Rene Enriquez was a member of the Mexican Mafia, and he spent years thinking about a story that involved a lot of moving pieces. It is a complex and fascinating story, and it centers on a man named Vessie Sagatto, whose real name was Vevessie Sagatto.
Vessie was a well-known brother from 18th Street. He was credited with creating the taxation system in downtown Los Angeles. His homeboys had a blind loyalty to him, and every time he got out of prison, they took care of him.
Vessie began organizing along with Puppet Martinez and Nido from 18th Street. Enriquez first met Vessie in Folsom State Prison when he was released to the mainline from Shoe Two. Vessie was from the 4A group, and Enriquez was from the Shoe Two group.
In 1985 and 1986, they were all released to the general population after Nico Velasquez negotiated a peace treaty between the Black Guerrilla Family and the Mexican Mafia. Joe Morgan had been transferred out of the prison because he was adamantly opposed to any peace with the blacks. Morgan was a hardcore racist, and that was just the way he was.
Enriquez and Vessie got along pretty well. A photograph shows the two of them in front of the old armory at Folsom State Prison, where the guns used to be kept. Vessie stands in the center, and Enriquez squats in the lower left with a beanie cap.
In that picture, from the upper row left to right, are Spider Galbadon from Cantaranas, Weto Cahuaya from 18th Street, George Gonzales, and Vincent Hurtado, known as Chente from Pomona. They were all brand new carnales at the time. They called themselves the Pepsi generation.
They were all relatively new brothers, and all the younger brothers used to run together. They all got along great. It was a time when politics were just emerging between Bebito and Kilroy, who opposed anybody that got along with Joe Morgan. It was still something like a honeymoon period in Enriquez's induction into the Mexican Mafia.
He had no political worries. Everybody had just been made, and they were learning to be carnales. They were baby carnales at that time. The titans were on the yard with them, including Weto Shai Shai Alpi, Sosa, Kilroy Roybal, Bebito Alvarez, Gil Santistevan, and Nico Velasquez. These carnales were the veteranos of the group.
Once you get made, you are thrust out there. There is no protocol to teach you. You just learn. You sink or swim.
Another photograph shows Vessie circled in red. To his right is David Galbadon in a blue pea coat. The prison used to give out those blue pea coats, and they were nice and kept you warm because it was freezing up there. It was obviously a winter day, because everybody was bundled up in thermals and jackets.
Squatting on the left is David Delgadillo, known as Chino from Garrity. Squatting on the right is Wino Grajeda. They named him adequately, because he was a bum. He never had anything, never had any money, never had any hustle, and always avoided Mexican Mafia meetings.
On one occasion, Wino was supposed to go do an elimination, and he avoided it. He did everything in his power to avoid meeting up with Cardenas. He was the complete opposite of his brother Guate. Wino and Guate are identical twins. Guate is a true and true killer, while Wino was just a bum.
The issue with Vessie began years later. Enriquez ended up with Vessie in Palm Hall while he was doing a violation. Both of them got out of prison, and they went through a plot to eliminate Bebito Alvarez. Bebito was Vessie's road dog, and Vessie was road dogs with Bebito and Kilroy. He was part of their crew.
Bebito and Kilroy ended up on the lista, and Vessie and Enriquez ended up in Palm Hall together with Tupi Hernandez, known as Turtle from Colton, and another brother. They were going to eliminate Bebito.
After it was discovered that they were going to do this hit, Enriquez, Dottie, and Pee Wee ended up transferred to Corcoran. They all got there at the same time. It was a midnight express. They were not even told to pack up, because you usually get notification that you are going to be transferred. The CDC arranged it so they would be kidnapped and just taken. They did that to Enriquez at midnight one day.
Vessie started a rumor that Enriquez had locked up, that he had gone into protective custody. Enriquez had just disappeared one night. Vessie did not know that Enriquez was on a bus with other Mexican Mafia members to Corcoran. He started the rumor based on mere speculation.
Vessie got into the habit of talking bad about people. Because Bebito and Kilroy had previously spoken bad about Enriquez, Vessie continued that thread. He did it in Palm Hall. After Enriquez left, David Bias, known as Puppet from Florencia, arrived there.
Vessie told Puppet from Florencia, and Puppet was a true hog. He was a killer for the organization. He had been around for years and had a lot of juice in the organization. Both of them started running with the rumor that Enriquez had locked up in 1988 and gone into protective custody.
