Jose "Humble" Argumedo and eight others face Mexican Mafia-linked extortion and murder-conspiracy charges in Pomona.

An extortion complaint tells a story in the government's words. This one describes a FaceTime demand for "taxes," a U-Haul full of a shop's property, a hit list, and a dozen shots fired at a car. The accounts used here describe no one hurt by those shots. Every one of those details is an allegation in a charging document. Argumedo's lawyer says his client is being charged for who prosecutors think he is, not for what he did. A court will have to sort the two.

Nine people have been charged in an alleged Mexican Mafia-linked murder conspiracy and extortion scheme in Pomona, the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office announced Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, City News Service reported through NBC Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed the charges. Investigators said eight of the defendants are alleged associates of the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The ninth is accused of removing spent ammunition casings after a July shooting so investigators could not collect them. The case was investigated by the FBI's San Gabriel Valley Safe Streets Task Force, based at the Pomona Police Department, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Major Crimes Bureau. A complaint is an accusation. It is not a conviction.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday, Oct. 9, that the case centers on Jose Argumedo, nicknamed "Humble," whom prosecutors describe as a member of Highland Park's Avenues gang who collected money for the Mexican Mafia. According to a complaint filed earlier this year, Argumedo and three others went to a Pomona auto supply shop that sold nitrous oxide in May 2026, and he called the owner on FaceTime and demanded that the man pay "taxes" to the Mexican Mafia. Prosecutors allege he threatened to shoot an employee if the door was not opened, took $1,500 from the register, and loaded the shop's televisions, tools, and 20 nitrous oxide tanks into a U-Haul. The Times reported he has served prison time for attempted murder and robbery. A prior record is not proof of a new count.

A second complaint, unsealed Wednesday, deals with a debt. The Times reported prosecutors allege that in July, Stephanie "Lista" Lechuga, 25, told Argumedo she had taken a debtor's Mercedes as partial payment, and that Argumedo said the man was "banned from Pomona and placed on a hit list." NBC Los Angeles reported prosecutors said the man had been put on an "86" list barring him, under threat of death, from Pomona and from illegal casinos the gang operated. The next evening, near 6th and Palomares streets, Ruben "Cranky" Figueroa allegedly fired about a dozen shots at the man's car, according to the complaint as the Times described it. At least three rounds struck his car, and a car parked outside a church was hit at least four times, NBC Los Angeles reported. The Times reported the man apparently was not injured. Six days later, the complaint alleges, the man was told he had been targeted by the Mexican Mafia and was told to pay $2,000. He sent $2,400 over Cash App to an intermediary, was told he had been taken off the list, and got the Mercedes back. The Times reported the complaint names Jonathan Montano, 34, as the man who made that demand.

City News Service reported the six people arrested Wednesday as Jose Montano, 34, of Compton; Stephane Lechuga, 25, of Ontario; Joseph Rizo, 56, of Chino Hills; Irving Cisneros, 34, of Hacienda Heights; Jovana Reyes, 37, of Monterey Park; and Ruben Figueroa, 48, of Pomona. Authorities were still looking for Jeffrey Griffin, 44, of Montclair, and David Arenas, 30, of Pomona. Argumedo, 47, of Monterey Park, was already in custody on unrelated charges. The outlets spell some names differently, such as Jonathan and Jose Montano and Stephanie and Stephane Lechuga. That is a records conflict, not an element of any charge. The FBI said search warrants turned up about $200,000 in cash, methamphetamine, and 11 ghost guns, City News Service reported. The Times reported the defendants are being held without bail.

Argumedo's lawyer, Andrew Stein, criticized the arrest of Argumedo's wife, who the Times reported recently gave birth and is charged with relaying some of the extortion demands, and the search of Argumedo's elderly father's home. The father has not been accused of a crime. "They want to lock him up for the rest of his life based not on what he did, but on who he is — or who they allegedly think he is," Stein told the Times. The Times reported Argumedo has pleaded not guilty. A nickname, a gang label, and a prison record are not substitutes for proof of the counts. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.