In 1989, Ronaldo Ayala was sentenced to death for murdering three men at a San Diego auto repair shop.
Rather than face the gas chambers of San Quentin, the reputed Mexican mafia member turned death row into a powerhouse and collected extortion money, according to law enforcement officials and gang defectors. , allegedly trafficked drugs and organized acts of violence through a vast network of Mexican henchmen. From San Diego to Seattle.
Ayala, 74, currently faces racketeering charges brought by federal prosecutors in Sacramento. Prosecutors allege Ayala, of National City, conspired with members of the Sinaloa Cartel to distribute methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl throughout the Western United States.
Ayala, who was transferred from San Quentin to Centinela State Prison last year when Gov. Gavin Newsom closed death row, has not yet entered a plea. It was unclear as of Friday whether he was represented by an attorney.
Ronaldo Ayala was held on San Quentin death row for 30 years.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
In a minimal indictment unsealed Friday, prosecutors say Ayala oversaw an alliance between the Mexican Mafia and Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, and its former leader Joaquin. -Claims that he offered protection to “El Chapo” Guzman.
It was not clear from the indictment whether Mr. Guzman accepted the allegations or whether he was required to accept the offer. The former man at the center is serving a life sentence at ADX Florence, a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado, with no contact with other inmates.
San Diego has produced many Mexican Mafia members, but none as powerful as Ayala, a witness told FBI agents in 2023.
A witness who said Ayala was in contact with gang members in the San Diego area pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term.
Ayala cut through the San Diego area with two other alleged Mexican Mafia members, his brother Hector and Richard Buchanan, according to transcripts of witness interviews with the FBI.
Buchanan controlled the eastern side of San Diego and most of the South Bay. Ayala’s younger brother won North County and Chula Vista. Ronaldo Ayala had Spring Valley, Paradise Hills, National City and “everything else,” she said.
“At the end of the day, this is Ronnie’s city,” she told her agent.
Witnesses said Ayala also collected regular payments called “utility bills” from the San Diego County Jail, which he shared with his brother and Buchanan. The woman told investigators that all modules within the prison system were asked to contribute $50 a month through CashApp.
Ayala’s subordinates were reportedly using a different racket. Others bought methamphetamine in Tijuana and shipped it to San Bernardino and Texas. Witnesses said others operated casitas, or illegal gambling dens, or “trap houses” where people could buy or use drugs.
San Diego County prosecutors indicted seven people in 2022 for operating a trap house for Ayala in the Encanto area. In addition to selling drugs, his agent, Juan “Sleepy” Castro of San Ysidro, also oversaw loan sharking and human smuggling operations, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Mr. Castro was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023 for methamphetamine trafficking.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested in Mexico in 2014.
(Eduardo Verdugo/AP)
Witnesses told the FBI that Ayala’s reach extended beyond San Diego, as he was on death row with known gang members from across California.
According to an indictment unsealed this week, Ayala has collected “taxes” from Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco and even Seattle, and prosecutors say gang members working for Ayala have been accused of “mafia” in music videos. He claims that he committed arson against the musician who claimed to have done so. ” bond.
Two prominent members of the Seattle gang United Locotes, Samuel “Payaso” Morales and Alexis “Menace” Rodriguez, are also accused of extorting an unknown musician whose property was burned.
Helping Ayala collect “taxes” on drug sales from Sinaloa Cartel affiliates was Angel “Snappy” Esparza, who was on death row for murdering three people in Riverside County.
Prosecutors allege that Ronald “Temper” Sepulveda, whom Ayala called “our main supporter,” oversaw cases of known Mexican Mafia members in Riverside County, including the extortion of musicians. are.
Allen “Frankie Chino” Fong, a San Jose gang member serving a 17-year prison sentence for assault, was charged with collecting “taxes” for Ayala while incarcerated at the state prison in Solano. was indicted for.
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