>Users:   login   |  register       > email     > people    


Latino Prison Gangs: La Pinta Part 2
By Gabe Morales
Published: 06/15/2001

In Part One of his article, Morales traced the roots of prison gangs and discussed the Mexican Mafia. In Part Two, he continues his detailed look at other Latino prison gangs.

Nuestra Familia

The Nuestra Familia was a highly organized para-military group with a written Constitution, secret NF schools, and some reported anti-government elements. Like other prison gangs, they had a 'Blood In, Blood Out' oath. The NF also operated prison gang banks to further its causes. Robert 'Babo' Sosa was allegedly chosen as their General and was later impeached for embezzlement and lack of leadership during the 'Black Bob, Brown Bob War.' In 1982, over 20 members, including Robert 'Black Bob' Vasquez a member of the ruling council, were indicted in Fresno by RICO statute as being involved in a criminally run organization. In 1992, another high-profile RICO trial of the NF leadership was held in San Jose, California. The grand jury indictment in 3,600 pages stated that the gang had continued it's covert activities both inside prison and out on the street.

During the trial inmates watched from their cell windows and attempted to identify and intimidate any potential witnesses. Twenty-one members were charged with committing nearly 100 different criminal acts, including six killings in the San Jose area after several members were paroled in 1990. Gang leaders ordered many of the killings and some named in the case never left their prison and jail cells. Three NF received the 'Death Penalty. 

The Nuestra Familia official color is red and they chose the symbol of Roman numeral XIV as their symbol for the fourteenth letter (N). The basic NF recruitment area is in Northern (Norte) California, from Fresno, to the Bay Area, to Sacramento in what is called Nuestra Raza or the Northern Structure. Prospective members must prove themselves worthy to be in the prison gang. They are put on probation and must undergo strict training called the '14 Bonds.' Penalties for not following the gang's code could be extra push-ups or could be death. There has been some evidence that the Nuestra Raza (NR) no longer want to take orders from the NF and they have been increasingly more vocal and violent via the rap music industry.

The following incident happened at Folsom Prison in 1989, 'Two Northern Structure soldiers went to the weight pile area and received two metal shanks (homemade knives) from a black inmate who had concealed them in a newspaper. They waited for yard recall and, as three Sur 13 inmates were about to enter a salleyport known as 'Blood Alley', ambushed the unsuspecting victims and stabbed them repeatedly right underneath the main Central Yard gun officer. They knew the officer's peripheral vision would not let him look straight down.' The two Norteno soldiers had earned a trip to the Security Housing Unit (SHU) and earned themselves a promotion within the Structure.

Last year, three ex-convicts pled guilty to the April 1999 killing of former Nuestra Familia leader Robert 'Brown Bob' Viramontes and another gang member from San Jose who participated in the hit, but botched his part. Two defendants were sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, and the other received a sentence of 25 years to life. A new RICO indictment was just handed down in April 2001 against thirteen members of the NF after 'Operation Black Widow'. The catalyst for the case were several previously unconnected homicides in Sonoma County in Northern California and the NF ordered execution of longtime NF member Michael 'Mikeo' Castillo who was not 'taking care of business'.

Texas Syndicate

The Texas Syndicate (TS) formed at San Quentin and Folsom Prison during the early 1970's. Its nucleus was made up of inmates from Texas who were incarcerated in the California Department of Corrections (CDC). While the TS prison gang was small, they were the most feared on the yard because of their propensity for violence and serious assaults. When the Southern versus Northern California War heated up in all CDC institutions during the 1980's, some TS picked sides and aligned themselves with the North, others aligned with the South. Some were sent back to Texas state institutions or paroled there.

The TS grew rapidly in the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) after the Estelle vs. Ruiz lawsuit that dismantled the state's inmate boss trustee system. Between 1984 and 1985, there were 52 gang related killings, many attributed to the Texas Syndicate. One of the original TS members is currently incarcerated in the CDC's Pelican Bay Facility near the California-Oregon border. He still corresponds to some of the original members in Texas and serves as an advisor, but all official orders for the TS presently come out of Texas. Today, the TS is still a serious security threat and appears to be broken up into three different factions: The Texas Syndicate Originals (Old School), Texas Syndicate United, and the New Breed TS (new School).

Experts concluded the Texas Syndicate has just under 900 validated members, but they compensate with extreme violence. The gang's reach stretches far beyond prison walls. When TS members are released, they are expected to sell drugs and send money back to jail or prison. According to Federal Bureau of Prisons and Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 'they are very organized and will fight the Mexicanemi and the Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos among others.'

Nearly a dozen slayings and attacks occurred on the streets of the Austin, Texas area in the late 1990's. The crimes remained unsolved but were eventually traced back to the state's most feared prison gang: the Texas Syndicate, which was growing into a major drug supplier in Austin. The TS schemed to collect a 10 percent 'tax'' from every known drug dealer in town, even those who didn't sell for the prison gang. An FBI led multi-agency investigation was started dubbed 'Operation Texas Style.' Eventually, prosecutors indicted 22 Texas Syndicate members, including a TS shotcaller named Hector Soto, and other members and associates on drug charges. Most of the men, facing overwhelming evidence caught on tape, pleaded guilty in federal court. They were sentenced from 10 years to life in prison.

