3 SF gang members who admitted to killing 3 people sentenced to prison

SAN FRANCISCO - Three gang members who confessed to killing three people in San Francisco were sentenced this week to decades-long prison sentences on racketeering conspiracy charges, federal prosecutors said.   

San Francisco Mission District Norteño gang members Fernando "Nando" Madrigal, 25, Alvaro Reina "G-Boy" Cordero, 26, and Oscar "Cutty" Guadron Diaz, 24, pleaded guilty in February to one count of racketeering conspiracy in connection with their roles in the murders and attempted murder of four victims, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.   

Madrigal, who was sentenced to 33 years in prison, admitted to killing a victim at a parking lot near Candlestick Park in San Francisco in July 2018, after he pretended to buy marijuana, but planned to rob the victim. With an armed accomplice, Madrigal shot the victim, disposed of the victim's cell phone near the San Mateo Bridge, and dumped the victim's body in the Oakland hills, where it was found over a year later.   

Madrigal also confessed to shooting to death a 15-year-old boy in July 2019 in the Mission District, using an AR-style firearm. According to prosecutors, Madrigal mistakenly believed the teenager was a member of a rival gang.   

His co-gang members Cordero and Diaz, who were sentenced to 26 and 21 years in prison respectively, confessed to shooting to death a suspected rival Sureño gang member at a bus stop in the Holly Park neighborhood in January 2018. They said the rival gang member then was with a woman, who was also shot in the face but survived.   

All three gang members admitted they committed these murders to improve their standing within SFMD Norteño, prosecutors said.   

"Norteño criminal street gangs have terrorized San Francisco's Mission District for years through a relentless campaign of shootings, robberies, gun trafficking, drug dealing, and extortion," 

First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins said in a statement on Thursday. "Today's sentences send a clear message that gang members who inflict wanton violence and harm our community will be arrested, prosecuted federally, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms."   

Besides their jail time, the three were ordered by the court to spend five years on supervised release, beginning after finishing their prison terms, prosecutors said.