By Khalida Sarwari
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced a notorious San Jose gang leader to life in prison after he was convicted in the violent kidnapping of a man in Campbell who failed to pay for a delivery of methamphetamine.
Saragoza Santos Sanchez, 32, was convicted on Dec. 15, 2011, of kidnapping, robbery, felony assault and death threats, according to the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors allege that shortly after he was released from prison in 2008, Sanchez, who is also known as “Capone,” organized a Nuestra Familia street gang regiment that sold methamphetamine on the streets. The regiment is known to be a violent prison gang with operations that reach outside of prison walls.
The failure of a designated seller in the gang’s network to pay for drugs that had been advanced to him triggered the ire of Sanchez, who directed gang members to track him down and make an example out of him, officials said.
In an attempt to find the seller, the gang burglarized a home and tried to commit a home invasion robbery, prosecutors said. Sanchez ordered gang members to also kidnap another man and use him to lure the seller in.
A dramatic showdown between members of Nuestra Familia and the seller took place on Jan. 15, 2009. Several gang members grabbed the seller as he was exiting a Fry’s store on E. Hamilton Avenue in Campbell and forced him into a minivan. There, they beat, robbed and threatened to kill the man before they drove him to East San Jose. As the kidnappers drove down Capitol Expressway, the man escaped by jumping out of the moving van, catching the sight of passing motorists who alerted the authorities. The kidnappers fled before police and paramedics arrived.
Sanchez was eventually arrested, and the case was jointly investigated by the San Jose and Campbell police departments. Campbell police detective Dan Livingston led the investigation.
Authorities found that even before his arrest, Sanchez was a three-strike offender who had eluded a life sentence in a prior case when the court set aside two of his three prior strikes.
On May 4, Sanchez’s luck finally ran out as he was sentenced to 223 years to life, and received a separate 112-year sentence for his crimes.
“Criminal street gangs try to spread drugs and fear,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a statement. “This successful prosecution is but one example of police officers, prosecutors and our community working together to protect our neighborhoods.”
Gang leader’s luck runs out, is sentenced to life in prison after kidnapping Campbell man
