According to Zilversmit, who represents another defendant, Hernandez not only helped the government build its case, but also took advantage of the freedom given him by law enforcement to first gain the position of go-between for Nuestra Familia leaders in prison and members on the street and eventually to take over the operation. The indictment charges all seven of the members who make up the Nuestra Familias ruling body: the General Council, said Acting U.S. Attorney Hinds. In legal motions filed over the past four weeks, defense attorneys for 15 alleged members of the Nuestra Familia the prison gang that governs the Northern California-based Norteo and. [21] Nuestra Familia members often use the image of a sombrero with a machete as their gang symbol. These seven individuals for years led a violent and lucrative criminal organization from their prison cells. State gang czar Paul Seave said he was pleased that so many law enforcement agencies came together. 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. Salcido was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. According to the transcripts, the group discussed the purchase of black ski masks, gloves and walkie-talkies to be used for the hits, and even the type of bullets to be fired. The gangsters stopped in front of an apartment building, and Nuestra Familia member Paul Salcido and an associate got out of the car and ducked into an alley. "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. Summer Lin covers breaking news and general assignment for The Mercury News. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 13 (June 30, 1986). reportedly high-ranking members of Nuestra Familia, are inmates at Pelican Bay -- Gerald Rubalcaba . Like Hanrahan, she was often named in witness testimony in the ongoing Valley Star trials in Sacramento federal court. Editorial | What will future hold for a 'reimagined' Seacliff State Beach? 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. Some law enforcement agents speculate that the Nuestra Familia gang, which operates in and out of prisons, influences much of the criminal activity of thousands of Norteo gang members in California. [18] The spark that led to the ongoing war between Nuestra Familia and members of the Mexican Mafia involved a situation in 1965 in which a member of La eMe stole a pair of shoes from a Northerner at Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy. In December 2000, Hernandez struck a deal with the FBI. Operation Black Widow, where murders, assaults and drug trafficking were committed under the watch of two informants working for the government, fuels the debate. 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 . The operation began in 1997 under the leadership of the FBI and involved nearly 30 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the state Department of Corrections; five district attorneys' offices and police departments of San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Salinas, San Jose, Visalia, Modesto, Tracy, Stockton and Watsonville, among others. On that day, police undercover vehicles followed the gang members through the streets while a California Highway Patrol helicopter tracked them from the air. In a letter to the court, Frias said that a fellow gang member "pushed the matter (with Hernandez) and finally got the 'green light' for the murder .. . Four Monterey County Nuestra Familia gang associates face life in federal prison after their indictment in connection with the governments sweeping 2007 gang conspiracy case known as Operation Valley Star. He later told a federal grand jury that law enforcement agents had not arrested the gang members earlier because prosecutors and the task force wanted to gather more evidence in the murder conspiracy. "You can't be with him 24 hours a day. Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. FBI transcripts and court testimony revealed at least five revenge murders were discussed during several taped meetings. 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 indictment outlines each position according to the NF Constitution. And that price is going to be your freedom, said District Attorney Dean Flippo. A lot of the street violence in the past 10 years in Salinas and Watsonville and San Jose stems from this, and in the prison yards too.. For years, investigators have observed Huerta visiting Hernandez in jails and prisons and then delivering messages to local gang members. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? To that end, he announced the debut Thursday of a county narcotics and gang task force overseen by the states Department of Justice. For eight months, officers conducted intense surveillance and investigation of Salinas-area Nuestra Familia associates, who they believed were loyal to the two remaining factions of the gang after Black Widow split the gangs leadership. Katz said that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such an argument could hypothetically be used to overturn a conviction, but it has yet to rule in favor of any defendant making that kind of case. But by April 2001, government agents began to lose control of their prized informant. 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. A high-ranking Nuestra Familia gang leader from Salinas was arrested this week in an FBI takedown of one of the gang's largest street regiments, federal officials said. The trial of Heredia and the other defendants is scheduled to begin in January. Hanrahan was a Nuestra Familia leader from Salinas who oversaw drug-dealing crews in that city and conveyed orders to the Nuestra Familias Watsonville regiment. 