operation black widow nuestra familia generals
Salinas Police photo But by April 2001, government agents began to lose control of their prized informant. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Nuestra Familia are prison enemies of the Southern chicanos who consisted of La eMe, better known as the Mexican Mafia. Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. On June 18, 2001, Hernandez told his handlers that a subordinate was distributing more than a dozen guns to young gang members in town, according to FBI reports. Eventually, three new generals came to power at Pelican Bay, yet two were demoted, . 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. After months of investigation, at least 37 alleged gang members were arrested during the raids conducted. Scott Adams faces 'consequence culture' as U.S. newspapers drop Dilbert, Tom Cruise's 'ditching' of Suri showcased by Judd Apatow's 'co-parenting' joke, ex-Scientology exec says. Following that, the television news show " 60 Minutes " asked if a prison exists that can actually isolate the hardened criminal leaders. "The arrests made yesterday, most significantly the arrests of the Nuestra Familia leadership, will severely cripple the ability of this criminal enterprise to continue to facilitate crimes in communities throughout the state and help break a decades-old cycle of violence," said FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Fair. While the NF was composed of a relative few, it exercised control and wielded influence over thousands of subordinate gang members in counties and prisons throughout Northern California using such regiments. But, according to current and former FBI agents, ensuring that informants comply with such orders can be difficult. It seems to me their primary responsibility is to stop crime.". Ramirez pled guilty for conspiring to murder Raymond Sanchez, and told Salinas police that the FBI's informant allowed the hit. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS FBI surveillance photo, HO / HO. In grand jury testimony, a former cellmate said Hernandez ordered 17 stabbings while in prison. Montoya is among a dozen of those arrested Thursday who face charges in federal court, where mandatory sentences for drug and gun crimes often mean longer prison terms. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? Hernandez, who grew up in Pittsburg in Contra Costa County, has a long and violent criminal history, committing armed assaults, admitting conspiring to murder a former gang member in San Jose in 1999 and to talking with fellow gang members about killing two Santa Clara County prosecutors. She remains at large. "I find it to be a horse of a different color from using a low-level informant. Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Ann Hill, who prosecuted Hanrahan locally in 2007, said she was pleased to hear about the new charges because Hanrahan is due to be released from state prison in nine years or less. Frias, the convicted triggerman in the April 2001 murder, thinks the FBI's operation may have destabilized Nuestra Familia, but he gives more credit to the gang leaders' own "hypocrisy" in turning on each other for any decline in its strength. ". The three Generals of the gangs leadership council were identified as David DC Cervantes, Antonio Chuco Guillen, and James Conejo Perez. Then, in May, his Salinas street crew entered a bar and shot and killed an enemy they believed was moving in on their heroin-dealing turf. It is clear they have hard and fast rules, and those who run afoul are met with intimidation and violence that spills into our communities, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon. 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. 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. In 2001, the five highest-ranking commanders of the gang were transferred to a maximum security prison in Colorado. He was due to be released soon from Corcoran state prison, prosecutors said, where he served time on a 2007 assault charge. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Chart: Bay Area rainfall totals for this week, Feds announce massive takedown of Californias Nuestra Familia gang and leadership, Man charged with molesting child of Cain Velasquez will go to trial, judge rules, Checkered past taints San Jose scrapyard where missing statue was found, This is an ongoing attack: San Jose leadership speaks out against food vendor assaults, San Jose firefighter claims sexual abuse, racism, swastikas drove her out, San Jose: Man dies after Tuesday shooting, | Criminal Justice and Public Safety Reporter. A preliminary examination in that case is scheduled for April 1. . At the time of Operation Black Widow, law enforcement officials had estimated that Nuestra Familia was responsible for at least 600 murders in the previous 30 years. 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. The court also may order additional terms of supervised release, fines, and restitution. tape telephone conversations with gang members and set up organizational meetings in Rohnert Park, Salinas, San Francisco, Milpitas, Tracy and Sacramento that the FBI would secretly videotape. 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. He told the young man that if he wanted to be recognized by Nuestra Familia, he could appeal to the generals. Zilversmit accuses the government of knowing that the murder was going to happen, but doing nothing to either stop it or warn the victim that he was in danger, and he says the money raised from drug and gun deals, as well as robberies and extortion ordered by Hernandez, went to the FBI, not the gang. Each is charged in this indictment. Was the Black Widow investigation, with its 22 indictments and possible convictions and breakup of the criminal enterprise, worth the risk? One "test" a prospective member must pass to join Nuestra Familia is to have committed at least one murder for "the cause," according to a gang investigator with the state Corrections Department as well as Al Valdez, an investigator with the Orange County district attorney's office and a gang consultant with the state attorney general's office. But Coulson said in an interview that agents should