Mafia hit or family dispute? Questions remain after killing by slain gangster's niece

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When Michael “Mosca” Torres was killed at California State Prison, Sacramento in July 2023, law enforcement officials suspected it was a power struggle within his organization, the Mexican Mafia.Eight days later, police officers raced at 3 a.m.

to a small house in San Fernando where they found, slumped in a recliner, a woman Torres had called his wife.Stephanie Rodriguez had been shot seven times at point-blank range.

Later that day, detectives arrested Torres’ niece on suspicion of murder.On Thursday, a judge handed Evelyn Torres, 36, a sentence of 30 years to life in prison after she pleaded no contest to a murder charge.

Torres did not speak during the hearing, and authorities have never established a clear motive in the case.Rodriguez was 38 when she was killed.

Her relatives on Thursday described her as a “protector” whose kindness lifted up their whole family.“We live with grief, with anger, with questions that will never be answered,” Rodriguez’s sister said in a statement read aloud by a prosecutor.The timing led some in law enforcement to suspect Rodriguez had been roped into whatever issues led to her partner’s death.

Known as the Mexican Mafia’s dominant member from the San Fernando Valley, Michael Torres also controlled drug sales and extortion rackets in the L.A.County jails.

But when interviewed by detectives after her arrest, Torres spoke about her family dealing with unexpected grief.“Everybody is f— dying,” she said, according to a transcript of her interview.

“Another one bites the dust.” The transcript shows L.A.County homicide detectives were struggling with similar questions of whether Rodriguez was the victim of a mob hit or something more mundane.

“Is this about my uncle or what?” Torres asked after she was brought to an interview room.“It’s not about your uncle,” a detective replied.

“I mean, it mi...