19 charged in alleged Mexican Mafia conspiracy to kill L.A. rap artist
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- Manuel “Snuffy” Quintero, a reputed member of the Mexican Mafia, put a hit on a rapper who was later stabbed in jail, prosecutors say.
Los Angeles County prosecutors on Wednesday charged 19 people with conspiring to murder a rapper who allegedly angered a member of the Mexican Mafia, a prison-based syndicate of Latino gang members.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accused Mexican Mafia member Manuel “Snuffy” Quintero issued an order in 2022 to kill Nelson Abrego, who performs under the name Swifty Blue.
In the complaint, prosecutors described a sprawling conspiracy that played out over TikTok messages and recorded jail calls, drawing in prisoners from Kern County, jail inmates in downtown Los Angeles and gang members in Paramount, the southeast Los Angeles County city that both Quintero and Abrego call home.
Quintero, 49, was arrested Wednesday and has yet to enter a plea. It wasn’t clear from court records whether he has a lawyer. A longtime member of the Paramount Varrio gang, Quintero has served prison time for assault, manufacturing methamphetamine and false imprisonment, court records show.
On New Year’s Eve in 2022, an alleged subordinate of Quintero, Giuseppe “Clever” Leyva, told an informant he’d notified gang members in Paramount, Compton and downtown L.A. that they had instructions to attack Abrego “on sight,” the complaint says.
Leyva, 34, is now in custody in an unrelated federal case that charges him with selling drugs and guns in Imperial County. He pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine in March and has yet to be sentenced. His attorney in the federal case didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
After the informant asked if “Snuffs is mad” at the rapper, Leyva allegedly said of Abrego: “F— him.”
Michael Lerma, 68, was convicted of racketeering and murder in a trial that showed how he called the shots for gangs in his hometown of Pomona and took over his wing of a federal jail in downtown Los Angeles, overseeing drug sales, stabbings, and at least one killing.
It’s unclear why Quintero was angry with Abrego, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In a 2024 interview with The Times, the rapper declined to discuss any potential issues with the Mexican Mafia or “jailhouse politics.”
Abrego previously said his music resonates with people because “everybody wants to be a gangster.”
“Whether you’re a lawyer, a police or a kid going to school, everybody wants to be big, bad and tough,” he said in 2024.
Nelson Abrego’s burgeoning career as Swifty Blue has drawn the attention of the Mexican Mafia. According to sources, he faced extortion and a jailhouse attack.
Eight months after he spoke to the informant, the complaint says, Leyva warned another person in a TikTok message to stay away from the rapper.
“Let me give u a lil 411 s u won’t get mis guided with the internet,” he wrote, according to the complaint. “With Swifty his career is done.”
“I talked to him tried to guide him but he didn’t listen,” Leyva allegedly continued, adding that now the rapper was “getting his blues” in Men’s Central Jail.
In November 2023, Abrego was jailed on a gun possession charge. Onesimo “Vamps” Gonzalez, held two cells down from the rapper, called his mother and told her to ask an associate if “the one who sings” was “still good,” according to the complaint.
Gonzalez’s mother hung up. When her son called back, she allegedly said, “He’s no good.”
Both Gonzalez and his mother are charged in the conspiracy. Gonzalez was already in custody; Dominga Gonzalez, 66, was arrested Wednesday at her Bellflower home, according to a statement from the FBI.
Two days after mother and son spoke, another jail inmate, Jonathan “Dreamer” Quevedo, called a man imprisoned in Kern County who was using a contraband cellphone, according to the complaint.
Deputy Michael Meiser, assigned to a specialized sheriff’s department unit that monitored gang activity inside the jail system, has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to smuggle more than a pound of heroin on behalf of “shot-callers” for the Mexican Mafia.
After mentioning “Swifty Blue,” Quevedo allegedly asked Jacob “Eagle” David if he recalled a “raza rapper” who was “in the shower.”
Prosecutors believed this was a reference to Jaime Brugada Valdez, a rapper known as MoneySign Suede who was stabbed to death in the showers at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad in 2023.
“The end result should be the same,” allegedly replied David, who was imprisoned for carjacking and robbery.
The next day, the complaint says, David instructed Quevedo to tell the attackers: “Handle that s— with prejudice... You know how that’s like a court term? Well, this s— [is] with prejudice.”
Quevedo allegedly confirmed it was “already in motion.”
Ralph Rocha was a suspect in the death of Lucio Rodarte, whose body was found in an alley, blindfolded, gagged and handcuffed. Then Rocha became an informant for the ATF.
When inmates were let out of their cells at 5:50 the next morning to take a shower, Adrian “Slick” Bueno, Andrew “Largo” Shinaia and Jude “Crazy” Valle entered Abrego’s cell, the complaint says. While Michael “Weasel” Ortiz obstructed a nearby camera, Bueno, Shinaia and Valle beat the rapper and “sliced” him, prosecutors charged.
About five hours later, Quevedo called a woman from jail and asked her to tell David in state prison that “old boy got his rap session,” according to the complaint.
“They didn’t really get a good show,” Quevedo allegedly said. “Expect them to be performing in probably the 4000 floor” — another area of the jail — “here soon.”
The attempt on Abrego’s life was unsuccessful, and by March 2024, the complaint says, Leyva told Joshua “Demon” Euan in a TikTok message the rapper was recording a livestream outside his family home “as we speak.”
Euan drove to the house at 1 a.m. and sent Leyva a photograph of a gun in the cupholder of a car, according to the complaint. “He ain’t here,” he wrote to Leyva.
Later, Euan allegedly told Leyva he sent people to vandalize Abrego’s family home. According to the complaint, he sent photographs of graffiti that read, “Swifty Blue 187,” a reference to the California penal code section for murder.
Euan, 37, eluded arrest Wednesday and remains at large, according to the FBI.
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