Enriquez did not have the slightest idea that this was happening. The rumor got around the organization. Puppet had a lot of influence. He was a doer, not just a talker. He was a heroin addict, though, and he died of an overdose after his release.
A group photograph from San Quentin State Prison shows Puppet lying in front of the group. In the first row squatting is Chuy from Venice, whom Enriquez sponsored into the organization. The individual in the turquoise bandana is Fernando Bermudez, who recently passed away of natural causes. To his left is Turtle Bayas, who also recently passed away, in New Mexico, of natural causes. In the upper row standing in the back is a very young Daryl Baca.
That is how the yards used to be at San Quentin. All the carnales came out on that yard and interacted with each other on a regular basis. That was the kind of juice Puppet had. He was like the preeminent leader in that group.
Bernie was a humble, quiet guy, but Bernie was the real power in that picture. He was the elder statesman, a really quiet individual who was never involved in politics. He was very dignified, and he was one of the people who schooled Daryl Baca. That is one of the reasons Daryl Baca is the way he is, so dignified and quiet and respectful and non-political. He learned from the very best, and Bernie was the very best. David, on the other hand, was just a straight thug killer. He was smart and had magnetism, but he was a thug.
The story starts in Men's Central Jail. Puppet arrived there while Enriquez was fighting his double homicide charge. Somebody told Enriquez that Puppet was calling him a PC. That is when he found out about what had happened with Puppet and Vessie and Chino in Palm Hall a couple of years earlier, when he was transferred to Corcoran on the midnight express.
They said Enriquez had locked up. They said he wanted protective custody, even though he was a full-fledged carnal with notches on his belt. Enriquez describes himself as not a big juice guy, just a carnal. He was never the big leader everybody says he was. He was just a regular guy, just like everybody else.
Turtle from Colton told him that this had gone down. Turtle was his buddy. Enriquez asked to deal with it, and everybody said yes. So he got the green light to whack out Puppet at Men's Central County Jail.
Enriquez was nervous. Puppet was a big boy, and the photograph did not do him justice. In real life he was huge, and he was no pushover. It was going to be a death match.
Enriquez talked to a couple of camaradas. He talked to Musky from Flores and asked what he thought. Musky said he was going to need about two guys to hold him. He talked to Chango from San Fernando Valley as well, and Chango said the same thing, that he would have to have a couple of guys holding Puppet while he whacked him.
That was exactly what Enriquez was going to do. They were going to do it on the visiting chain. They were going to come out of their cuffs and whack him right there in 1750 after being processed for visiting.
The first thing Enriquez did was secure a shank. The best depiction of the knife he made is one with a blue handle. That is the kind of knife he cut out of the side of his bunk. He had a hacksaw blade about two inches long, and he worked every night. You could hear the scraping and the cutting. He cut out a shank ready to go for Puppet.
He was down with it and ready. Everybody in the county jail agreed that Puppet had called him a PC, so he had the right to kill him. Then Double Peters came along and asked him to let the guy apologize.
Double Peters told him he could do it if he really wanted to, but asked him to do a favor and talk to Puppet first to find out what happened. Enriquez still did not know that Vessie was the one who started the rumor.
One day Enriquez went out to visit, and Puppet was right next to him. Puppet told him, "The spenza," which means "I'm sorry." He said he had said it and owned it, but that he did not originate it. He said Vessie was the one who started that story after Enriquez transferred out of Palm Hall.
Vessie was the only one there. He said they came and got Enriquez, that he disappeared at midnight, and that he had gone into protective custody. Enriquez said okay and thought about it. He still was not convinced that he was going to give Puppet a pass.
He could have pushed it hard, and Puppet would have been on the list no matter what. Even if Enriquez did not do it himself, if he did not do it while Puppet was in the county jail, they probably would have whacked Enriquez for saying that he wanted Puppet on the list and then not doing it.
Enriquez thought about it and went back and talked to Double Peters. Double Peters told him that Puppet had apologized to him like a man and owned it, and that he had told him who started it. That was who Enriquez wanted to focus on: Vessie.
So Enriquez decided to give Puppet a pass. Puppet was then transferred out, and Vessie Sagato arrived in the county jail. Vessie had been calling Enriquez's mother at the house while he was out, apologizing. But Enriquez knew somebody had to pay for this. Somebody had to pay. It was too little, too late.
