Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. 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. But police and the FBI, wanting to build their case, did not arrest the gang members for conspiracy to commit murder. [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). It was not immediately disclosed how many of the 19 remaining defendants were arrested in the law-enforcement sweeps this week. [20] Cervantes' rise marked the first time in decades that the Norteos had a single leader at the helm of their criminal organization. Some in law enforcement believe that, while fighting Nuestra Familia was worthwhile, younger members will soon rise to take leadership. The indictment is the product of a three-year investigation called "Operation Black Widow" that involved the FBI, U.S. Ramirez pled guilty for conspiring to murder Raymond Sanchez, and told Salinas police that the FBI's informant allowed the hit. The problem is that to break gangs and organized crime, inside information is needed, but such groups and especially street gangs are extremely difficult for undercover police to infiltrate. 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. Northern District of California A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. 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. It would be tough for Zilversmit to make a case that his client had no predisposition to commit the crimes he is accused of committing something the defense would have to prove in order win an acquittal, he said. 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. If I betray you, kill me.. 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. While the recognized leaders of Nuestra Familia in Pelican Bay ask that members respect the former leaders, they have been effectively stripped of their authority. Stats to follow: THE FEDERAL PROSECUTION. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, Indictment Describes the Prison Gangs Nexus of Power Overseeing Thousands of Gang Members Throughout California, The Nuestra Familias General Council And Other Members And Associates Charged With Racketeering, Oakland Resident Charged With Fentanyl And Methamphetamine Sales In Tenderloin, East Bay Resident Found Guilty Of Attempting To Help Smuggle Cocaine Through Bay Area Airports, San Jose Man Sentenced To More Than 16 Years Following Jury Convictions For Meth Trafficking And Gun Charges. 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. All seven members of the NFs General Council led the NF organization while incarcerated in the California prison system. 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. At one point in the transcript, Ramirez and Hernandez are talking about whether to beat up or kill the intended victim, and Ramirez remarks: "Might as well kill the mother -- if it's for a third strike." Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate the group, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. On that day, police undercover vehicles followed the gang members through the streets while a California Highway Patrol helicopter tracked them from the air. Martin Ramirez, right, in Monterey County Court, with Sgt. 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. For the FBI, infiltrating such an organization from the outside was virtually impossible. San Francisco, CA 94102, San Francisco: (415) 436-7200 Most of the defendants are headed to Monterey County court, where they will face drug, gang, weapons and possible conspiracy charges. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. 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. 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. 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. 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 more successful your informant becomes in the gang, the better, the more information you get. This event put into motion the longest-running gang war in the state of California. 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. Because Operation Black Widow was supposed to be keeping constant tabs on Hernandez, the FBI and other agencies had to know that he was ordering crimes, and that was enough to make their behavior gross misconduct, Zilversmit argues. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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." 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. The FBI has declined to issue any comment on the Black Widow investigation. The California Department of Corrections says Nuestra Familia controls street gangs from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. He was due to be released soon from Corcoran state prison, prosecutors said, where he served time on a 2007 assault charge. He could only participate in crimes approved by his FBI handlers, such as planned drug and gun purchases. The allegations about the way Operation Black Widow handled the case are based on information from the government's discovery documents, Zilversmit said. According to FBI records, Hernandez handed over the tape of the conversation and reported to his handlers immediately afterward. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hitt said the case against the newly indicted six grew stronger as the Valley Star trial unfolded last fall. Robert Sosa, at the time Nuestra Familia's General (or supreme commander), was man- dated to administer these resources to further collective interests but had in fact embezzled more than US$100,000 from the group's accounts. 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. The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. If he is going to betray one group the gang what's going to stop him from betraying the second the government?". "Nuestra Familia will be back," says law enforcement gang consultant and former Modesto Police Officer Jared Lewis. FBI surveillance photo, HO / HO. Pelican Bay State Prison. 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. 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. 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. [24], Last edited on 27 February 2023, at 00:46, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, "Prison Gangs (continued) - Gangs and Security Threat Group Awareness", "Authorities arrest 11 key gang members in east Hillsborough", "Bust of gang offers hope for Dodge City immigrants", "Gangs are becoming a growing threat across Utah", "The Marietta Daily Journal - Ga Supreme Court upholds brothers murder convictions", "Special Issue: Gangs in the United States", "Federal indictments crack vast prison crime ring", "Gang raid targets Nuestra Familia in Salinas", Organized Crime in California Annual Report 2007-08, "New leadership, constitution for Nuestra Familia", "Gang and Security Threat Group Awareness", "Eight-month investigation yields 37 high-level arrests", "Nuestra Familia case: Details of biggest gang prosecution in Santa Clara County history", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nuestra_Familia&oldid=1141826410, Drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, homicide, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 00:46. Armando Frias, the gunman in the murder of Raymond Sanchez, says FBI informant Daniel Hernandez authorized the killing. In December 2000, Hernandez struck a deal with the FBI. In the late 1990s, law enforcement officials put into action the only plan that could crack open the violent criminal enterprise -- getting someone from the inside to turn on his brethren. The operation, known by its code-name: Black Widow, aimed at damaging and destabilizing the internal structure of Nuestra Familia by means of targeting its leaders. She was served with an arrest warrant in the federal case against her on Thursday, officials said. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. The charging announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Hinds, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Crag D. Fair, and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon at a press conference this morning. 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.. 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.. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million. A lock ( 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. In the weeks leading up to Lizard's arrest, Kayln . 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. The indictment outlines each position according to the NF Constitution. The defendants, among whom several high-ranking members of both groups could be found, were responsible for 600+ murders. The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. But now, police said they are prepared to respond with tactics developed as part of Operation Ceasefire. 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. Salazar was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday and Pereda was due to be released soon from a federal prison. 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. 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 grand jury testimony, a former cellmate said Hernandez ordered 17 stabbings while in prison. Operation Black Widow. With no leaders in Pelican Bay, generals began fighting for power. [23], On June 11, 2013, Santa Clara County district attorney Jeff Rosen announced the indictment of 48 Nuestra Familia associates on 77 felony charges ranging from drug dealing to murder. Law enforcement authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, and dozens of firearms. . You cant win this fight.. Have a question about Government Services? IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? 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. " Hernandez: "Yeah. He was convicted of. It's a business. The leadership vacuum resulted in a power struggle between prospective generals. Instead, they received 10-year sentences in a plea deal negotiated by the gang's leaders after . Police heard shots and screaming and swarmed the alley, where they arrested Salcido and other gang members. And that price is going to be your freedom, said District Attorney Dean Flippo. ", 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. 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. 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. 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.". Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. We will continue to look at these organizations structurally to disrupt and dismantle them., According to the indictment, the 17 racketeering defendants were members and associates of the Nuestra Familia (NF) prison gang, a violent and lucrative organization formed in the 1960s. 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. "You can't be with him 24 hours a day. Federal investigators refuse to comment on the case, saying they will eventually answer in court, and at least one local law enforcer calls the charge bogus. Informants, he said, will always be an essential part of investigations. When agents learn a violent crime is being plotted, should they step in to prevent it and risk botching their undercover probe? Once membership was achieved, this membership was for life. 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