Was it an illicit business deal gone wrong or a planned violent culmination of a feud over unpaid debts and control of a lucrative drug-trafficking operation? An Orange County jury will soon have to decide what led to three men being killed and burned in an SUV in a suburban Orange neighborhood and a fourth shot to death on a drive to Fontana.
Jury deliberations will soon begin in the trial of Raul Gastellum Flores, the only suspect to face trial thus far for his role in an alleged sprawling murder plot that resulted in the 2015 killings of brothers Edgar Berrelleza-Soto, 26, and Joel Mauricio Berrelleza, 35, both of Orange, along with two other men.
Prosecutors allege that Flores, now 33, was one of five men from the Phoenix area who, along with a man from Mexico with alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, are suspected of taking part in the four slayings.
Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq alleged that Rosario Roman-Lopez — a former partner of the Berrelleza brothers in a cross-border drug smuggling operation — promised to pay Flores $2,000 to take part in a plot to kidnap and kill the brothers. Roman-Lopez was allegedly angry at the brothers failing to pay him back for hiring a coyote.
Flores admitted to being part of a crew that ambushed the Berrelleza brothers and two other victims — 19-year-old Antonio Medina of Glendale, Ariz., and 20-year-old Fernando Meza, of Phoenix, according to the prosecutor. Flores is not accused of firing any weapons, but prosecutors allege he was part of a conspiracy to kidnap and kill the victims.
Berrelleza-Soto, Medina and Meza were shot and their bodies set a flame while they sat in a GMC SUV in an Orange neighborhood. Flores, in an interview with detectives, admitted to dousing their bodies with gasoline and then lighting them on fire with a cigarette lighter.
A short time later, members of the same crew kidnapped Joel Berrelleza and shot him three times point blank, killing him, while they were driving toward Fontana. A cell phone video played during the trial showed members of the crew taunting a bleeding Berrelleza as he died from his gunshot wounds.
Siddiq, the prosecutor, described Flores as the only person to be present for all four killings and alleged he was “ready for more” even after setting the first three men on fire. The plan was always to kill the brothers, whose drug operation allegedly took in nearly $2 million a year, the prosecutor argued.
“The only way to take over the drug business is to kill Edgar and Joel,” Siddiq told swearers during closing arguments on Wednesday. “You can’t leave them around. If you do, they will come back and get you.”
Flores’ attorney, Cameron Talley, countered that Flores was not aware that the others were going to kill the brothers, and once the slayings began he was acting out of duress. It was supposed to be a business deal, the defense attorney said, discussing a way to divide up the drug operation.
“It was a business,” Talley said during his closing argument. “It is a terrible business… but it is still a business with a lot of money.”
The defense attorney noted that other members of the crew are no longer in custody. At least one — the brothers alleged former partner Roman-Lopez — was killed in Mexico months after the Southern California murders. One man was convicted of robbery in return for murder charges being dropped, while another apparently cooperated and testified during Flores’ trial.
“This defendant was the only one left who could be charged with murder,” Talley told sworns. “He is the last man standing.”
Closing arguments in trial wound down just before the end of the court day on Wednesday, but jurors are not scheduled to return until Monday morning for deliberations.
