Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

LA’s Paid ‘Peace Ambassador’ Actually A Violent Gangbanger: DOJ

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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.

MacArthur Park Update

This morning, @FBILosAngeles arrested Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, a.k.a. “Diablo,” an active 18th Street gang member, convicted murderer, and Los Angeles “Peace Ambassador” who is being paid with L.A. city taxpayer dollars.

According to Councilwoman… pic.twitter.com/zXMMoItNIq

— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) May 29, 2026

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.