FATAL SHOOTING LINKED TO OLD FEUD : SUN VALLEY SLAYING BLAMED ON 20 YEARS OF VIOLENCE AMONG MEXICAN FAMILY MEMBERS.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

A Mexican family's violent and longstanding feud over land, cattle and power may have taken another life.

This time, in Sun Valley.

Police say the fatal shooting of Gerardo Campos Lizzarrga, who was gunned down in a hail of bullets as he sat on his front porch July 20, was carried out by four people bent on avenging the fatal shootings of two family members in 1995 in Sinaloa, Mexico.

The killings are the latest in a struggle involving the Campos family, whose roots in the rich pastures of Sinaloa were torn by ``bad blood'' in the past two decades.

What began the fight isn't entirely clear, but the Campos family history is scarred by battles over the property rights of land and cattle, and bids by some family members to expand their empires.

Authorities in Los Angeles and Mexico say at least three Campos family members - driven by revenge and fear - came to the United States to continue the feud and settle a score.

``It was their perception of protecting their family,'' said LAPD Detective Gil Uribe of the North Hollywood Division. ``They felt like they didn't do anything wrong when they killed him and were just keeping the family tradition alive.''

Last week three distant cousins of the slain Sun Valley man - Maria Campos Rodriguez, 34, Reynaldo Acosta Campos, 20, and Zeferino Campos-Ayon, 19 - were in a Van Nuys court, where they were arraigned on charges of murder, conspiracy and attempted murder.

The three pleaded not guilty.

An arrest warrant was issued for the last suspect, Juan Antonio Martinez, 30, a close family friend of the Camposes, who police said participated in the June 20 slaying but fled before they could interview him.

The case might have gone unsolved, police say, but for a pager dropped on the street outside Lizzarrga's Sun Valley home. That pager led investigators straight to Rodriguez and her cousins, all of Delano.

Police said Campos and Campos-Ayon had a vendetta against Lizzarrga, nicknamed ``Chon,'' believing him responsible for the deaths of Reynaldo Campos Ontiveros and Lucas Campos Ontiveros, both fatally gunned down in Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1995.

An investigation is under way into the deaths of the two Campos family members, killed under mysterious circumstances, according to Comadante Reynaldo Zamora, chief of investigations in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.

One man was slain in October in the Sinaloa village of Los Carrecitos, an area made up of 25 large estates, said Orlando Julian Gonzalez, a Mexican federal police investigator.

Less than a month later, the second man met the same fate in the Sinaloa town of Cosala, Gonzalez said.

While Mexican authorities say the Campos family tradition of revenge is well known in Cosala - population 5,000 - they say they have no suspects and know of no specific motive.

``Right now, one person kills another person, and the next day they kill whoever they think is responsible,'' Gonzalez said in a telephone interview from Mexico.

Police believe that the three Camposes in custody in Los Angeles were aware of the family feud and left their homes in Sinaloa to work for meager wages as farm laborers in Northern California.

Fear followed them to Delano.

Desperation built when the trio encountered Lizzarrga several months before his killing. The three feared Lizzarrga planned to kill them, police said.

``They were always looking over their shoulder and were ready for battle,'' Uribe said.

Indeed, authorities later found a MAC-10 semiautomatic handgun, an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the Delano house that Rodriguez shares with her common-law husband, 2-year-old twins and cousin Campos-Ayon.

``In some ways they were like scared rabbits,'' Uribe said.

Ultimately, police believe, the family members hatched a plan to carry out the vendetta against Lizzarrga, whom they knew lived in Los Angeles.

On the night the foursome's plan unfolded, police said the Campos family members and Martinez discussed retaliating against Lizzarrga, and even brought along a gun in the trunk of Rodriguez's car.

Campos knew where Lizzarrga lived, and they cruised through his Sun Valley neighborhood several times until they saw that Lizzarrga was home. Then Campos and Martinez, both armed, left Rodriguez's car and concealed themselves behind tree branches, according to police.

When Lizzarrga came out onto his porch, Campos emptied his .45-caliber handgun in Lizzarrga's direction, police said. Martinez, who was armed with a .38-caliber handgun, didn't fire, Uribe said.

Lizzarrga, 34, died in the gunfire. His wife barely escaped the barrage of bullets when she ducked into the house. Their 9-year-old nephew inside the house was grazed in the arm by a bullet.

Although arrests have been made, it is unlikely the killing will end, police said.

``They know it is not over and that there will be a payback,'' Uribe said. ``It is a sad lifestyle to live.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Maria Campos Rodriguez

(2) Reynaldo Acosta Ca mpos

(3) Zeferino Campos-Ayon