A ruthless Los Angeles gangbanger nicknamed “Wicked” for ordering even his own “dead weight” crew members killed was shanked to death in a California prison, authorities said.
Ezequiel Romo, 47, the onetime head of the Blythe Street gang in Panaroma City, was attacked by three other inmates at the Centinela State Prison on Sunday and mortally wounded, prison officials said.
According to officials, the three alleged killer inmates continued to slash the notorious street gang boss despite being pepper sprayed by corrections officers during the 8 p.m. attack in the prison day room.
“Romo sustained multiple stab wounds and was taken to an on-site medical facility while lifesaving measures were performed,” officials said in a press release. “He was pronounced deceased at 9:52 pm.
Romo, a vicious killer who was the subject of a 2023 profile by the Los Angeles Times, was convicted of multiple murder conspiracy, attempted murder and other charges last year.
According to the outlet, he was responsible for at least eight deaths, including ordering members of his own gang killed to remove drug addicts, informants and “dead weight” members from the ranks.
Romo’s rap sheet extends to 1995, when he gunned down another man during a fight at a fast food restaurant when he was just 18 — and became the leader of the “Mexican Mafia” in prison, the report said.
He was sentenced to life without parole and sent to Centinela prison in August.
Three inmates have been charged in his jailhouse death — Cristian Moreno, Johnny Garcia and Christian Hernandez, prison officials said.
Moreno, 31, has been at the prison since 2015 and is serving a 20-year sentence for assault and escape.
Garcia, 39, has been behind bars since 2009, and is serving a sentence of life without parole on convictions on murder, attempted murder, robbery, extortion and gun charges.
Hernandez, 41, is also serving life without parole, and was shipped to Centinela in 2006 after he was convicted on a first-degree murder conviction — and an additional two years on jailhouse drug charges.
Prison authorities have not revealed a possible motive for the hit.
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