In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ Nos. 19-2209 & 19-3408 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ROBERT NIETO and DARRICK P. VALLODOLID, Defendants-Appellants. ____________________ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. No. 2:15-cr-00072 — Philip P. Simon, Judge. ____________________ ARGUED SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 — DECIDED MARCH 28, 2022 ____________________ Before RIPPLE, ROVNER, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge. Robert Nieto and Darrick Vallod- olid once led chapters of the Latin Kings gang in northwest Indiana. Both received life sentences following a jury trial re- sulting in convictions for violating federal racketeering and narcotics laws, with the jury also finding that Nieto and Val- lodolid participated in murders to further the gang’s activi- ties. Nieto and Vallodolid raise a host of issues on appeal, ranging from a contention that the prosecution committed a 2 Nos. 19-2209 & 19-3408 Batson violation by striking two prospective Hispanic jurors from the venire, to challenges to the sufficiency of the evi- dence and to aspects of their sentencing. We see no errors and affirm. I A federal investigation of the Latin Kings in Chicago and northwest Indiana uncovered evidence of the gang’s wide- spread drug trafficking and violence, including several mur- ders. In time a grand jury charged multiple members with participating in racketeering and narcotics conspiracies from 2003 through 2017. Of the many individuals indicted, most pled guilty. The two defendants before us on appeal, Nieto and Vallodolid, chose to go to trial in May 2018. The jury heard considerable evidence about the Latin Kings’ organizational structure at the national, regional, and local levels. Suffice it to say that the gang organized itself like a corporation, with roles and responsibilities assigned to var- ious members—all to further the gang’s unity of purpose, in- cluding its lucrative and expansive drug trafficking activities. The trial evidence showed that Nieto and Vallodolid held leadership positions in the northwest Indiana chapters of the Latin Kings. Nieto joined the Kings in 1986 and founded the gang’s chapter in Gary. For several years, he served as “Inca,” the chapter’s highest leadership role. After a period of incar- ceration from 2001 to 2007, Nieto returned to holding leader- ship positions through at least 2013. At one point, he served as the King’s regional Enforcer—a position, as its name im- plies, in which Nieto enlisted other members to impose disci- pline on Kings who stepped out of line by violating one or another of the gang’s rules. For his part, Vallodolid belonged Nos. 19-2209 & 19-3408 3 to the 148th Street Indiana Latin Kings chapter from 2008 until at least 2012. Like Nieto, Vallodolid held various leadership positions, including for a time as Inca in the chapter in Ham- mond. The trial also focused on the Latin Kings’ drug business in northwest Indiana. For now all we need to say is that the busi- ness was substantial, profitable, and conducted with sophisti- cation and persistence. The Kings …
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