Joe Saenz

Last updated
Joe Saenz
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive
Charges
RewardUS$100,000
Alias
  • Joe Luis Saenz
  • Gabriel Saenz
  • "Zapp"
  • "Smiley"
  • "Honeycutt"
Description
BornJose Luis Saenz
(1975-08-04) August 4, 1975 (age 48)
or (1975-10-01) October 1, 1975 (age 47)
or (1975-12-31) December 31, 1975 (age 47)
or (1976-05-01) May 1, 1976 (age 47)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityUS
RaceHispanic
GenderMale
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) to 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight180 lb (82 kg)
Status
AddedOctober 19, 2009
CaughtNovember 22, 2012
Number492
Captured

Jose Luis Saenz, [1] known as Joe Saenz, is an American gangster and former fugitive charged with four murders, rape, kidnapping, parole violation and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. On October 19, 2009, he was named by the FBI as the 492nd fugitive to be placed on the list of FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. [2] On November 22, 2012, he was found and arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico by the Federal Police. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Saenz was born in Los Angeles, to a Maravilla gang member Mexican father and a Mexican mother who had substance abuse problems. An only child, he lived most of childhood with his grandmother in a small backyard bungalow on Ferris Avenue. He spent much of his time with his cousins at the Pico-Aliso housing projects.

Saenz attended high school in Los Angeles Unified School District, but dropped out. [4] Before the murders in 1998, the Saenz family had been evicted for an unspecified violation. [5]

Criminal charges

1998: Double murder in Aliso Village

Saenz, known by his nickname "Smiley" and fellow Cuatro Flats gang member Juan Pena [4] allegedly lured two rival East Los Angeles Trece gang members with a drug deal. [6] [7] Saenz allegedly shot and killed the unarmed [5] men, Josue Hernandez and Leonardo Ponce execution-style in front of 210 North Clarence Street in the Aliso Village area of Boyle Heights in Los Angeles on July 25, 1998. [8]

Ponce was shot in the chest, thigh and back and Hernandez was shot three times in the head. [4] The motive behind the murders is thought to have been retaliation for the assault of Pena by members of the same gang a week earlier. [7]

1998: Kidnapping, rape, and murder

According to authorities, Saenz, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, fled from the scene and hid in the apartment of Sigreda Hernandez, his former girlfriend and the mother of his two-year-old daughter. [7] On August 5, 1998, Hernandez was kidnapped (allegedly by Saenz and his accomplices) and taken to Saenz's grandmother's house in an unincorporated area of East Los Angeles. There, Saenz told his grandmother to leave her own home. She later claimed that she complied because Saenz said he and Hernandez were trying to reconcile.

Three hours later, at 11 a.m., Saenz called his grandmother and told her not to come home, telling her he had "just made a big mistake." She did, however, return to the bungalow, where she discovered the body of Hernandez in the back bedroom, sprawled half-nude with a bullet wound to her temple. [4]

Detectives found a pile of .357 Magnum shells on a dresser and a note from Saenz: "the guys who drove me hear [sic] have nothing to do with this." Saenz also wrote a message scrawled in pencil on the living room wall, in which he asked his grandmother to take care of his child and that he loved her. [4] [9] Hernandez has been speculated to have been murdered because she knew about Saenz's crimes. [4]

Shortly after, Juan Pena was arrested for the Clarence Street murders after a tipster placed him at the scene with Saenz. Pena, who was 14 years old at the time, was later convicted of two murders, despite the fact he was not the shooter. Possibly because of his fatal illness, he unexpectedly gave a detailed confession of the murders to authorities. He died of childhood leukemia at the California Youth Authority in 2001. [4]

In 1998, Saenz was charged with three counts of murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of rape, and a warrant was secured for his arrest. [6] Los Angeles City Council has offered a reward of $75,000, for information leading to the capture and conviction of person(s) responsible for those crimes. [8] Despite the arrest warrant and reward, there were no other suspects or conclusive leads of Saenz's whereabouts until a decade later.

