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| Eight prison gang members plead guilty |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/28/2004 |
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Eight members of the Nuestra Familia prison gang pleaded guilty to federal racketeering conspiracy charges Monday. Cornelio Tristan, 43, James Morado, 55, Joseph Hernandez, 54, Gerald Rubalcaba, 49, and Tex Hernandez, 49, were originally charged along with 16 other defendants with 35 counts. Under the terms of the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, those five defendants pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy involving two murders and drug trafficking. They agreed to accept a life sentence in federal custody. There is no parole in the federal prison system. The five defendants admitted that while they were members of the Nuestra Familia, the organization murdered two former Nuestra Familia members and engaged in numerous drug transactions from which they profited. The five had been serving state parole eligible life sentences at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City. Three other defendants, Daniel Perez, 46, Alberto Larez, 34, and Henry Cervantes, 40, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges involving drug trafficking. They will be sentenced Dec. 13. The prosecution was the result of a joint federal, state and local investigation. Nuestra Familia originated within prison walls in 1965 among Hispanic inmates from rural Northern California as a means of protecting themselves against rival prison gang members. |
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