Ezequiel Romo | World's Most Evil Prisoners | Forensic Files

[ominous music] NARRATOR: Locked up in the United States of America are some of the world's most lethal criminals.
One of the deadliest prisoners of all was Ezequiel Romo. ERIC SIDDALL: The man would do anything for money and power.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: His charisma was evident, but I detested him. He was truly evil.
NARRATOR: At only 18 years old, Romo took his first life. Then rose to prominence, becoming
the leader of the Blythe Street gang. NATE GARTRELL: He was planning a gang takeover.
A lot of people were about to get murdered because of this. ERIC SIDDALL: They shoot dozens and dozens of times
into the car. NARRATOR: Even being imprisoned didn't slow Romo down. He still ran the streets from his cell,
killing with just a cell phone. LINA HAJI: What made him even more dangerous is that he was able to have other people do it for him.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Karen Tobar was a young female. They stabbed her 32 times to send a message,
you will not talk to the police, or Mr. Romo will have you killed. NATE GARTRELL: People in his own gang are getting killed,
and innocent bystanders are getting killed. It's hard to imagine who would safe at this point
from this guy. LINA HAJI: It's almost like a video game. It's so easy for him to take away a human life.
[theme music] NARRATOR: Centinela State Prison is located in Southern California, just miles
from the Mexican border. NATE GARTRELL: It's a prison that currently houses about 3,000 people.
It's designed to house about 2,300 people. Centinela State Prison is one of these concrete boxes that
the state of California built kind of as fast as possible in the 1990s to accommodate this prison population
that was just, like, sweeping through the state like a tidal wave. And it was largely fueled by gang violence.
NARRATOR: The gang warfare carried over from the streets to the jails and penitentiaries.
Prominent members were placed in special secure housing units. NATE GARTRELL: That's where gang leaders go,
with the lights on 24/7 and human contact completely limited. They're being isolated because the system is scared enough
of what putting them in general population would mean in terms of their influence and their ability
to kind of wreak havoc or further gang activity. NARRATOR: One gang leader, who was still
able to orchestrate a reign of terror from his cell, was the ruthless killer Ezequiel Romo.
[stirring music] ERIC SIDDALL: Romo was super ambitious, smart. He was savvy. I think he's one of those guys that if he had not been running
a gang and had been born in a different zip code, he probably would be running a hedge fund.
LINA HAJI: He had leadership skills, but he used these skills for evil. He used these skills for harm.
NATE GARTRELL: He's stuck in a prison cell. And there's something like nine funerals
that we know of have resulted from his desire for power. NARRATOR: Ezequiel Romo was born in Los Angeles,
April 27, 1977. He grew up in the Panorama City area of the San Fernando Valley.
ERIC SIDDALL: Panorama City has about 50,000 people. It is mainly a working class Latino neighborhood.
NARRATOR: Little is known about Romo's childhood, other than his parents divorced when he was 4,
and he was mostly raised by his paternal grandparents. LINA HAJI: One can only imagine that if a child is not
being raised by their biological parents, for whatever reasons, and knowing that their biological parents are still in the world,
that could alter the child's ability to trust people. Even if the child has a positive relationship
with his or her guardians, there's still this idea of, why didn't my parents raise me?
What was going on? Is it my fault? As a result of that, they can sometimes have difficulties navigating interpersonal relationships
throughout childhood, adolescence, and even into adulthood. NARRATOR: From the outside, Romo's home life
appeared stable. NATE GARTRELL: My name is Nate Gartrell, and I'm a crime reporter working in California.
Romo grew up kind of in a typical environment for people in Panorama City. He had grandparents who made an honest living, who
owned businesses, a construction business and I think a metal shop or something like that.
I don't think that his upbringing strayed too far out of the norm. NARRATOR: But there was a darker side to Panorama City.
Criminal gangs roamed the streets. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: My name is Detective Gabriel Bucknell.
I'm with the LAPD Valley Bureau Homicide Unit. I would say more than half of our homicides
in the Valley are gang-related. They're mostly all warring with each other over territory.
