The alleged head of the Arizona Mexican Mafia has been convicted in a COVID-era fraud scheme and confessed to five long-unsolved murders during the 1990s, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
A grand jury in Arizona found Paul Eppinger, 64, to be one of 30 people involved in a criminal street gang that falsely claimed unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office revealed on Tuesday.
Related posts
Eppinger was already serving a life sentence in the Federal Bureau of Prisons for two charges of conspiracy, street gang involvement, money laundering, and unlawful enterprise control. He received an additional 25-year sentence for each cold case murder, according to the AG’s office.
Prosecutors claim that when Eppinger entered his guilty plea, he also made detailed confessions to his role in five gang-related murders in the 1990s. Those cases had gone cold until now.
“I’m proud of the attorneys and investigators in my office who helped bring these cold cases to justice,” said Attorney General Kris Mayes.
According to Pinal County criminal documents, Eppinger contributed to the death of Thomas L. James in March 1991. In the Valley, data linked Eppinger to the deaths of Benjamin Hernandez, Carol Romero, David Gano, and Raul Sanchez in the summer of 1999.
“Financial fraud investigations prove pivotal yet again in our efforts to dismantle organized crime in Arizona, preventing the Mexican drug cartels from operating within our borders, and holding this violent gang leader accountable under the law,” Mayes said.