450 Golden Gate Avenue Members of the organization are considered to have taken a "blood oath" to join the gang, and are considered lifelong participants. Each is charged in this indictment. 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 just under way in a Sacramento federal court. [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. 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. 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. Law enforcement authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, and dozens of firearms. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. 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. Armando Frias, the gunman in the murder of Raymond Sanchez, says FBI informant Daniel Hernandez authorized the killing. FBI records show that by late July, the bureau stopped working with Hernandez, and he was arrested on a parole violation. After serving NF for 20 years Viramontes had paroled, for good. The FBI said gang commanders sent orders from six prisons in the state: Pelican Bay State Prison, High Desert State Prison, California State Prison-Sacramento, California State Prison-Solano, Pleasant Valley State Prison and Salinas Valley State Prison. Main Office: The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. 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. 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. While the Mexican Mafia had initially been created to protect Mexicans in prison, there was a perceived level of abuse by members of La eMe towards the imprisoned chicanos from rural farming areas of Northern California. Of 44 arrest warrants obtained, 37 warrants ended with arrests Thursday. You have a potential disaster waiting to happen," Cohen said. Such would prove the case with Hernandez, who was paid $52,200 over seven months. Law enforcement efforts to break up the criminal operation have been extremely difficult. "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.". 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. Hitt said agents tried to serve Guzman an arrest warrant in Salinas on Thursday but were unable to find her. He also admitted receiving about $7,000 for drugs and other criminal activities with gang members and to participating in other unauthorized drug deals while on the FBI's payroll. The inmates who formed the Nuestra Familia gang banded together to protect themselves from the Mexican Mafia, but then grew to be involved in drug dealing, extortion and robbery.[17]. Once membership was achieved, this membership was for life. The more time you can get on someone whos in the hierarchy the better it is, because its less of an incentive to the young ones who see this as a romantic choice of lifestyle, she said. Its the way we should do business. He agreed to abide by Justice Department guidelines that said he must not commit "unauthorized crimes." The government's response had been due to be filed with the court on Nov. 29, but prosecutors requested and were given an additional 10 days. [21] Women are not allowed to become full-fledged members of Nuestra Familia, but are sometimes used for communication and drug-running purposes as they are considered less likely to be noticed by law enforcement agents. But now, police said they are prepared to respond with tactics developed as part of Operation Ceasefire. 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. In this weeks first upload of John Boxer Mendoza's book, Nuestra Familia: a broken paradigm, he describes how " Operation Black Widow "broke, who all the tar. Salazar was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday and Pereda was due to be released soon from a federal prison. By disrupting gang leadership, we reduce violence on our streets. "I find it to be a horse of a different color from using a low-level informant. The leadership vacuum resulted in a power struggle between prospective generals. Before January the FBI had a policy of shielding its informants' identities from outside agencies. 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. Attorney General Brown disagreed, saying he learned when he was mayor of Oakland that only constant suppression works with hard-core gang members. Local authorities hope the arrests will cripple the gangs grip on younger gang members in the area and make existing gang-violence intervention efforts, such as Ceasefire, more effective. 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. The indictment also describes the NFs organizational structure and, in particular, the gangs governing body: a seven-member General Council, made up of three Generals and a four-member Inner Council, which makes significant decisions and oversees the activities of the NF and its subservient gangs. Five defendants in the Valley Star case have already undergone trials in Sacramento federal court, and all have been convicted of drug and conspiracy charges. Official websites use .gov By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer.. 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. The end result was the creation of federal and state factions of the gang that continue to lock horns. 