Some of the carnales in the county jail apparently told Vessie that Puppet had apologized to Enriquez and owned it, and that Enriquez had said it was done and over. Enriquez had proven his point in the county jail. He was right there, facing Puppet, ready to whack him, and Puppet apologized.
By no means did Puppet bow down. He did not bow down to Enriquez at all. Puppet was a hog, and Enriquez was just a kid, really, around 27 or 28 years old. Puppet was an old guy of 40 or 50 who had been killing for the organization. He was not about to bow down. He apologized like a man, and Enriquez accepted it.
Vessie arrived in the county jail after having called Enriquez's mother multiple times to apologize. He offered Enriquez drugs and other things. He was in high power with them.
By this time, Enriquez had participated in the attorney room pit. He knew that they had to get something to do this, and he wanted it to be big. He wanted to make a statement.
He had somebody bring in something they could use. It was a relative of Little Moe Reese. They were going to turn themselves into the county jail for two or three days. They had a weekend to do. Enriquez talked to somebody on the streets and had them get him a zip gun.
It was a .22 with six rounds of rimfire ammunition. He also had some hacksaw blades and balloons of heroin sent in as well. The main thing to him was the zip gun. He wanted to use the zip gun on Vessie Sagato. He wanted to shoot him in the head and make national news.
He imagined the headline: inmate slain, executed with a firearm in Los Angeles County Jail. It had never been done before. That was what he wanted, the grandiosity of it. He wanted it to send shock waves everywhere, to show that these guys had guns and would blow your brains out right in the county. He wanted it to be a crazy hit, over the top, like the attorney room.
The man turned himself into the county jail. Enriquez set up with the inmates who worked IRC, the inmate reception center, where you get processed through when you are initially arrested. He had two or three trustees there waiting. He gave them a code word, and the code word was "sports." They were going to ask for him. His name was Dodo.
Dodo came in with his Yahoo packed full of stuff: the .22, the six rounds, the two hacksaw blades, and a bundle of heroin balloons. A trustee walked up to him and asked if he was Dodo. He said yes. The trustee said, "Hey, Renee sent me, and I'm supposed to tell you sports." The man pulled it out and gave it to him. Lo and behold, the package made it to Enriquez that day.
Enriquez knew who was down there in high power. It was Little Moe Ruiz and Night Owl Castro, Ruben Castro from 18th Street. Ruben Castro had been in contact with Enriquez. He had been sending him glavo. He had sent him a .223 round and all kinds of stuff. He was the one who acquired the .22 longs for Enriquez as well, weeks before he even got busted.
Ruben got there, and Vessie was on the tier with him. He was in place to do what Enriquez wanted to do. Enriquez sent the zip gun from 2904, where he was housed, down to 1750 with three rounds of ammunition. He sent a kite and talked to some people, and sent it through visiting. It got to Ruben.
Ruben set it up. He put the thing together and put a round in the chamber. Vessie played chess. He was an avid chess player, a master chess player. He could play without a chessboard and with no pieces, and memorize and play. He played Enriquez that way and beat him in Palm Hall.
Vessie played chess every day. He was sitting at his desk, and Ruben came up with the zip gun behind him, put his hand through the bars, and fired. It clicked. Vessie turned around and looked at him. Ruben pulled his hand away, and Vessie asked, "Are you trying to shoot me?" Ruben said, "No, brother," and walked away.
It misfired. Ruben had set it up wrong. He did not put the firing mechanism in correctly. It was just a simple pin on a spring, and he bungled it. Vessie was on point now, but he did not lock up. He did not really see the gun, but the attempt had been made. Ruben Castro attempted to shoot him in the back of the head while he was playing chess on Baker Row in 1700.
Vessie was wary after that. He did not know what was going on. He knew something was up, but he thought he was okay because Enriquez was not there. He was not going to see him personally. He thought maybe that because Puppet got a pass, he got a pass. But that was not the case. They were still plotting on him.
Enriquez told Ruben, "What the hell, dude?" Right after that, they did a raid, the next day. Enriquez thinks Vessie informed that there was a firearm on the tier, because they did a raid and found all the rounds and the zip gun itself. Enriquez remembers something about the rounds being kept in the coin slot of the telephone, though he is pulling from decades ago and could be off on that detail.