NARRATOR: The Blythe Street gang were the big players in Romo's hometown. ERIC SIDDALL: Blythe Street is a criminal street gang that
exists here in Panorama city. A lot of members of Blythe Street were born in the neighborhood, raised in the neighborhood.
They grew up there. And it's-- it really tries to dominate the area of Panorama City.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Their stronghold is Blythe Street, of course, which is in the middle of that area.
Blythe Street is structured much like any other Hispanic gang. You have the leadership or management of the gang.
You have members of the gang who are responsible for selling drugs. You have members of the gang that
are responsible for obtaining guns. You have new young members of the gang that are out
tagging on the walls, stealing, committing assaults and thefts in the neighborhood.
NARRATOR: In the early '90s, when he was in his teens, Romo fell under the spell of the Blythe Street gang.
NATE GARTRELL: I think that if you grow up in certain parts of Los Angeles, that temptation is always going to be there.
Your peer groups and the older siblings of the neighborhoods and all these people at school and stuff
like that are already involved in gangs. You grow up, you have a best friend, he joins a gang.
You're going to feel that pressure to follow suit. And also growing up, at a certain point, your parents or
your grandparents or whoever's raising you, they kind of lose that influence. And it gets replaced by your peer structure.
LINA HAJI: From the outside, it's easy to say, wow, joining a gang is a really dumb idea.
It's more complex than that, especially for a young adolescent who is looking to build a support system and a sense of identity
and a sense of belonging. So it's not that far-fetched that Romo, having seemingly come from a stable family,
would still be interested in joining a gang. NARRATOR: 18-year-old Romo also had a violent side,
a trait that fitted well into gang life, and one that would explode when he got into a dispute with
19-year-old Manuel Avila, who was allegedly part of a rival gang's tagging crew.
[ominous music] NATE GARTRELL: Manuel Avila and Ezequiel Romo, they are behind a hamburger stand on Roscoe Boulevard
in Los Angeles. Some sort of argument arose. Avila allegedly punched Romo in the face,
and Romo responded by pulling out a gun, shooting Avila in the chest several times.
Avila was killed, and then Romo ran away. LINA HAJI: Maybe he was absolutely terrified of his opponent.
Maybe he felt inferior to his opponent. But for some reason, Romo escalated extremely quickly
using a gun immediately. Perhaps he wanted to gain some street cred and be known as somebody not to be messed with and
somebody to be respected. For a fistfight to jump right into immediately shooting
someone multiple times is really a big red flag for what's to come, because it seems like an overreaction.
NARRATOR: Through witnesses, police were quickly able to identify and apprehend Romo.
For the killing of Manuel Avila, he would eventually plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement
and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. NATE GARTRELL: At Romo sentencing hearing,
there was this kind of debate about, OK, he's a young man, how much should we throw the book at him or not.
And, obviously, Avila's family was pretty upset that he was only getting 10 years.
And they said, you know, they're concerned that he's going to come back and he's going to keep on hurting people.
NARRATOR: On January 1, 1997, aged 19, Romo entered the California Correctional system,
ending up at Sacramento State Prison, where he quickly fell under the influence of another gang,
the Mexican Mafia. NATE GARTRELL: The Mexican Mafia is probably the most powerful prison gang in California.
Able to control a lot of what goes on amongst gangs and in society at large. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: The Mexican Mafia
controls all of the Hispanic gangs that operate on the streets in Southern California.
They're not allowed to sell drugs or do business on the street without paying some form of tax
to the Mexican Mafia. LINA HAJI: Romo, he was 19. He was given a 10-year sentence.
He could have taken that time to turn his life around and potentially seek out rehabilitation.
But he was very drawn to the dark side. [stirring music] ERIC SIDDALL: Romo really started
becoming involved in the politics of the Mexican Mafia while he was in prison. He was a secretary for one of the leaders
of the Mexican Mafia. That's almost like an apprenticeship. LINA HAJI: Romo had a good resume, if you will,
for joining a prison gang. And I say that because he was young. And for older members of a gang,
they typically view that as somebody who can be molded. In addition, Romo was already in prison
at such a young age for manslaughter, which would have given him criminal cloud, which
would have caught the attention of the Mexican Mafia as somebody who might be useful to them.
