The court also may order additional terms of supervised release, fines, and restitution. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 13 (June 30, 1986). 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. Was the Black Widow investigation, with its 22 indictments and possible convictions and breakup of the criminal enterprise, worth the risk? [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. The 17 indictmentstarget several facets of the Nuestra Familia gang and represent the most significant law enforcement action to disrupt the NF organization in decades, Hinds said. ", Such is the risk the government runs in using criminal informants to help law enforcement efforts. 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. 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. Salcido was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. ", 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. 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. Huerta, too, has been under the lens of law enforcement for nearly a decade. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. 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." 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. Hernandez replies, "Yeah" and adds: "Why are you gonna beat up somebody when they're just gonna come back and shoot you up, right? Hitt said agents tried to serve Guzman an arrest warrant in Salinas on Thursday but were unable to find her. 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. Informants, he said, will always be an essential part of investigations. Defense attorneys lost a motion to dismiss the case, based on a claim that the government was responsible for murder and assault because it essentially ran Nuestra Familia activities through its informant Daniel Hernandez, who commanded the gang's street operations outside of prison. The three Generals of the gangs leadership council were identified as David DC Cervantes, Antonio Chuco Guillen, and James Conejo Perez. 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.. Stats to follow: THE FEDERAL PROSECUTION. That Watsonville-based team later evolved into the federal Valley Star investigation. 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. For years, investigators have observed Huerta visiting Hernandez in jails and prisons and then delivering messages to local gang members. In the weeks leading up to Lizard's arrest, Kayln . The deputies who arrested her were apparently unaware of the federal charges. In 2001, the five highest-ranking commanders of the gang were transferred to a maximum security prison in Colorado. Three gang members later said in interviews or police reports that Hernandez gave a "green light" to commit the murder. If its criminal to believe in the power of love, I am a criminal, Gracia declared to local news media. 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 federal faction didnt approve of the treaty but the state side entered into it anyways, prompting a deep-seated conflict that continues to play out. Communicating with paroled gang members out in the streets, Nuestra Familia leaders have been able to order crimes and collect a percentage of the take from robberies and sales of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana by the state's thousands of Norteos -- Northern California gang members. 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. State gang czar Paul Seave said he was pleased that so many law enforcement agencies came together. Viramontes, 44, a.k.a. Everyone in the Salinas Nuestra Familia crew was arrested in the murder, except Hernandez, who continued to inform on the gang. Once the codes were understood and the messages intercepted, "Operation Black Widow" turned up 10 hit lists. You cant win this fight.. After serving NF for 20 years Viramontes had paroled, for good. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. But trying to supervise violent criminals is akin to "dancing with the devil.". Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? He agreed to abide by Justice Department guidelines that said he must not commit "unauthorized crimes." 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. Hanrahan, 39, is currently in Pelican Bay State Prison serving a 13-year sentence on drug charges. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? 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. 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. 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. If I fall, avenge me. [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. "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. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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. 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. 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.. 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. 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. 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. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Operation Black Widow. 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. Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office, and the San Jose Police Department, and with support from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Antioch Police Department, Campbell Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Kings County Sheriffs Office, Monterey County Sheriffs Office, Mountain View Police Department, Sacramento Police Department, Salinas Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Santa Clara County Parole Department, Santa Clara County Probation Department, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, Modesto Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. The gang has strict categories of military-style membership ranks, ranging from a Category One member, who might strive to be the "regiment commander" of a city, to Category Three, one of only three positions on the gang's governing board in Pelican Bay. The operation, which will continue to play out in state and federal courts, aims to disband the Salinas-area regiment of a gang that for three decades has dominated criminal activity in farm towns across Northern California. 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. 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. [21] Nuestra Familia's written constitution allegedly states that no member should prioritize women, money or drugs over their membership in the gang. FBI records show that by late July, the bureau stopped working with Hernandez, and he was arrested on a parole violation. [21] Renewed organization Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. Instead, they received 10-year sentences in a plea deal negotiated by the gang's leaders after . Former Salinas Police Officer Mike Lazzarini, now a gang investigator with the Santa Rosa Police Department, was one of those listening in on the murder plans. 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. 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. Alberto Larez, 45, known in Salinas as "Bird," was taken into custody Thursday morning at his residence in . . U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said the mass arrests sent a direct message to the gangs followers: Stop the violence. 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. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California hasn't followed: What should you do? Lewis Katz, the John C. Hutchins professor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, said that law enforcement allowing an informant to occupy a position of authority in a criminal organization would raise ethical, if not legal, questions about the handling of an investigation. 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.". [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 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. 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. 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. Over the past decade there have been several high-profile cases in which law enforcement involvement with informants has resulted in legal problems, including the prosecution of El Rukn gang members in Chicago. A dozen firearms were taken during the days searches. 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. He said, however, that the courts have generally given law enforcement leeway in their handling of informants, and Cohen agreed. Nevertheless, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? 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. 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. 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. Said the mass arrests sent a direct message to the.gov website on a parole violation Attorney Joseph said! Paul Seave said he must not commit `` unauthorized crimes. 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