Salvador Perez leader of a Mexican Mafia prison gang has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in San Diego federal court.

leader of a Mexican Mafia prison gang has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in San Diego federal court. Prosecutors say 31-year-old Salvador Perez was sentenced Friday in District Court, after pleading guilty two years ago to racketeering conspiracy charges. The charges followed a lengthy investigation of San Diego street gangs with ties to the Mexican Mafia. Perez is the last of 35 defendants to be sentenced after that probe. In October 2007, Perez admitted participating in the June 2002 murder of inmate Jabila Barragan in Susanville.
U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt says Perez also acknowledged that the Mexican Mafia engages in murder, attempted murder, drug sales, robbery and money laundering.