You have a potential disaster waiting to happen," Cohen said. Each is charged in this indictment. Among the six men and women indicted March 10 on charges of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana for the gang were Castroville resident Carolyn Huerta, as well as Salinas residents Robert Bubba Hanrahan, Juan Wino Gallegos and Rebecca Guzman. 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. Eventually, three new generals came to power at Pelican Bay, yet two were demoted, . 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. 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 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. 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.". 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. For months, gang investigators from the California Department of Justice, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Salinas Police Department, the Monterey County Gang Task Force and the FBI worked to prepare arrest warrants for more than 40 high-ranking members of the gang in Salinas and nearby counties. 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. Instead, they received 10-year sentences in a plea deal negotiated by the gang's leaders after . Salinas Police photo The deputies who arrested her were apparently unaware of the federal charges. Can he maintain credibility with fellow gangsters and yet prevent violent acts plotted by them in his presence? 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. Gov. At first, Hernandez came through, providing hours of incriminating tapes. This is a carousel. U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan told the court that the undercover techniques used by FBI agents during the investigation were "well within established legal boundary." 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. A preliminary examination in that case is scheduled for April 1. 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. Before January the FBI had a policy of shielding its informants' identities from outside agencies. 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. Such would prove the case with Hernandez, who was paid $52,200 over seven months. U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said the mass arrests sent a direct message to the gangs followers: Stop the violence. Once the codes were understood and the messages intercepted, "Operation Black Widow" turned up 10 hit lists. [21] Other symbols include use of the number 14 or XIV, as the letter "N" is the 14th letter of the English alphabet. 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.. When confronted about unauthorized trips, Hernandez said he slipped away without permission to play golf in Stockton. 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. 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? 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 remaining nine defendants will face trial next year in San Francisco in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, and the legal proceedings are expected to last two to three years. "I find it to be a horse of a different color from using a low-level informant. Really? 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. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. 846, 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Thirteen of the defendants plead guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. With no leaders in Pelican Bay, generals began fighting for power. This investigation and prosecution are part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. Dzubay said that although resisting arrest is usually a misdemeanor, authorities elevated it to a felony because an enhancement charge alleged she committed her crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang.. 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. Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. [15] The gang's main sources of income are distributing cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine within prison systems as well as in the community and extorting drug distributors on the streets.[16]. 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. [11], Members of Nuestra Familia are known to wear red bandanas ("red rags") to identify themselves. 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. He agreed to abide by Justice Department guidelines that said he must not commit "unauthorized crimes." 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. 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. 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. 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. "Operation Quiet Storm," as dubbed by the FBI's San Francisco area field office, yielded 17 indictments and 55 charged defendants, prompting an array of regional agencies including the FBI, Drug. [1] In the late 1960s, Mexican-American inmates of the California state prison system began to separate into two rival groups, Nuestra Familia[14] and the 1957-formed Mexican Mafia, according to the locations of their hometowns (the north-south dividing line is Delano, California). 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. "The problem in this case is all these guys have criminal histories, so you can't say they're not predisposed," he said. 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. If its criminal to believe in the power of love, I am a criminal, Gracia declared to local news media. The gang has been around since 1965, according to federal prosecutors, started inside Soledad prison to protect Hispanic inmates. FBI surveillance photo, HO / HO. 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]. 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. Membership in the gang extends beyond prison. Attorney General Brown disagreed, saying he learned when he was mayor of Oakland that only constant suppression works with hard-core gang members. 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. Jorge Salazar and Danny Pereda of San Francisco were also charged. Huerta, too, has been under the lens of law enforcement for nearly a decade. An official website of the United States government. Alberto "Bird" Larez was convicted in Operation Black Widow. According to trial testimony, Salcido slipped on gloves and a ski mask, entered the apartment complex and fatally shot Geronimo Garza, 41, who was not named in revenge discussions taped by the FBI, and wounded Maria Lopez, now 43. 