Lizard also followed protocol and reported his arrival to the prisons ranking gang member, Daniel Wino Perez. He is currently a gang instructor at the FBI Headquarter's in-service nationwide training program for field agents. A federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down 21 indictments against gang members, including the three generals and captain Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba. You can cancel at any time. Hed began his criminal career as a teenage norteo gang member, pulling off smash-and-grab robberies of jewelry stores. But paid parking could return, in some form, this year, as the city works to pu. Outside prison walls, the reach and violence of Nuestra Familia had only grown. Rocha then asked for what was he being arrested, indicating he did not understand the charge. But since prison officials scanned all mail that wasnt legal mail, Lizards challenge was to create an even more surefire way to communicate. He and his team of agents tore through Lizards hotel room, looking for evidence to send him back to the clink a bag of pot, a letter to a carnal, a bag of speed. prison gang are prepared to testify against their top leaders in a Copyright 2023 Police1. I wanted to be that NF member who the people could count on, Lizard recalled. They taught him to grind down plastic shampoo bottles into shanks for knifing an attacker, and to roll up the pages of National Geographic as makeshift spear handles. Ramirez bragged to Lizard that hed already chased Sanchez out of Salinas Chinatown at least once, and had warned him that he needed to pay taxes if he wanted to deal in Salinas. The cells are bone-white and feature little more than a chrome toilet and cement platform with thin mattress and pillow. Napa's downtown parking meters were removed three decades ago. They were caught up in power grabs and backstabbing. In fact, the 31-year-old gangsta rapper, whose real name is David Rocha, wanted nothing more than to distance himself from his codefendants. The system certainly creates you, makes you decide. Whites joined the Aryan Brotherhood or Nazi Low Riders for protection. True to my nickname, he said, Im chameleon-like, and can blend in. He would be the highest-ranking brother on the streets, responsible for overseeing the gangs battalions and communicating back to the generals. On one Gang Stories track about issuing payback on the cops, a voice in the background calls out Detective Ribotas name, a suggestion to watch his back. It was his way or the highway. He just happened to have this talent, and he put this talent to use.. The federal indictment named 13 members, including Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, the boss who greenlighted Viramontes, and the two other reigning La Mesa members, James "Tibbs" Morado and Cornelio "Corny" Tristan. All rights reserved. Frias was not indicted in the federal case but was convicted of murdering Sanchez in a state case built on the FBI's investigation. But life was still rough, he says, and drug deals and violence went down in front of his eyes, even if it was what he calls mostly high school stuff, kid stuff, stupid stuff. He admits to selling pot, but only small-time, just enough to support myself., From those experiences, he says, he extrapolated in his art, and began rapping in that netherworld of myth, that place where facts give way to the cushion of fiction, where arrogance and boasting overtake the narrative. Not at all coincidentally, Pelican Bay also has become the headquarters of Nuestra Familia. Ultimately, Sir Dynos fate could come down to whether jurors believe the David Rocha at home on the couch, or Robert Gratton, the snitch on the stand. Whatever it is, you gotta go to the extreme. When Lizard arrived in January of 1995, he checked in with the ranking gang member. The California Supreme Court is now reviewing a case that questions whether inmates can be segregated for their first sixty days at reception prisons such as San Quentin. Gratton knew nothing about the music business, but he had bricks of cash and a simple plan: to produce a rap CD that would work as a recruiting tool for Nuestra Familia and also serve to launder the gangs drug money. Then in late April 2001, more than two years since hed last spoken to Robert Gratton, he was summoned to a meeting with his parole officer. His wife had declined to enter witness protection until the trial arrived. Nineteen-year-old Armando Frias was shooting pool when he recognized the wanted man. Hed proved he had the muscle to ascend within Nuestra Familia. Its not like her life used to be.. Gratton, meanwhile, had Sir Dyno write out a business plan, which offers a glimpse of the rappers instinct to use shock value to boost sales: By releasing G.U.N. Under the federal RICO laws used to indict criminal organizations like Nuestra Familia, anyone who knowingly associates with one member of a gang becomes part of it and if the gang goes down, so does he. Its estimated for every NF member, there are seven La Eme. It gives you a sense of purpose. Once that dried, the correspondent would write another letter in ink on the page, but the recipient knew to hold it up to the light to read the real message. All of these directives were channeled through him. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. He told Ramirez there should be no bloodshed. But then he added: If something comes at us, you cant help it. Dozens of Napans who are homeless will soon find permanent housing in a former city motel. