Westside Riva Gang Boss Gets 9 Years for Ordering Kidnapping from Prison

• Gang boss ran gambling and extortion schemes from prison.
• Kidnapping ordered after extortion cash was seized in traffic stop.
  
• Judge imposed nine-year federal term consecutive to existing life sentence.

A leader of Southern California’s Westside Riva (WSR) street gang who orchestrated illegal gambling and extortion schemes from prison has been sentenced to nine years for ordering the kidnapping of a woman.

Luis Ramirez is serving a life sentence for the 1995 attempted murder of three men when he was just 18. But he directed the activities of his crew from his cell via a contraband cellphone, according to prosecutors.

The gang, based in Jurupa Valley, Riverside County, shook down local businesses on its turf to obtain “taxes” while also conducting illegal gambling operations, federal prosecutors said.

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Ramirez also used a smuggled cellphone to arrange the abduction of a woman after extortion money she was handling for him, $7,000, was seized during a police traffic stop.

The woman, referred to in court documents only as “Person 1,” was kidnapped by two gang members, Jose Jonathan Rubalcaba Alarcon, 23, and Gilbert Rey Martinez, 22, on September 27, 2023.

She was taken to a gang-controlled clothing store in Riverside where she was locked inside a bathroom for four to five days without regular access to food, according to court documents. Person 1 ultimately escaped on October 1, 2023, after being left alone inside the store. Alarcon later claimed to authorities he let her go because he felt sorry for her.

“Person 1 was malnourished, did not have access to necessary medication, suffered physical abuse at the hands of … Martinez, suffered emotional distress, and was ultimately admitted to a hospital following her escape,” prosecutors said.

Ramirez: ‘Evil’

Ramirez pleaded guilty in July 2025 to one count of violent crime in aid of racketeering. On Tuesday, US District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr ordered him to serve the nine-year federal sentence consecutively to his current life sentence in state prison.

Alarcon and Martinez each pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges and are serving 46 months and 41 months, respectively.

“That muthaf— is evil,” Alarcon told an FBI agent of Ramirez, according to an affidavit. “I’m just going to tell you, I thought I was evil. He’s a lifer. They don’t give a f— about nobody, and I found out the hard way.”