They found the firearm and the rounds. Now they were stuck with the question of how to get Vessie. Ruben was out of the picture. He transferred. Ruben Castro is now just a little old man in ADX or somewhere. Enriquez does not know where he is, only that he is in federal prison serving a life sentence. He was sentenced under the 1995 RICO indictment, United States of America versus Alex Aguirre, and got a life sentence for it.
Ruben transferred out of Los Angeles County Jail. Vessie was still there, and Little Moe was still there. Enriquez got out Little Moe and had a conversation with him. He asked if he could handle it, if he could whack Vessie. Moe agreed to do it.
Moe got a good shank and hid it in a chocolate bar, one of those big extra-long Three Musketeers bars that they sell in the county jail. Moe arranged it so that they would come out to the visit together. He found out when Vessie was going to have a visit, and then they went out together.
The image of inmates visiting is from Jiro, where the Mexican Mafia used to visit from high power. They had installed handcuffs, a small length of chain welded to the metal partition with a handcuff, so an inmate would have one hand cuffed and one hand free to use the phone.
Moe went out to the visiting room with Vessie next to him. He took the knife out of the candy bar and attempted to stab Vessie in the visiting room in front of everybody. Vessie moved away, and Moe barely cut him. That was the hit.
Both hits were bungled. Vessie got away with his life. He ended up locking up in the county jail right then and there. He was gone. He went to another row. They knew he had locked up, but Enriquez waited. He was not going to be the guy to do the same thing that Vessie did to him.
Vessie came out to the general population later on. Enriquez waited and waited. Moe said, "Hey, let's tell all the carnales he locked up." Enriquez said, "Wait."
They ended up getting transferred to Tehachapi, to the shoe there, a 4B. That was the ad seg shoe and a processing center, or reception center, for Southern Central California. They ended up there and saw Vessie on the non-affiliated protective custody yard, going out there.
A couple of other carnales were there. Prieto from Sinaloa was there. Camacho Prieto from Sinaloa. Chewy from Venice was there. Enriquez was there. Little Moe was there. Termite was there with them. They saw Vessie going out, and they said, "Hey, man, he's in PC. Let's tell all the brothers." Enriquez said, "Wait. Wait. Wait."
They waited. Enriquez never once said that Vessie had locked up. He wanted everybody else to see that he had locked up. That was the end of Vessie. He was done.
The thing with Vessie is that he had skeletons in his closet from way back. He had a brother named Solo Sagato. Solo was a rat. He told, and he testified in a murder case years before. Vessie knew this. Nobody else did. He hid the fact.
Everybody was scared to talk about his brother Chino Solo Sagato because Vessie was a carnal. Nobody wanted to be the one to say that his brother was a rat. After this happened to Vessie, Vessie was no good. He had gone into protective custody. He was persona non grata, but Solo and Vessie were still popping up in 18th Street. They were still there collecting money.
Alfred Gomez from 18th Street caught Solo in the hood. According to the facts from the court in Gomez's appeal, during the afternoon of November 10, 1993, Edgar Chavez, also a member of the 18th Street gang, drove the defendant to the corner of 11th Street and Westlake Avenue, where Sagato was walking with his girlfriend, Mary Granados, the second murder victim. Granados was 26 weeks pregnant.
The defendant was wearing a hat and a bandana over the lower part of his face. He left the car, approached Sagato and Granados from behind, and fired at least seven shots, first at Sagato. Then the defendant returned to Chavez's car and left the area. They executed both Solo, Vessie's brother, and his girlfriend, and the unborn baby, right there in the middle of the street.
Solo was eliminated behind the Vessie situation, and because he was a rat. They were still running around the hood collecting, and once Vessie lost his stripes, Solo lost his protection, and the homeboys took action.
A picture shows Vessie after he paroled with his bulldog. Vessie was a Marine, and after he paroled, he lived the better part of his life after he left the organization. He lived a normal life, but one of the things that plagued him was his addiction. He would go back to the hood collecting dope.
Puppet and Night Owl were already out, and Weto Caballo had already sent word that this guy was not welcome in the neighborhood. He was on the Mexican Mafia hit list. All his homeboys were very organized in that area. For a long time, even after he had locked up and been hit, he was welcome there, until the carnales from 18th Street put their foot down and said he was not welcome there.
Ultimately, they caught up with Vessie, and he was shot multiple times and passed away. According to his obituary, he was born on October 24, 1956, and he was eliminated on January 21, 2018.