THREE PLEAD IN MASS SLAYING

A Mexican Mafia soldier admitted Friday that he helped storm a West Side
home last year in what started as a robbery and ended as San Antonio's worst
mass killing in recent history, with five people executed.

Daniel "Fuzzy" Perez pleaded guilty to racketeering charges alongside Joe
"Yogi" Sandoval, another admitted member of the Texas Mexican Mafia.

They were the first defendants to plead guilty in the federal racketeering
case against 16 alleged members of the gang that reportedly was born in
prison and based in San Antonio.

Later in the day, another member, Jaime "Camuko" Davila, made an identical
plea.

Perez was accused of robbing a West French Place house with seven fellow
gang members.

Carrying shotguns and believing the house held drugs and a shoebox
containing thousands of dollars, the group barged inside, according to
unnamed informants whose accounts appear in FBI affidavits.

As the armed robbery became a bloodbath, Perez only could watch, his
attorney Ronald Guyer said.

"He was not even carrying a weapon," Guyer said outside the courtroom.

Exactly what Perez saw is not likely to be revealed in court. Neither he nor
Sandoval nor Davila offered testimony in exchange for their plea bargains.

All three pleaded guilty to the two racketeering charges leveled against all
16 defendants.

Authorities allege the Texas Mexican Mafia, among a slew of other crimes,
systematically extorted money from drug dealers and committed murders during
a prolonged power struggle.

Sandoval's role in the alleged conspiracy amounted to driving the getaway
car for three other members during a 1994 attack that killed two and wounded
another.

Davila was accused of helping distribute about 50 pounds of marijuana and
aiding the murder of an alleged gang member in the summer of 1997.

The plea deals recommend Sandoval, 37, Perez, 24, and Davila, 32, spend 15
years behind bars. Their sentencing is set for February.

The remaining 13 defendants face up to life in prison if convicted. Their
trial is scheduled to start Jan. 11.

By then, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann said he expects the case will
have been whittled to 10 defendants.

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Counts filed a list of government
witnesses for the upcoming trial that included three defendants, Daniel
Angel Tavitas, Rene "Flaco" Munoz and Fred Carrasco. Tavitas is charged with
taking part in the French Place murders.

Court records also include a list of guns and money seized during 22
searches by law officers of various defendants' homes and alleged "safe
houses."

One search produced an unsigned constitution that prosecutors claim lays out
in elaborate handwriting the Mexican Mafia's criminal ambitions and
paramilitary codes.

An October 1997 search of two houses linked to Sandoval's former girlfriend
yielded a .357-caliber revolver, a .44-caliber Magnum pistol, $9,460 in
cash, a scale and letters addressed to Sandoval, according to court files.

Sandoval's ex-girlfriend Diana Guzman allegedly was one of the gang's few
female members.

According to prosecutors, her leadership in the Mexican Mafia fanned a
bloody power struggle that apparently yielded some of the killings alleged
in the indictment.

The rest of the slayings cited by prosecutors occurred at West French Place,
or were related to that attack.

Less than two weeks after the French Place killings, authorities found the
body of alleged gang member Adam Tenorio. The government accused Perez of
choking Tenorio while another member stabbed him  punishment for talking
about the killings at French Place.

Court records indicate an informant told authorities that Tenorio said he
kept lookout while the others hijacked the house.

Then, according to the informant, Tenorio headed for a meeting with other
Mexican Mafia members, saying "I might not come back ever again."

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst