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But officials say it soon expanded outside, and over the last three-and-a-half decades has carried out hundreds of murders and thousands of robberies, staking its claim to its turf with intimidation and violence. She focused special attention to the seven members of what she described as the Nuestra Familia General Council, which she said ran a massive network across 28 California counties spanning Humboldt to Kern, with major activity centers in San Jose, Salinas and the Central Valley. It should bring them some reality that its not romantic at all.. Armando Frias, the gunman in the murder of Raymond Sanchez, says FBI informant Daniel Hernandez authorized the killing. The gangsters saw the vehicle as they approached and, according to the informant, postponed the attack. The investigation into the outfit, which had been going on since 1997, got a break in December 2000, when Daniel "Lizard" Hernandez facing life in prison for charges that included murder plots in the course of a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) enterprise contacted the Special Services Unit of the California Department of Corrections to talk about becoming an informer. The indictment is the product of a three-year investigation called "Operation Black Widow" that involved the FBI, U.S. Informant Daniel Hernandez, a former Nuestra Familia leader, is expected to be a star witness in the federal trial under way in San Francisco. A task force of law enforcement agents listening in learned that Nuestra Familia member Hector Gallegos was scheduled to be the first victim. By late June 2001, according to FBI records, information from other informants showed that Hernandez had lied to his FBI handlers on other matters. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI (San Francisco, Sacramento, and Phoenix Divisions), the DEA, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. A high-ranking Nuestra Familia gang leader from Salinas was arrested this week in an FBI takedown of one of the gang's largest street regiments, federal officials said. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California hasn't followed: What should you do? All seven members of the NFs General Council led the NF organization while incarcerated in the California prison system. The message that we are continuing to put out there is that if you think you are going to try and fill the vacuum (left by the arrests), if you are going to choose to move with the gangs and commit gang crimes, then youre going to pay a price. from the FBI informant." A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. The indictment outlines each position according to the NF Constitution. But now, police said they are prepared to respond with tactics developed as part of Operation Ceasefire. 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. At their news conference Thursday, local and state leaders, including Schwarzenegger, pointed to job training and other services offered by Ceasefire as the other choice gang members can make if they want to avoid crackdowns like Thursdays. The government's response had been due to be filed with the court on Nov. 29, but prosecutors requested and were given an additional 10 days. Operation Black Widow. [21] Women are not allowed to become full-fledged members of Nuestra Familia, but are sometimes used for communication and drug-running purposes as they are considered less likely to be noticed by law enforcement agents. both faced life sentences in the FBI's sweeping Operation Black Widow conspiracy case in 2000. " Hernandez: "Yeah. "Courts tend to say this may well be something that should be policed internally, but they haven't been ready to give the benefit to defendants," Cohen said. Amaros niece, Rebecca Guzman, was also charged. Can he maintain credibility with fellow gangsters and yet prevent violent acts plotted by them in his presence? Frias, 22, said that in addition to himself, others who received the guns included two gang members, who within months used the weapons in Salinas in a murder and an attempted murder. [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]. [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). ". Lock Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Operation Quiet Storm was the culmination of more than 5 years of complex investigative work. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer.. 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. 846, 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B) Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Huerta is known among gang members as the wife of Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, one the Nuestra Familia"s top leaders serving a life sentence in a Colorado "supermax" prison. Membership in the gang extends beyond prison. In grand jury testimony, a former cellmate said Hernandez ordered 17 stabbings while in prison. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. 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.. From our investigation, he appeared to be someone who was extremely dangerous and had a lot of authority within the Northern gang structure, she said. With no leaders in Pelican Bay, generals began fighting for power. 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. 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. . 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. 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.. [11], Members of Nuestra Familia are known to wear red bandanas ("red rags") to identify themselves. 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. Arizona, Florida,[2] Georgia, Idaho,[3] Nevada,[4] Kansas,[5] New Mexico, Northern California, 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. Following that, the television news show " 60 Minutes " asked if a prison exists that can actually isolate the hardened criminal leaders. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. FBI records show that by late July, the bureau stopped working with Hernandez, and he was arrested on a parole violation. This is a carousel. Hanrahan was a Nuestra Familia leader from Salinas who oversaw drug-dealing crews in that city and conveyed orders to the Nuestra Familias Watsonville regiment. But Coulson said in an interview that agents should step in quickly if they learn a murder plot has been advanced. Six of the 13 are inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison. 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. Hernandez was a big catch. By disrupting gang leadership, we reduce violence on our streets. 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. . The Nuestra Familia was not recognized as a prison gang by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation until 1979. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. He told the young man that if he wanted to be recognized by Nuestra Familia, he could appeal to the generals. The indictment alleges an NF oath provides: If I lead, follow. This book on the prison gang, Nuestra Familia is very in depth and gives a firsthand true account of one man's life in the gang. According to FBI records, Hernandez handed over the tape of the conversation and reported to his handlers immediately afterward. Huerta is known among gang members as the wife of Joseph Pinky Hernandez, one the Nuestra Familias top leaders serving a life sentence in a Colorado supermax prison. Unbeknownst to him, he'd been snared in the web of Operation Black Widow, a three-year FBI sting operation that led to federal racketeering and murder indictments against 21 gang members. 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. ", Such is the risk the government runs in using criminal informants to help law enforcement efforts. 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