Here's the update on the Nuestra Familia-Now some of you might say that this org is not worth worrying about-it's the connections on the outside that are effecting business in the Santa Rosa area. He faces at least 20 years and perhaps life if convicted in the federal case. Operation Knockout: Gang raid targets Nuestra, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), CIF State boys basketball playoffs: Monterey rallies for win over Kingsburg, Operation Knockout: Gang raid targets Nuestra Familia in Salinas, Avalanche engulfs two stories of Tahoe apartment building; evacuations are ordered, Nursing school admission can be a long wait in California. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia were transferred to a federal supermaximum prison in Florence, Colorado. Huerta, too, has been under the lens of law enforcement for nearly a decade. For more than 10 years, one of California's most brutal criminal organizations has been operating from behind the walls of the state's highest- security prison. This investigation revealed the wide-ranging influence of the gang that extends far beyond prison walls. Further, the indictment describes the appointment by these leaders of NF members to positions of power over hierarchical and paramilitary structures called regiments, imposed on its gang members operating on the streets in California. Pelican Bay State Prison. But by April 2001, government agents began to lose control of their prized informant. The arrests made yesterday, most significantly the arrests of the Nuestra Familia leadership, will severely cripple the ability of this criminal enterprise (and) disrupt the communications and organization structure of a criminal network that has terrorized our neighborhoods for far too long.. ", Such is the risk the government runs in using criminal informants to help law enforcement efforts. A preliminary examination in that case is scheduled for April 1. Also charged in the indictment are defendants who allegedly participated in two conspiracies to possess and distribute methamphetamine, one in May of 2019 and the other in September 2020 to March 2021. By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer.. After months of investigation, at least 37 alleged gang members were arrested during the raids conducted. It's a business. This book on the prison gang, Nuestra Familia is very in depth and gives a firsthand true account of one man's life in the gang. The indictment is the product of a three-year investigation called "Operation Black Widow" that involved the FBI, U.S. On Nov. 30, 2001, FBI agents overseeing Hernandez wrote in one of their final reports: "Source (Hernandez) participated in unauthorized criminal activity while under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office, and the San Jose Police Department, and with support from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Antioch Police Department, Campbell Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Kings County Sheriffs Office, Monterey County Sheriffs Office, Mountain View Police Department, Sacramento Police Department, Salinas Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Santa Clara County Parole Department, Santa Clara County Probation Department, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, Modesto Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. At least 37 alleged gang members and associates were in custody after hours of coordinated raids across Monterey County, ending months of investigation that culminated in what some call the largest law enforcement operation ever to target the Nuestra Familia, one of the Wests most violent crime organizations. [20] Operation Knockout [8] Renewed organization He later admitted the "golf" trip was to deliver two pounds of methamphetamine to a cousin. The gangsters saw the vehicle as they approached and, according to the informant, postponed the attack. Alberto "Bird" Larez was convicted in Operation Black Widow. Gallegos, 35, a onetime associate in Hanrahans Salinas gang crew, is charged with conspiracy like the others, and he also faces additional federal counts of using a telephone to further the conspiracy. The federal faction didnt approve of the treaty but the state side entered into it anyways, prompting a deep-seated conflict that continues to play out. "Courts tend to say this may well be something that should be policed internally, but they haven't been ready to give the benefit to defendants," Cohen said. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million. The cops had to call 300 people to tell them there were death threats against them. A locked padlock The suspects, under heavy surveillance, roamed Salinas with loaded weapons for several days. "Today's operation strikes a substantial blow to Nuestra Familia leadership. A decade ago, the FBI"s Operation Black Widow targeted the gang"s top leaders in Pelican Bay State Prison, as well as its out-of-prison regiment commanders for Salinas and other agricultural. ", Ramirez tells Hernandez he believes "it's in motion tonight. 1962(d) Racketeering Conspiracy. Taped conversations indicated that on Nov. 1, 1998, they planned to proceed with the killings. Numerous convictions were overturned because information about informants was withheld from defendants and their attorneys. In April 2010, federal and local law enforcement agencies concluded what was considered the most significant effort to dismantle the Central Coast leadership structure of Nuestra Familia. He is duplicitous by nature. "I find it to be a horse of a different color from using a low-level informant. Frias, 22, said that in addition to himself, others who received the guns included two gang members, who within months used the weapons in Salinas in a murder and an attempted murder. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, Southern California home sales fall to all-time low, Denver just got a direct flight to this Caribbean island known for music history and vegetarian cooking, NYC Mayor Adams dismisses need to separate church and state, declares himself a servant of God, Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. The gang has been around since 1965, according to federal prosecutors, started inside Soledad prison to protect Hispanic inmates. Main Office: IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? A San Jose native, he graduated from UCLA with a BA degree in history and from the University of Maryland with a MA degree in journalism. Agents only need to know that there is a conspiracy, Coulson said. According to multiple gang experts, one main sticking point was the so-called End of Hostilities agreement in 2012 by Californias four main prison gangs, including the Nuestra Familia and their longtime rivals, the Mexican Mafia. