Recorded telephone conversations between gang members after they allegedly killed a teenager last month reveal a ruthless yet bumbling plan.
The imprisoned leader of the gang, Tyrese S. Smith, ordered his "homeboys" to kill a man he believed shot one of his friends, according to charges filed in 3rd Circuit Court.Prison officials caught the plot on tape as Smith talked over inmate lines with one of his fellow gang members.
"Melissa, make sure you tell them it's gots to be done at 6 (a.m.), and it's got to be done on the inside. No other way," Smith said, states a transcript of the recording contained in court documents.
The gang then allegedly went to a house at 918 S. Navajo St. (1350 West) about 6 a.m. on Feb. 22. One of the members poked a shotgun through a half-open window and fired at least two rounds at Joey Miera as he slept on the floor. Both blasts hit the man, 19, in his head. He died instantly.
Detectives believe Smith and his cronies were after Adam V. Archuleta, who once lived at the house on Navajo Street. Instead, they got Miera.
Two hours after the shooting, Smith called Melissa Chacon again from the prison. Chacon asked him if he had seen the news, documents state.
"You didn't see nothing? You didn't see the news? He's gone," Chacon said.
"Who?" Smith replied.
"Adam. He's gone," she said.
Smith responded, "In the guts?"
"Hell, no. It's what you wanted . . . to call the coroner."
Chacon later described how Cameron Lopes allegedly carried out the killing.
"Nutty (Lopes) was nuts. He let go of two, ka boom, ka boom . . . let loose on the whole casa (house)," she said.
"Homeboy was doing that? I hope it was him (Archuleta)," Smith responded.
"Oh, they said they can guarantee it. What blows my mind is how come it (the window) was half-open? I'm telling you, `Mafioso style,' they gloved up. It looked `Mafioso' for real," Chacon is heard saying.
Chacon, 21; Smith, 22; Lopes, 19; and Collin Carter, 18, were subsequently charged with murder, a first-degree felony. Prosecutors plan to use the recordings in court later this month.
Chacon, Lopes, Carter and Gustave Dutson, 19, were also charged Wednesday with the Molotov cocktail bombing of a house.
The alleged firebombing occurred five days before the shotgun slaying, and detectives believe the gang was targeting Archuleta, though he wasn't at the home.
Dutson is not linked to the Miera "hit."