Surviving Lulu: The Ramon Sosa Story

The year is 2005.   A young man known as Mundo is walking out of jail after serving 14 months for a violent felony charge.  Mundo joined a local gang when he was just twelve years old, but after jail was looking for an escape.  He began to look around for a local gym and stumbled upon Ramon Sosa.

Sosa was a trainer from Puerto Rico who moved to Houston when he was young.  He became a professional boxer at a young age but quickly realized that his real calling was in the corner of the ring rather than the center. He began to train professionals from Houston and eventually traveled across the nation to train.  After some time the professional scene, like competing, turned sour and he turned to training young amateurs and that is where Mundo steps back in.  Quickly Mundo and Sosa built a unique relationship as Mundo walked away from his gang ties and into the tutelage of Sosa.

Two years after meeting Mundo, Sosa had a chance encounter with a long and lean woman named Maria de Lourde Dorantes, who was known as Lulu.  From the beginning, Lulu captivated Sosa’s attention and eventually his heart. Eventually, Lulu and Sosa got married and opened Woodlands Boxing and Fitness.  Together Lulu and Sosa, as a couple, truly embraced Mundo and make him a part of the family.

A few years further down the road, Ramon and Lulu began to run into trouble.  In the words of Ramon, Lulu “knew what buttons to push”. Over time, arguments escalated and eventually compelled Lulu to file for divorce and she wanted everything.  In her aims to get everything, she even went as far as contacting sponsors of Ramon’s nonprofit to accuse him of embezzling money and eventually forcing the nonprofit to close.  Lulu even claimed that Sosa abused her, despite no evidence supporting the accusation.

Three months after the divorce, Mundo walked into the gym and found Lulu in the office with her teenage daughter.  He walked in on a conversation between the two discussing their “situation”.  At the time, he believed it to be a reference to getting rid of Sosa and encouraged Lulu to confide in him.  The next morning, she did.  Lulu said things like “I wish he would leave.  I wish the cops would pick him up.  I just wish somebody will make him disappear.”  He questioned her to explain what she meant by disappear and when he made the pistol sign with his hand, Lulu replied, “Yeah”.  Mundo hesitated, but eventually came back to Lulu and said, “I might know someone”.

Mundo told Lulu about his friends, Paco and John Boy and how revered they were in his gang.  What Lulu didn’t know was that the story was concocted by Mundo. Immediately after leaving the gym, Mundo made the call to Ramon letting him know what he had encountered. At first, Ramon didn’t believe him, but ultimately, he understood what was really at stake.

Luckily for Ramon, Mundo had a plan.  Mundo had Ramon buy another phone and use it as if he were Paco.  Mundo texted that phone on Lulu’s behalf setting up the hit with the so-called Paco.  In response to his text, ‘Paco’ replied: “I talked with johnboy n it’s all good homi just need the tools.”

As time progressed, Mundo started recording his conversations with Lulu to help gather evidence to support Ramon’s case.  In one conversation, she catches Lulu discussing Ramon’s watch collection, which she eventually used as a down payment for the hit.

Just before the Fourth of July, Lula gave Mundo $100 to buy a gun for the fictional hit.  At that point in time, Ramon and Mundo agreed it was time to go the police.  For Mundo, it was a difficult step as a former gang member who swore to never talk to the police.  No matter how he tried to spin it, he still considered it to be snitching and ratting.

Together the two walked into the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable Office and began to tell their story. In an interrogation that lasted over an hour, Mundo laid it all out for the officers.  He discussed how Lulu wanted Ramon dead and revealed his criminal and gang past and the danger that coming into the station put him in.

Lieutenant Mike Atkins took the initial lead on the case.  He began sorting through the information presented, really having a hard time believing at first.  He was able to quickly verify Mundo’s personal story, which led him to believe more than anything that Mundo was telling the truth.  Ultimately, Atkins determined that Ramon was in serious danger and asked Mundo to keep recording Lulu.

Over the next three weeks, Mundo recorded an additional twelve conversations with Lulu.  In one, Lulu is recorded complaining about not getting any alimony and that Ramon is no longer paying the mortgage.  In response, Mundo probed her and asked if she wanted Ramon killed before the divorce court date, to which she wholeheartedly agreed.

The plot to unveil Lulu’s plan continued as Mundo sported a hidden camera.  Lulu and Mundo were taking a step towards the end as they met with Paco, or more precisely the man Lulu thinks is Paco.  Paco was actually an undercover officer. The conversation between her and Paco ensued and led Lulu to ask Paco to get rid of Ramon.

The next step for Ramon and the officers was to fake his death.  At that point, officers felt they had enough evidence but wanted to ensure they could easily pull off the arrest.  They went to the grocery store and gathered corn syrup and food coloring to make fake blood and borrowed makeup from disaster drills.  Ramon found himself lying on the floor of an unmarked SUV as officers drove into a restricted area and dug what would serve as his grave.

On July 22, Lulu climbed into the back of undercover officer ‘Paco’s’ pickup.  He showed the staged clip of Ramon in the grave and she handed over the money.  The very next day, officers went to the gym where Lulu worked asking about the missing person’s report they had received.  When questioned, Lulu didn’t have an explanation and was immediately taken into custody.

Fifteen months later, in October 2016, Lulu plead guilty to solicitation of capital murder.  In all of her time in the courtroom, she never once looked at Ramon.  She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Currently, Lulu is housed in a state prison in Gatesville, Texas.