Some police believed the convictions finished the Texas Syndicate, ending its high-profile era of drug dealing, but prison officials still had to deal with the TS inside Texas facilities. It is important to remember that suspected Security Threat Group members are often housed in facilities are found in all custody levels.

In March 2000, prison officials locked down 120,000 Texas Department of Corrections inmates in their cells in an effort to keep two of the largest and most violent prison gangs from waging war inside the system. The lockdown was ordered following the gang-related stabbing death of an inmate at the Coffield Unit near Palestine, Texas.

The gangs involved were the Texas Syndicate and Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos (Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen or HPL). The Pistoleros Latinos reportedly have a confirmed membership of about 380 plus another 360 suspected members, while the much bigger TS had an estimated 840 confirmed members and 1,490 suspected members, associates, or sympathizers.

Officers throughout the TDCJ were on high alert following the murder of Roland Rios, 41, of Corpus Christi, Texas believing the killing was more likely to provoke prison gang warfare more than other inmate stabbings in recent years. Authorities identified Rios' killer as 26-year-old Antonio Lara as a member of the HPL's, who is serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder, robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Rios, apparently was a member of the Texas Syndicate. Officials expect the TS will retaliate eventually or face further deterioration of it's past violent reputation. The HPL's now have a loose truce with the Mexicanemi in their war with the TS.

Mexicanemi

This group is also known as the 'Texas Mexican Mafia' or 'EMI' is not to be confused with the Mexican Mafia in California. It was started by inmates opposed to the leadership and ideas of the intensely hated Texas Syndicate. The Mexicanemi Constitution which was written by founder and President 'Herb' Huerta states, 'In being with a criminal organization, we will function in any respect or criminal interest for the benefit or advancement of La EME. We will traffic in drugs, contracts of assassinations, prostitution, robbery of high magnitude, and anything we can imagine!' San Antonio is the capital of this gang which and boasts about 1,800 documented members statewide. The Mexicanemi has used different tactics, even tried to use religion as a cover for it's criminal practices under the guise of the 'Mexicanemi Science Temple of Aztlan Inc'. They learned and used the Aztec language Nauatl in their coded correspondences.

Like the Texas Syndicate, the largest source of revenue for the organization was a 'street tax,' or money extorted from drug dealers. Sellers who refused to pay the 10 percent, also known as 'the Dime,' were robbed, beaten and killed by Mafia members. Gang associates also sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana throughout the San Antonio area and other parts of Texas. The shotgun slayings of five people in a San Antonio home in August of 1996 apparently came on the orders of a Mexicanemi shotcaller named Robert 'Beaver' Perez. Nine other killings over the previous three years were also blamed on 16 alleged members of the notorious Texas prison gang in a recent federal racketeering indictment (RICO).

The indictment accused the Mexikanemi of routinely dealing drugs, robbing, extorting and assaulting. The quintuple murders, the worst mass murder in modern San Antonio history, apparently stemmed from an order to rob the house, given out by Perez, a top lieutenant in the organization. The gang was after drugs and a large sum of money it believed was at the residence. The bodies of five people were discovered, all shot in the head execution-style. Later, Perez allegedly ordered Robert 'Robe' Herrera and several other Mexicanemi suspects to execute one of the killers Roberto De Los Santos for talking too freely about the crime. De Los Santos was choked, beaten and run over with a car.

Perez carried out orders from the gang's President Herb Huerta. Officials found out that there was a power struggle within the Texas Mexican Mafia. The infighting followed Huerta's imprisonment, and eventually led to the slaying of Luis 'Blue' Adames in 1994. Perez reportedly ordered six Mafia associates to murder Adames after he challenged Huerta and Perez for leadership of the organization. During the RICO trial members of the group were accused of over 14 murders over a period of three years. The gang remains very active today in Texas and Federal prisons.

There are many other Hispanic prison gangs across the U.S. including the New Mexican Mafia in Arizona, Sindicato Nuevo Mexico, and Netas. There are also many Latino street gangs in custody that have membership even larger than prison gangs, including the Latin Kings, 18th Street, and the Mara Salvatrucha. Corrections staff should be aware of these and other security threat groups and try to avoid 'bean counting' when classifying and placing inmates in facilities and programs. Always remember 'Safety and Security', this will help ensure the smooth running of your facility!

Gabe Morales is a Classification Programs Specialist at the King County Jail in Seattle, WA. He was a former Corrections Officer at Folsom Prison and has juvenile gang intervention experience in both California and Washington. He is the lead Gang I.D. & Management Instructor at the WA State Criminal Justice Training Center-Corrections Academy and the author of 'Varrio Warfare: Violence in the Latino Community'.

He can be reached at (206) 296-1278 or at his personal website:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz4/stopvarriowar


Comments:

  1. hamiltonlindley on 04/04/2020:

    He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. Hamilton Lindley His antics were known from town to town as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.


Login to let us know what you think

User Name:   

Password:       


Forgot password?





correctsource logo




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of The Corrections Connection User Agreement
The Corrections Connection ©. Copyright 1996 - 2024 © . All Rights Reserved | 15 Mill Wharf Plaza Scituate Mass. 02066 (617) 471 4445 Fax: (617) 608 9015