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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hitt said the case against the newly indicted six grew stronger as the Valley Star trial unfolded last fall. 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. The indictments came after a three-year police investigation dubbed Operation Black Widow. [20] Cervantes' rise marked the first time in decades that the Norteos had a single leader at the helm of their criminal organization. Operation Knockout began last year with gang intelligence from the Salinas Police Department and other local agencies, and soon was spearheaded by the California Department of Justices Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. "He was directed that any telephone calls he made, any meeting he had with various NF members or associates, he was to record the conversations," FBI Special Agent Sean Ragan told the grand jury. "Informants cannot be monitored 24 hours a day," says Coulson, the former FBI commander. A lock ( When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million. . 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. 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. Amaro also faces life in federal prison. 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. As outlined in the indictment, membership in the NF involved a process of sponsorship, approval, and indoctrination. 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. Harriette Cole: I don't want the neighbor's kids at my house, Dear Abby: My wife said she doesn't like it, but it's part of my life, Ask Amy: I feel guilty for not speaking up about my co-worker's activities, Ask Amy: I'm your cabin housekeeper, and you apparently have no idea what I do. To that end, he announced the debut Thursday of a county narcotics and gang task force overseen by the states Department of Justice. Numerous convictions were overturned because information about informants was withheld from defendants and their attorneys. 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. ", Hernandez then lectures Ramirez about how sometimes "we look the other way" when others are selling drugs, though "when they come and try to take over, that's different. By disrupting gang leadership, we reduce violence on our streets. In the weeks leading up to Lizard's arrest, Kayln . [8] Renewed organization Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. It was not immediately disclosed how many of the 19 remaining defendants were arrested in the law-enforcement sweeps this week. The Bay Areas top federal prosecutor announced a sweeping array of indictments targeting the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang, boasting that a five-year operation had culminated in a takedown of the organizations leadership responsible for an expanse of drug trafficking and brutal street violence spanning Northern California. 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. Police heard shots and screaming and swarmed the alley, where they arrested Salcido and other gang members. Oregon,[6] Texas, Utah,[7] Washington[8]Mexico, Nuestra Familia was organized at Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California in 1965. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and worked on ProPublicas Electionland project during the 2016 presidential election. At least one of those sought had Santa Cruz County ties, and several others were targeted in the San Jose area, authorities said. 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. 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. The leadership vacuum resulted in a power struggle between prospective generals. The perpetration of violence and other crimes was ordinarily a prerequisite to entrance, continued membership, and advancement in the organization. "Today's operation strikes a substantial blow to Nuestra Familia leadership. 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. For years, investigators have observed Huerta visiting Hernandez in jails and prisons and then delivering messages to local gang members. 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. Both pleaded guilty in separate cases. Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz said Huerta has a previous felony assault conviction, giving her one strike under Californias Three Strikes law. 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. Main Office: 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 . Editorial | What will future hold for a 'reimagined' Seacliff State Beach? Among the crimes committed under Hernandez' leadership was the killing of a rival drug dealer. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Law enforcement efforts to break up the criminal operation have been extremely difficult. Under the guidelines, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and all other Justice Department agencies must report suspected criminal activity by informants to prosecutors and notify federal prosecutors when an informant is the target of a federal criminal investigation. Have a question about Government Services? Following that, the television news show " 60 Minutes " asked if a prison exists that can actually isolate the hardened criminal leaders. Both investigations were led by the FBI and crippled the gangs operations after the arrests of dozens of Nuestra Familia members and associates from Monterey County. In 2001, the five highest-ranking commanders of the gang were transferred to a maximum security prison in Colorado. reportedly high-ranking members of Nuestra Familia, are inmates at Pelican Bay -- Gerald Rubalcaba . The judge agreed, saying "the government has presented substantial evidence suggesting that the government's role in the affairs of the Nuestra Familia was at most that of a facilitator" and, citing legal precedent, was not "tantamount to the 'engineering and direction of the criminal enterprise from start to finish.' State gang czar Paul Seave said he was pleased that so many law enforcement agencies came together. Despite being locked down 23 hours a day in the prison's Security Housing Unit, gang leaders have used elaborate communication systems to send out orders, including writing coded messages disguised as love letters, using urine as invisible ink and sending letters marked "legal mail" to a nonexistent law firm in San Francisco, FBI records show. [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.
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