NARRATOR: But to truly join a gang like the Mexican Mafia, Romo would have to get more blood on his hands.
NATE GARTRELL: Sometimes gang leaders feel like they need to kill somebody just to kind of remind the other prisoners that you
can't step out of line. And stabbings can definitely be something that can be considered a way for someone
who wants to become a prison gang member to prove their worth. NARRATOR: Be it an initiation test, no one can be sure.
But in 2003, Romo and fellow prisoner Marcos Avalos prepared to attack another inmate.
NATE GARTRELL: They took the trouble to make knives, which take some time. So, obviously, it wasn't like a spur of the moment thing,
where you just see somebody and you just stomp on them. It was a little bit more planned out than that.
NARRATOR: Romo and Avalos waited for their moment to get close to their target and pounced.
Correctional officers heard the disturbance and stopped Romo and his accomplice assaulting the inmate.
NATE GARTRELL: They didn't kill him, but they injured him badly enough that they were prosecuted.
NARRATOR: Romo and Avalos were both convicted of assault with a deadly weapon while
confined in a state prison. NATE GARTRELL: Romo ended up with another 8 years on top of the 10 he was already serving.
LINA HAJI: It's actually mindblowing how many times inmates sacrifice their own freedom and their own potential
to be released from prison, their own family, their own well-being for the gang.
NARRATOR: In June 2005, Romo was officially validated as a Mexican Mafia gang member
by the Department of Corrections and transferred to one of California's most notorious prisons, Pelican Bay.
NATE GARTRELL: Once someone is labeled as a gang member or as a gang associate, they can
get locked down in segregated housing or in solitary confinement. And that goes doubly if they're considered
an actual prison gang member. So that's what happened to hundreds of people who ended up
in the Pelican Bay Shu, which is kind of known as a prison within a prison, because they were validated.
NARRATOR: Romo had entered prison aged 19, and he would remain there until he was 37.
On November 14, 2014, he was released on parole. Inspired by his dealings with the Mexican Mafia,
Romo went back to Blythe Street with big plans. Behaving wasn't one of them. ERIC SIDDALL: Romo made a decision that he was going
to take over Blythe Street. Even though he was younger than some people that were there,
he was extremely ambitious. He was shrewd, and he was smart. And I think people recognized that.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Mr. Romo was given the nickname Wicked because he was exceptionally violent.
He was ruthless. As he became more popular and put in more work for the gang, he rose up through the ranks to ultimately become the street
level leader of the gang. NARRATOR: Despite his nickname Wicked, Romo was charismatic and cunning enough
to present different sides to different people. NATE GARTRELL: During this time,
he had a note from his parole officer who said that he appeared to be doing well and reintegrating
back into society, and that he appeared to be starting to go down the right path.
And in reality, he was planning a gang takeover, and a lot of people were about to get
murdered because of this. [ominous music] NARRATOR: The first person to appear on Romo's hit list
was Felipe Delgado. ERIC SIDDALL: So Felipe Delgado was a local drug dealer within Blythe Street.
He was not a Blythe street gang member. NATE GARTRELL: Either because he trusted him enough
or because he was scared of him, he fronted a kilo of cocaine to Romo with the promise
that he would be paid back at a certain time. ERIC SIDDALL: Romo, Wicked, he didn't
want to have to pay him back. Like, a kilo of cocaine, I think at that time was worth about $25,000.
So what Wicked did was he started saying that Delgado was a snitch. There's no evidence whatsoever that Delgado was cooperating
with law enforcement. Wicked created this story so that it would give him a reason
to be able to kill Delgado. NARRATOR: This time, Romo would have to get someone else to pull the trigger,
as he had been released from prison wearing a tracking device. ERIC SIDDALL: He knew that if the GPS system had
him present during the actual murder of Delgado, he would be a suspect and he would eventually
go to prison for that murder. They recruited a guy named Mendoza, who was an up and
comer within the gang. NARRATOR: Romo called Delgado and arranged a time and place
to meet up on the pretense he was going to pay him back for the cocaine. ERIC SIDDALL: That's when Mendoza popped
out and murdered Delgado. [ominous music] He doesn't die immediately. He's taken to the hospital.
