Gang tattoo leads to a murder conviction
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Robert Faturechi (Los Angeles Times) | April 22, 2011
The process was routine. L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide investigator Kevin Lloyd was flipping through snapshots of tattooed gang members.
Then one caught his attention.
Inked on the pudgy chest of a young Pico Rivera gangster who had been picked up and released on a minor offense was the scene of a 2004 liquor store slaying that had stumped Lloyd for more than four years.
Each key detail was right there: the Christmas lights that lined the roof of the liquor store where 23-year-old John Juarez was gunned down, the direction his body fell, the bowed street lamp across the way and the street sign — all under the chilling banner of RIVERA KILLS, a reference to the gang Rivera-13.
As if to seal the deal, below the collarbone of the gang member known by the alias “Chopper” was a miniature helicopter raining down bullets on the scene.
Lloyd’s discovery of the tattoo in 2008 launched a bizarre investigation that soon led to Anthony Garcia’s arrest for the shooting. Then sheriff’s detectives, posing as gang members, began talking to Garcia, 25, in his holding cell. They got a confession that this week led to a first-degree murder conviction in a killing investigators had once all but given up hope of solving.
For Lloyd, the image on the chest of the delicate, doe-eyed gang member brought back a rush of memories. The snapshot was taken inside the sheriff’s Pico Rivera station after Garcia was arrested in a routine traffic stop and booked on suspicion of driving with a suspended license.
Before they are released, suspected gang members typically are asked to remove their shirts and have their tattoos photographed by graffiti team deputies. Taggers often mark their own bodies with the same signatures they spray on buses and storefronts — and eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes help close cases by recalling distinctive tattoos.
Homicide Lt. Dave Dolson said gang members frequently get symbolic tattoos to bolster their street cred: three dots on the hand to signify “mi vida loca” (“my crazy life”), sketches of prisons where they’ve done time, gang insignia prominently stenciled on their heads and torsos.
But a tattoo laying out a detailed picture of a crime scene is something far outside the norm. “I haven’t seen it before, and I haven’t heard of anything like it either,” Dolson said.
WHEN KEEP IT REAL GOES WRONG!!!!!
The process was routine. L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide investigator Kevin Lloyd was flipping through snapshots of tattooed gang members.
Then one caught his attention.
Inked on the pudgy chest of a young Pico Rivera gangster who had been picked up and released on a minor offense was the scene of a 2004 liquor store slaying that had stumped Lloyd for more than four years.
Each key detail was right there: the Christmas lights that lined the roof of the liquor store where 23-year-old John Juarez was gunned down, the direction his body fell, the bowed street lamp across the way and the street sign — all under the chilling banner of RIVERA KILLS, a reference to the gang Rivera-13.
As if to seal the deal, below the collarbone of the gang member known by the alias “Chopper” was a miniature helicopter raining down bullets on the scene.
Lloyd’s discovery of the tattoo in 2008 launched a bizarre investigation that soon led to Anthony Garcia’s arrest for the shooting. Then sheriff’s detectives, posing as gang members, began talking to Garcia, 25, in his holding cell. They got a confession that this week led to a first-degree murder conviction in a killing investigators had once all but given up hope of solving.
For Lloyd, the image on the chest of the delicate, doe-eyed gang member brought back a rush of memories. The snapshot was taken inside the sheriff’s Pico Rivera station after Garcia was arrested in a routine traffic stop and booked on suspicion of driving with a suspended license.
Before they are released, suspected gang members typically are asked to remove their shirts and have their tattoos photographed by graffiti team deputies. Taggers often mark their own bodies with the same signatures they spray on buses and storefronts — and eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes help close cases by recalling distinctive tattoos.
Homicide Lt. Dave Dolson said gang members frequently get symbolic tattoos to bolster their street cred: three dots on the hand to signify “mi vida loca” (“my crazy life”), sketches of prisons where they’ve done time, gang insignia prominently stenciled on their heads and torsos.
But a tattoo laying out a detailed picture of a crime scene is something far outside the norm. “I haven’t seen it before, and I haven’t heard of anything like it either,” Dolson said.
WHEN KEEP IT REAL GOES WRONG!!!!!
