LOS GATOS — Five years after the criminal trial ended and nearly nine years after his death, a civil jury has awarded $45.1 million in damages to the family of slain restaurateur Mark Achilli, the victim of a notorious murder-for-hire plot that rocked the tight-knit downtown community.

Filed in 2011, the lawsuit sought compensation from the five men convicted in the conspiracy to kill the 53-year-old Achilli. His daughter Alexandra is the only surviving plaintiff after her mother, Michele Achilli, died in a car crash in August 2012.

Ram Fletcher, one of the attorneys representing Achilli’s family, said they are heartened by the verdict even though they don’t expect to recover anything close to the amount of the jury award.

“Practically speaking, it’s unlikely, but we’re going to see if there is the possibility to satisfy as much of it as we can,” Fletcher said. “It was the right thing to do, regardless of collectability.”

The only defendant with any known assets might be Esequiel “Paul” Garcia, who bought Mountain Charley’s Saloon a few months before masterminding Achilli’s slaying. But Garcia’s family shuttered Mountain Charley’s after his 2011 conviction — it has since been bought and re-branded as the nightclub Charley’s LG — and another of his businesses, 180 Restaurant and Lounge, also closed.

Garcia is the only one who challenged the civil suit, which ended with the jury’s verdict Wednesday. He initially represented himself from prison, but like the other four men linked to the murder, Daniel Chaidez, Miguel Chaidez, Lucio Estrada and Robert Jacome, virtually defaulted on the case by either not responding or declining to defend themselves against the lawsuit.

Garcia’s motive in Achilli’s slaying was born from jealousy. He was romantically interested in a bartender who Achilli was dating at the time. Garcia told his bouncer Daniel Chaidez to find a hit man, and Chaidez called his cousin, Miguel Chaidez, in Southern California to arrange the hit.

On the morning of March 14, 2008, Lucio Estrada coolly approached Achilli outside his Los Gatos townhouse and shot him multiple times, leaving him dead at the scene. Robert Jacome was Estrada’s driver.

All told, about $9,500 was divided between the conspirators.

Fletcher said besides winning a judgment, the purpose of the lawsuit was to hold the defendants fully accountable for the brutal murder of his client’s father and the ensuing emotional damage it caused.

During the criminal trial, Michele Achilli told the judge that despite being separated for about seven years, they often celebrated holidays together, and that her husband had been robbed of being a grandfather. He missed the births of his four grandchildren — he was stepfather to Michele’s two other children — and the college graduation of his daughter.

“We were making sure that, given what happened to Mark, we did everything to hold these guys totally responsible and leave no stone unturned,” he said. “Beyond that, it was really offering some sense of closure to the family, because the criminal trial was about the defendants and what they did, and the civil case was how it affected Alex, and the public got to see that side of the story.”

Alexandra Achilli and her family declined to comment on the verdict. Scott Meyer, a close friend of Mark Achilli, attended most of the trials and said while he was concerned about what the family could realistically get from the defendants, he was heartened by the idea that even if some eventually leave jail, the impact of their crimes will follow them.

“They’ll have to pay for the rest of their lives. That’s a good thing. They need to be punished for what they did. They deserve everything they get,” Meyer said. “I’m glad for Alex, David and Liza, especially after losing their mom. They’ve been through hell.”