But then he eventually dies. It showed you how ruthless Wicked is. I mean, the man would do anything for money and power.
And killing someone for $25,000 is pretty ruthless. LINA HAJI: What's interesting about this murder
is that Romo is not this impulsive killer that we may have thought he was when he was younger.
His first crime being, you know, a fistfight, where he pulled out a gun and killed somebody.
This is very planned and orchestrated and calculated. This is a very different kind of crime.
NARRATOR: It was just over a year since he got out of prison. And after this murder, Romo was now the self-proclaimed leader
of the Blythe Street gang. ERIC SIDDALL: Romo was the shot caller of Blythe Street.
That means he ran everything within Blythe Street gang. So everything from who to sell drugs to,
who was going to sell the drugs, who they were going to buy their guns from, and if they were going to sell guns.
That's what a shot caller is, and that's what he was. NARRATOR: Romo ran the streets.
But two months after Felipe Delgado's murder, he would be back behind bars. NATE GARTRELL: He gets caught with, like, distribution
quantity of methamphetamine. I think it was about a pound. And so because of his criminal past,
he's obviously on parole for manslaughter. He gets another multi-year prison sentence.
NARRATOR: On June 27, 2016, pleading guilty to drugs charges, Romo was given four years.
This time, he was sent to Centinela State Prison. NATE GARTRELL: He ends up there,
but he's got a release date. He's got an end in sight. It's a nonviolent offense.
He's probably only going to have to do half his time, and then he's back out on the streets.
But maybe not. NARRATOR: From his cell, Romo was still running the Blythe Street gang.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Mr. Romo would often obtain cell phones that were illegally smuggled into the prison.
ERIC SIDDALL: The cell phones were being brought in by drones or by staffers. These inmates would purchase them for about $1,500.
You had to be pretty high up to be able to purchase these cell phones. Romo, he would have regular conference calls
with his soldiers in the field. It would be on speakerphone, and he would be handing out orders left and right to his soldiers
out in Blythe Street of what to do. NARRATOR: Oscar Molina, also known as Smokey,
was Romo's right hand man. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: All the day-to-day operations on Blythe Street gang and the rules set forth by Mr. Romo
were enforced by Oscar Molina. So Mr. Romo would communicate with Oscar Molina almost daily.
NATE GARTRELL: There was sort of this mutual admiration and respect that you could see from their text communications.
At the same time, there wasn't really any doubt as to who was in charge. NARRATOR: One person who is not scared of Romo, however,
was Isidro Alba. ERIC SIDDALL: Alba, he was an old school Blythe Street gang member.
As Romo was taking over the gang, he starts giving orders to Alba. And Alba is resisting those orders
because Alba doesn't recognize Romo as being the supreme leader of Blythe Street.
Romo puts Alba on disregard, and disregard means that you're not in good standing with the gang.
[ominous music] NARRATOR: Romo ordered his gang members to set up a fake drug deal in a parking lot for Isidro Alba
to attend. He turned up in his car along with his girlfriend. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: She was in the car
when Mr. Alba was gunned down by other members of Blythe Street. [gunshots] ERIC SIDDALL: But then they tried to kill the girlfriend.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: They fired multiple rounds into the car, but his girlfriend crouched down low
on the floor board of the passenger seat and was miraculously not killed. NATE GARTRELL: His girlfriend gets hit by broken glass
and ends up playing dead. It's kind of a miracle the girlfriend wasn't hit by gunfire once, even though she was bleeding.
