Two drug dealers appeared in a California court room Friday for the murders of 10 people in a 1993 Westlake apartment arson fire in Los Angeles.
Johanna Lopez and Joseph Monge appeared at the Los Angeles Superior Court in front of Judge Curtis B. Rappe on murder charges in connection with an arson fire that killed 10 people and injured more than 40.
Lopez was arrested in 2011 and pled guilty to manslaughter in 2020. Monge was arrested in 2017 along with accomplice Ramiro Valerio for conspiracy to commit murder. Monge plead guilty in 2020 to one count of voluntary manslaughter and admitted to his gang affiliation, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.
The hearing was postponed until August 5 to give attorneys for Lopez and Monge enough time to file papers to lessen their sentences.
Johanna Lopez appeared in court today for the first time in years, after she was found in connection of the 1993 Los Angeles apartment fire that killed 10
![Joseph Monge appeared on Friday in connection with the Los Angeles fire](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324837-11018663-image-a-34_1657920852128.jpg)
Joseph Monge appeared on Friday in connection with the Los Angeles fire
![Residents of the building were throwing children out of windows hoping they would be caught. The man in the photo above, witnessed a dead child in front of the building](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324727-11018663-image-a-37_1657921249178.jpg)
Residents of the building were throwing children out of windows hoping they would be caught. The man in the photo above, witnessed a dead child in front of the building
![The fire killed 10 tenants - including two pregnant women. About 40 people were injured and 100 more displaced](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324741-11018663-image-a-36_1657921017309.jpg)
The fire killed 10 tenants – including two pregnant women. About 40 people were injured and 100 more displaced
![Residents attempted to jump out the windows to save their lives. A medical technician is viewed in the photo nearby the body of a pregnant woman who was one of the 10 to die](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324325-11018663-image-a-41_1657921379990.jpg)
Residents attempted to jump out the windows to save their lives. A medical technician is viewed in the photo nearby the body of a pregnant woman who was one of the 10 to die
![Fire was set to a mattress in the hallway of the complex and quickly spread. The case was unsolved for years until police arrested Lopez as a suspect](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/20/60322317-11018663-image-a-22_1657914099101.jpg)
Fire was set to a mattress in the hallway of the complex and quickly spread. The case was unsolved for years until police arrested Lopez as a suspect
![Monge was allegedly recruited by Lopez to commit the act](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324849-11018663-image-a-44_1657921668685.jpg)
Monge was allegedly recruited by Lopez to commit the act
Valerio was found guilty of 12 counts of murder last month and was sentenced to life in prison without parole – despite insisting he didn’t set the fire.
Meanwhile, another unidentified individual was allegedly responsible for the blaze but fled to Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The street the apartment complex sat on at 330 S. Burlington Ave. was home to drug dealing and street gangs that allegedly terrorized residents.
Officials said in 2017 that Lopez was paying a street gang for the right to distribute cocaine in the area, and schemed with Monge and Valerio to set the building on fire, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Lopez testified that she gave Valerio thousands of dollars a week for allowing her to staff the street with drug dealers. At the time of the fire, Valerio was making $25,000.
The arrests of the suspects was delayed until years later, as residents of the building refused to answer to police about the fire due to fear of local gang members. Some agreed to come forward and testify in 2017, over 20 years after the fire.
![Isabela Diego (pictured above) held her son in her arms after dropping her two children out the window](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324337-11018663-image-a-42_1657921544336.jpg)
Isabela Diego (pictured above) held her son in her arms after dropping her two children out the window
![The apartment building remains standing and can be seen in the photo taken in June 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324321-11018663-image-a-40_1657921365949.jpg)
The apartment building remains standing and can be seen in the photo taken in June 2022
The May 3, 1993 fire was suspected to be set by the suspects after the apartment manager wanted to halt drug dealings in the building. Lopez said Romero and Valerio said they would handle it.
The apartment manager was moving into a second-floor unit when a mattress caught fire in the hallway.
The flames rapidly spread as immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico attempted to escape from death by jumping out the windows and climbing down higher stories with tied bed sheets.
Children were dropped from the second and third stories in hopes they would be caught down below. Children between the ages of 15 months to 11 years died.
Following the deadly blaze, two men were charged in connection to the fire, but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
The 10 people killed in the fire included Olga Leon, 24, and her three children, Alejandrina Roblero, 29, and her three children, Rosalia Ruiz, 21, and Lancy Mateo, 1.
Leon and Ruiz were pregnant at the time of their deaths.
![The hearing was postponed until August 5 to give attorneys for Lopez and Monge enough time to file papers to lessen their sentences](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/22/60324833-11018663-image-a-43_1657921625332.jpg)
The hearing was postponed until August 5 to give attorneys for Lopez and Monge enough time to file papers to lessen their sentences
![Ramiro Valerio, is one of the three suspects arrested in the deadly fire that killed ten people in 2003](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/20/60321369-11018663-image-a-17_1657913761248.jpg)
![Joesph Monge, was arrested in 2017 in connection with the fire](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/20/60321365-11018663-image-m-19_1657913772781.jpg)
Ramiro Valerio (left) and Joesph Monge (right) were arrested in 2017 in connection with the 1993 fire. Apartment owners at the time refused to tell police what they knew out of fear of retaliation from local gangs
![Johanna Lopez, 51, recruited Valerio and Monge to assist with the setting the complex on fire after the apartment manager attempted to shut down drug trafficking in the area](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/15/20/60321347-11018663-image-m-21_1657913998704.jpg)
Johanna Lopez, 51, recruited Valerio and Monge to assist with the setting the complex on fire after the apartment manager attempted to shut down drug trafficking in the area
Valerio was reportedly an informant for the FBI following the fire, according to The Times. He denied any connection with the fire but his reports resulted in the boss of the Columbia Lol Cycos, Francisco ‘Puppet’ Martinez in being arrested.
Gang members and drug dealers eventually came forward and admitted Valerio discussed potentially lighting a fire to the apartment as a message to the manager. He was later arrested in 2017 at his work in Santa Clarita.
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