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Martin Ramirez, right, in Monterey County Court, with Sgt. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. [19], Since the written constitution of the Norteos stated that the gang's leaders resided in Pelican Bay State Prison in California; the relocation of the five leaders led to turmoil among its members. That forces police to turn to informants, who by their very nature are untrustworthy. Read more about this topic: Nuestra Familia, It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Robert Sosa, at the time Nuestra Familia's General (or supreme commander), was man- dated to administer these resources to further collective interests but had in fact embezzled more than US$100,000 from the group's accounts. . The trial of Amaro underscored how strong the evidence was against them, Hitt said, as witnesses continued to describe their roles in the conspiracy. It would be tough for Zilversmit to make a case that his client had no predisposition to commit the crimes he is accused of committing something the defense would have to prove in order win an acquittal, he said. As San Francisco lawyer Mark Zilversmit, an attorney for one of the indicted Nuestra Familia members, notes, "That operative who's now working for the government is going to have to do some pretty bad things. Prison gang case puts role of FBI informants under scrutiny / Investigation results in 13 guilty pleas; 9 more defendants face trial next year, for fbi-hernandez; FBI Informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. Another problem is that in order for the informant to bring in good information, he must be a successful gang member, and the higher he moves in the organization, the more valuable the evidence he can provide to law enforcement trying to make a case against the gang leaders. When he left prison, he became Nuestra Familia's "street liaison commander" in charge of all the gang's operations outside prison, according to court documents. Dec. 9, 2002 -- The FBI didn't just infiltrate the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang, it allowed an informant to continue the group's violent and criminal activities for seven months, pulling off drug and gun deals and the killing of a rival gang leader, a defense attorney for one of the men accused in the case alleges in a court filing. In a $5 million crime-fighting effort dubbed Operation Black Widow, several Nuestra Familia members agreed to become FBI informants; they wanted protection when they found themselves on. [21], Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. U.S. Attorney Steven Gruel declined to comment on whether the informant might lose his protection from prosecution, because Hernandez, by his own admission, violated terms of the agreement in which he said he would not lie to his handlers, commit new crimes, or keep any illegally earned assets. "It's a typical defense move when the facts are against you, attack the people," said Chief Mike Dunbaugh of the Santa Rosa, Calif., Police Department, which was involved in the operation. Among the crimes committed under Hernandez' leadership was the killing of a rival drug dealer. He previously reported in Washington, D.C., Salinas and the East Bay, and is a middling triathlete. For links to documents cited in this story, go to the Center for Investigative Reporting website. In a jailhouse interview, Frias said that days before the shooting, he was present when a gang commander placed a cell phone call to Hernandez in which Hernandez authorized the hit. He is now in protective custody at an unknown location. In scale and ambition, the operation dwarfs the two largest cases against the Nuestra Familia: Operation Black Widow ended in 2005, and Operation Valley Star led to a massive trial. As outlined in the indictment, membership in the NF involved a process of sponsorship, approval, and indoctrination. FBI transcripts and court testimony revealed at least five revenge murders were discussed during several taped meetings. Operation Quiet Storm, as dubbed by the FBIs San Francisco area field office, yielded 17 indictments and 55 charged defendants, prompting an array of regional agencies including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office and San Jose Police Department to serve high-risk arrest warrants Wednesday. The indictment alleges an NF oath provides: If I lead, follow. Law enforcement authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, and dozens of firearms. [11], Members of Nuestra Familia are known to wear red bandanas ("red rags") to identify themselves. A lock ( The end result was the creation of federal and state factions of the gang that continue to lock horns. Teen girls arrested after allegedly riding scooters into San Francisco pedestrians, Internet personality Yo Pesci receives seven year sentence after flashing firearms on social media, Gang member gave 14-year-old permission to open fire on woman with AR-15 after fender-bender, DA alleges, Pollutants were released into San Jose rivers from construction firm, lawsuit claims. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown and a host of officials announced the results of the action Thursday. "The more successful your informant becomes in the gang, the better, the more information you get. The attack occurred in October 1998, after a gangster was shot and wounded as part of a Nuestra Familia internal power struggle in Salinas. In early 2008, Hanrahan figured into local headlines when his girlfriend Sara Gracia was named to a Salinas police advisory commission, causing an uproar within the Police Department and with the public. He quoted a California Department of Corrections memo describing the gang's activities from January through the spring of 2001: "All operations were at direction of OBW [Operation Black Widow] staff with [a Special Services Unit Special Agent's] concurrence and were monitored with audio/video equipment and personnel.". Membership in the gang extends beyond prison. [14] While members of the Norteos gang are considered to be foot soldiers of Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteo. Details: "It doesn't matter what he says. The defendants charged in the alleged racketeering conspiracy include the following: 18 U.S.C. Norteo gang members, who police say number about 6,000 in Monterey County, act as street-level soldiers for prison-based Nuestra Familia, which operates as the parent company of the Norteos. