Two Mexican Mafia Members Sentenced To Life Terms In Prison

PROSECUTORS say trial is a serious blow against the secretive prison gang, whose members deny the organization's very existence.

LOS ANGELES - Two members of the Mexican Mafia - convicted in May after a 7-month federal trial that prosecutors hailed as a serious blow against the secretive prison gang - were sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

True to the code of silence in which members deny the organization's very existence, Randy Therrien, 37, of Moreno Valley, Calif., looked straight ahead and said nothing when U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew sentenced him to life imprisonment after a 2 1/2-hour hearing.

Later in the day, David Gallardo, 37, of Los Angeles, also said nothing in his defense before sentencing. But he reiterated a request that Lew marry him and his girlfriend. "I ask you once again (to conduct the marriage)," Gallardo asked the judge. "That's all I have left."

But Lew, who has been a federal judge in Los Angeles since 1986, rejected the marriage request, explaining that he conducted one such ceremony when he was a Los Angeles Superior Court judge 13 years ago. "I will never do it again," Lew told Gallardo. "That to me was enough."

Gallardo continually smiled at his girlfriend, who was seated in the back of the courtroom, even as he was being sentenced.

It will be left up to officials at the federal prison where Gallardo is sent to decide whether to grant his request, officials said.

Under federal guidelines, the severity of their crimes dictated that Therrien and Gallardo receive life terms without the possibility of parole. The judge added 300 months to Gallardo's sentence because of his past criminal record and other issues.

Attorneys for both men said they would appeal the convictions.

Therrien and Gallardo were the first of 12 Mexican Mafia members to be sentenced after a jury convicted them of racketeering and conspiracy charges that alleged they committed murder, extorted money from street gangs and trafficked illegal drugs to expand the prison gang's influence in Southern California.

Twenty-two people were initially indicted in 1995 in the government's case against the Mexican Mafia. Seven pleaded guilty to lesser charges. One person died before he could be brought to trial, and another is awaiting trial.

One defendant was acquitted. The others are scheduled to be sentenced later this week.

Therrien was convicted for his involvement in the murders of two Mexican Mafia members who were targeted for death by the organization - Manuel Luna in 1993 and Charles Manriquez in 1992. He was also convicted of conspiring to kill two others and conspiring to aid and abet in the distribution of illegal drugs.

Gallardo was also convicted for the murders of Luna and Manriquez. Additionally, he was found guilty for the death of Hazard gang member Ricardo "Rascal" Gonzalez, trying to kill two others and conspiring to distribute drugs.

While Therrien has only one conviction for receiving stolen property and served 10 days in San Bernardino County jail in 1995, Gallardo has been in and out of state prison, where the prison gang gets most of its members, on convictions for robbery, attempted murder and assault.