LOS ANGELES -- Reputed Mexican Mafia leader Michael Delia, sentenced last month to five years to life in prison for murdering his wife, pleaded guilty Friday to two other murders but is expected to be a free man soon.
Delia, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the 1977 execution-style slayings of Robert Lewis, a former aide to state Sen. Alex Garcia, and Ysidro Trujillo, a resident at a halfway house Delia ran.
Superior Court Judge Robert Devich sentenced Delia to five years to life in state prison for each murder and ordered that the terms run concurrently to a third five-year-to-life term Delia received in Sacramento last month.
Delia received that sentence for ordering the 1977 execution-style slaying of his wife, Ellen, after she arrived in Sacramento to talk to state authorities about the Mexican Mafia, a prison-spawned gang. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in that case in February.
Despite the three potential life prison terms, Delia's attorney, James de la Vergne, predicted his client would be free soon.
De la Vergne said the three guilty pleas resulted from a complex plea bargain settlement arranged with the district attorney's offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles counties.
A key ingredient of the bargain, he said, is that Delia cannot serve more than eight years in state prison.
Delia has been in custody for about seven years during a lengthy legal battle over evidence in the murder of his wife, de la Vergne said. That time, coupled with his good behavior, resulted in Devich giving Delia approximately 10 years credit toward his sentence.
Delia has already served two more years in custody than the plea bargain calls for, and de la Vergne said he expected the state Board of Prison Terms to order him released soon.
If the board concludes that Delia should serve prison time, Delia can withdraw his guilty pleas and go to trial, de la Vergne said.
Lewis, 51, who reportedly had borrowed money from Delia to finance his faltering construction company, was found shot to death in his parked car in the Echo Park area in January 1977.
The body of Trujillo, 41, who was also shot through the head, was discovered the following month near Lancaster in a shallow grave on property owned by Delia's uncle.
Ellen Delia was shot to death shortly after arriving at the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport in February 1977. Alfred Sosa, also an alleged Mexican Mafia member, pleaded guilty in 1982 to first-degree murder in her slaying and is serving a life term.
