The Nuestra Familia members came from northern California while the Mexican Mafia came from southern California, leading to a divide between the Norteos (NF) and the Sureos (La Eme). Lock "While the physical movement of this leadership was restricted by prison walls, the indictment alleges their power and influence were not so constrained. Northern California, or Norte, is the original homeland of the Familianos. by thewestside May 20th, 2008, 2:20 am, Return to Mexico, Central America, South America & the Caribbean, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. The business begin their lives on the outside. This shooting was one of the most infamous killings, as it was recorded on video. Really? The leadership . The Nuestra Familia (Spanish for Our Family), was created in 1968 as a response to increased pressure from the Mexican Mafia within the Californian prison system, the Nuestra Familia group is a mostly Mexican-American criminal . The defendants charged in the alleged racketeering conspiracy include the following: 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. In securing the drug trade within prison, the Nuestra 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. Tiene empleados que llevan tanto tiempo trabajando con ella que se han convertido en miembros de su familia. Nobody is safe in Salinas, California, where two Latino gangs, Nuestra Familia and the Mexican Mafia, are at war. 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Bay State Prison, they controlled the intra-prison drug and 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. This case is the product of an investigation by the FBIs Stockton Violent Crime Task Force, the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force (METRO), the Stockton Police Department, the Salinas Police Department, the Watsonville Police Department, the Monterey County Sheriffs Department, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation into the activities of the Nuestra Familia (NF), a violent Hispanic prison gang based within the California and federal prison systems whose members exert control over street-level Norteo gang members engaged in drug trafficking and violent crime. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Please enter valid email address to continue. Main Office: In September, 2011, Henry Cervantes stabbed two people to death in an apartment in Oakland. Some inmates They face competition from the Mexican Mafia, the predominant Hispanic gang in southern California (known to NF as "sewer rats" or "scraps"). They found no shortage of young men willing to sign up, with money and power seducing many Mexican-Americans to joining the gang. READ MORE: Feds: 'Head of the Snake' Taken Down In Nuestra Familia Prison Gang Bust. As the Chicano The financial status and balances of the Familia is By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer.. that in most cases one must be a Chicano, but also requires at least The gang was an enemy of the Mexican Mafia, and it decreed that all Nortenos ("northerners") were members of the NF, granting them protection from "La Eme" (the Mexican Mafia) behind bars. During the robbery, Jaime Cervantes beat one victim over the head with a baseball bat and another victim was shot. Northern District of California Alberto Larez orchestrated the murder of a rival in San Jose. letter of the alphabet, as well as the Northern Star, and the 14 Despite having this evidence, prosecutors didnt indict the pair until August 2021, two months after Zarate was allegedly involved in a shooting near a San Jose courthouse that left one man dead. By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer." According to the documents unsealed today, La Nuestra Familia - Spanish for "Our Family"- was a prison gang operating in the California state prison system. He asked for an 84-month prison term. Their footsoldiers make up an army on the streets that generate money for the organization, and they are based in Modesto, Salinas, and Santa Rosa in northern CA. recruited into the organization. and the Crips, The Nuestra Familia is known as the governing body of the Norteno gang, a predominantly Latino group formed in Northern California that identifies with the color red. The money was then sent up the chain to high ranking members in prison. Several defendants have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced, including for other alleged murder conspiracies. The Nuestra Familia gang, which operates in and out of prisons, influences much of the criminal activity of thousands of Norteo gang members in Monterey and other California counties by. Crime and Public Safety | and Familias in other prisons or on the outside. Supreme Commander Section I. Their color was red, contrasting the blue-suited Mexican Mafia. (Generations of United Norteos) that invited all Norteos into the NF. 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. up an inmate's rectum. The charging announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Hinds, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Crag D. Fair, and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon at a press conference this morning. Zarate was out of jail during the conspiracy, which made him more valuable to the gang, authorities say. Mafia. Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. Even in lockdowns, NF members were able to communicate using fishing lines, and they could educate their friends about making crude weapons and using codes. The Bay Area's top federal prosecutor announced a sweeping array of indictments targeting the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang, boasting that a fiveyear . and their influence within the prison subculture. In the case of a member of the Familia defecting to 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 . 445). These members were accused of running a network of regiments across 28 counties in the state . More and more NF members were recruited in the 1980s, and they wanted to control all of California from Bakersfield. By disrupting gang leadership, we reduce violence on our streets. 14 is the identifying The Nuestra Familia is a prison gang that originally formed in the California state prison system in the 1960s. "Mikeo" Castillo, who was in charge of Sonoma County's Nuestra Familia (NF, Spanish for Our Family) was created in the late 1960's at the Soledad Correction Training Facility in California. AND THE LEADERSHIP OF THE FUTURE Silvia Garca Vega ORCID: 0000-0002-0302-7802 Profesora de Comunicacin para el Cambio within prison are those that have been incarcerated the longest. 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 NF oversaw such regiments in Contra Costa County, Santa Clara County, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, San Francisco County, San Mateo 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. Federal Courthouse "The indictment charges all seven of the members who make up the Nuestra Familia's ruling body: the General Council," said Acting U.S. Attorney Hinds. Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office, and the San Jose Police Department, and with support from the Alameda County Sheriffs Office, Antioch Police Department, Campbell Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Kings County Sheriffs Office, Monterey County Sheriffs Office, Mountain View Police Department, Sacramento Police Department, Salinas Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Santa Clara County Parole Department, Santa Clara County Probation Department, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Cruz County District Attorneys Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office, Modesto Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriffs Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. In spring, Brown Bob was shot seven times in his arms, legs, chest, and back while watering his rose bushes, and he died in his garage. Removals are approved in advance by the gang leader in charge of the facility. Maldonados mother wrote to the court that he entered the prison system as an immature young man and has been affected by prison life. Answers & Questions about gangs, organized crime, graffiti & gang activity around the World, Unread post His second-in-command Joseph "Death Row Joe" Gonzalez spent years on death row before he was commuted to a life sentence, and he had no patience for fools. Stretch, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. 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