Double-homicide suspect arrested
Jonathan `K-Swiss' Blackwell had been on LAPD's most-wanted list
BY RACHEL URANGA, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
Article Last Updated:07/19/2007 11:19:18 PM PDT

One of the LAPD's most-wanted gangsters, who was being sought for a New Year's Eve double homicide, was nabbed in Oklahoma during a prostitution sting, authorities said Thursday.

With the Wednesday arrest of Jonathan "K-Swiss" Blackwell, a 27-year-old member of the By Yourself Hustlers gang, five people on the LAPD's top 10 most-wanted list have been caught since the department unveiled the list in February.

Three other gang members have also been taken off the list. One fled to Iran, another fled to El Salvador and the third killed himself, police said.

"We are pleased to be filling up the board," Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton said Thursday, pointing to photos of captured and wanted gang members during an afternoon press conference. "I feel somewhat like the guy calling bingo, that the desire is to have all those faces covered with `captured' or `deceased."'

In Blackwell's place, police added Rodolpho "Sharky" Diaz, a 31-year-old member of the 38th Street gang. He is suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend's sister, Irma Gaxiola, in a jealous rage and then turning the gun on her mother, Alejandra Cerecer, on Aug. 20, 2002.

Blackwell was arrested Monday in a prostitution sting by Oklahoma City police but told cops his name was Marco Lee and was released after posting bail.

It took a day before officers traced his fingerprints to a national database showing that he was wanted in a New Year's Eve apartment robbery in Los Angeles that turned into a double homicide.

They tracked him down at a motel after discovering that he and Matthew Koontz, who was already in custody, were accused of killing Jessica Sirano, 17, and her stepfather, Raul Cruz, 31, at their first-story apartment in the 1600 block of Vernon Avenue.

The LAPD is arranging to bring him to Los Angeles.

But Bratton admitted that Blackwell's capture came down to policing rather than publicity generated from the most-wanted list he and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced five months ago as part of their gang crackdown.

The three additional gang members who have been replaced include Rudy Angel "Dreamer" Maga a, 24, who is accused of killing Armando Vera on Jan. 20 in Van Nuys. He killed himself during a standoff with Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies May 7.

Arash Sererome "Troubles" Safaie, suspected in three separate shootings, fled to Iran. And Miguel Angel "Spunky" Lopez, a Mara Salvatrucha gang member, is accused of killing another gang member Nov. 9, 2000, in Rampart.

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