SAN JOSE — A San Jose man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for his role in a plan to rob a Union City drug dealer that authorities say was foiled due to a large wiretapping operation.
Kyle Leonis was sentenced last month by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. Leonis was charged as a part of a wide-ranging investigation into the Nuestra Familia prison gang and a number of other Norteño street gangs it controls, most of that are based in San Jose.
Prosecutors allege that Leonis is a “sixth generation” member of a Norteño subgroup based in San Jose, but his lawyer disputes that and says Leonis is, at most, an “associate” of some young men who’re gang members.
According to court documents, the plan to rob the Union City home was discussed intimately in 2018 while authorities were tapping gang members' phones. After the FBI raided the house of the drug dealer they were planning to rob, the co-conspirators allegedly talked about how there was likely “a rat” of their midst, and Leonis asked if she “86” this person, who was later attacked. should do. prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.
But Leonis' lawyer said the designation “86” was not a reference to an act of violence, but quite to the alleged snitch's banishment from social gatherings. Leonis works within the restaurant industry, where the term “86” is usually used to ban someone from a restaurant, his attorney added.
In this sense, Leonis' lawyer attached several letters of support confirming Leonis' character and said he had “grown a lot” since his arrest in 2021. “Working as a pizza maker will change his life for the better.”
“We don’t just have pizza. It is a way of life,” the letter says. “It took me down a path that set me on the right path, and I know that will be the case for Kyle too.”
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