Listening to 'The Mexican Mafia Tapes'

An illustration of a cassette tape, with the spools of tape extending from the cassette to form the outlines of two heads

Sept. 7, 2024 6:30 AM PT

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Sept. 7. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

“The Mexican Mafia Tapes” provide an inside look into two criminal organizations trying to forge an unprecedented alliance.
When will Southern California get relief from this heat wave?
The best movies, TV shows, music, books and arts coming this fall.
And here’s today’s e-newspaper

An inside look at the Mexican Mafia

If you’re looking to read a fascinating story this weekend while you’re beating the heat, allow me to recommend “The Mexican Mafia Tapes,” a three-part series from my colleague Matthew Ormseth.

Here’s the gist: Two criminal organizations — the Mexican Mafia in the U.S. and a drug cartel called La Familia in Mexico — wanted to broker an unprecedented alliance. La Familia would provide an unending supply of methamphetamine if the Mexican Mafia protected the cartel’s leaders in U.S. prisons.

But what neither side knew was the man who took charge of the negotiations — Ralph Guy Rocha — was an informant for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

And unbeknownst to his law enforcement handlers, Rocha made a set of secret recordings that jeopardized their case.

An illustration of a silhouetted man behind bars, with masked men holding guns being depicted within the silhouette.

In those tapes, Rocha told “a very different story from the one agents and prosecutors presented in a 2013 indictment alleging the Mexican Mafia and La Familia were entwined in a sinister, transnational alliance,” Matthew reports.

For example, Rocha said his associates in the Mexican Mafia were not smart enough to pull off the cartel deal, so he took charge of negotiations with help from his government handlers. But Rocha said agents and detectives also hyped up the Mexican Mafia to justify their salaries.

Officials with the ATF and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they didn’t exaggerate the danger of the Mexican Mafia, which they considered a significant threat to the public.

Rocha’s handlers have theories about why he made the secret tapes, including that he was taking an early stab at a screenplay or wanted an insurance policy in case authorities backed away from his deal.

But in a recent telephone interview from an undisclosed location in the federal witness protection program, Rocha offered his own explanation: “I just wanted proof I existed.”

I won’t spoil the whole story because there are a ton of twists. But you can find links to the entire series below. You can also hear Matthew talk about the series here.

The week’s biggest stories

A construction worker taking a quick break while digging a trench with a shovel amid a heat wave.

Los Angeles scorches under triple-digit temperatures with little relief overnight. When will it end?

Triple-digit temperatures are forecast through the weekend and significant cooling likely won’t be felt until at least Wednesday when temperatures in Los Angeles and surrounding areas are expected to drop to the low 80s and high 70s.
The heat wave comes as climate officials declared this year’s summer was Earth’s hottest on record.
Here are seven essential tips to keep your pet healthy and happy in hot weather.

Employers added 142,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.2%

Job growth picked up from the sluggish pace of hiring in July. But the news seems certain to set in concrete the Federal Reserve’s earlier indication that it will begin lowering interest rates later this month.
High interest rates have been especially hard on people in California, where housing, gas and many other things are more expensive than in most other states.

The best movies, TV shows, music, books and arts coming this fall

It may not feel like fall, but critics at The Times share what they’re looking forward to this autumn, from “The Substance,” a gross-out parable of Hollywood glamour, to Shaboozey, the genre-defying artist poised to take the Fonda by storm next month.
Meanwhile, critic Robert Lloyd asks, How long is too long for a television series, a film or a performance?

More big stories

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed emergency rules to rein in the sale of illegal hemp products that contain intoxicating cannabinoids such as THC.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs must build more than 2,500 units of housing for low-income veterans on its West Los Angeles campus, a federal judge ruled.
Dr. Mark Ghaly is stepping down as head of the California Health and Human Services Agency after an eventful tenure that included the COVID-19 pandemic.
California lawmakers passed a pair of bills aimed at making the landscape safer for wildlife threatened by habitat fragmentation and ubiquitous rat poison.
San Diego County should create a database of dangerous dogs, a grand jury said.

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This week’s great reads

A photo of people entering Club 33 at Disneyland in Anaheim

A Disney-obsessed couple lost their lawsuit to get back into the exclusive Club 33. The club’s yearly dues were $31,500, and with travel and hotel expenses, the Arizona couple was spending close to $125,000 annually. Disney revoked their membership after an allegation that Scott Anderson was drunk in public.

More great reads

They’re about to turn 30. Their views on ambition, love and “hotness” feel revolutionary.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

A photo of soft serve from Wax Paper in Los Angeles.

Going out

🍦 If you are craving something cool, here are the best places to find soft serve in L.A.
🏊 Need a pool day? Here’s how to score a day pass at these L.A. hotels.
🎠 Here are the best things to do, see and eat in the Venice neighborhood.

Staying in

🤘 The influential rap-rock band Linkin Park has a new singer and a new album on the way.
📷 Celebrity photographer David LaChapelle reflects on his prolific career — and almost quitting photography.
🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for an ice cream sundae with Thai tea caramel and fried bananas.
✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.