The Story of Frankie B. and the Mexican Mafia

San Gabriel Valley - The story of Frankie B. is a bizarre and bloody one that has all the makings of a Hollywood gangster movie. It really happened, though, and the San Gabriel Valley was the backdrop for most of it.

FOX 11's Chris Blatchford investigates the Mexican mafia's plot to kill Frankie B.

Story Script:

FRANKIE BUELNA SITS IN HIS LIVING ROOM READING THE STORY OF NOAH'S ARK TO HIS 2-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER.

HE READS THIS BIBLICAL TALE OF SIN, JUDGMENT, AND SALVATION AS IF HE'S JUST ANOTHER DAD... BUT HE'S "FRANKIE B," A MEMBER OF THE MEXICAN MAFIA ALSO CALLED EME, WHO HAS CONVICTIONS FOR BURGLARY, ARMED ROBBERIES, DRUG DEALING, AND ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON.

HE'S SPENT MORE THAN HALF HIS ADULT YEARS IN PRISON.

9-YEARS AGO HE APPEARED TO BE A LOVING DAD IN POMONA, BUT AT THE TIME A MAFIA DROPOUT SAYS FRANKIE B WAS IN A FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE.

"They're just killing each other. It's nothing but power struggle. All of them are fighting for power."

FRANKIE B -- UNLIKE MOST MEXICAN MAFIA MEMBERS -- WAS FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, BUT WHEN PAROLED IN THE EARLY 90S HE SET UP SHOP IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.

POMONA DETECTIVES SAY HE ONCE THREATENED TO KILL A GUY OVER 20-BUCKS AND WAS "ALWAYS DABBLING WHERE HE SHOULDN'T."

POMONA IS THE TERRITORY OF A RIVAL MEXICAN MAFIA BOSS -- "BIG MIKE" LERMA.

LERMA'S GODDAUGHTER IN 2004 WROTE TO HIM IN PRISON... AND IN A LETTER -- OBTAINED BY FOX 11 NEWS -- SHE COMPLAINED THAT FRANKIE B "KEEPS THREATENING OUR FAMILY."

BIG MIKE WRITES BACK, "NOT TO WORRY. THINGS HAVE A WAY OF WORKING OUT IN TIME."

GANG SPECIALIST LEO DUARTE...

LEO DUARTE/GANG SPECIALIST, CDCR
"Frankie B was apparently, the information that was, ya know, going around was that he was stepping on toes."

ACCORDING TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT INTELLIGENCE REPORT, MAFIOSOS SAL "TORO" HERNANDEZ AND DARRYL "DASHING D" CASTREJON WERE ALSO UPSET THAT FRANKIE WAS TAXING DRUG DEALERS IN THEIR INLAND EMPIRE TERRITORIES.

SCOTT BARKER/BUREAU OF NARCOTICS AGENT
Frankie B didn't care. He was going to collect taxes when he wanted, where he wanted. He was going to do his thing because he was Frankie B!"

AND THAT'S NOT THE ONLY REASON FRANKIE B'S LIFE WAS IN JEOPARDY.

IN A 1994 COURT CASE HE ADMITTED TO BEING A MEXICAN MAFIA MEMBER -- VIOLATING THE CODE OF SILENCE.

HE ALSO CLAIMED TO HAVE DROPPED OUT -- AN OFFENSE PUNISHABLE BY DEATH -- AND, IN 2005, DETECTIVES UNCOVERED A PLOT TO KILL FRANKIE B.

IT ALL HAPPENED BY CHANCE.

INVESTIGATORS HAD WIRETAPPED A GANG CALLED THE POMONA 12TH STREET SHARKIES.

THAT'S BECAUSE A WANNA-BEE GANG MEMBER HAD ASSASSINATED CHP OFFICER THOMAS STEINER OUTSIDE THE POMONA COURTHOUSE, BUT SUDDENLY THE WIRETAPS CAUGHT THE VOICE OF A MEXICAN MAFIA KINGPIN... DARRYL "DASHING D" CASTREJON.

"Castrejon, he's dangerous and real quiet. He just listens, observes, those are the ones you gotta watch out for."

INVESTIGATORS SAY "DASHING D" MADE HIS BONES AT SAN QUENTIN IN THE 1980S BY KILLING A CRIP GANG MEMBER.

THE WIRETAPS SHOWED HE WOULD DIRECT AND CONTROL A HIT ON FRANKIE B.

"So what's new on ah, that ah, that work?"

DASHING D GAVE ORDERS TO HECTOR MUNOZ, KNOWN AS "TIBURON," AND ARTURO GARCIA, KNOWN AS "TOPO"...

