And all are charged with substantive crimes: drug sales and possession, murder, and so on. Now, at 22, Frias has been sentenced to a prison term of 29 years to life for the gang-ordered execution of Raymond Sanchez at Cap's Saloon in downtown Salinas. That what I decided to do.. But Lizard played it cool. A few weeks later, the rapper signed a new contract with Dog Day Records and quickly released an album called Gang Stories. Prison gang members set to testify against Nuestra Familia leaders. Man, Im from the streets. CD, Sir Dyno says. While working as an informant, he tested positive for drug use. Lizard said he was forced into performing the unauthorized drug deals after an investigator from Santa Clara County nearly blew his cover. Regardless, the compilation had limited success, and never took off like the G.U.N. with his boss while in prison, and took it out of prison with him, after the idea was ratified by the NF leadership. He estimated the CD had netted about $80,000 and that hed sent only $5,000 to a bank account in Boise, Idaho, where a female accomplice transferred the money into a separate account for NF prisoners. And in response, FBI documents indicate that street soldiers in Nuestra Familia have ordered a two-year moratorium on murders while they wait for recent publicity to fade. Over an ominous keyboard drone, he speaks deliberately, as if issuing a UN speech: The primary purpose and goals of this album is to promote unity amongst each and every one of us as norteos. With the prison population growing so fast, they had their pick, Lewis said. Then he waited. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Lizard himself adamantly denied Zilversmits claims, insisting that he pressed for peace in the case of Sanchez. There was Henry "Happy" Cervantes, built like . Copyright 2023 Lizard got away with it, and when Big Smiley emerged, he personally sponsored Lizard into Nuestra Familia. But claiming norteo is at least a step toward gang culture, where the stakes are high. Citing the First Amendment, the DA chose not to pursue the case. Symbols and culture But nowhere on the CD, or in the lyrics, do the words Nuestra Familia appear. only to sell records. According to an FBI report, Cuete and his cohorts have continued to manage the gang while awaiting transfer to federal prisons from Alameda Countys Santa Rita Jail. Former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernndez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristn and Tex Marn Hernndez. Now, nearly all Norte-o soldiers and Nuestra Familia regiment captains across California answer to Cervantes, gang experts say, but re-establishing the gang's control over the streets has not been easy. You have entered an incorrect email address. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I fear no organization. A few years earlier, the two attorneys had nailed former general Pinky Hernandez for ordering a murder, and Cuete wanted to offer their coffins as a gift to Pinky. Theres no denying Sir Dyno is norteo, but hes careful to explain that a norteo isnt necessarily a gang member, just a Chicano proud of his provenance. He tested positive, violating a federal policy that informants remain drug-free while working for the government. 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. dozens of murders while imprisoned at Pelican Bay, including In fact, the 31-year-old gangsta rapper, whose real name is David Rocha, wanted nothing more than to distance himself from his codefendants. Ramiro Goose Garcia from Stockton complained that the gang wasnt sufficiently exploiting the Central Valley drug market. That night, Holguin led a three-car caravan of police investigators, federal agents, and prison investigators to meet Lizard. Sureos tended to be more-recent immigrants who often disparaged Norteos as second-generation Latinos who groveled for agricultural jobs and neglected their mother tongue, according to Joseph Hernandez, a criminal justice professor at Sacramento State University and expert in Latino gangs. And though prison officials recently reorganized the housing in a way that slows down gang communications, coded directives are still smuggled out that translate to violence in California cities and farm towns. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. This arrest data includes all information on current and previous arrests for . For instance, if Lizard wrote Hey Love, that meant that every third word was part of the real message. He said that after he drove away from a successful arms sale in the South Bay, at which he wore a wire, one of his underbosses called to warn him he was being tailed by a suspicious car, which Lizard knew was the investigator. Consider this reasoning using an unrelated example: All chickens are bipeds; John Ashcroft is a biped. Its as sensible as that East Coast-West Coast thing. In a memo to his colleagues, Helton talks about spotting G.U.N. County./AP. At a hearing last month, Steven Gruel, US assistant attorney and Chief of Major Crimes, told the court that Sir Dynos limited role with Nuestra Familia made no difference under the law: It doesnt matter if you associate with a RICO enterprise for five years or five minutes; it still makes you part of the conspiracy.. It gives you a sense of purpose. December 12, 1976. Arnold Schwarzenegger protested the fact that the five were not scattered across the federal prison system, as former U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller's staff had promised. And I did my time for what I was doing. