Carlos Vega: D.A. Krasner 'Bought & Paid For' By 'Rich Elite'

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Standing in front of the District Attorney's office, Carlos Vega, a former homicide prosecutor, announced he would run for D.A., and be an advocate for crime victims.

As a homicide prosecutor for 30 years, Vega said, "I have seen mothers and they have come to me and they say, 'Carlos, they killed my baby. They took him away.' "

Vega recalled what he used to tell those moms. "I said, 'You're my family, I'll fight for you, I'll be your voice.' "

"This city deserves a district attorney who is a voice for the victims," he said. But that's not what we have in Larry Krasner, who, as D.A., has been an  advocate for criminals. And a tool of the progressive elite. 

"We have a district attorney now that is bought and paid for by the rich elite, the millionaire elite who have this special agenda," Vega said. "They don't even live here," he said, but they're "telling us how to run this city."

Krasner, thanks to nearly $1.7 million of billionaire George Soros's money, has been conducting "an experiment that is costing the lives of our children," Vega said. An experiment that so far this year has resulted in 471 murders, the highest total in 30 years. And more than 2,600 shootings, the highest number in the city's history.

Those staggering crime statistics, such as 471 murders so far this year, are "hard to comprehend," Vega said.

In his 30 years as a homicide prosecutor, Vega said, "I prosecuted over 450 murders. Think of it. It took me 30 years to do 450 murders. And in one year alone they have wiped out our children," he said.

"They are killing our children and I could not sit idly by and let this happen," he said. As he travels around the city, Vega said, mothers tell him, "I'm afraid to send my kid to the store." 

As a single father, Vega worked two jobs to send his kids to Catholic school. He was a homicide prosecutor by day, and a part-time UPS supervisor by night. He has a 17 year-old son and a 23 year-old daughter. And they are the "age group and color of the next victim," he said.

"What we need to do is to have someone here who cares," Vega said. "I need you to fight with me."

Vega said he was reaching out to the families of the 450 murder victims that he fought for for 30 years. He was also reaching out to all the jurors who've "seen my work." 

Why? Because under Larry Krasner, the situation is dire.

"Every day," Vega said, "a mother gets a call saying your baby was killed." Or, "your baby is in the hospital, your baby is going to be crippled your baby is going to be scarred."

As far as the race for D.A. is concerned, Vega said he was hoping for a one-on-one matchup against Krasner in next May's Democratic primary.

"I know Mr. Krasner . . . wants several people in that race; thats the only way he thinks he can win," Vega said. "We need one voice, one person. If you want to change things, make things safer, I'm that person. I've got the commitment. I've fought for you for 35 years."

Vega was a prosector in the D.A.'s office for 35 years; 30 of those years he worked in homicide.

"I remember every murder, every mother, and I know they remember me," he said. "I need your help. I need your support. I need you to fight with me. One, voice one person to change things around."

Vega's opening campaign speech was a short event that lasted about 20 minutes. He came to the podium after he was introduced by a few women who had watched Vega prosecute murderers who killed their loved ones.

Aleida Silva-Garcia lost her brother, Alex Rojas Garcia, in 2015. He was shot 15 times by a man who had "a history of multiple gun related arrests and convictions," she said.

"Carlos was our original prosecutor," she said. "I felt he understood our pain and was serious and hardworking. He was always available to speak with us and answer our questions."

But after three years of work on the case, she said, Larry Krasner was elected, and he "changed everything without notice."

On the first day he took office, Krasner, a career defense lawyer who had never prosecuted a traffic stop, fired Vega, a homicide prosecutor who had tried more than 450 murder cases, winning more than 95%.

In Vega's place, Silva-Garcia said, he assigned "a less experienced prosecutor with no knowledge of our case," which "re-traumatized" her family. But a jury ultimately convicted her brother's killer, and in 2018, a judge sentenced him to life. 

Silva-Garcia then went through the litany of Krasner's progressive policies that favor criminals over crime victims, such as low bail, and his regular practice of dropping or downgrading charges. 

In three years, she said, Krasner's office has dropped "1,293 illegal gun possession cases." As a result, more armed and dangerous criminals are roaming the streets.

The next speaker was Krystal Vargas, who talked about her 15 year-old sister, who was murdered on Oct. 10, 1994 by four gang members who got into a shoot-out.

"Two of the four were arrested," Vargas said. When she and her family met Carlos Vega, homicide prosecutor, "We felt at ease," she said. "We knew we had someone standing in front of us who was going to fight for justice. Mr. Vega fought long and hard to convict" the two men who killed her sister of first degree murder.

After the case was over, Vargas said, Vega "stayed close to our family" and was always supportive.

"Twenty-five years later, in 2019, all of our wounds reopened," she said. It came when a couple of detectives knocked on her door. They were carrying a letter from the district attorney's office that informed Vargas that one of the men who killed her sister was being granted a release by Larry Krasner because he was a juvenile lifer.

As a stipulation for release, the killer had to give the D.A.'s office the names of the other two gang members who were involved in the killing of her sister, Vargas said. 

The D.A.'s office got those two names, she said, and then they did nothing.

"And today that murderer is walking free in Philadelphia, as well as the other two men" who killed her sister, she said, "because the D.A.'s office refused to investigate and do their job of bringing my sister true justice."

"With the names [of the other two killers[ in their hands they have done nothing," Vargas said. When she asked why, she said she was told, "these cases are complicated Miss Vargas."

"Well, if Carlos Vega was here we're sure he would have" prosecuted the other two killers of her sister, Vargas said. If Vega was D.A., "My family and families just like mine will get the justice they deserve." 

"This is a man who stands for justice and he he stands for families like mine," she said, before she introduced "Philadelphia's next district attorney."