A 33-year-old man from Phoenix was found guilty on Monday of a grisly crime spree that culminated in four cartel-related murders, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Raul Gastellum Flores, the perpetrator, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2015 assassination attempt that turned a quiet Orange neighborhood into a fiery crime scene. His sentencing is scheduled for July 19, 2024.
Flores's conviction by a jury includes four counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances of murder during the commission of a robbery and the multiple murders that horrified the local community. As the district attorney's office details, three men were executed and set ablaze inside a car, while the body of a fourth man was discovered, days after being mortally wounded, in a vehicle in Fontana.
The cold-blooded killings were reportedly orchestrated by Rosario Adan Roman-Lopez as an act of vengeance after the Berrelleza brothers decided to exclude him from their drug operation tied to the Sinaloa Cartel. Roman-Lopez, believed to be dead in Mexico now, recruited Flores to execute the bloody coup, which involved holding hostages at gunpoint, stealing a hefty sum of money, and ultimately murdering them if they resisted.
The first trio of victims fell prey in the broad daylight of November 9, 2015. Terrified bystanders attempted to douse flames from a burning SUV in Orange, where firefighters then uncovered the grim scene—three men, executed at close range, their corpses set aflame. According to surveillance, the car had been set on fire by the driver—identified as Flores—before he escaped in a waiting sedan.
Flores's barbarity didn't end there; on the same day, he and an accomplice kidnapped Joel Berrelleza, brother of one of the earlier victims, and recorded him as they shot him to death. His body lay in his car for six days before being discovered. District Attorney Todd Spitzer conveyed the calculated nature of the crime, stating, "These murders were calculated to inflict the maximum amount of terror not only on their victims, but also on the neighbors and first responders who had to witness the absolute horror that was unleashed on their neighborhood." Senior Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq is credited with prosecuting this harrowing case.