2008: Murder of Oscar Torres

In August 2008, two members of the Lott Stoner gang were stopped by a Missouri state trooper while driving a rental vehicle. A search turned up $610,000 in cash in a hidden compartment, wrapped and marked with the name "Toro," which is now alleged to be one of Saenz’s aliases. The money was confiscated by the police. One of the gang members was a 38-year-old drug trafficker Oscar Torres, a friend of Saenz. [4] [7]

On October 5, 2008, Anthony Limon had agreed as a favor to Torres to drive four men in his Hummer limousine that night, picking up the first three and taking them to the Elephant Bar restaurant in suburban Lakewood, where they picked up Saenz. Later, he ordered Limon to drive to Montebello, then at 5 a.m. ordered him to drive to the limo owner's home in Whittier. Saenz was filmed on a home surveillance system arriving at Torres' house, chasing him out of his front door and then shooting Torres four times in the head, [6] possibly due to lost money. [4] The DVD disc that had captured the shooting was removed from the surveillance system. However, shortly after the investigation of the homicide, video of the murder was retrieved from the security equipment's hard drive, leading investigators to identify Saenz as the shooter. [4]

Inside the home where Torres was murdered, detectives found Limon, who had been shot in the back, but survived. Forty handguns and assault rifles, and a short rifle were found inside Torres' home. A month later, Saenz's cousin Johnny Prado was arrested for murder and attempted murder, and was sentenced to imprisonment for 26 years in November 2009. [4]

Investigation

Additionally, Saenz is a suspect in a homicide that happened in early 1997. [5] Although there are rumors linking Jose Saenz to a kidnapping of a woman in Los Angeles and to the death of drug trafficker Bogart Bello for a failed drug deal in 2008, he has never been charged for those crimes. [4]

Saenz was added to the list of FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives on October 19, 2009, replacing another Los Angeles gang member Emigdio Preciado, Jr. During the time that he was a fugitive, he was believed to have been living in Mexico, possibly working as an enforcer for a drug cartel and traveling across the Mexico – United States border using numerous aliases as well as legitimate identity documents obtained fraudulently. [2] Saenz had been considered armed and extremely dangerous, and had "vowed to kill police officers if they try to arrest him" in 1998. [5] FBI had offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. [2]

Arrest

On November 22, 2012 he was found and arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico by the Federal Police while working for a Mexican drug cartel. [3] After his arrest, Mexico extradited him to the United States. [10]

Saenz managed to elude authorities for over 14 years. Investigators revealed that after initially fleeing to Mexico, he continued to stay on the move, using as many as twenty aliases and moving throughout Mexico, Central America, the United States, and Canada. Upon being deported, Saenz bragged about his time on the run and claimed to authorities that he had attended Los Angeles Lakers basketball games while on the run.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix was a Mexican drug lord who alongside his brothers founded and led the Tijuana Cartel. He was the leader of the enforcement wing of the organization until his assassination on February 10, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican Mafia</span> Mexican American criminal organization

The Mexican Mafia, also known as La eMe, is a Mexican American criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely a U.S. criminal prison organization. Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful gang within the California prison system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Zetas</span> Mexican criminal syndicate

Los Zetas is a Mexican criminal syndicate and terrorist organization, known as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscriminate murder. While primarily concerned with drug trafficking, the organization also runs profitable sex and gun rackets. Los Zetas also operate through protection rackets, assassinations, extortion, kidnappings and other illegal activities. The organization is based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, directly across the border from Laredo, Texas. The origins of Los Zetas date back to the late 1990s, when commandos of the Mexican Army deserted their ranks and began working as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel. In February 2010, Los Zetas broke away and formed their own criminal organization, rivalling the Gulf Cartel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Stewart Godwin</span> American fugitive and murderer

Glen Stewart Godwin is an American fugitive and convicted murderer who was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on December 7, 1996, nine years after he escaped from Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California, where he was serving a 26-years-to-life sentence. He replaced O'Neil Vassell on the list. However, he was dropped from the list on May 19, 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael Caro Quintero</span> Mexican drug lord (born 1952)

Rafael Caro Quintero is a Mexican drug lord who co-founded the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the late 1970s. He is the brother of fellow drug trafficker Miguel Caro Quintero, founder and former leader of the defunct Sonora Cartel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Nicholas Markowitz</span> Murder of an American teenager

Nicholas Samuel Markowitz was an American teenager who was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 15 after a feud over drug money between his half-brother Benjamin Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood.

