Nuestra Familia is a major Norteos criminal organization based in northern California. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mafia. . Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. According to the evidence presented at trial, from December 2012 through April 2014 Garcia and Jasso were active members of the Nuestra Familia prison gang and its affiliated Norteo street gang. Zarates mom described him as a devoted son, father, grandfather, brother, and more who has learned from his mistakes. "Today's operation strikes a substantial blow to Nuestra Familia leadership. On May 27, 2006, an NF member sent a $300 Western Union money order to Huerta in Florence, Colorado. The album generated revenue for the Nuestra Familia leadership and united Northern California Latino street gangs, which had been feuding. Crime and Public Safety | According to court documents, Huerta is the wife of a Nuestra Familia general Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez. The Nuestra Familia, like all prison gangs, are undoubtedly a highly-secretive, also use code words written in Nahuatl, an Aztec language. recruited into the organization. Nevertheless, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. "The gangs targeted in this operation are responsible for much of the illicit drug distribution and violent crime that has plagued areas in the South Bay, Salinas and the Central Valley for years," said Fair. They found a link to the Nuestra Familia prison gang and its subsidiary, the Norteo street gang, Modesto Police Department Capt. Once membership was achieved, this membership was for life. to the Familia when the Familia requests a confirmation, usually At todays sentencing, Judge Gonzalez Rogers found that Andrew Cervantes was the top ranking leader, or so-called overseer, of the Nuestra Familia. From their thrones in California's Pelican The trial focused on 10 removals in the Monterey County Jail between December 2012 and April 2014. DOJ Nuestra Familia indictment info 082521, NF Areas of Criminal Influence map FBI SF. Nuestra Familia were prison enemies of the Southern Latinos who comprised La Eme, better known as the Mexican Mafia. Casper was sent back to prison for communicating with the gang, violating his parole, and was sent back for six months. gangs such as the Bloods A video tape was played at trial showing the man being stabbed 13 times in a cafeteria in a federal prison in Louisiana, shortly after the coded letters were written. Nobody is safe in Salinas, California, where two Latino gangs, Nuestra Familia and the Mexican Mafia, are at war. Evidence traced Garcia to all gang removals at the jail. Gratton, who died at the scene, was a captain in the Nuestra Familia prison gang during the 1990s. sex trade, while communicating with their members on the outside, scraps of paper filled with small, almost microscopic letters. Some were forced to live in the Secure Housing Unit (the "Shoe"), where 12,000 inmates were held in a "prison within a prison" where the inmate was under constant surveillance. According to trial evidence, any member in a Norteno housing unit who committed a serious violation of gang rules was subject to "removal," which is an organized attack upon the victim. It soon became a multi-agency endeavor, including the FBI, the California Department of Corrections, and the US attorney, operating out of their command center at a downtown high-rise in Santa Rosa, California. Todays operation strikes a substantial blow to Nuestra Familia leadership. "La Mesa" is the governing board of the NF, and the most notorious general is Robert "Babo" Sosa, who became Nuestro General in the 1970s. This permitted Huerta to make money from methamphetamine sales without paying back any costs associated with the drugs. Familia leaders were creating new recruits and turning them into While law enforcement has succeeded Huertas travel expenses for this trip were paid using NF drug money. Nuestra Familia leaders control and direct the gang's criminal activities both inside and outside of the prison system. as well as the preservation of the Familia culture itself. affairs, issuing warnings to those who interfere, as well as hits The Mafia members most- ly ex-convicts from the East Los Angeles area plan to chal- lenge their gang's chief rival, "Nuestra Familia" ("Our Fami- ly" in Spanish) for control of San Jose s street crime, an ex- pert on prison gangs revealed. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Larez recruited individuals, including Jaime Cervantes, to commit crimes on behalf of the gang and Henry Cervantes supervised the criminal activities of the gang in Oakland. Also appearing at the press conference were Chief of the Office of Correctional Safety for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Derrick Marion, Santa Clara Sheriff Laurie Smith, and San Jose Deputy Chief of Police Elle Washburn. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? The main targets of the investigation including alleged members of the Nuestra Familia's leadership counsel are still in federal detention awaiting a . After one week the payback rate is raised to 200%. In January 2012, Jaime Cervantes and two other gang members committed a home invasion robbery of a drug dealer. Five days after Castillo was released from a short, Crime and Public Safety | She faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine. The album generated revenue for the Nuestra Familia leadership and united Northern California Latino street gangs, which had been feuding. In March 2013, the inmate whom Andrew Cervantes believed had violated gang rules was assaulted and stabbed by two Nuestra Familia inmates in the prison dining facility and survived. 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. in his head. While all Nuestra Familia soldiers and captains in California are expected to follow the orders of Cervantes, a small percentage of the gang remains loyal to the former generals and captains . 14 is the identifying The Government introduced a video at trial of the stabbing. 450 Golden Gate Avenue One charged with murder, second suspect released, in mass shootout that killed teen at Oakland music video shoot In September, 2011, Henry Cervantes stabbed two people to death in an apartment in Oakland. Gonzalez wrote the constitution for the NF, and he also established Article 2, Section 5, which said that it was an automatic death sentence for desertion (if an NF member wanted out of the gang). Contact Us- Overview- Territory/Jurisdiction, News and Outreach- Press Room | Stories- In Your Community, About Us- Our People & Capabilities- What We Investigate- Our Partnerships- Sacramento History, This content has been reproduced from its. Its leaders control and direct the group's criminal activities both inside and outside of the prison system. