Three Gang Members Get Life for Mexican Mafia Execution-Style Murder in Orange County

A Murder Ordered From Behind Bars

Nine years after a 28-year-old man was lured from his Anaheim home and shot execution-style in a quiet Orange County neighborhood, the three men who pulled the trigger have been permanently removed from society. Kevin Trejo, James Mendez, and Mike Escobar were sentenced to mandatory life terms by U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter, following their October 13, 2023 conviction for the first-degree murder in aid of racketeering in the killing of 28-year-old Richard Villeda. The sentencing took place on August 7, 2026.

Federal prosecutors established at trial that the order came from reputed Mexican Mafia boss Johnny Martinez, who authorized the killing because Villeda had twice failed to hand over required drug proceeds, coming up several thousand dollars short. Martinez, known as "Crow" and now 50, was incarcerated at the time of the killing and allegedly issued the execution order using a contraband cellphone from inside Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County. It is a chilling illustration of just how far the Mexican Mafia's reach extends — straight through prison walls and onto neighborhood streets.

How the Murder Unfolded

Villeda was a member of a Costa Mesa street gang who was trafficking drugs and collecting "taxes" from other Orange County gangs on behalf of the imprisoned Mexican Mafia leader. When he came up short on payments twice, it cost him his life. On August 21, 2017, Escobar, Mendez, and Trejo lured the victim into driving with them shortly before midnight from his Anaheim home to a residential neighborhood in Orange.

Once there, the three men shot the victim seven times in the back and once in the head. Escobar was in charge of planning the killing and recruited Mendez and Trejo. Text messages from phones seized by authorities provided key evidence. Escobar is a member of the Little Hood gang in Anaheim; Mendez is a Sureño gang member from Garden Grove; and Trejo is a member of the Jeffrey Street gang, also in Anaheim.

The Reach of La Eme

The Mexican Mafia, also known as "La Eme," is a U.S.-based prison gang that has immense control over Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, directing illegal activities from prisons and collecting a portion of the proceeds from drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and other crimes committed on the streets. The Villeda murder is a textbook example of how that system works — and what happens when someone in the chain fails to deliver.

The defendants were the first to go on trial in the Operation Night Owl racketeering indictment from April 2022, which sought to take down the local Mexican Mafia and its reputed leader, Johnny Martinez. The imprisoned gang leader who ordered the killing is scheduled to stand trial in August 2027. That pending trial signals that federal prosecutors are not finished dismantling this network.

A Multi-Agency Crackdown With National Implications

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. 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.

"We will never tolerate violence ordered by imprisoned gangsters operating from behind bars," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, adding that the life sentences "demonstrate our commitment to holding these thugs accountable until their dying day." With the boss behind the Villeda murder still awaiting his own day in court, this case is far from the final chapter in the effort to dismantle one of California's most entrenched criminal organizations.