Mexican Mafia-linked prison gang accused in fatal attack on rivals at Nev. prison

Prosecutors say Surenos gang members armed themselves with prison-made weapons and makeshift body armor before launching a deadly assault at Ely State Prison

March 14, 2025 11:39 AM

Two of the three inmates who were killed Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at Ely State Prison have been identified by the White Pine County Sheriffs Office. (Las Vegas Review-Journal/File)

By Akiya Dillon
Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS — Prosecutors alleged that 20 prisoners charged in the 2024 killings of three inmates at a Nevada prison committed the acts to advance a Mexican Mafia-affiliated street gang, according to criminal complaints.

Inside Ely State Prison, members of the Surenos were armed with prison-made weapons and wore “papers, books, magazines, extra clothing or other material” that acted as “body armor in anticipation” of an attack on rival gang members, according to corresponding complaints filed in January against each defendant.

Prosecutors said that the crimes were committed “knowingly for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in affiliation with” the Surenos.

The Surenos, Spanish for “southerners,” are a group of Mexican-American street gangs with origins in Southern California, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

On July 30, the documents stated, the inmates linked to the Surenos brandished their weapons, “rapidly approaching the rival gang member or members as a show of force during the attack” and made “statements to encourage another or others,” while blocking “a rival gang member or members from retreating to safety and/or by reengaging or attempting to reengage with the rival gang member or members after they had retreated to the other side of the room.”

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The defendants named in the complaint were identified as Gerardo Aparicio , Michael Banuelos , Matthew Berg , Edgar Candelario , Oscar Cisneros , Andrew Emerich , Christian Flores , Juan Franco , Ivan Garcia , Jesus Jaramillo , Christian Medrano , Juan Montalvo , Oscar Montalvo , Luis Padilla, Anthony Ribera , Reynaldo Suarez , Ricardo Saucedo , Reynaldo Suarez , Dominique Subia , and Edgar Ullao-Ceja.

The documents also named inmates Anthony Williams, 41, Zackaria Luz, 43, and Connor Brown, 22, as those killed in the attack. Kyle Truab, Daniel Andrews, Andre Gobozy, Lee Mitchell, and Eric Janisch were also stabbed and injured, according to the complaints.

Each of the defendants was charged in connection with the attack faces three counts of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon with intent to promote or assist a criminal gang and five counts of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon with intent to promote or assist a criminal gang, the attorney general’s office said.

Luz was indicted in 2019 as a leading member of a violent white supremacist prison gang called the Aryan Warriors. He was serving seven to 18 years for racketeering. He went into the state prison system after being sentenced in Clark County in 2023.

Williams was also a reputed member of the Aryan Warriors.

He had agreed to a life sentence without the possibility of parole rather than face the death penalty for his role in the death of Andrew Thurgood, a fellow inmate at High Desert State Prison, in February 2016.

Brown, 22, was serving seven to 20 years for robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, with a deadly weapon enhancement. He was sent to prison in 2021.

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