The killing of an alleged pimp in San Francisco last year has prompted a federal indictment for four people accused of murder and racketeering charges.
Barry Gilton and Lupe Mercado, Gilton’s cousin Antonio Gilton and Alfonzo Williams face charges of murder in aid of racketeering, illegal use of a firearm and use of a firearm in murder, while Mercado was also charged with being an accessory to the crime after the fact.
The four were charged in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Nov. 21 and made their initial appearance in court on Tuesday. They will return to court on Dec. 4.
They are accused of killing Calvin Sneed, 22, of Compton, who was allegedly pimping the underage daughter of Mercado and Barry Gilton. Sneed was slain shortly before 2 a.m. on June 4, 2012, near Meade and Le Conte avenues in San Francisco’s Bayview District.
In March, the four were ordered by a judge to stand trial on murder charges in San Francisco Superior Court. However, according to court records, those charges have been dismissed so the case can proceed on the federal level.
According to the federal indictment, the killing of Sneed was done for the betterment of the Central Divisidero Playas, a criminal street gang based in San Francisco’s Western Addition and Fillmore District neighborhoods.
San Francisco prosecutors said that prior to the killing, Barry Gilton and Mercado also traveled down to Southern California in May 2012 to look for Sneed and Gilton fired a gun at him in North Hollywood.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
