LOS ANGELES – Two Huntington Park men who are members of the Florencia 13 street gang and participated in the murder of another gang member have been sentenced to life without parole in federal prison after being convicted at trial of racketeering, narcotics, and weapons offenses.

Jose Dorado, also known as “Yogi,” 35, and Tannous Fazah, aka “Terist,” 27, were sentenced on Monday by United States District Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell.

Judge O'Connell sentenced the two men after presiding over a four-week trial last summer that ended with a jury returning guilty verdicts on multiple charges against the two defendants – including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR), conspiracy to traffic narcotics, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, and felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

The evidence presented at trial showed that Dorado and Fazah received an order from an incarcerated, senior member of the F13 gang in March 2010 that instructed them to beat and kill a junior member of the gang. Within hours of receiving the order, in an alley in Huntington Park, Dorado, Fazah and other members of the gang circled the victim and proceeded to punch and kick him repeatedly. While the victim lay unconscious, Fazah brandished a handgun and fatally shot the victim in the face.

“[T]here is no crime more serious than murder, and the brutality of this particular homicide – that is, a vicious beating carried out at the center of a circle of gang members, who continued to pound on the victim even after he had lost consciousness, and concluding with Fazah shooting the victim in the face at point blank range – supports a sentence at the statutory maximum,” prosecutors wrote in sentencing memorandums that recommended life sentences for Fazah and Dorado.

The drug trafficking charges against Dorado and Fazah were based on the F13 gang's street sales of illegal narcotics and smuggling of drugs into the Los Angeles County jail system.

The jury that convicted Dorado and Fazah also returned guilty verdicts against two other F13 members who also were charged in the 2013 federal racketeering indictment. Those other two defendants were sentenced recently to lengthy prison terms. The RICO indictment named 30 members and associates of the F13 gang. With the four convictions last summer, a total of 25 defendants have been convicted in the case (one charged defendant died, and the other four remain fugitives).

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the Huntington Park Police Department; and the Los Angeles Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Terrence P. Mann of the Santa Ana Branch Office, Sheila Nagaraj of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Victoria A. Degtyareva of the General Crimes Section.

Component(s): USAO – California, Central

Press Release Number: 17-116 Updated June 8, 2017

Central District of California DOJ / 17-116 / June 08, 2017