DUBLIN — An incarcerated South Hayward native who was convicted last year of ordering a fellow gang member to murder a rapper during a live performance has been sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison, court records show.

Matthew Jesse Munoz, 31, who went by “Yung Mickey,” was sentenced in late May by Judge Michael Gaffey, who also presided over the September 2022 trial where Munoz was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, after an earlier mistrial. The intended target of the plot was a rapper who goes by Lil Slugg, and whose concert continued as planned despite the intended hitman allegedly lurking in the area, only to be dissuaded by a beefed up police presence, according to records.

One of Munoz’s co-defendants, Michael Porter, was sentenced to three years behind bars through a plea deal on May 26, but the prison term is essentially meaningless; it runs concurrent to a 14-year term he received in 2013 for his role in robbing a jewelry store.

The case was filed thanks to a 2017 Hayward police wiretap investigation dubbed Operation Winter Storm, which looked not just at Munoz, Porter and co-defendant Humberto Villegas, but a large group of others connected to the East Las Palmas gang, or ELP, a subset of the Norteños. The investigation was prompted by a string of gang shootings and homicides, and resulted in several criminal cases, including multiple alleged gang conspiracies.

At the time Operation Winter Storm began, Munoz was serving a 14-year prison term for an assault with a firearm conviction that stemmed from a shooting at an East Bay apartment. Incarcerated at Folsom State Prison, Munoz allegedly acquired a contraband cellphone and got in touch with other ELP members, including Villegas.

In conversations that followed, Munoz reportedly instructed Villegas to wait for a Feb. 2, 2017 rap show at the now defunct Fogline Bar and Grill in Hayward where Lil Slugg would be performing and to shoot him on sight. Prosecutors say that throughout the night, Munoz asked Villegas for updates and gave him instructions on what to do next, the whole time unaware that police had intercepted his conversations through the wiretap, warned Lil Slugg of the plot and instructed patrol units to park their cars outside the bar and make their presence known.

Police claim that Villegas traveled to the bar as ordered but that the increased police presence dissuaded him from shooting. Charges against Villegas are still pending. He faces additional conspiracy counts on a separate docket with other alleged ELP members.

Porter became part of the case because he and Munoz had been celled up together at Solano State Prison, and because of alleged statements by Villegas and another alleged gang member saying Porter wanted to get rid of Lil Slugg. Prosecutors also theorized that Lil Slugg was friends with a man known as “Moochie,” who had cooperated against Porter in the jewelry store robbery. But Porter’s lawyer, Steven Alpers, said in court papers that allegation was flat-out false.

“All of the co-defendants in that gave confessions and none of them was nicknamed ‘Moochie’ or ‘Slugga,’” Alpers wrote. “Any implication that Mr. Porter wanted a snitch killed who provided information which resulted in his prior arrest is totally unjustified.”

Alpers added that the more likely motive, which was also acknowledged by prosecutors, was that another gang leader known as “Big G” had gotten word that Lil Slugg kicked over a candle for the memorial of a slain ELP member.

Munoz went on trial first in April 2022, then in September 2022, after a mistrial was declared in the first case. His defense, in part, was that there was no real conspiracy because Villegas never actually went to the Fogline for the concert. After Munoz was convicted, his attorney filed a new trial motion claiming Judge Gaffey had improperly given jurors transcripts of police testimony while they appeared split on a verdict.

Formed in the 1980s, the ELP gang was named after a string of palm trees that adorned a South Hayward neighborhood at the time, according to police testimony.

In 2012, Porter and four other Hayward men allegedly robbed the Gold N Treasures jewelry store in San Ramon, prompting the store owner to shoot and kill 18-year-old Kibrom Bairu, who was allegedly armed with a pistol. Porter, whose role in the robbery was riffling through glass cases of jewelry, pleaded no contest to robbery and received a 14-year prison term the following year.

But in the 10 years since the robbery, and six years since the allegations in this case, Porter, 31, has worked to make positive changes in his life, according to both prosecutors and the defense. At Porter’s change-of-plea hearing, Deputy District Attorney Mark Bennett noted Porter’s enrollment in various substance abuse treatment and vocational programs, and said that was in part why he received a concurrent three-year prison term. Porter pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit assault.

“(Porter) has a 10-year-old son that, despite his incarceration, he has actively tried to participate in his life to the best of his ability,” Bennett said, adding that he confirmed that by reviewing Porter’s outgoing calls from Santa Rita Jail.

Source: www.mercurynews.com