Ex-gang leader charged in 1993 fire that killed kids, women

A former Los Angeles gang leader-turned-federal informant has been charged with a dozen counts of murder in connection with a horrific 1993 apartment building fire that killed children and pregnant women — after he spent years in the witness protection program and on the lam.

Juan “Termite” Romero, 57, seen smirking in an old photograph with a thick gold chain around his neck and the words “Baby I’m for real” tattooed on his chest, was recently arrested in California for allegedly setting fire to a building in Westlake more than three decades ago, the Los Angeles Times first reported.

A witness previously placed Romero at the scene and quoted him as exclaiming: “We f–ked up.”

The May 3, 1993, inferno killed seven children, ranging in age from 15 months to 11 years, along with three women, two of whom were moms-to-be. Forty other residents of the three-story building were injured.

A firefighter who testified at a 2022 trial related to the arson recounted how people were leaping from balconies in a desperate bid the escape the searing flames and choking on smoke, which he said was so thick that “it was like being underwater and trying to take a breath.”

Romero made his initial court appearance Wednesday but did not enter a plea to 12 counts of murder stemming from the fire.

Romero was arrested on Dec. 5 and ordered held without bail, according to Los Angeles County’s jail database reviewed by The Post.

A prosecutor told the LA Times that Romero was extradited to the US from Mexico, but it was not immediately known when, or under what circumstances, he was caught there.

Romero had been declared a fugitive in 2016, when detectives traveled from California to his last known address in Phoenix, Arizona, and learned that he had moved out just a week earlier.

Back in the early 1990s, Romero was the leader of the Lil Cycos 18th Street gang, which controlled the booming drug business in the working-class Westlake neighborhood.

The doomed 67-unit building on Burlington Avenue was at the epicenter of the crack and cocaine trade, and was crawling with street corner drug dealers and wholesalers.

The drug sales were tightly controlled by gang leaders like Romero and his alleged accomplice, Ramiro Valerio, whose job it was to keep the profits high. 

Former drug wholesaler Johanna Lopez testified at the 2022 trial that in the days leading up to the fire, she complained to Romero that a new property manager at the apartment building would not let her dealers hide inside when police came around looking to arrest them.

As a result, Lopez said she was not pulling in as much cash as before.

Romero agreed to help her “take care go the problem,” according to Lopez, who testified that hours before the fire, he warned her: “Better leave her because this thing is going to get hot.”

That same day, a witness claimed he saw Romero carrying a trash bag filled with “barbecue liquid” as the apartment building caught fire. He described Romero as looking “upset” and quoted him as saying: “We f–ed up. We f–ed up.”

The fire claimed the lives of Lancey Mateo, 1; Jesus Camargo, 4; Jose Camargo, 4; Rosalia Camargo, 6; Yadira Verdugo, 6; William Verdugo, 8; Leyver Verdugo, 10; Rosalia Ruiz, 21; Olga Leon, 24; and Alejandrina Roblero, 29. Also killed were two unborn babies.

For years, no one was held accountable for the deadly blaze, as witnesses feared to speak against gang members for fear of retaliation.

In the mid-2000s, Romero became an FBI informant and agreed to testify against one of his former gang high-ups in an unrelated racketeering case. In exchange, he was whisked into the federal witness protection program.

In 2013, the LAPD assigned two experienced detectives to the dormant 20-year arson case – and they identified Romero and Valerio as the prime suspects.

But their revitalized investigation soon hit a series of roadblocks when they tried to get their hands on Romero and Valerio’s FBI files, according to reporting by the LA Times.

Ultimately, the detectives obtained FBI wiretap recordings on which Valerio reportedly declared that he had the authority to order the arson — and confirmed his link to Romero.

But by the time prosecutors moved to file charges, Romero had gone on the run, sparking a manhunt that took cops from California to Texas, to no avail.

A warrant for Romero’s arrest and extradition was filed in February 2017, charging him with 12 murder counts, as seen in a copy of the document obtained by The Post from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

It is still unclear how soon after his hasty departure from Phoenix Romero fled south of the border, nor hold long he stayed there.

Valerio was convicted last year of 12 counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lopez, the drug wholesaler who testified at Valerio’s trial, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the fire.

Romero is scheduled to be back before a judge for his arraignment on Feb. 9.