4 Nuestra Familia gang members face life after, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), 4 Nuestra Familia gang members face life after indictment from Operation Valley Star, 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, 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 NF is alleged in the indictment to be a criminal enterprise that was created to organize, protect, discipline, profit from, and maintain the allegiance of gang members on the streets of and within custodial facilities in California. Some in law enforcement believe that, while fighting Nuestra Familia was worthwhile, younger members will soon rise to take leadership. Operation Black Widow was recorded in Oakland, CA 2015-2018 Mastered by Jim Haras Mixed by Samuel Montero Torres and Mackenzie Chami Layout by Kevin Gan Yuen Dedicated to Tami Lynn Torres license all rights reserved tags Tags heavy electronics modular synth power electronics Los Angeles about If you like Operation Black Widow, you may also like: This civil war has been going on for quite a while, almost since the Black Widow convictions, said Julie Reynolds, a journalist who authored the book Blood in the Fields about the Black Widow case. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? It should bring them some reality that its not romantic at all.. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. From cells in Pelican Bay State Prison, Nuestra Familia's leaders have ordered murders and assaults and controlled much of the drug trade in Northern California cities, according to court and law enforcement records. 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. At first, Hernandez came through, providing hours of incriminating tapes. He was due to be released soon from Corcoran state prison, prosecutors said, where he served time on a 2007 assault charge. Really? A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. The investigation, dubbed Operation Black Widow, was a joint effort by the FBI and state and local police in Northern California to break the Nuestra Familia gang, which police say operated from Salinas to the Oregon border and was run from inside the state's high-security Pelican Bay State Prison. The gangs targeted in this case are responsible for much of the illicit drug distribution and violent crime that has plagued areas throughout CA pic.twitter.com/cyLZ3Uls5c, FBI SanFrancisco (@FBISanFrancisco) September 16, 2021, We take aim at the head of the snake, Hinds said. Of special interest were members who held positions of power within the gang, including Martin Cyclone Montoya, a man who investigators say was in charge of Nuestra Familias powerful Salinas regiment. Nevertheless, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. . A high-ranking Nuestra Familia gang leader from Salinas was arrested this week in an FBI takedown of one of the gang's largest street regiments, . But at the trials, questions about the FBI's ability to fully control its gangster informants are being raised: When the FBI hires a criminal to be its eyes and ears in the inner workings of a dangerous gang, can the informant cease to engage in criminal activity? Others arrested include Castroville residents Dakota Vernon Casperson and Sheena Nicole Casperson. In grand jury testimony, a former cellmate said Hernandez ordered 17 stabbings while in prison. 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. Craig Fair, head of the FBIs San Francisco area field office, said the operation announced Thursday was one of the largest gang takedowns in FBI San Francisco divisions history.. An official website of the United States government. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? 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. She remains at large. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. 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. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and worked on ProPublicas Electionland project during the 2016 presidential election. Blood in the Fields also documents the history of Operation Black Widow, the FBI's questionable decade-long effort to dismantle the Nuestra Familia, along with its compromised informants and the turf wars it created with local law enforcement agencies. The suspects, under heavy surveillance, roamed Salinas with loaded weapons for several days. Police joined the FBI in a multi-jurisdictional effort to bring down members of the gang after a crime spree through Watsonville and neighboring cities began in the fall of 2003. Ramirez pled guilty for conspiring to murder Raymond Sanchez, and told Salinas police that the FBI's informant allowed the hit. FBI records indicate that he failed to record or report on phone calls with gang members and he disappeared without telling his handlers. Sosa was impeached and Nuestra Familia's structure altered to im- pede future misconduct. Credit: Janjaap Dekker FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. 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. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million. Nuestra Familia's new leadership General: David "DC" Cervantes Top Commanders: Daniel "Stork" Perez, of Salinas; Anthony "Chuco" Guillen, of San Jose; George "Puppet" Franco, of San Jose Demoted: Jose "Huerito" Gonzalez; James "Conejo" Perez Copyright 2008 Monterey County Herald Copyright 2013 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Amaro also faces life in federal prison. The indictment alleges an NF oath provides: If I lead, follow. State and federal law enforcement officials chose Salinas for the raids because for years the city has been known as a hub of Nuestra Familias activity. According to FBI records, Hernandez handed over the tape of the conversation and reported to his handlers immediately afterward. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The defendants charged in the alleged racketeering conspiracy include the following: 18 U.S.C. A spokesman for Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chair of a House committee currently investigating the FBI's use of criminals as informants, says the FBI is now "in the process of doing a complete review of the way they handle informants.". 