NARRATOR: Later, police evidence photos show the bullet-riddled car. Alba's girlfriend recognized his killers
but said nothing to the police. ERIC SIDDALL: Alba's girlfriend, because she was a Blythe Street gang member,
she didn't want to cooperate. NARRATOR: With Alba's girlfriend refusing to speak to law enforcement for fear of reprisal,
Romo had successfully wiped out an opponent. LINA HAJI: Romo's ego was reinforced.
Because every time he got more violent, every time he called more shots, every time
he got more and more people to do what he wanted them to do, it was self-reinforcing in the sense
that it was showing him that he was doing the right thing because, again, he was getting his needs met.
So, why stop here? NARRATOR: Within a couple of months, somebody else would earn Romo's deadly displeasure.
[ominous music] ERIC SIDDALL: Carlos Rios was a wannabe Blythe Street gang member.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Carlos was a male Hispanic in his early 20s. He had gotten two new tattoos on his face,
representing the Blythe Street gang. ERIC SIDDALL: Romo had a rule that in order for you to get
a tattoo, you had to earn it, and earning it meant that you had to commit a violent act.
It also meant that you had to get the permission of Romo to be able to have this tattoo.
He has a conference call with his members of Blythe Street. And Romo tells them that you basically
have to kill Rios because he got a tattoo that was not sanctioned. NARRATOR: Romo ordered the hit.
Oscar Molina, Romo's right hand man out on the streets and two other members of Blythe Street,
picked up Carlos Rios, saying that some gang duty to be done, marking their territory by tagging it with graffiti.
NATE GARTRELL: The thing that makes a lot of this so scary is that a lot of these gangs, like Blythe street,
they'll treat the people they're going to kill the same way they treat their friends.
So you really don't know if the people that you trust, the people who are around you, are
going to kill you that night. Carlos Rios, he's spray painting a wall. NARRATOR: CCTV on a building nearby
showed what happened next. Rios has taken a break from spraying gang tags when he's approached by two of the men
he's out with. Facing them, Rios doesn't seem fearful of his friends, until both of them pull out guns and begin firing.
Rios runs off, but the gunmen chase him down and kill him in a hail of bullets. After reports of gunshots, seven minutes later,
the first police cars arrive at the scene to discover Carlos Rios's body. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: I was the lead detective
on the Carlos Rios murder in 2017. He had tattoos on his face that indicated he was
a Blythe Street gang member. When I arrived, there were a few things that didn't add up to me.
Carlos Rios was shot approximately 15 times with a 9-millimeter. There were spent casings next to the body.
The amount of times that he was shot at close range, and mostly in the back, was a bit alarming to me.
Usually gang members, when they're tagging, are with other gang members who act as lookouts.
And so they're able to warn the person tagging if a rival comes into the area. And in this case, it didn't appear that Mr. Rios
had a lookout or had a weapon. So I found that unusual. I began to form the opinion that he was killed by someone
that was very close to him. NARRATOR: Recovering the CCTV later confirmed that suspicion.
And several weeks after Carlos Rios's murder, Detective Gabriel Bucknell had a break
in the case when police officers patrolling in Panorama City picked up the Blythe Street gang member Neftaly Martinez.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: He had a firearm in his possession, a 9-millimeter handgun, and he was arrested for that.
That particular gun matched the casings that were at the scene at the Carlos Rios murder.
So I began to look into Mr. Neftaly Martinez, as well as his brother Santos, who was also
a Blythe Street gang member. NARRATOR: As investigators began to dig deeper into the Blythe Street gang, 180 miles away
in his prison cell, its leader was looking to tighten his grip on Panorama City.
Romo ordered that any members of a rival gang, Columbus Street, should be attacked
on sight if they strayed into Blythe Street territory. ERIC SIDDALL: Alex Saldanha, a Columbus Street gang member,
is shot and crashes into a Wendy's. Like, literally, his entire car goes right through the wall
into the middle of a Wendy's restaurant. He's dead. NARRATOR: A month later, on Romo's orders,
another Columbus Street member was shot dead at a bus stop. An innocent bystander, Elvis Sanchez,
was also killed in the crossfire. LINA HAJI: Romo, he's escalating, but he's also becoming a little bit more
disorganized that you have to wonder, is this just about him enjoying murder? Not just enjoying murder, but enjoying the ability to command
someone to commit murder. It's become so easy for him to have people murdered. It's almost like a video game.
