Posted on 05/29/2026 1:45:42 PM PDT by DFG
A taxpayer-funded California “Peace Ambassador” is a convicted murderer now being charged with another felony, authorities said Friday.
Michael Angel Alvarez, nicknamed “Diablo,” was arrested Friday for allegedly possessing body armor as a violent felon belonging to the 18th Street gang, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. Alvarez worked for Healing Urban Barrios, an organization performing paid “violence prevention” services for the city of Los Angeles’ “Peace Ambassador” program, according to the DOJ.
The Daily Caller News Foundation could not identify an attorney for Alvarez. Healing Urban Barrios did not respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles’ Peace Ambassador program employs “unarmed workers who have lived experience in the justice or gang systems” to respond to certain neighborhood crises so that residents “have someone to turn to outside of law enforcement,” the city’s website says.
The DOJ released an image of paperwork purportedly showing Alvarez’s Peace Ambassador title. He made $58,156 from Healing Urban Barrios in 2025 after Los Angeles allocated $450,000 toward the group’s services for a three-year period, the DOJ said.
Alvarez’s arrest continues a trend of so-called violence prevention workers in liberal cities getting in trouble with law enforcement after seemingly abandoning their criminal pasts.
The suspect was convicted of first-degree murder in 2002 and was released after 24 years behind bars despite initially receiving a sentence of 50 years to life, according to the DOJ. He was also convicted in April 2025 of illegal weapon possession, the DOJ said.
“There is no indication Alvarez has ever stopped associating with the 18th Street gang,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said in a Friday X post. “In fact, in jailhouse telephone call recordings of Alvarez since his release from state prison, he discussed assaulting individuals for breaking gang rules.”
“The hardworking tax payers of Los Angeles deserve better than to see their money shelled out to a convicted gang murderer,” Essayli said.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
He was also convicted in April 2025 of illegal weapon possession, the DOJ said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He ought to be back in prison for the rest of his 50 year term.
I wonder who funds Healing Urban Barrios? Probably an NGO paid by taxpayers.
He learned how to rip off the taxpayers.
Before starting Healing Urban Barrios, Navarro worked in many different nonprofit organizations and learned about how and who ran them.
https://thelalocal.org/youth-news-team/healing-urban-barrios-community-nonprofit/
“Can you dig it?”
“He was also convicted in April 2025 of illegal weapon possession, the DOJ said.”
And still on the street and still being paid by the taxpayers.
Under Federal law that’s a minimum of 5 years.
Where’s the ATF?
L
Michael Angel Alvarez, nicknamed “Diablo,”
Another Angel Alvarez. NYC. He got 15 years three years later being part of a drug gang after a DEA investigation.
In March 2011, a special grand jury in Manhattan hearing evidence in the case chose not to indict Mr. Alvarez in the shooting.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/nyregion/judge-spares-drug-dealer-life-in-prison.html
And another!
68-year-old Angel Alvarez was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 17 years for the second-degree murder of his 59-year-old former girlfriend, Margarita Morehead, whom he fatally stabbed multiple times in her Chelsea apartment on May 8, 2023, during an argument despite an active restraining order against him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.