The Lopez family originally came to Milwaukee in the 1970s and began delivering drugs throughout the community. By the 1990s, the next generation of the Lopez Family was led by Julian “Big Dog” Lopez, and, allegedly, the gang’s principal enforcer and hit man was twenty-year-old Arthur Lopez, Jr., a nephew of “Big Dog.”
The gang patrolled a stretch in Milwaukee from South 6th to South 10th streets, between West Greenfield Ave. and West Scott St., and battled with the Latin Kings for drug-dealing turf.
The Family owned or controlled more than a dozen houses and apartments around 8th and Madison streets, some with surveillance cameras. In addition to real estate, they purchased a fleet of almost two dozen cars and an arsenal of 46 weapons.
They painted “Welcome to the Jungle” across the intersection and hung a deactivated grenade from a light pole, along with a sign that read “King Killa.” Visitors to the neighborhood faced gang members who would jot down license plates and follow community organizers. During drug deals, they patrolled the area with walkie-talkies in shirts that read “Lopez 8th Street.” They flashed guns in daylight, shooting in the air or at the cars of rivals.
Former rival Carlos “Hollywood” Hernandez was once a member of the Latin Kings but had left the gang and turned his life around. He started a youth basketball organization and got a job with a city organization helping to keep children out of gangs. Gustavo Hernandez, Carlos’ brother, later explained, “He had seen drive-bys, and he started to see how very rarely do they hit their intended target. They’ll hit innocent bystanders, kids playing on their bikes in front of their houses. He knew there was a possibility that it could happen to anybody, and he felt it would be best if he got out of the gang and turned it around and really tried to help the neighborhood come back to what it was once before.”
According to Milwaukee Police Department Detective Dave Klabunde. “A major part of (Hollywood’s) job was to try and mediate problems between the gangs in that particular area. The Lopez family had come to Mr. Hernandez with a problem with the Latin Kings over territory.” The Lopez gang went to Carlos about a territorial dispute with the Latin Kings.
Shooting of Carlos “Hollywood” Hernandez
Authorities believe that Hernandez was unable to resolve the issue, so Arthur Lopez and several family members surrounded the building where Hernandez worked. According to Det. Klabunde, the gang had a predetermined code that would be broadcast over a radio when Carlos was spotted: “The code was: ‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.’ And that code was put out when Mr. Hernandez left from his business to his vehicle.”
When he left work at around 4:30pm on January 25, 1999, authorities say that Lopez put on a mask and rode his bike to Hernandez’s car. He then shot him eight times, killing him instantly.
Gary Eckstein recalls, “The police were doing saturation patrols and were on the scene within one minute of the shooting. I used to shop at El Rey grocery and I had to drive around the block for parking – never saw so many patrols ever in my life. I wasn’t there the day it happened, but they kept up the patrols in the area for months. The Sheriff’s Department even put resources into patrolling the neighborhood – pulling their officers from other duties and it had almost no effect on the violence.”
Though police had little evidence linking Arthur Lopez to the killing of Hernandez, he was later arrested for driving without a license. His father, Arturo Lopez Sr., went to the police station and demanded that they release his son or he would return to the station with a gun and kill all of the police officers there. Arthur could not be held on the traffic charge and was released.
Arturo was convicted for threatening a police officer and was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Det. Klabunde said, “While Arturo Lopez was in prison, he made daily phone calls to his son and other members of the Lopez family, basically directing the continued narcotics distribution activities of the Lopez gang. All of these phone calls that were made by Arturo Lopez were recorded by the prison phone system, so there are recorded copies of all the conversations from both ends of the telephone.”
Shooting of Maximillano Costillo and Vanessa Rivas
Meanwhile, Latin Kings member Maximillano Costillo, 19, and his girlfriend, Vanessa Rivas, 15, were walking home from a trip to the grocery store on August 11, 1999, when a car began following the couple, driven by Arthur Lopez Jr. As they arrived home, the couple were shot several times by Lopez and his accomplice, Luis Acevedo. Both Rivas and Costillo were killed.
Asst. District Attorney David Robles described the trauma: “We know that Vanessa Rivas was hit once in the side. The bullet did a lot of damage, and she basically bled to death. Castillo was struck a number of times, at least three times, by the bullets fired by Acevedo. And he also died from his injuries.”
The official story is that Rivas was killed as “an innocent bystander,” though rumors continue to circulate that she was “in on it,” meaning she tipped off Lopez about Costillo’s whereabouts. A related rumor says it was Costillo, not Lopez, who shot Rivas when he realized what happened.
Within a few months, arrest warrants were placed for several Lopez gang members because of eyewitnesses and Arturo Lopez Sr.’s phone calls. On December 15, 1999, eight members of the Lopez gang were arrested, but Arthur Lopez Jr. escaped.
Arthur Lopez, Jr. on the Run and Surrender
While on the run, Lopez taunted U.S. investigators, calling them and claiming that he would never be caught. For example, Lopez made a taunting phone call to the U.S. Marshals Service from a pay phone in Hartford, Connecticut in January 2006. On the voicemail he said, “You think you can catch me? You think you can arrest me? Hey, Doug! I’m waiting.” He was referring to Deputy U.S. Marshal Doug Bachert, a lead investigator in Milwaukee hunting for Lopez.
In November of 2010, Lopez was arrested in Mexico after an anonymous tip lead authorities to Monterrey, where he surrendered to the U.S. consulate. He was using the alias “Roberto Gonzalez-Orozco.” Bachert said that Lopez’s arrest should serve as a message to other criminals who might try to flee to Mexico. “It’s not the safe haven it once was,” he said.
Lopez was charged in state court with three counts of homicide and in federal court with eight drug and two gun counts. Federal authorities recommended a 40-year sentence as part of a plea agreement. The three state homicide counts were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.
In June 2012, Lopez was sentenced to forty years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert. He will not be eligible for parole until 2044. As of 2020, he was in prison at Leavenworth.