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. posters and CDs in his car, again cementing a link between the prison gang and local norteos. After a few weeks of writing and recording, the CD was released on Cinco de Mayo of 1998 and found its audience immediately. of Tulare County. Now, for a CD he cut five years ago, for a guy he claims he barely knew, for a dollar he never made, David Rocha faces a life sentence on a single count of conspiracy. Lizard still takes pride in that: What the law didnt know was that Lizard had an escape plan and a handcuff key, but more importantly, he had influence on the streets, he recalled in a letter. After the informant completed his undercover work, I discovered that the informant had engaged in unauthorized drug deals, Agent Ragan wrote. The handlers didnt want to blow his cover. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. Big Smiley immediately ordered his soldier to enforce gang law back in C-Facility. The guys I played with didnt care Norteo, Sureo, or what side you were on. Ultimately, Judge Charles Breyer denied Zilversmits motion. While Sanchez sipped beer, Frias met Martinez at his car. Nuestra Familia is organized in a military-like hierarchy, with generals running the gang from inside prison and paroled regiment captains running the streets outside. Chalk it up as a loss, just let it go, and move on. Copyright 2023 Sir Dyno claims Gratton stiffed him on payments a few months after the CD hit the streets, and that he never worked with the dude again. For the next three months, he made his bones among Norteos by slashing Sureo inmates, brothers hed once shouldered with. with prosecutors for reduced sentences, The Press Democrat reported By 1965, Sureos outnumbered Norteos by roughly seven to one inside the prison system. He told his commander that hed received an order from Cuete to kill two deputy district attorneys, a husband and wife team in San Jose named Kitty and Charles Constantinides. The amount of violence attributed to the men inside the courtroom and their associates on the outside was staggering: fifteen killings, eighty conspiracies to murder, ten attempted murders, ten felony assaults, one hundred assaults, and two drive-by shootings. Symbols and culture had pulled down between $50,000 and $80,000. The history of that hit calls into question the governments handling of Lizard. : Wanton Disregard For Safety Warrants Or Holds Only Resist / Obstruct / Delay Peace Officer in Tulare County, California on March 30, 2016 by Tulare County Sheriff. Lizard also sent Crazy Girl a decoding list, known in FBI documents as The Salutation Code. In each letter he wrote, the greeting unlocked a key to the rest of the letter. But life was still rough, he says, and drug deals and violence went down in front of his eyes, even if it was what he calls mostly high school stuff, kid stuff, stupid stuff. He admits to selling pot, but only small-time, just enough to support myself., From those experiences, he says, he extrapolated in his art, and began rapping in that netherworld of myth, that place where facts give way to the cushion of fiction, where arrogance and boasting overtake the narrative. According to Lizard, the commander had one more piece of information: Cuete says youre a no-good. The system certainly creates you, makes you decide. In the logic of the Chicano intrastate rivalry, there are norteos and sureos, and even if youre not running with the corner gang, youre still vulnerable to getting whacked by your enemy. Its the life story of a petty hood who reached his full criminal potential only afterentering the California prison system. The next rung of leaders in Pelican Bay includes Daniel "Stork" Perez of Salinas; Anthony "Chuco" Guillen of San Jose, who was involved in the murder of a Nuestra Familia member there and is serving a 25-year sentence; and George "Puppet" Franco, 39, from San Jose, responsible for the gang's activities in Stockton, Tracy and Fresno. Lo-fi beats backed simple, repetitive keyboard riffs. SAN JOSE - A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 17 defendants with racketeering conspiracy, including acts involving murder, robbery, drug trafficking, and money laundering, and charging five others with drug trafficking-related crimes. We cut off the head of the snake, but it will grow back, said Special Agent Holguin. In NF, they dont want you to be friends in case you have to do something down the road, Lizard wrote. It sold, and he knew why. For penance, Cuete was allegedly ordered to write an essay on the consequences of being a gossip. Special Agent Kelly explained to Rocha that he was being placed under arrest for violation of RICO conspiracy, the report states. Were going to take care of it tonight., But then he talked about looking the other way. He told his carnal, We got more on the table than just a fight for powder. I didnt realize lyrics could be taken so seriously, he now says, claiming that he rapped for shock value on G.U.N. A local health care fraud enforcement action has resulted in federal charges against of 25 Southern California defendants for their alleged involvement in healthcare fraud schemes that fraudulently sought over $150 million from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as private insurers and union health benefit plans. The eradication was criticized by some prison gang experts, citing that Eme members now filled a power vacuum, and that future Norteos, outnumbered and alone, would only serve as bait. One month later, he was visited by Louie Holguin, a special agent with the Department of Corrections who monitored parolees and prison gangs. Two months later, the leaders met again at the Los Robles Lodge in Santa Rosa. He was very concerned about his familys safety, his safety. According to grand jury testimony from family members, Bobs wife was just about to call him in for dinner when a Ford Explorer pulled up to the curb. 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