Gang member arrested in killing of dad, 2 sons
Jaxon Van Derbeken,Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, June 26, 2008
(06-25) 21:33 PDT San Francisco -- A member of a notoriously violent street gang was arrested and booked Wednesday on three counts of murder in the shootings of a San Francisco father and two sons in the city's Excelsior district that police believe stemmed from a minor traffic incident, authorities said.
Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante was arrested at 12:05 a.m. at his home on the 4300 block of Hilltop Drive in the Sunday slayings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, authorities said. At 5 p.m., he was booked on the murder charges.
Police recovered a machete, an assault pistol and knives at the time of the arrest, but they have not found the weapon used in the shooting.
At an evening news conference to announce the arrest, police said Ramos is a member of a violent street gang but would not specify which organization.
"I believe he is, I think he would admit that he is a gang member," said Inspector Brian Delahunty of the homicide detail. Police sources confirmed his membership in the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which law enforcement officials consider one of the most dangerous street gangs in San Francisco and the country.
The jailed man has denied to police that he killed the Bolognas, authorities say.
The suspect's attorney, Joe O'Sullivan, said his client is a construction worker who is married to a bank worker and is the father of a young child.
He had a minor criminal record as a juvenile and was arrested in San Francisco a month ago on a weapons possession charge, but the case was dismissed after the district attorney's office found there was not enough evidence to tie him to the weapon, authorities said.
O'Sullivan said his client, who goes by the last name of Escobar, is a member of MS-13, an organization whose members contend is "nothing more than a soccer group."
Law enforcement authorities, however, consider MS-13 a sophisticated street gang with roots in El Salvador whose members are known to use high-powered weapons and even machetes and have been tied to everything from street extortion in San Francisco to firearms trafficking.
O'Sullivan said his client was a friend of the former head of MS-13 in the city, Luis Fuentes, who was killed at 24th and Hampshire streets on June 26, 2004. Fuentes was described in the trial as the "shot caller" for the gang in San Francisco. His convicted killer, a Norteño street gang member, was represented by O'Sullivan and another lawyer...
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This is the inevitable consequence of our "Sanctuary City" policy. While O'Sullivan has been dancing around the issue, the SJ Mercury News reports that Ramos is, in fact, an illegal alien. The US Attorney's office is launching a federal criminal investigation of SF's practice of flying juvenile drug dealers home to Honduras at taxpayer expense. One can only hope that the lid has been blown off of this and San Francisco can somehow rid itself of its insane "Sanctuary City" policy - or have it removed through federal action.
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