Emigdio Preciado Jr. is an American criminal, gang member and a former fugitive who was added to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on March 14, 2007. Preciado is the 485th fugitive to be placed on the list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan José Esparragoza Moreno</span> Mexican drug trafficker (1949-2014)

Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, commonly referred to by his alias El Azul, was a Mexican drug lord and member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Guadalajara Cartel and Juárez Cartel, three large and powerful criminal organizations. Originally a member of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) police agency, he founded the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s along with other drug kingpins in Mexico. Following its disintegration in the late 1980s, he went on to lead the Juárez Cartel and eventually settled in the Sinaloa Cartel. He worked alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael Zambada García, once considered world's most-wanted, powerful and rich drug lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MS-13</span> Transnational criminal gang

Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area. Over time, the gang grew into a more traditional criminal organization. MS-13 has a long time rivalry with the 18th Street gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ignacio Coronel Villarreal</span> Mexican drug lord (1954–2010)

Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal was a Mexican suspected drug lord and a founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in Sinaloa. He worked alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. His stronghold was Jalisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vagos Motorcycle Club</span> One percenter motorcycle club

The Vagos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Green Nation, is a one percenter motorcycle club formed in 1965 in San Bernardino, California. The club's insignia is Loki, the Norse god of mischief, riding a motorcycle. Members typically wear green.

Eduardo "Richolm" Ravelo is a Mexican American gangster who was a leader of the Barrio Azteca gang. He is also a former fugitive wanted on several charges related to drugs and organized crime. On October 20, 2009, he was named by the FBI as the 493rd fugitive to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted list. He was captured in Mexico on June 26, 2018.

Barrio Azteca, or Los Aztecas, is a Mexican-American street and prison gang originally based in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The gang was formed in the Coffield Unit, located near Tennessee Colony, Texas by Jose "Raulio" Rivera, a prisoner from El Paso, in the early 1980s. It expanded into a transnational criminal organization that traded mainly across the US-Mexico border. Currently one of the most violent gangs in the United States, they are said to have over 3,000 members across the country in locations such as New Mexico, Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as well as at least 5,000 members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2010s</span>

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2010s is a list, maintained for a seventh decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2010s, 29 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 523 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 488 have been captured or located.

Marlon Jones is a Jamaican criminal who was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in December 2016. He was captured within one day of being on the list.

The Florencia 13, South Side Florencia 13 or Florence Gang is an American criminal street gang based in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Mexican-Americans. The gang is named after the Florence area of Los Angeles County, controlled by the Mexican Mafia. They are involved in drug smuggling, murder, assault and robbery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santiago Villalba Mederos</span> American former fugitive

Santiago "Pucho" Villalba Mederos is an American former fugitive who was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on September 25, 2017. He was wanted for two murders in Tacoma, Washington, in 2010. Mederos was the 515th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The FBI offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. He was captured in Tenancingo, Mexico, on June 5, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2020s</span>

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2020s is a list, maintained for an eighth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. As of May 25, 2023, eight new fugitives have been added to the list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez</span> Mexican drug cartel boss

Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez is a Mexican drug cartel boss and former fugitive who was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on October 13, 2020. He was wanted for orchestrating the murder of Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa, which was carried out on May 22, 2013, in Southlake, Texas. He is also believed to be responsible for numerous murders in Mexico. Villarreal-Hernandez was the 524th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The United States Department of State's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to his arrest. He was captured on January 7, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omar Alexander Cardenas</span> American fugitive

Omar Alexander Cardenas is an American fugitive and suspected member of the Pierce Street Gang in Los Angeles who was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on July 20, 2022. He is wanted for murder and for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and is suspected by authorities to have fled to Mexico in order to avoid arrest. Cardenas was the 528th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He replaced Eugene Palmer, who was removed from the list without being captured. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to his capture.

References

  1. ↑ "Most Wanted Profile - Jose Luis Saenz". Los Angeles Police Department. 2004. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Wanted for Murder, Kidnapping, and Rape". Federal Bureau of Investigation. October 19, 2009. Archived from the original on May 30, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Alzaga, Ignacio (23 November 2012). "Cae en Guadalajara uno de los 10 más buscados por el FBI". Milenio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pelisek, Christine (June 16, 2010). "The Killer of His Daughter's Mother". SF Weekly . Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "A summary of developments across Los Angeles County; Community News File / Boyle Heights; Double Murder Suspect Sought in Rape, Slaying of Ex-Girlfriend". Los Angeles Times . August 13, 1998. Archived from the original (Fee required) on November 2, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 Winton, Richard (October 20, 2009). "Notorious Los Angeles gang member added to FBI Most Wanted list". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Winton, Richard (October 21, 2009). "FBI adds L.A. gang member to 10 Most Wanted list". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Council File: 08-0010-S36". Council File Management System. May 18, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
  9. ↑ Finnstrom, Kara (October 20, 2009). "Gang member latest to join FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list". CNN . Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  10. ↑ Gorman, Steve (26 November 2012). "Fugitive returned to L.A. from Mexico to face murder charges". Reuters . Retrieved 23 November 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.