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest-ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia, James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez, were transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. The Inner Council members that round out the seven were listed as Samuel Sammy Luna, Guillermo Capone Solorio, Trinidad Trino Martinez and George Puppet Franco. 13 Nuestra Familia gang leaders names. Defense attorneys lost a motion to dismiss the case, based on a claim that the government was responsible for murder and assault because it essentially ran Nuestra Familia activities through its informant Daniel Hernandez, who commanded the gang's street operations outside of prison. "You're going to have this guy out there if he's going to be credible as the leader of a violent prison gang, he's going to have to be encouraging all kinds of violent acts.". Known as one of the most powerful prison gangs in California, Nuestra Familia has been plagued by infighting in recent years, starting in the early 2000s when a number of high-ranking members were prosecuted federally after a similar complex probe dubbed Operation Black Widow. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 13 (June 30, 1986). [20], While Nuestra Familia is primarily a Chicano gang, membership sometimes extends to other Latinos as well as non-Latinos. Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz said Huerta has a previous felony assault conviction, giving her one strike under Californias Three Strikes law. One local police officer, however, was skeptical of the lawyer's claims. The records indicate Hernandez did not mention that a murder plot had been discussed; it is not known when agents listened to the tape -- before or after the murder. In the weeks leading up to Lizard's arrest, Kayln . All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! "It seems very risky from a concerned-citizen point of view," Zilversmit said. But San Francisco attorney Marc Zilversmit contends the government's own legal filings reveal a federal role in the brutal prison-based gang, and raise troubling questions about how far the FBI can take an undercover operation. Hanrahan, 39, is currently in Pelican Bay State Prison serving a 13-year sentence on drug charges. Both pleaded guilty in separate cases. If I fall, avenge me. He would wear a recording device. Really? Watsonville police began targeting members of the California prison gang Nuestra Familia. It gives me hope that we can address something as complex as gang violence, he said. "Brown Bob," had spent most of his life inside California's state prisons, rising to become one of the highest ranking members of Nuestra Familia, the notoriously vicious Northern California Latino prison gang. This investigation revealed the wide-ranging influence of the gang that extends far beyond prison walls. The operation was conducted with the help of a highly connected inside source -- Daniel Hernandez, the street general who had confirmed that the green light . You cant win this fight.. According to the indictment, NF members and associates were involved in plots to kill 14 victims between April 2013 and July 2019 as part of the charged racketeering conspiracy. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The Nuestra Familia was not recognized as a prison gang by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation until 1979. The investigation is the first time law enforcement has attempted to bring in such large numbers of Nuestra Familia associates from one geographic area, and the hope is this will virtually shut down the gangs business in Salinas long enough for other anti-violence strategies to take hold. Federal investigators refuse to comment on the case, saying they will eventually answer in court, and at least one local law enforcer calls the charge bogus. Robert Salonga is a Bay Area News Group reporter who covers criminal justice and public safety for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. Ramirez told police upon his arrest as a co-conspirator in the murder that Hernandez, who had not yet been revealed as an informant, gave the go- ahead for the killing. More than 200 law enforcement agents and officers took part in the sweeps, serving arrest and search warrants in Salinas and neighboring areas. For years, investigators have observed Huerta visiting Hernandez in jails and prisons and then delivering messages to local gang members. [20] Cervantes' rise marked the first time in decades that the Norteos had a single leader at the helm of their criminal organization. 1943), The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the courage to exercise the responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought processes.Jane Jarrell Smith, U.S. widow of American astronaut Michael J. Smith. The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. According to court documents, high-ranking Nuestra Familia members Salvador Castro, Jr. and Raymond Lopez used contraband cell phones from inside Fresno County's Pleasant Valley State Prison to . Have a question about Government Services? The 17 indictmentstarget several facets of the Nuestra Familia gang and represent the most significant law enforcement action to disrupt the NF organization in decades, Hinds said. FBI surveillance photo, HO / HO. "The problem in this case is all these guys have criminal histories, so you can't say they're not predisposed," he said. She had recently worked in a Salinas sandwich shop. If the lawyer's claims prove true in court, it wouldn't be the first time the government went too far. It's all false.". Hitt said agents tried to serve Guzman an arrest warrant in Salinas on Thursday but were unable to find her. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest-ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia, James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez, were transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. 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