Date: Tuesday, August 20, 1985 Source: By Ann Marie Lipinski. 
Section: CHICAGOLAND   Copyright CHICAGO TRIBUNE 
TOP DIVER GETS DEATH FOR GANG KILLING

    Mario Flores was a nationally recognized diver, an athlete who his
Whitney Young High School swimming instructor said was one of the best he had
ever coached, a young man with ``Olympic potential`` who had a string of
scholarship offers from Ivy League colleges.

    Monday, Flores, 20, was sentenced to death by the same jurors who last
week convicted him of the murder of a rival gang member.

    Flores sat silently as the jury, after three hours of deliberations,
returned the verdict to a courtroom filled with his family members and those
of Gilbert Perez, 21, the man he is convicted of slaying on New Year`s Day,
1984.

    According to police and prosecutors, Flores and a friend tricked Perez
into entering their car early that morning by claiming that they were members
of closely aligned gangs. Perez, who was drunk, had just driven into a car
near North and Western Avenues and was attempting to flee.

    Instead of sheltering Perez, however, Flores drove him several blocks
away to an alley behind a factory, where he shot him in the head and chest
and ripped the gold chains from his neck.

Return to JT's CLASS Homepage