LA Weekly ‘Expose’ on Murder of Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo Leaves More Questions, Sparks Debate, Raw Emotions

Murdered Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo.....I took this photo of him just weeks before he was killed.....

By Randy Economy

I just read this week’s article on the death/murder of my friend former Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo in the LA Weekly by reporter Hillel Aron. 

The article (Mayor Daniel Crespo Battered His Wife for 28 Years. She Shot Him the Day He Turned on Their Son) will hit newsstands on Thursday.

Since I was used as a “source” for the article, and quoted throughout the well-researched piece, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts.

To outsiders, who had no knowledge about Daniel and Lyvette Crespo, the article clearly paints the late mayor as literally a “mad man monster” full of rage, anger and complete hatred who was in a rotten marriage that needed to be dissolved years ago.

Most of the “evidence” contained in the article comes from testimony by witnesses who were close to the couple and the Crespo family children. 

It is shocking to read some of the accounts, but it needs to be read by everyone.

Daniel Crespo, in my opinion, was misunderstood, complex as pointed out....he was a man, a father, husband, elected official, friend, companion and confidant too many within his “inner world.”

Daniel Crespo was not a monster in my opinion, but had "inner monsters" deep inside him.

Here is how Atel ended the article:

“That a violent life should end violently is, perhaps, no great surprise. Daniel Crespo always believed people were out to get him. Randy Economy had lunch with him once at a Denny's in Commerce. There, Crespo said somebody was trying to kill him.

"He was suspect of a lot of people," Economy says, "people on his City Council, people on his local police department, people he had worked with [who were] convicted felons."

Economy was shocked to see Lyvette at Crespo's funeral. She sat not 10 feet from the casket, stoically, until the end of the service, when a video was played of Crespo singing at a recent Miss Bell Gardens pageant. It was then that Lyvette broke down in tears.

She picked out the gravestone. It read: "Daniel Crespo. Beloved husband & father. Your songs will play forever in our hearts." She also purchased the cemetery plot next to her husband's, for herself.”

Final thought:

We live in the United States of America. The legal system is now in control of this case.  Is Lyvette Crespo going to be found guilty in this case, or will the complex life and death of Daniel Crespo continue to haunt Southeast Los Angeles County politics for generations to come.

I still believe in our legal system.

I know that justice has many sides and is complex, emotional, raw, and sometimes unfair.

The day Lyvette Crespo was arrested in this case, and charged with Voluntary Manslaughter, I went to Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Downtown Los Angeles and I purchased her a black onyx beaded Rosary with a Prayer Card that I had blessed. 

I made sure that Lyvette Crespo received the Rosary….

I will be talking openly about this case in the months to come on my radio show.

I welcome Lyvette with OPEN ARMS to tell her story with my listeners.

Until then, let’s all continue to pray for Justice in this case….

Here is the link to the article....

http://www.laweekly.com/news/mayor-daniel-crespo-battered-his-wife-for-28-years-she-shot-him-the-day-he-turned-on-their-son-5840399