DENVER - An alleged prison gang leader is going on trial Monday in Denver, accused of killing the former leader of the Mexican Mafia, a Hispanic prison gang, at a Colorado federal supermax prison.
Silvestre "Chikali" Mayorqui-Rivera is accused of fatally kicking, stomping and beating Manuel "Tati" Torrez in April 2005 at the Administrative Maximum U.S. Penitentiary in Florence. A grand jury indicted him in March 2010.
The prison holds some of the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system.
The Denver Post reports that witnesses during the two-week trial are expected to include high-ranking national leaders of white supremacist and black prison gangs.
Mayorqui-Rivera faces life in prison if convicted. Another prisoner accused in the case faces the death penalty.
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