Los Angeles, California - A member of the Pueblo Bishop Bloods street gang has been found guilty by a jury for the second time of racketeering offenses that included the slaying of a man in front of the victim’s 2-year-old son.
Rondale Young, a.k.a. “Pueblo Grump,” 36, of South Los Angeles, was found guilty on Tuesday after a two-week trial. United States District Judge S. James Otero has scheduled an October 7 sentencing hearing, at which time Young is expected to receive a sentence of life in federal prison.
The federal jury convicted Young of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in relation to the August 2, 2009 murder of Francisco Cornelio, a 23-year-old man with no gang affiliation who was shot to death at point-blank range while vacuuming his car and in front of his young son. The jury also found Young guilty of conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering (VICAR); VICAR murder; and possessing, using and discharging a firearm resulting in death in relation to a crime of violence.
According to the evidence presented at trial, on the day of Mr. Cornelio’s murder, Young, accompanied by other armed gang members, drove his car into rival gang territory, seeking retaliation for a fatal drive-by shooting of a Pueblo Bishop gang member. Mr. Cornelio was targeted simply because he was of Hispanic descent and was in rival gang territory. Local authorities originally charged Young in 2009 with killing Mr. Cornelio, but he was acquitted by a state jury.
An August 2010 indictment charged Young and 44 other members and associates of the gang with being members of a criminal enterprise that engaged in drug dealing, firearms trafficking, murder, witness intimidation and armed robbery as part of the gang’s efforts to control and terrorize the Pueblo Del Rio Housing Projects in South Los Angeles.
In 2013, Young was convicted of racketeering charges in connection to the indictment and Mr. Cornelio’s murder and was sentenced to life in federal prison. That conviction was vacated in 2017 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which cited evidentiary errors during the first trial. The case was sent back to the district court for a retrial. Young has been in federal custody since the 2010 indictment.
With Young’s conviction, all 45 defendants charged in this matter have been convicted of federal RICO and related charges, and have been held responsible for multiple murders.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Los Angeles Police Department; the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; Assistant United States Attorney Frances S. Lewis of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; and Assistant United States Attorney Julia S. Choe of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section.