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. In total, aside from the five convictions and twenty guilty pleas credited to Lizards grand jury testimony and undercover work, federal officials said Operation Black Widow led to a total of 75 Nuestra Familia convictions. Not long after Gang Stories came out, Gratton released North Stars second title, a compilation called Cuete. and manufacturers. Lizard was paroled to the outside world on May 18, 2000. And with an ever-increasing prison population that only assures the continued growth of it and other gangs, the very segregation that bolstered the gangs strength appears irrevocable. One such order last year told Norte-os across Northern California to clean the streets of Sure-os. Even though the project had cash potential tomorrow, Sir Dyno still needed money today. Rap is an exaggeration of life, he says, just like in a movie. I didnt know the guy was selling drugs, too. But if we want to prepare these people for integration to society, maybe we need to integrate them in the prison first, get them used to living with different peoples.. Bakersfield was the traditional dividing point, but with the crush of immigration, the numerically superior Sureos pushed the demarcation line further north, first to Fresno and then to Modesto. He did not return letters seeking comment for this article. only to sell records. He told them about killing Brown Bob. He told his interviewers Sir Dyno put out Gang Stories without permission and, for that, was very close to being placed on a hit list.. CD, Lewis and Helton say. Sicc OG. Now youre in the gang., Lizard still recalls what Nato told him on that day back in San Quentin: Primo, if the North and South go to war, I cant protect you just because youre my blood. Within minutes, the gang member confessed his role in Nuestra Familia and offered to trade information for leniency. Its not a good thing, said former San Quentin warden Vasquez. The consequences that the gangs have caused in society have given rise to two effects, which are the most outstanding: gang violence and citizen insecurity. Its founding fathers adopted the phrase Blood in, blood out, and wrote a fifty-page constitution setting out the organizations bylaws. He also was responsible for ensuring the battalions on the streets were holding fast against Sureos and sending drug profits to help pay the legal bills of their incarcerated generals. Not with NF.. I kind of paused, Sir Dyno says, adding that he suddenly thought better of asking too many questions. The prosecutors revealed that Gratton would testify Sir Dyno dealt meth on his behalf. He wanted gang members to start cooking the drug themselves. Transferred to Chino State Prison, he celled with two Texas gang members whod been banished for terrorizing their own prison system. That what I decided to do.. Lizard swung his weight around hard. His character on the track writes a letter to his daughter, apologizing for his absence while she grows up. If the underbosses suspected that he was the target of an investigation, they might shun him or worse. who joined the FBI and other agencies in an investigation of street Its as sensible as that East Coast-West Coast thing. Jared Lewis, a former Modesto gang investigator, says the impact of G.U.N. Cuete took a shine to Lizard because Lizard was a stickler for detail, one police investigator said last year. For now, at least, the final guilty pleas appeared to have pruned back the Blooming Flower. According to grand jury testimony, Lizard sent a coded letter that eventually reached Antonio Chuco Guillen just before he was paroled from San Quentin. It gives you something to do. He told his commander that hed received an order from Cuete to kill two deputy district attorneys, a husband and wife team in San Jose named Kitty and Charles Constantinides. Cuete arranged for the new hotshot to move into his cell. Eventually, he returned there, unable to cope with life in the slow lane. While members of the Norteos gang are considered to be affiliated with Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteo. Im from up here, I grew up with norteo friends. In 2004, when the prison gang's top five leaders were transferred from California to a federal supermaximum prison in Florence, Colo., a struggle for the gang's top positions brewed in Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, the Nuestra Familia's traditional headquarters. When you turn your back on all of that. To the FBIs delight, he also boasted about his existing Ecstasy ring, which was clearing a few thousand dollars a week. All Gratton needed was a rapper. But witnesses corralled by police later refused to work with the district attorney. Still, the accusations put Lizards conduct under scrutiny. It was a hell of an audience to keep waiting. Thats it. CD, Sir Dyno says. All you have to do is find out where the motherfucker is, pull up on the side of them., Lizard ended the conversation. The rappers story varies somewhat depending on whos doing the telling. Once the government proves the existence of a criminal organization like Nuestra Familia, evidence establishing beyond a reasonable doubt defendants connection with the conspiracy, even though the connection is slight, is sufficient to convict defendant. If the legal standard is a slight connection, then the CD and videos where Gratton and Sir Dyno appear side by side as brothers in crime may prove overkill. You could see he was nervous, Holguin said. Theyre dwarfed by La Eme, but decided to become highly organized.. Gang affiliation in California is often a matter of geography, but for Daniel Hernandez it wasnt that simple. Sir Dyno accepts this rivalry, and its where many of his raps come from. : Wanton Disregard For Safety Warrants Or Holds Only Resist / Obstruct / Delay Peace Officer in Tulare County, California on March 30, 2016 by Tulare County Sheriff. Zilversmit said the feds were preoccupied with preserving their investigation instead of saving lives. None of these other [Nuestra Familia members] have a thing to say about [Sir Dyno], Manson says. Citing the First Amendment, the DA chose not to pursue the case. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. There are 150,000 pages of discovery to sort through, photographs from dozens of crime scenes, audiotapes from hours of hidden wires, and hours of surveillance videos. The deep trouble in which he now finds himself has everything to do with his performance on a gang-funded rap CD titled Generations of United Norteos Till Eternity. He crawled into his living room before dying in his familys arms. Daniel "Lizard" Hernandez helped Nuestra Familia run a criminal empire from inside state prison. Lizard said Cuete asked him to establish a line of communication that couldnt be detected by guards. 15 year old Carlos "Casper" Silva a Preston parolee is arrested murders 3 people witin a seven week span on behalf of Nuestra familia. As a captain, he answered only to a handful of higher-ranking capos and the three generals inside Pelican Bay. There was also the lean and smooth figure of Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, the gang's most powerful captain, whose job inside Pelican Bay, a fellow gang member told the feds, was to "keister" the syndicate's constitution in his rectum, along with the master hit list which, by now, read fifty names long. 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