There's a disconnect from reality because of his lack of empathy, because of his lack of remorse,
and because of the fact that it's so easy for him to take away a human life. NARRATOR: While all the recent killings in Panorama City
were being investigated, Romo felt untouchable behind the prison walls. But the tide was about to turn against him when
Detective Bucknell got a big break in the Carlos Rios murder case. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: I arrested Mr. Neftaly Martinez and
his brother Santos for the murder of Mr. Rios. And they were placed in a jail cell with an informant,
and they gave the entire account of the murder to the informant. And what Mr. Romo was doing within the gang
and regulating the rules and being as ruthless as he was. NARRATOR: The murderous gang leader pulling
the strings had been revealed. As investigators turned their focus on Romo, the relationship with his right hand man, Oscar Molina,
was beginning to strain. ERIC SIDDALL: Eventually, Romo started losing trust with Molina because Molina started
becoming more and more involved with drugs and was becoming more unreliable. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: He would be given orders by Romo to carry
out, and he would not. ERIC SIDDALL: He wasn't picking up the phone. And so Romo would text him, like,
in a really sarcastic fashion, like, you know, why aren't you picking up the phone?
NATE GARTRELL: Also, Molina was somebody who had a lot of Romo's secrets that could lead to Romo getting
imprisoned for a long time. Because, again, Romo still got a release date. ERIC SIDDALL: That relationship quickly
deteriorated to the point where Romo eventually orders Molina's death. [ominous music]
NARRATOR: 34-year-old Oscar Molina was at home when his phone buzzed. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: He received some text messages
from another Blythe Street gang member to come outside, that they were going to go conduct a mission.
NATE GARTRELL: Molina was at his apartment with a lady named Karen Tobar. And he says, hey, I'll be right back.
I'm just going to, you know, step out real quick. And then that's it. [ominous music]
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: As soon as Mr. Molina stepped out of his apartment, he was shot multiple times
by another Blythe Street gang member whom he trusted. LINA HAJI: Molina is somebody who
carried out orders for Romo. And yet, Romo, in turn, killed Molina, which just shows
there never was any loyalty. Loyalty within the gang is a facade. And if his right hand man can be taken out,
really, no one is safe. NARRATOR: Detective Gabriel Bucknell was already scrutinizing Romo's dealings within the Blythe Street gang,
and this latest murder pointed in one direction. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: The only person
that could authorize the killing of the street level leader of the gang would be the leader of the gang
that's inside the prison. And that was Mr. Ezequiel Romo. And after Molina died, the investigation
intensified into Romo. NARRATOR: Romo was desperate to cover his tracks. This put Karen Tobar, who was at Molina's apartment the night
he was killed, in danger. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Karen Tobar was a young female, Hispanic, who was a hang around and associate of Blythe Street.
Romo believed that she couldn't be left alive. NATE GARTRELL: For all they know, Molina could have said,
hey, I'm going to go see so-and-so and so-and-so, I'll be right back. And then he gets shot right there.
She could go out and tell, you know, the police that he named these two people or whatever.
[stirring music] NARRATOR: 13 days after Molina's killing, Karen Tobar was picked up by two members of Blythe Street
she was friendly with. They drove to Sylmar Park in the San Fernando Valley. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: I believe she thought
she was just going to hang out with these guys, drink beers, and have a good time.
When they got her to the park, they stabbed her 32 times. She was killed ruthlessly.
And the reason they stabbed her 32 times, the number 32 stands for the third and second letters of the alphabet, which
is CB, which is also representative of Calle Blythe, or Blythe Street. To send a message to others in the community,
as well as members of the Blythe Street, that you will not snitch, you will not talk to the police,
or Mr. Romo will have you killed. LINA HAJI: Romo kills this seemingly innocent 23-year-old
girl, or has her killed. I think the gang helped to facilitate and normalize the killing for Romo.