Comments
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the most hilarious tattoo
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the dumbest part aside from the obvious is that the guy actually confessed
all they really had on his ? was an unsubstantiated suspicion, not even probable cause, that the tattoo on his chest was related to that crime. A court appointed lawyer could have flipped that
lol no motha ? way a prosecutor could get a conviction based on a tattoo of a cartoon helicopter shooting a peanut, without a confession to go with it
maybe they should have waited. I don't think it was finished yet, its half shaded -
the tattoo was fairly detailed regarding the crime and the perpetrator. and then you're going to have a tattooed guy that the jury's probably going to see from the jump as guilty, so i'm thinking this really wasn't a scenario any old lawyer could get him out of.all they really had on his ? was an unsubstantiated suspicion, not even probable cause, that the tattoo on his chest was related to that crime. A court appointed lawyer could have flipped that -
the tattoo was fairly detailed regarding the crime and the perpetrator. and then you're going to have a tattooed guy that the jury's probably going to see from the jump as guilty, so i'm thinking this really wasn't a scenario any old lawyer could get him out of.
lol
I was being facetious with that ?
I still think the confession on tape is what led to his conviction though
the tattoo depicting of the crime scene is what lead to his arrest, hence why the taping of him took place with an undercover officer pretending to be up on a attempted murder charge. With them never seeing something like this before I'm sure they didn't want him to get off on some ? technicality of some freedom of expression ?
"A detective posing as a Los Angeles gang member who'd been arrested on attempted murder charges was placed in Garcia's Norwalk station jail cell. He soon got Garcia talking, sheriff's investigators said. Garcia was proud, and he bragged about the shooting. He didn't know the conversation was being recorded and that it would soon be played for a jury."
killing a rival gang member - tax free law enforcement
tattooing it on your chest - all the way a dolla
telling a total stranger all about it in a holding cell - priceless -
Gang Member With Murder Scene Tattoo Faces New Charges With Mom, Brother
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/25/anthony-garcia-gang-member-with-murder-scene-tattoo-faces-new/ -
ah, well, you're right about thatI was being facetious with that ?
I still think the confession on tape is what led to his conviction though -
Gang Member With Murder Scene Tattoo Faces New Charges With Mom, Brother
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/25/anthony-garcia-gang-member-with-murder-scene-tattoo-faces-new/
I GOT YOU ON THAT:
By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times
April 26, 2011
Anthony Garcia, whose tattoo led to his arrest and conviction in a 2004 murder at a Pico Rivera liquor store, allegedly tried to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine into the facility with his mother, brother and two others.
A man convicted of murder after tattooing detailed images of the crime on his chest is now facing charges that he and two family members were part of a ring attempting to smuggle drugs into Los Angeles County Jail.
While investigating Anthony Garcia's role in a Pico Rivera slaying, Sgt. Kevin Lloyd of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said he found evidence that Garcia, his brother, mother and two others were conspiring to smuggle in heroin and methamphetamines.
All five have been arrested and are facing felony attempted narcotics smuggling charges.
Garcia was convicted last week of first-degree murder in the shooting death of John Juarez, 23, outside a Pico Rivera liquor store. The 2004 slaying had gone cold until Lloyd, flipping through photographs of gangsters, noticed a detailed ink rendering of the crime scene on Garcia's chest.
Detectives arrested Garcia on a minor charge and used a jailhouse decoy to get a confession out of him. While putting the case together, Lloyd found evidence of the alleged drug ring.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office filed drug-smuggling charges against Garcia's brother, John Garcia, earlier this month, and detectives arrested the parolee gang member. He was being held without bail.
Vivian Garcia, the 46-year-old mother of Anthony and John Garcia, was arrested this month when she went to visit John at the Pico Rivera sheriff's station. She was released April 12 on bond.
A fourth suspect, Manuel Bermudez, 32, is serving time in state prison on multiple felony convictions for narcotics and firearms offenses. When he turned himself in for his four-year term last June, intake officers found four golf-ball-sized balloons of heroin and methamphetamine in his ? .
Cynthia Bermudez, the 29-year-old girlfriend of Manuel Bermudez, was arrested earlier this month at her Huntington Park residence and was released on $110,000 bond.
Sheriff's detectives say all five suspects worked together to smuggle drugs into the County Jail as Anthony Garcia was awaiting trial on the Pico Rivera homicide case. Lloyd worked with other sheriff's detectives to gather evidence in the case.
Sgt. Mike Thomas said that other than packages found on Manuel Bermudez, he did not have details on how the other suspects were plotting to get narcotics past jail officials. With trials pending, "they are not tipping their hand on that right now," he said.
But Thomas said illicit drugs get past jailhouse gates despite efforts to screen them out. Friends or family members often try to throw bindles of heroin or other drugs over a glass partition during face-to-face visits, he said. Drugs also find their way in through the mail, he said.
"We try our best," he said. "But there's always a way."
AGAIN, WHEN KEEPING IT REAL GOES WRONG -
that was my homeboy too damn keep ya head up homeboyyyyyyyyyyy two undercover cops in his cell did my homie dirtyyyyyyyy
