Murder of the Bologna family

Edwin Ramos Umaña (born October 12, 1986)[1][2] is a Salvadoran gang member and convicted triple murderer. An illegal immigrant from El Salvador and member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, he was convicted in 2012 of the June 22, 2008 slayings of Anthony Bologna and his sons, Michael and Matthew, in San Francisco. Ramos was born in El Salvador, grew up in San Francisco, and later moved to El Sobrante, California. As a teenager, Ramos twice served probation for violent crimes but was not deported. Ramos's case brought much attention and outrage over San Francisco's sanctuary city policy that prevented city officials from enforcing federal immigration law. Shortly after the murders, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom revised the policy to allow the city to refer undocumented juvenile felons to federal authorities.

Ramos was born in El Salvador, where he was raised by his grandmother. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2008 that Ramos illegally entered the United States when he was 13 to live with his mother and two siblings,[1] but later reports suggested that Ramos was a legal immigrant whose visa expired.[3][4] In 2003, Ramos's mother reported him missing, and Ramos returned 11 days after his mother reported.[5] On October 22 that year, Ramos was also one of three MS-13 members suspected of assaulting a man on a Muni bus for claiming not to be a gang member. Juvenile Court convicted Ramos of assault and street gang membership and put him in a shelter. On probation, Ramos was released to his mother's custody on April 2, 2004, but four days later he assaulted a pregnant woman and her brother. Ramos was convicted of attempted robbery, a felony offense, but was cleared of assault and served probation at the city-run Log Cabin Ranch where he lived from June 2004 to February 2005. ("The purpose of the facility is to provide a twenty-four-hour-a-day residential program for juveniles of San Francisco who have been adjudicated delinquent by the Juvenile Courts and sent to Log Cabin for treatment and rehabilitation."[6])

After his release, he lived with his mother's sister. He applied for temporary residency but was declined; by then federal authorities had learned that Ramos was in the U.S. illegally.

In 2006, former MS-13 leader turned informant Jaime Martinez told the FBI that Ramos killed 21-year-old Norteño gang member Rolando "Chino" Valldares in the Mission District of San Francisco.[7]

Having been a member of the 20th Street MS-13 gang in San Francisco, Ramos later moved to El Sobrante and joined MS-13 ally Pasadena Loco Sureños (PLS).[5] On March 30, 2008, Ramos was arrested after police discovered his car had illegally tinted windows, no license plate, and a passenger named Erick Lopez who tried to conceal a gun that police found was used in a double killing. According to the police report, Ramos cooperated with police, but Lopez ran away but was later caught and arrested. Police had "numerous documented contacts" with Ramos and Lopez and identified both as active MS-13 gang members. Prosecutors declined to charge Ramos due to lack of evidence that he knew about the gun. San Francisco sheriff's deputies called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine if the department wanted to hold Ramos in custody, but ICE declined.[1][8]

On June 22, 2008, Tony Bologna (age 48) and his sons, Michael and Matthew (ages 20 and 16, respectively), were shot dead near their residence in the Excelsior district of San Francisco as they returned home in the afternoon from a family barbecue in Fairfield. Bologna was on his way home to rest before reporting to his job as night manager at a supermarket later that afternoon. Another one of Tony's sons was critically injured. Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle reported the incident initially as one of road rage.[9] Ramos (age 21) was arrested and booked on murder charges three days later without bail.[10][11]

Preliminary hearings were held in June 2009. The only survivor of the shooting identified Ramos as the shooter.[12] In September 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Douglas Largaespada, an alleged MS-13 member, claimed that Ramos killed the Bolognas.[13] Marvin Medina, who was injured in a shooting hours before the Bolognas were shot, testified in court in exchange for prosecutorial immunity. He repeatedly denied knowing Ramos or other MS-13 gang members; prosecutors questioned Medina to determine whether Ramos was seeking retaliation for the shooting of Medina in killing the Bolognas. However, Medina could not explain why he was driving around the San Francisco Mission District for two hours the day before he was shot and why he called several people but not 911 after being shot.[14] On June 24, Sergeant Mario Molina, a San Francisco police officer who was an expert on Latino gangs, testified that Ramos thought the Bolognas were rival Norteños gang members.[5] San Francisco Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson ruled on June 29 that Ramos would stand trial for three counts of murder,[15] and Ramos pleaded not guilty on July 13.[16] According to Sgt. Molina, Ramos stated that his friend Wilfredo "Flaco" Reyesruano, whom police identified as a leader of MS-13, shot the Bolognas.[5] San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris sought a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty should Ramos be convicted.[17] Mayor Newsom supported Harris's decision.[18]

Harry Dorfman and George Butterworth represented the prosecution; Marla Zamora represented Ramos in court.[15] Judge Jackson removed Ramos's previous lead defense attorney Robert Amparan on January 7 because Amparan was representing Douglas Largaespada at the time.[19]

Marvin Medina admitted on December 1, 2009, that he had lied on the stand six months earlier and could not explain how Ramos obtained his cell-phone number. Additionally, Medina identified Reyesruano as the shooter of the Bolognas. When prosecutors attempted to check for a gang-related tattoo, Medina admitted that he was a former MS-13 member. As a result, Medina pleaded guilty to three counts of perjury regarding his claims that he had not known Reyesruano, that he had met Ramos only once before the preliminary hearings, and that he was alone when he was shot in 2008. Having been in jail since the preliminary hearings ended, Medina was sentenced to three years of probation on January 12, 2010, with credit for time served but remained held on $1 million bail as a material witness.[20]

In May 2012, a jury in San Francisco convicted Ramos of killing the Bolognas and attempting to murder a surviving member of the family. Judge Charles Haines sentenced Ramos to 183 years to life without parole on June 11, 2012.[21]