The War on La Familia

Carlos' gang, F13, is a well-known and violent gang that originated in South Central Los Angeles and became known for trafficking narcotics from Mexico. In the late 1990s, officials with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department saw signs that F13 — which had been growing across the country — had spread to Kansas. The local F13 members ran petty street robberies and occasionally took swipes at their enemies with drive-by shootings. Kansas City, Kansas, police officials were unwilling to answer questions related to gang activity, saying even general queries were the subjects of ongoing investigations.

Originally, the members of Familia Loca — also known as FL — were part of the F13 gang. According to testimony from Alex Bruce, a Wyandotte County employee who works specifically with gang members, FL split away sometime in 2006. The two gangs operated in different areas. F13 was considered a south-side gang. FL was north side. But in early 2007, Bruce said, F13 started vandalizing graffiti that FL had sprayed on buildings well within their own territory. The two groups got into a turf war. Those initial volleys of spray paint escalated into physical confrontations.

The violence started down the path to murder in early 2007. According to court documents, Carlos and other F13 members were allegedly driving in a black Ford Expedition in January 2007 when they spotted José Franco Jr. and Valentino Hernandez, members of FL. Austin Quijas, who was a passenger in Carlos' vehicle, allegedly opened fire on Hernandez at the intersection of Seventh Street and Central Avenue.

The next month, Familia Loca retaliated. According to Carlos, FL members walked up to his parents' yellow stucco home on the night of February 19, 2007. He sat on the porch with some friends. Carlos told police that Hernandez and Franco fired shots into the black Expedition parked in the driveway and other vehicles that belonged to Carlos' visitors.

The violence continued throughout the spring and came to a climax on April 1. That Sunday, Hernandez's home — a worn white residence perched on a hill near 14th Street and Washington — was targeted. Hernandez, according to court testimony, later showed fellow gang members the holes that peppered his home from what looked like a .40-caliber handgun and an AK-47 assault rifle.

His house had been shot up twice before, according to the testimony of FL gang member Corey Cisneros. But Hernandez was particularly angry about the April 1 attack. He found a bullet in the mattress where his mother was sleeping that night and another round in a couch pillow where his nephew was lying.

Hernandez wanted revenge. The F13 member who lived the closest was Carlos Moreno. "Valentino said it was the right thing to do," Cisneros testified. "An eye for an eye."

When he woke up on Tuesday morning, Luis Gonzalez didn't know the day would end with a deadly mission.

Standing barely 5 feet tall, with slender arms and spiky black hair, Gonzalez looks the part of his gang nickname — Duende, or "little elf." At the time, the slight 16-year-old was a ninth-grader at Bishop Ward High School and a relatively new member of Familia Loca.

That Tuesday, he drove his mom's white Oldsmobile Intrigue to school. He came back after school to look after his brothers until his mother got home from work. He headed out to his girlfriend's house once it started to get dark. The two were watching TV when Gonzalez got a call from Daniel Perez Jr.

A dark-eyed teenager with short, close-cropped hair, Perez was Gonzalez's close friend. They didn't go to the same school, but Gonzalez said they knew each other from the streets. At the time, Perez attended Associated Youth Services, an alternative school for kids who had been suspended from the public system long term.

Perez became a member of Familia Loca in early 2006. He showed a tattoo of the letters "FL," written in cursive on his upper-left pectoral, to a youth worker with El Centro, according to court testimony. He was given the name Sylvester, after the cartoon cat. That summer, he was charged with criminal possession of a firearm with a barrel longer than 12 inches and obstruction of justice. In December, he was charged again with obstructing the legal process.

By early 2007, though, Perez was looking for a way out of the gang. He told a teacher that his entire family was considering moving out of the state so he could distance himself from Familia Loca. He asked a youth worker about getting his tattoo removed, and he took a job at J.C. Penney in Overland Park.

Being part of Familia Loca wasn't an identity that could be easily cast off. Cisneros testified that quitting the gang would be dangerous. Without the protection of the group, he explained, a former member risked being picked off by a rival gang.

If he was looking for a way out, Perez hadn't found it by April 3. That night, he called Gonzalez to make plans to check in at Hernandez's house. Gonzalez testified that he couldn't recall what time they rode over, but when they arrived, a shotgun was propped near the front door. And, according to Gonzalez, Franco had a directive as soon as they walked in.