Richard Buchanan, a reputed Mexican Mafia member from the San Diego area, died in prison Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Guards found Buchanan unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison, said Terri Hardy, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Kern County coroner’s office will determine his cause of death, Hardy said.
Buchanan, 72, had been incarcerated since 2004 for kidnapping a convict who was harassing a corrupt prison guard. From behind bars, he kept a hand in drug sales, illicit gambling, shakedowns and murder plots in San Diego County, according to court records and law enforcement officials who track the Mexican Mafia…