But because he was so cold and so callous, I strongly suspect that even had he not been a gang member,
he would have gone on to be a serial killer. I mean, he was a serial killer anyway.
If you're a lone wolf serial killer-- a Jeffrey Dahmer, a Ted Bundy-- then you're looked at as like some kind of abnormal freak
because it's not in context. Well, guess what? There are a lot of gang members who have killed 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, even more people, and they're not necessarily viewed as serial killers. Romo being one of them.
NARRATOR: Karen Tobar's body was discovered in the park the next day. After so many murders, and now with the slayings
of Molina and Karen Tobar, ruthless Romo had finally overplayed his hand. The mood in Blythe Street was shifting.
NATE GARTRELL: People in his own gang are getting killed. Innocent bystanders are getting killed.
Potential witnesses taken somewhere and murdered. And it's hard to imagine who would be safe at this point
from this guy. NARRATOR: Two high-up members of Blythe Street turned against Romo and cooperated with the police.
ERIC SIDDALL: Cooperators were extremely important in terms of linking all of these murders to Romo and to Molina,
and establishing the command structure of Blythe Street. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: They overheard phone conversations
from Mr. Romo inside the prison, speaking to Mr. Molina about ordering the killings of some of these people,
including Mr. Rios. And they didn't agree with it. NARRATOR: Romo's phones were immediately
seized by the authorities. ERIC SIDDALL: One of those cell phones actually had all of his text messages still preserved on the cell
phone through WhatsApp. That was a bonanza of information because it literally had Romo giving Molina orders
after order after order. We also had Molina's cell phones that provided us additional information.
We didn't just go after the shooters, we went after the entire apparatus that allowed
the shootings to happen. Because we had to show that someone inside a state prison,
not just was ordering these murders, but had the ability to order these murders.
Showing that criminal enterprise made it a complex case. NARRATOR: 42-year-old Romo was charged with
a litany of serious offenses. It took three more years to eventually bring him and
other defendants from the Blythe Street gang to trial in March 2023. ERIC SIDDALL: We accused him of six murders, six
attempted murders, and six acts of the state's Rico Conspiracy. That's the statute that allows us to prosecute people, hold
people accountable for running a criminal enterprise and benefiting from that criminal enterprise.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Mr. Romo was a very intelligent individual. His charisma was evident in the courtroom.
I could see how his style and the way he led could attract young, disenfranchised members
of the community to belong to Blythe Street and do what he said. ERIC SIDDALL: He was very friendly with the court.
But there was this one moment where you really truly saw the guy who was the shot caller of Blythe Street,
and that was when we had to go get his tattoos photographed. He looked so cold and dead inside.
If you had disrespected him at that moment, he was ready to shank you. It was because at that point, you know,
he wasn't in front of the judge. He wasn't in front of a jury. He was just with us.
And his true kind of character kind of showed. NARRATOR: Testifying witnesses had
to face him in the courtroom. They now included the girlfriend of murdered Isidro Alba.
She miraculously hadn't been killed herself in his shooting and had changed her mind about cooperating.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: She just broke down in front of the jury. It was impactful. I think everyone in the courtroom.
Just that she lived through that situation, and that the person responsible for that was
sitting right in front of her. ERIC SIDDALL: She knew the dangers of doing what she did,
and yet she did it anyways. The same thing, I think, with the other two cooperators
that we had and seeing their courage to get up there in the stand. That, to me, was one of the more memorable
moments of the trial. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Mr. Romo, in the beginning of the trial,
was jovial. ERIC SIDDALL: Arrogant, cocksure. He thought he was, you know, that he was going
to beat all of these cases. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: I detested him because I knew he was responsible for all
these murders. As the trial wore on throughout the weeks and the evidence was shown to the jury,
his attitude started to change. He became a little more reserved, quiet. NARRATOR: On April 25, 2023, the jury found
Romo guilty on all counts. GABRIEL BUCKNELL: He put his head down, closed his eyes,
didn't say a word. And to be in the same courtroom with him when he received that guilty verdict was satisfying.