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. "Nuestra Familia will be back," says law enforcement gang consultant and former Modesto Police Officer Jared Lewis. The NF has a formal written constitution and a membership of approximately 250, with an additional 1,000 associates. 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. Informant Daniel Hernandez, a former Nuestra Familia leader, is expected to be a star witness in the federal trial under way in San Francisco. "They almost become complicit in it," he said. While all Nuestra Familia soldiers and captains in California are expected to follow the orders of Cervantes, a small percentage of the gang remains loyal to the former generals and captains imprisoned in Colorado. 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. But neither investigation matched the scope of Operation Knockout in numbers of those arrested and in its aim to effectively shut down the Nuestra Familia in Salinas. The man known as Hanrahans mentor in the East Las Casitas gang, Larry Paqui Amaro, has already been convicted of conspiracy charges in the case and is scheduled to be sentenced in April. It's a business. Nuestra Familia are prison enemies of the Southern chicanos who consisted of La eMe, better known as the Mexican Mafia. The investigation did in fact lead to indictments in 2001 of 22 Nuestra Familia gang members on charges including murder, racketeering, assault, drug trafficking and conspiracy. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! "It was decided to allow it to go on until sufficient overt acts were completed that prosecutors felt that convictions could be obtained," Lazzarini testified. 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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hitt said the case against the newly indicted six grew stronger as the Valley Star trial unfolded last fall. 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. That strategy was challenged by former Deputy Assistant FBI Director Daniel O. Coulson, who led bureau anti-terrorism and organized crime teams from 1966 to 1997, and who defends the use of criminal informants as "worth the risk" to make difficult cases. "Start whacking these fools," one gang member exhorted in one such discussion. 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. A locked padlock Government agents knew that working with such violent criminals was risky. 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. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. 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. [11], Members of Nuestra Familia are known to wear red bandanas ("red rags") to identify themselves. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, 36 of the defendants named in the indictments were already in state prison and have been moved to federal holding facilities. If an individual is the target of a murder plot, you have to protect him.". The NF oversaw such regiments in Santa Clara County, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, San Francisco County, San Mateo County, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, Solano County, San Joaquin County, Fresno County, Kings County, Tulare County, Madera County, Merced County, Kern County, Sacramento County, Yolo County, Humboldt County, Shasta County, Lassen County, Tehama County, Butte County, Yuba County, Sutter County, Lake County, Placer County, and Sonoma County, as well as in Salinas Valley State Prison, Pelican Bay State Prison, Pleasant Valley State Prison, California State Prison - Solano, California State Prison - Sacramento, and High Desert State Prison. For links to documents cited in this story, go to the Center for Investigative Reporting website. Two of the indictments centered on a dozen people split between two San Jose-based Norteo gangs, alleging a string of crimes involving drug running, robberies, attempted murder and murder, acting Northern California U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds said at a Thursday news conference. In all, 21 people were indicted in the FBI's three-year investigation into Nuestra Familia, code-named Operation Black Widow. The defendants are scheduled to make initial federal court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Nathanael Cousins and U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Sallie Kim today. San Jose: (408) 535-5061. " Hernandez: "Yeah. The Nuestra Familia gang, which operates in and out of prisons, influences much of the criminal activity of thousands of Norteo gang members in Monterey and other California counties by ordering hits and demanding payments from drug sales, robberies and other gang crimes. 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Some in law enforcement believe that, while fighting Nuestra Familia members often use the image of county. Violent criminals was risky whacking these fools, '' says law enforcement that! Murder Raymond Sanchez, and told Salinas police that the FBI 's informant allowed hit! The case against the newly indicted six grew stronger as the Mexican Mafia struck! The other defendants is scheduled to begin in January Office, 36 of the Southern chicanos who consisted of eMe! Government agents began to lose control of their prized informant of Heredia and other! Nf oath provides: If I lead, follow Seacliff state Beach from using a low-level informant in.. Would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the federal was.

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