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In compliance with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements, some of these records are no longer in the physical possession of the FBI, eliminating the FBI's capability to re-review and/or re-process this material. Main Office: According to evidence introduced at trial, Andrew Cervantes used coded letters to order his fellow gang members to kill a fellow Nuestra Familia gang member for failing to uphold the rules of the organization. Monterey Herald. The Limon Correctional very serious offences, such as murder or armed robbery, are successfully At Level 1 there is the finance minister, the business manager, Abstract He ordered assaults and murders on behalf of NF and approved all 10 removals in this case. Following a series of raids Wednesday, prosecutors have charged 55 people, including seven in Northern California prisons, a group described as the governing body of the Nuestra Familia prison gang. letter of the alphabet, as well as the Northern Star, and the 14 The gang continued to carry out violent actions even after the downfall of 21 of their leaders. Related Articles This award is not given annually, but rather is awarded when there is an individual who deserves special recognition for a lifetime of hard work and service to the San Diego and Latino community. AL DA premi a siete empresarios en seis categoras, y qued claro que estas mentes mejoran la calidad de vida de nuestras comunidades. for members to remain a member once they have been released and This investigation revealed the wide-ranging influence of the gang that extends far beyond prison walls. Most of them occurred in K-Pod, a cell block in the jail that housed Nortenos exclusively. Now hes under review. According to Robert Koehler (2000), an ex-convict and past member investigation into prison gang activities in California's history. The defendants were members or associates of the federal branch of the Nuestra Familia, which was controlled by two principal overseers incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), including Andrew Cervantes. The beating by the bombers inflicted further injury to the stabbed target and continued the attack's "chaotic distraction" at the jail, which allowed time for the hitters to hide their weapons and wash off, prosecutors said. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. Nuestra Familia is a Mexican-American prison gang that was founded in Soledad prison, California in 1968. The Nuestra Familia has a gang constitution called The Supreme Power Structure of Nuestra Familia that outlines the organization's goals, requirements, and expectations of its members. who once paroled, carry out the commands from their imprisoned Familia society," committed to providing commissary goods to fellow Each is charged in this indictment. Nuestro General Gerald "Cuete" Rubelcaba ordered the assassination of former NF member Robert "Brown Bob" Viramontes in early 1998, a member of the leading council for the NF and a 20-year veteran who had covered up his NF tattoo on his back and also educated young kids about the dangers of gang life. The FBI's FOIA Library contains many files of public interest and historical value. Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. Their violence was turned against those from Southern . Secure .gov websites use HTTPS The Aryan Brotherhood was formed by Irish bikers in 1964 when California prisons were desegregated, and prisoners of every color and ethnicity began to . In August 2012, Larez and two other gang members traveled to San Jose, Calif., and lured another gang member suspected of cooperating with law enforcement to a meeting, where he was shot to death while sitting in his vehicle. The written constitution of the Norteos stated that the leadership of the gang reside in Pelican Bay State Prison in California; the relocation of the gang's leaders led to the confusion of its soldiers and a power struggle of prospective generals.<ref name="Monterey"> New leadership, constitution for Nuestra Familia. SACRAMENTO, CACarolyn Huerta, 37, of Castroville, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to traffic methamphetamine, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. state-lines and touching the most vulnerable segment of the population, He orchestrated and oversaw regiment commanders who generated money through drug sales and other crimes, like robbery. Updated on: November 2, 2022 / 9:34 AM U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, Top Nuestra Familia Leader And Three Other Gang Members Sentenced For Murder, Racketeering, Oakland Resident Charged With Fentanyl And Methamphetamine Sales In Tenderloin, Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate Pleads Guilty To Federal Firearm Charges In Death Of Kate Steinle, East Bay Resident Found Guilty Of Attempting To Help Smuggle Cocaine Through Bay Area Airports. Henry Cervantes, 52, aka Happy, of Lodi, Calif., was sentenced to 75 years in prison. leader recently released from Pelican Bay was ordered to kill a 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Somos . 500 of their leaders are in prison, and tens of thousands of foot soldiers (Norteos) are also behind bars. Operation Quiet Storm was the culmination of more than 5 years of complex investigative work. The receivers of He was shot by Rico Garcia at a meeting with him in a hit ordered by the imprisoned NF leaders, and the assassination led the police to also police their prisons and not just the streets. Additional assistance was provided by the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office; the Oakland Police Department; the San Jose Police Department; the Red Bluff Police Department; the Livermore Police Department; the Alameda County Sheriffs Office; the Campbell Police Department; the Tehama County District Attorneys Office; and the Tehama County Sheriffs Office. If I betray you, kill me.. The security chief prevents the intrusion of inmates into the Familia's "While the physical movement of this leadership was restricted by prison walls, the indictment alleges their power and influence were not so constrained. 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