsters operating from behind bars,” Essayli said. “Yesterday’s life sentences demonstrate our commitment to holding these thugs accountable until their dying day.”
Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division added that such acts undermine public safety.
“Gang members committing violent acts of murder on the streets of America violates everyone’s sense of safety and security in our neighborhoods,” Janke said. “Three more members of the Mexican Mafia who steal from society and degrade our communities are off the streets for the rest of their lives thanks to the joint efforts of the Orange County Violent Gang Task Force and the Homeland Security Task Force.”
The case was investigated by a multi-agency group including the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and police departments from Orange, Santa Ana, and Placentia.
Prosecution was handled by Trial Attorneys Grace Bowen and Christopher Matthews of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg Staples and Greg Scally for the Central District of California.
READ: Mexican National Pleads Guilty To Role In $1.9 Million Drug Money Laundering Scheme
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