Panorama City gang leader stabbed to death in prison

A convicted murderer who reportedly ordered killings as the notorious leader of a Panorama City gang was stabbed to death in prison.

Ezequiel Romo, 47, was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County when officers saw three other inmates attack him inside a dayroom at the prison Sunday night, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They gave verbal orders telling the assailants to stop but had to use four applications of pepper spray to end the attack, authorities said.

Romo sustained multiple stab wounds and was taken to a medical facility at the prison, where he was pronounced dead nearly two hours later, according to prison officials. He had been transferred to the prison on Aug. 30 of last year.

The three men suspected of killing him are Cristian Moreno, 31; Johnny S. Garcia, 39, and Christian O. Hernandez, 41. They all came to the prison from Los Angeles County. Moreno was the only one of the inmates not serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Last year, Romo was convicted of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder following a monthslong trial in LA County, during which witnesses testified he ordered killings of rivals and even followers, according to the Los Angeles Times. After serving 18 years in prison for manslaughter and assaulting another inmate, the Times reported, he was released in 2014 and wanted to bring his old gang into line. 

Romo, nicknamed "Wicked," wanted the Blythe Street gang of Panorama City to work under the Mexican Mafia, the Times reported.

Prison officials have not released a suspected motive.