[dropcap size=big]D[/dropcap]ressed in his best flannel Pendleton, Peter “Sana” Ojeda can be seen at El Salvador Park weidling his will over a collection of Southern California’s most hardcore gangsters while standing on a raised platform, like a king on his dais, on a cool January afternoon in Santa Ana 26 years ago. It was 1992, in the middle of a three-year span that would turn out to be one of the most violent in Santa Ana history.
This was the moment, the Mexican Mafia or the ‘Eme’ consolidated its power over crime in the region by uniting cholos battling over street turf and painted walls with the promise of wealth and power the likes of Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, or Sam Giancana.
The man known as the “OC Godfather,” for his role in the founding of the Mexican Mafia, died June 7 of a heart attack in prison where he was serving a 15-year sentence. According to journalist Sam Quinones, Ojeda, the oldest active member of the organized crime syndicate, died on the operating table. He was 76.
Ojeda’s death highlighted the evolution of the prison gang to its current status as a player in international drug trade, a major player in Southern California organized crime and one of the primary reasons why violent street level crime has fallen over the past decade, according to Quinones, the noted author and journalist.