"Okay, uh, be sure to stay on him."

...TIBURON AND TOPO ARE BOTH SHOT-CALLERS IN THE 12TH STREET SHARKIES GANG.

"All right Carnal, I'll talk to you."

UNDER THEM -- JULIO FELIX, ANOTHER KNOWN AS "BARNEY," WHO WARNED ABOUT BEING RECKLESS.

"Be careful dog. Don't try to do no kamikaze just trying to get it over with, ya know."

"Yeah, yeah."

BARNEY WAS THE MIDDLEMAN WHO ARRANGED DETAILS OF THE HIT AND SUPPLIED THIS MURDER WEAPON, A .38 REVOLVER.

"All right, I'm going to go pick it up then, Barnes."

HE SELECTED RICARDO POLANCO, ANOTHER SHARKIE KNOWN AS "BIGS" TO BE THE TRIGGERMAN.

THE FIRST PLOT WAS TO SHOOT AND KILL "FRANKIE B" HERE AT HIS HOME.

"I scoped it out. I know how to do it, how to get away and everything."

BUT ONE INVESTIGATOR DESCRIBES BIGS AS A CARTOON-LIKE CHARACTER WHO JUST COULDN'T GET IT DONE.

HE LOST ONE MURDER WEAPON, AND REPEATEDLY MADE OTHER EXCUSES.

"I can't do it right now, Barnes. I've been drinking."

"How drunk are you?"

"Three 12-packs."

AFTER NEARLY 4-MONTHS OF BUNGLING, BIGS WAS ARRESTED IN A RENTAL CAR ON HIS WAY TO DO THE HIT JUST A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE HOME OF MARIA LOPEZ, FRANKIE B'S GIRLFRIEND.

HE HAD A LOADED .38 REVOLVER.

BY THAT TIME -- INVESTIGATORS HAD ALREADY BEEN TO FRANKIE B'S HOUSE TO WARN HIM ABOUT THE MURDER PLOT.

"So, would you like protection? Frankie B said, 'No!' He said, he's had that before. He's not worried about it."

BUT A SOURCE CLOSE TO FRANKIE B TELLS US HE WAS "ANGRY" AND "PARANOID."

AND INVESTIGATORS SAY CALLS INTERCEPTED LATER SHOWED EVEN FRANKIE'S GIRLFRIEND MARIA WAS WILLING TO SET HIM UP.

AS IT TURNS OUT, SHE WAS CO-CONSPIRATOR HECTOR MUNOZ' GIRLFRIEND TOO.

AND MUNOZ 4-MONTHS LATER WAS AMBUSHED AT A RED LIGHT -- SHOT 13 TIMES AND LEFT FOR DEAD. INVESTIGATORS GUESS IT WAS FRANKIE B'S WORK.

"It happens to a lot of 'em. These guys think it's going to last forever but it doesn't."

BY 2008, BARNEY FELIX, TOPO GARCIA, AND BIGS POLANCO WERE ALL CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO LONG PRISON TERMS FOR THEIR PART IN THE PLOT TO ;KILL FRANKIE B. -- EVEN THOUGH THEY NEVER GOT THE JOB DONE.

AND THIS WOMAN -- WHO DOES NOT WANT TO BE IDENTIFIED...

"It was pretty messy and it was chaos."

...SAYS SHE WAS HERE AT CHARACTERS SPORTS BAR IN POMONA IN NOVEMBER OF 2007 -- THE NIGHT FRANKIE BUEL..NA WAS, IN FACT, SHOT AND KILLED BY AN UNKNOWN GUNMAN.
NO ONE IS TALKING.

"People are afraid to talk?"

"Hell yeah! Cuz they reach out and touch people, even from behind bars."

DASHING D CASTREJON JUMPED BAIL -- A MILLION DOLLARS BAIL -- 3 DAYS BEFORE HE WAS SET FOR TRIAL IN THE FRANKIE B MURDER PLOT.

HE'S BEEN A FUGITIVE FOR NEARLY 3-YEARS.

FOX 11 NEWS HAS LEARNED HE'S BEEN SEEN IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA... AND HAS DIRECT TIES TO THE MAJOR DRUG CARTELS...

WE'VE LEARNED HE'S USING INLAND EMPIRE GANGS -- BLACK ANGELS, 18TH STREET, WESTSIDE VERDUGO, AND EASTSIDE VICTORIA -- TO FERRY LARGE QUANTITIES OF DRUGS AND CASH ACROSS THE BORDER.

BUT ONE COP TELL US -- CASTREJON SEEMS "UNTOUCHABLE" AND FOR NOW IT APPEARS HE HAS "FALLEN OFF THE RADAR."