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. 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. . 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. Members of the organization are considered to have taken a "blood oath" to join the gang, and are considered lifelong participants. They do not have to get involved in this., Seave said the operation fits perfectly into the Ceasefire strategy. 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. The indictment outlines each position according to the NF Constitution. Such would prove the case with Hernandez, who was paid $52,200 over seven months. He is now in protective custody at an unknown location. both faced life sentences in the FBI's sweeping Operation Black Widow conspiracy case in 2000. 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 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. Credit: Janjaap Dekker FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. The Monterey County District Attorneys office has since charged her with felony resisting arrest and she remains in the jail in Salinas. 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. ", Such is the risk the government runs in using criminal informants to help law enforcement efforts. 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. And the right choice is looking away.". 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. Government agents knew that working with such violent criminals was risky. 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. It seems to me their primary responsibility is to stop crime.". [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]. 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 prisonin 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. 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. Oregon,[6] Texas, Utah,[7] Washington[8]Mexico, Nuestra Familia was organized at Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California in 1965. After months of investigation, at least 37 alleged gang members were arrested during the raids conducted. Gracia stepped down after publicly proclaiming her love for Hanrahan at a City Hall press conference. 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. One local police officer, however, was skeptical of the lawyer's claims. 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. 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. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? Staff writer Nate Gartrell contributed to this report. Huerta had been living in Castroville and living a low-key life in recent months, often expressing fears she might be indicted after FBI agents tried to contact her earlier this year. If its criminal to believe in the power of love, I am a criminal, Gracia declared to local news media. That case, as well as revelations about how a mob informant, James "Whitey" Bulger, was protected by some agents while he was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, led the Justice Department to set new guidelines for their agents in the handling of informants in January 2001. "It doesn't matter what he says. Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. 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. 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. He was convicted of racketeering charges in the Bay Area FBI case called Operation Black Widow. 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TTY: (415) 436-7221, Oakland: (510) 637-3680 Robert was a member of the Bay Area News Group reporting team awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for East Bay Times coverage of the fatal "Ghost Ship" fire. He has to in order to maintain credibility.". Operation Black Widow. 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. Local deputies arrested her on March 16 in East Salinas for alleged probation violations, according to sheriffs logs. Nevertheless, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. If it comes to it we have no choice but if we have a choice in the matter, then let's make it the right choice. Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. 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. When Operation Knockout was launched last fall, officials acknowledged there were no resources in place to help communities such as Salinas deal with the almost certain spates of violence that tend to follow mass arrests. 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. 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. [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. Experts say the new guidelines were designed to provide outside checks and balances for the FBI without hindering agents' ability to do their jobs. 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 . 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. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind.Nikki Giovanni (b. 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. 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 . A locked padlock One of those was Armando Frias, the triggerman who pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced in late October to a term of 29 years to life. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. If I stumble, push me. If I fall, avenge me. Watsonville police began targeting members of the California prison gang Nuestra Familia. Among the crimes committed under Hernandez' leadership was the killing of a rival drug dealer. 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. She focused special attention to the seven members of what she described as the Nuestra Familia General Council, which she said ran a massive network across 28 California counties spanning Humboldt to Kern, with major activity centers in San Jose, Salinas and the Central Valley. In the Black Widow investigation, more than 20 gang members or associates have become informants or have agreed to testify against others in the case. [21] Other symbols include use of the number 14 or XIV, as the letter "N" is the 14th letter of the English alphabet. 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. 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. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American . At first, Hernandez came through, providing hours of incriminating tapes. "Nuestra Familia will be back," says law enforcement gang consultant and former Modesto Police Officer Jared Lewis. In all, 21 people were indicted in the FBI's three-year investigation into Nuestra Familia, code-named Operation Black Widow. "The more successful your informant becomes in the gang, the better, the more information you get. Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com. Law enforcement's use of informants is controversial. 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. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown and a host of officials announced the results of the action Thursday. But now, police said they are prepared to respond with tactics developed as part of Operation Ceasefire. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million. FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indictment|indicted on RICO (law)|racketeering charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay . Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. FBI surveillance photo, HO / HO. 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. "If (suspects) commit a single overt act that furthers the conspiracy -- buying a gun or a car, for example -- that's enough to arrest them. [23] After months of investigation, at least 37 alleged gang members were arrested during the raids conducted. 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. Outstanding warrants remain on seven unnamed people. He agreed to abide by Justice Department guidelines that said he must not commit "unauthorized crimes." 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. 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. A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. 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