Published: Feb. 3, 2012 Updated: 9:29 a.m.

Member of Mexican Mafia guilty of murder

Rolando Ontiveros was at the center of a war between factions of the Mexican Mafia and encouraged the killing of a rival in a 1998 shooting that also left two others dead

By VIK JOLLY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – An Orange County federal jury has found a member of the Mexican Mafia guilty of several charges, including murder, five conspiracies to commit murder, attempted murder and racketeering, prosecutors said late Thursday.

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Following a monthlong trial, jurors returned guilty verdicts Thursday after five hours of deliberations on all counts in the trial of Rolando Ontiveros, 38, of Pico Rivera, a man who prosecutors said rose to the highest levels in one faction of the Mexican Mafia in the late 1990s.

Ontiveros faces a mandatory life imprisonment plus 30 consecutive years in federal custody at his May 7 sentencing by U.S. District Judge David Carter.

The defendant, who evaded authorities for a decade, was at the center of a war between factions of the Mexican Mafia and encouraged the killing of a rival in a shooting that also left two others dead, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale told jurors in his opening statement in federal court.

When arrested in 2009, he had a copy of the federal indictment in which he was named, was carrying Mexican currency and gave authorities an assumed name, the prosecutor said.

Ontiveros faced multiple counts and was part of a 1999 federal indictment stemming from a 2½-year task force investigation into the Mexican Mafia.

Of the 43 Mexican Mafia suspects indicted then under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, 39 were convicted, according to officials and published reports. Ontiveros remained a fugitive.

The charges against him included murder, racketeering, conspiracy to distribute drugs, and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.

"Rolo," as Ontiveros was known, was the leader of the Lott Street gang in East Los Angeles and rose up the ranks in the Mexican Mafia, according to officials. He conspired to kill rival Richard Serrano at a Montebello auto body shop in a Nov. 19, 1998, incident in which two others also were killed, prosecutors said.

Serrano was gunned down because he was aligned with another faction of the gang, and Ontiveros had a drug dispute with him, hated him and pushed for his murder, Dugdale said.

He was found guilty of the Serrano's murder "based on the fact he urged his fellow Mexican Mafia associates to kill Serrano and was a part of the plans to kill Serrano," Dugdale said.

At the start of the trial, Dugdale told jurors in Carter's courtroom they had been given a "unique opportunity" to learn about the inner workings of a "horrific" and "brutal" criminal enterprise.

Contact the writer: 714-834-3773 or vjolly@ocregister.com

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