SAN FRANCISCO—On July 10, Wilfredo “Flaco” Reyes, 34, was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole for being an accomplice to the June 22, 2008 murder of Anthony Bologna, and his two sons, Michael and Matthew. The Bolognas were driving through an intersection in the Excelsior District when they were fatally shot.
The San Francisco News
Photo by: Mike Kepka
Reyes is the second suspect in custody for the 2008 triple homicide. His accomplice, Edwin Ramos, 28, was assumed to be the primary suspect in the shooting; he was arrested 48 hours after the incident in 2008.
Both Reyes and Ramos are former members of the MS-13 gang. Ramos stated that Reyes had mistaken the Bologna family to be members of a rival gang, The Norteños, who had killed Marvin Medina, one of their fellow MS-13 members a few hours prior to the drive-by-shooting. Ramos had been turned over to police in exchange for immunity by Danny Largaespada, another MS-13 gang member who had been arrested for stabbing a victim.
Ramos was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder; he is currently serving three consecutive life sentences, a total of 187 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
In Ramos’ first statement to the police during interrogation, Ramos claimed that he was not the shooter. Ramos admitted to driving the vehicle, but revealed that Reyes was responsible for shooting the Bologna family. Five days after the shooting, police had obtained a warrant to search Reyes’ home in Burlingame, as well as his girlfriend’s home in the Mission District, but they were unable to locate Reyes.
Reyes avoided an arrest for four years by fleeing to the East Coast. He was found and arrested at his home in Salisbury, North Carolina in July 2012; one month after Ramos’ had been sentenced to life in prison. Reyes was charged with three counts of murder: one count of attempted murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of aiding in the discharge of a firearm, as well as one count of involvement in a street gang.
The San Francisco News
Much of Reyes’ delay to sentencing was due to conflicting testimony of Anthony Bologna’s youngest son, Andrew Bologna; the sole survivor of the 2008 tragedy.
Bologna stated that he had avoided injury by ducking down when he allegedly saw Ramos lift a chrome handgun from his charcoal Chrysler 300. Bologna testified against Ramos in court, and claimed that there was only one person in the car.
Years later, a witness by the name of Danielle testified against Reyes on trial, stating he had confessed to leaving California due to his involvement as a passenger in a drive-by-shooting. Danielle, whose last name was not officially disclosed due to safety reasons, had met Reyes in South Carolina, and was a close friend of his while he was living on the East Coast.
The two separate testimonials and further investigation of where Reyes’ cell phone had been during the time of the incident led prosecutors to determine that Reyes was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting, but they did not identify him to be the shooter.
Due to the Bologna family’s request to not further delay trial from the 2008 case, Reyes agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with the San Francisco District Attorney.
