Jesse's family contends Vasquez's punishment amounted to a slap on the wrist. And they say it sends a clear message to other gang members: Go ahead, kill.
"Jason was barely getting into a gang, and now he is a hero in the eyes of his gang," says Concha Madril, adding that now Jason has status because of his prison sentence and the fact that he killed a man.
Paolo Vescia
Sacred ground: A wall protecting Guadalupe's Yaqui temple (right) is defaced by gang graffiti. The Catholic church is in the background.
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Jason Vasquez refused to be interviewed for this story.
Lucia, Concha and Felipa hope their story will embolden others in the community to speak out against gangs, to pressure the police to conduct more gang-related crime investigations.
And they still mourn Jesse.
Felipa, who is now 76 and in poor health, has an altar in her living room, where she stands before candles burning in front of a crucifix and silently prays for her only son's soul.
"The only way I will get through the death of my son is with help from God," she says.
Curiously, it is Lucia, the ex-gang member, the child who clashed most with her mother, who now lives with her and cares for her.
"Why did I sway that way?" Lucia says, when asked why she was drawn to la vida loca. "I was so lonely at home. I joined the gang to hang out with somebody, to be with somebody. I used to love to party."
But she partied too much and got addicted to heroin.
Felipa disowned her.
In 1986, Lucia was arrested for possessing heroin. She promised a judge she'd kick her drug addiction in lieu of a prison sentence. She says she managed to stay straight except for one brief relapse in 1991. She obtained her GED degree and an associate's degree and was hired by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in the housing department.
Concha also worked for the tribe as a social worker in Guadalupe.
Then a new tribal administration took over and the two women were laid off -- Lucia in 1997 and Concha in 1998. Concha got another job as a Guadalupe social worker, but Lucia opted to move in with the ailing Felipa, who had welcomed Lucia back into the family after she proved she could stay clean and sober and quit gangbanging. Today, Lucia is pursuing a four-year university degree while caring for her mother and her own two children.
Asked whether she thinks her pioneering gang activity helped create the current atmosphere that caused Jesse's death, Lucia will only say: "I don't even want to think about it."
She knows, of course, that by speaking out against gangs she is putting herself in some danger, but she says, "I think I am also speaking out for my dead brother. . . . I feel that somebody in the community has to say something about the gangs. I am so tired of living in this community and seeing killing and hurting.
"I am sick of it."
Contact Terry Greene Sterling at 602-229-8437, or online at tgreene@newtimes.com