ERIC SIDDALL: Romo received a number of life without possibility of parole sentences.
In other words, he would never be eligible to face the parole board, and he would spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
I think it was an appropriate sentence for the amount of chaos, the amount of murder
that he committed while he was running Blythe Street. NARRATOR: Romo was sent back to Centinela State Prison.
No longer the leader of the Blythe Street gang, he had called his last shot. It also seemed that Romo's number could be
up with a Mexican Mafia, too. NATE GARTRELL: I think there was this perception that he was kind of overstepping
his boundaries. And then, also, there was an LA Times article that said that he had been known as a señor,
or someone with authority in the Mexican Mafia. There was this little implication that maybe he was
made a Mexican Mafia member. ERIC SIDDALL: The Mexican Mafia is structured differently, in that each made member of the mafia
has equal power. To become a made member of the Mexican Mafia is extremely rare, and it's a very powerful position to have.
NATE GARTRELL: Informants said that at some point down the line, the Mexican Mafia decided
that Romo had been making himself out to be one when he wasn't really. [ominous music]
NARRATOR: At Centinela, just over a year after his murder convictions, Romo was in a prison dayroom
when he was suddenly attacked by three other inmates with shanks. NATE GARTRELL: When you see three
people jumping on somebody with knives, that's a hit squad. NARRATOR: Guards spotted the assault happening.
It took four rounds of pepper spray to stop the inmates' attack on Romo. Sustaining multiple stab wounds,
Romo was taken to an on-site medical facility while life-saving measures were performed.
But he was pronounced dead at 9:52 PM, aged 47. LINA HAJI: How else was this supposed to end?
The reason there are sayings like "live by the sword, die by the sword" exist for a reason.
I don't think this could have ended in any other way for Romo, and he probably knew that.
ERIC SIDDALL: Romo is an extremely dangerous human being. I mean, a lot of the characteristics
of what he had are a lot of characteristics of a lot of businessmen in terms of being ruthless, cutthroat, and wanting
to destroy the competition. He just did it with a gun rather than in corporate America.
LINA HAJI: Ezequiel Romo was just an extremely callous, cold human who was devoid of any kind
of empathy and remorse. What made him even more dangerous is that he was so savvy, charming,
and charismatic that not only was he able to commit murders and assaults himself,
he was able to have other people do it for him. And that makes him a very different kind of evil.
GABRIEL BUCKNELL: Mr. Romo truly lived up to his moniker as Wicked. As a homicide detective, I've been involved
in probably 600 murders. I don't think I've seen anything that matches what Mr. Romo has done in this case.
Truly, he was wicked. [theme music]

Ezequiel Romo would do anything for money and power. Romo wanted to organize a gang takeover and continued to run things from his cell once he was locked up.

World’s Most Evil Prisoners is a chilling exploration of the terrifying offenders sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. Locked away, yet still driven by their twisted desires, these inmates delve into acts of torture, abduction, and homicide. Prepare to confront the criminals from the darkest facets of humanity.

For More FilmRise Check Out Our Other Channels: FilmRise Television: https://www.youtube.com/⁨@FilmRiseTelevision⁩ FilmRise Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseMovies Highway to Heaven - Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaytoHeavenFullEpisodes

Brief Summary

Ezequiel Romo's rise and fall as a ruthless gang leader, orchestrating murders from prison before his violent death.

Key points

The Rise of Ezequiel Romo. At just 18, Romo took his first life and became a gang leader.
Romo's Ruthless Control. Even in prison, Romo orchestrated violence and maintained power.
Calculated Murder. Romo orchestrated the murder of Felipe Delgado to avoid paying for drugs.
Gang Violence Escalation. Romo's violent actions reinforced his power within the gang.
The Murder of Carlos Rios. Carlos Rios is killed by trusted friends, revealing the brutal reality of gang loyalty.
Romo's Escalating Violence. Romo's orders lead to a series of murders, escalating chaos within the gang.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's almost like a video game.

Lina Haji on Romo's ease in taking lives.

1:28WatchJan 28, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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