A former Los Angeles gang leader turned federal informant has been charged with a dozen counts of murder in connection with a horrific 1993 apartment building fire that killed children and a pregnant woman — after he spent years in the witness protection program and lam.
Juan “Anai-anai” Romero, 57, seen grinning in an old photo with a thick gold chain around his neck and the words “Baby I’m for real” tattooed on his chest, was recently arrested in California for allegedly setting fire to a building in Westlake over three decades ago, the Los Angeles Times first reported.
A witness previously placed Romero at the scene and quoted him as exclaiming: “We failed.”
The May 3, 1993, inferno killed seven children, aged between 15 months and 11 years, along with three women, two of whom were expectant mothers.
Forty more residents of the three-story building were injured.
A firefighter who testified at a 2022 trial related to the arson recounted how people jumped from balconies in a desperate attempt to escape the burning flames and were suffocated by smoke, which he said was so thick that “it was like being in water and trying to pick it up. breath.”
Romero made his initial appearance in court Wednesday but pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of manslaughter stemming from the fire.
Juan “Anai-anai” Romero, 57, a former street gang leader, was arrested for murder in connection with a fatal fire in 1993. Los Angeles Superior Court In May 1993, a three-story building in Los Angeles caught fire, killing seven children and three women. AP
Romero was arrested on Dec. 5 and ordered held without bail, according to a Los Angeles County jail database reviewed by The Post.
A prosecutor told the LA Times that Romero had been extradited to the US from Mexico, but it was not immediately known when, or under what circumstances, he was arrested there.
Romero was declared a fugitive in 2016, when detectives traveled from California to his last known address in Phoenix, Arizona, and learned that he had moved just a week earlier.
In the early 1990s, Romero was the leader of the Lil Cycos 18th Street gang, which controlled a booming drug business in the working-class Westlake neighborhood.
The doomed 67-unit building on Burlington Avenue is at the center of the crack and cocaine trade, and is crawling with street corner drug dealers and wholesalers.
The 67-unit building is home to immigrants from Mexico and Central America. AP witnesses described how desperate residents jumped from balconies to escape the flames. AP
Drug sales are tightly controlled by gang leaders like Romero and his accomplice, Ramiro Valerio, whose job it is to keep profits high.
Former drug dealer Johanna Lopez testified at the 2022 trial that in the days before the fire, she complained to Romero that the apartment building’s new property manager wouldn’t let her dealers hide inside when the police came to arrest them.
As a result, Lopez said he’s not withdrawing as much cash as before.
Romero agreed to help him “work through the problem,” according to Lopez, who testified that hours before the fire, he warned her: “Better leave him because this thing is going to get hot.”
Romero, then the leader of the Lyl Cycos 18th Street gang, allegedly set fire to the building because his new manager wouldn’t let his drug dealers hide inside from the police. Los Angeles Superior Court
That same day, a witness claimed he saw Romero carrying a trash bag filled with “barbecue liquid” as the apartment building caught fire.
He described Romero as looking “frustrated” and quoted him as saying: “We f–ed up. We got up.”
The fire claimed the lives of Lancey Mateo, 1; Jesus Camargo, 4; Jose Camargo, 4; Rosalia Camargo, 6; Yadira Verdugo, 6; William Verdugo, 8; Leyver Verdugo, 10; Rosalia Ruiz, 21; Olga Leon, 24; and Alejandrina Roblero, 29.
Also killed were two unborn babies.
For years, no one claimed responsibility for the deadly fire, as witnesses were afraid to speak out against gang members for fear of reprisals.
In the mid-2000s, Romero became an FBI informant and agreed to testify against one of his former gang leaders in an unrelated racketeering case.
In exchange, he was taken to the federal witness protection program.
Ramiro Valerio (right) poses with an unidentified man, convicted in 2022 of manslaughter in connection with the fire. Los Angeles Superior Court
In 2013, the LAPD assigned two seasoned detectives to a 20-year-old arson case — and they identified Romero and Valerio as the prime suspects.
But their rekindled investigation soon hit several roadblocks when they tried to obtain Romero and Valerio’s FBI files, the LA Times reports.
Eventually, detectives obtained an FBI wiretap in which Valerio reportedly declared that he had the authority to order the arson — and confirmed his relationship with Romero.
Ramiro Valerio (third from left) is serving a life sentence. Los Angeles Superior Court
But by the time prosecutors moved to file charges, Romero had fled, sparking an unsuccessful manhunt that took police from California to Texas.
Romero’s arrest and extradition warrant was filed in February 2017, charging him with 12 counts of murder, as seen in a copy of the document obtained by The Post from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
It remains unclear how long after his hasty departure from Phoenix Romero fled south of the border, and he did not stay there long.
Valerio was convicted last year of 12 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lopez, a drug dealer who testified at Valerio’s trial, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the fire.
Romero is scheduled to return before a judge for a hearing on Feb. 9.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
