Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com. He told the young man that if he wanted to be recognized by Nuestra Familia, he could appeal to the generals. 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.. One of the handguns distributed by Armando Santa cruz while he was regiment commander of Salinas FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. "The arrests made yesterday, most significantly the arrests of the Nuestra Familia leadership, will severely cripple the ability of this criminal enterprise to continue to facilitate crimes in communities throughout the state and help break a decades-old cycle of violence," said FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Fair. Operation Black Widow, where murders, assaults and drug trafficking were committed under the watch of two informants working for the government, fuels the debate. [21], Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. 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. 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. If I stumble, push me. He has to in order to maintain credibility.". 1943), The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the courage to exercise the responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought processes.Jane Jarrell Smith, U.S. widow of American astronaut Michael J. Smith. And, in the end, is the expected payoff -- indictments of brutal gangsters and busting their criminal enterprise -- worth the risk of paying dangerous informants who may continue to commit serious crime while under government supervision? It is clear they have hard and fast rules, and those who run afoul are met with intimidation and violence that spills into our communities," said DEA Special . Can he maintain credibility with fellow gangsters and yet prevent violent acts plotted by them in his presence? The leadership vacuum resulted in a power struggle between prospective generals. Like Hanrahan, she was often named in witness testimony in the ongoing Valley Star trials in Sacramento federal court. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. It should bring them some reality that its not romantic at all.. Thirteen of the defendants plead guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. The NF oversaw such regiments in Santa Clara County, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, San Francisco County, San Mateo County, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, Solano County, San Joaquin County, Fresno County, Kings County, Tulare County, Madera County, Merced County, Kern County, Sacramento County, Yolo County, Humboldt County, Shasta County, Lassen County, Tehama County, Butte County, Yuba County, Sutter County, Lake County, Placer County, and Sonoma County, as well as in Salinas Valley State Prison, Pelican Bay State Prison, Pleasant Valley State Prison, California State Prison - Solano, California State Prison - Sacramento, and High Desert State Prison. Law enforcement efforts to break up the criminal operation have been extremely difficult. But neither investigation matched the scope of Operation Knockout in numbers of those arrested and in its aim to effectively shut down the Nuestra Familia in Salinas. Credit: Janjaap Dekker FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. 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. According to the transcripts, the group discussed the purchase of black ski masks, gloves and walkie-talkies to be used for the hits, and even the type of bullets to be fired. Also charged in the indictment are defendants who allegedly participated in two conspiracies to possess and distribute methamphetamine, one in May of 2019 and the other in September 2020 to March 2021. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. 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. According to Zilversmit, who represents another defendant, Hernandez not only helped the government build its case, but also took advantage of the freedom given him by law enforcement to first gain the position of go-between for Nuestra Familia leaders in prison and members on the street and eventually to take over the operation. As San Francisco lawyer Mark Zilversmit, an attorney for one of the indicted Nuestra Familia members, notes, "That operative who's now working for the government is going to have to do some pretty bad things. SAN JOSE - A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 17 defendants with racketeering conspiracy, including acts involving murder, robbery, drug trafficking, and money laundering, and charging five others with drug trafficking-related crimes. Frias, the convicted triggerman in the April 2001 murder, thinks the FBI's operation may have destabilized Nuestra Familia, but he gives more credit to the gang leaders' own "hypocrisy" in turning on each other for any decline in its strength. Informants, he said, will always be an essential part of investigations. The gang has been around since 1965, according to federal prosecutors, started inside Soledad prison to protect Hispanic inmates. In 2001, the five highest-ranking commanders of the gang were transferred to a maximum security prison in Colorado. She was served with an arrest warrant in the federal case against her on Thursday, officials said. According to court documents, high-ranking Nuestra Familia members Salvador Castro, Jr. and Raymond Lopez used contraband cell phones from inside Fresno County's Pleasant Valley State Prison to . This investigation revealed the wide-ranging influence of the gang that extends far beyond prison walls. The indictment also describes the NFs organizational structure and, in particular, the gangs governing body: a seven-member General Council, made up of three Generals and a four-member Inner Council, which makes significant decisions and oversees the activities of the NF and its subservient gangs. "Start whacking these fools," one gang member exhorted in one such discussion. But police and the FBI, wanting to build their case, did not arrest the gang members for conspiracy to commit murder. Huerta had been living in Castroville and living a low-key life in recent months, often expressing fears she might be indicted after FBI agents tried to contact her earlier this year. Scott Adams faces 'consequence culture' as U.S. newspapers drop Dilbert, Tom Cruise's 'ditching' of Suri showcased by Judd Apatow's 'co-parenting' joke, ex-Scientology exec says. 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. [23], On June 11, 2013, Santa Clara County district attorney Jeff Rosen announced the indictment of 48 Nuestra Familia associates on 77 felony charges ranging from drug dealing to murder. Federal Courthouse
According to the NF Constitution, the Street Regiment General oversees the NFs overall street operations. The General of the Prisons is responsible for the NFs overall pinta [prison] functions, and the General Advocates Office is the NFs justice department. Tiered just below these three NF Generals was the Inner Council, which consisted of four senior NF members who served as advisors to the Generals and provided a system of checks and balances. All were indicted for racketeering charges. 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. And that price is going to be your freedom, said District Attorney Dean Flippo. After serving NF for 20 years Viramontes had paroled, for good. [21] Nuestra Familia's written constitution allegedly states that no member should prioritize women, money or drugs over their membership in the gang. He faces at least 20 years and perhaps life if convicted in the federal case. Authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, as well as other drugs. He also admitted receiving about $7,000 for drugs and other criminal activities with gang members and to participating in other unauthorized drug deals while on the FBI's payroll. tape telephone conversations with gang members and set up organizational meetings in Rohnert Park, Salinas, San Francisco, Milpitas, Tracy and Sacramento that the FBI would secretly videotape. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. The FBI's Operation Black Widow resulted in arrests and indictments of 150 members of Nuestra Familia gang. 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. The inmates who formed the Nuestra Familia gang banded together to protect themselves from the Mexican Mafia, but then grew to be involved in drug dealing, extortion and robbery.[17]. "The more successful your informant becomes in the gang, the better, the more information you get. Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz said Huerta has a previous felony assault conviction, giving her one strike under Californias Three Strikes law. 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. Was the Black Widow investigation, with its 22 indictments and possible convictions and breakup of the criminal enterprise, worth the risk? 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. Under the guidelines, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and all other Justice Department agencies must report suspected criminal activity by informants to prosecutors and notify federal prosecutors when an informant is the target of a federal criminal 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.". Really? FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. One "test" a prospective member must pass to join Nuestra Familia is to have committed at least one murder for "the cause," according to a gang investigator with the state Corrections Department as well as Al Valdez, an investigator with the Orange County district attorney's office and a gang consultant with the state attorney general's office.