step in quickly if they learn a murder plot has been advanced. The perpetration of violence and other crimes was ordinarily a prerequisite to entrance, continued membership, and advancement in the organization. Sosa was impeached and Nuestra Familia's structure altered to im- pede future misconduct. But officials say it soon expanded outside, and over the last three-and-a-half decades has carried out hundreds of murders and thousands of robberies, staking its claim to its turf with intimidation and violence. [20] Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had complained that keeping the five remaining gang leaders located in the same prison only continued to add to California gang violence, and that they should be scattered throughout different prisons. [20] The remaining leadership of the organization in Pelican Bay consists of Daniel "Stork" Perez, Anthony "Chuco" Guillen and George "Puppet" Franco. Her attorney Jeremy Dzubay said its up to District Attorney Dean Flippo to decide whether her local case must be tried before Huerta is taken into federal custody. To join Nuestra Familia ("Our Family") and rise in its ranks takes years of studying the gang's written constitution, training, and committing violent crimes inside and outside of prison. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and worked on ProPublicas Electionland project during the 2016 presidential election. The cops had to call 300 people to tell them there were death threats against them. Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. Operation Quiet Storm was the culmination of more than 5 years of complex investigative work. A task force of law enforcement agents listening in learned that Nuestra Familia member Hector Gallegos was scheduled to be the first victim. The trial of Heredia and the other defendants is scheduled to begin in January. One of the handguns distributed by Armando Santa cruz while he was regiment commander of Salinas FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California have declined to comment on the allegations in Zilversmit's filing. Pelican Bay State Prison. But he says the defense's claims against the government are actually more serious than entrapment, in which the rights of a suspect are violated, because they allege the government actually was in a position of knowingly tolerating crimes. 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 the gang's hit list, or they cut a deal as the government was about to indict them. 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 indictment outlines that the Nuestra Familia used hierarchical and paramilitary structures to control thousands of California gang members and counties across Northern California even while most of the top leadership was incarcerated.. An official website of the United States government. Others arrested include Castroville residents Dakota Vernon Casperson and Sheena Nicole Casperson. Armando Frias, the gunman in the murder of Raymond Sanchez, says FBI informant Daniel Hernandez authorized the killing. Northern District of California A lock ( Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. But to those who choose to stop the violence, there are available resources to help them. The gangs targeted in this operation are responsible for much of the illicit drug distribution and violent crime that has plagued areas in the South Bay, Salinas and the Central Valley for years, Fair said. That Watsonville-based team later evolved into the federal Valley Star investigation. 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. According to the NF Constitution, the Street Regiment General oversees the NFs overall street operations. The General of the Prisons is responsible for the NFs overall pinta [prison] functions, and the General Advocates Office is the NFs justice department. Tiered just below these three NF Generals was the Inner Council, which consisted of four senior NF members who served as advisors to the Generals and provided a system of checks and balances. With no leaders in Pelican Bay, generals began fighting for power. The FBI has declined to issue any comment on the Black Widow investigation. These regiments primarily guaranteed the NFs vast influence and control over its own and its street gang members, ensured avenues to direct violence and other illicit activity, and secured means for the NF to make money through the commission of criminal activity. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! 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. The question of how to investigate violent street gangs and organized crime is one that has troubled police and prosecutors for centuries, and according to law enforcement experts, no satisfactory answer has yet been reached. 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. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. [22], 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. 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. Taped conversations indicated that on Nov. 1, 1998, they planned to proceed with the killings. 3553. At the time of Operation Black Widow, law enforcement officials had estimated that Nuestra Familia was responsible for at least 600 murders in the previous 30 years. Also appearing at the press conference were Chief of the Office of Correctional Safety for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Derrick Marion, Santa Clara Sheriff Laurie Smith, and San Jose Deputy Chief of Police Elle Washburn. 13 Nuestra Familia gang leaders names. The deputies who arrested her were apparently unaware of the federal charges. Graduate School of Journalism and worked on ProPublicas Electionland project during the conducted... N'T call because the phone scares people be difficult leaders in Pelican Bay, yet two demoted... Be released soon from Corcoran state prison, prosecutors said, where he time! Of California a lock ( use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Next. To a maximum security prison in Colorado its 22 indictments and possible convictions breakup! Comment on the Black Widow investigation and breakup of the gangs leadership council were identified as DC. 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