After he was expelled, his parents sent him back north to live with an aunt in Pittsburg, where he continued to carouse. Instead, he says, Gratton talked business. He was very concerned about his familys safety, his safety. It wasnt worth it to me anymore., Yet the claim that the rapper was blissfully unaware of Grattons gang connections doesnt pass the sniff test for law-enforcement guys like Jared Lewis. Its estimated for every NF member, there are seven La Eme. How could he go back in with Cuete wanting him dead? I was already doing what I was doing, you know? Im so afraid, oh my God/Dont take me away, he raps, slowly, to the jailers whove come for him. The handlers didnt want to blow his cover. A small minority within the gang has not transferred loyalty to Cervantes, Santa Cruz County's Morales said. Membership. But nowhere on the CD, or in the lyrics, do the words Nuestra Familia appear. But at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. And in response, FBI documents indicate that street soldiers in Nuestra Familia have ordered a two-year moratorium on murders while they wait for recent publicity to fade. Nuestra Familia members in the Secured Housing Unit kept to a punishing daily regimen of crunches and push-ups, followed by makeshift weightlifting with a barbell fashioned from pillow cases filled with books and magazines. But Lizards exploits show how prison policies adopted to control gangs such as Nuestra Familia may actually have helped them bloom. The 13 defendants, six of them from Pelican Bay, are currently housed at a maximum security prison in North County Jail in Oakland where . To the FBIs delight, he also boasted about his existing Ecstasy ring, which was clearing a few thousand dollars a week. The voice doesnt sound like Sir Dynos, but officers in the streets took offense. Nineteen-year-old Armando Frias was shooting pool when he recognized the wanted man. Anytime he drove out of the area, he had to call Ragan or his partner. For seven months, he secretly recorded meetings with his gangs underbosses, allowing federal agents to listen in as his carnals planned drug deals, bought firearms, and talked openly about killing people, including two deputy district attorneys from Santa Clara County. They formed their own gang: Nuestra Familia our family. This time, Goose brought bar charts to show drug production and expected net profits. Within minutes, the gang member confessed his role in Nuestra Familia and offered to trade information for leniency. But the feds believe his relationship with Gratton ran deeper than words on wax. Sir Dyno had only been to jail once, following his drug arrest. Inside, he was greeted by FBI agents. Back among the general prison population, Lizard reported to his ranking captain, Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba, one of the gangs most revered members. After several years of upheaval -- stemming largely from the massive federal prosecution called Operation Black Widow -- the top leadership of the Nuestra Familia is once again firmly established. Lizard is unapologetic about his behavior, even today. The cells are bone-white and feature little more than a chrome toilet and cement platform with thin mattress and pillow. Snow-locked Highway 29 between Calistoga and the Lake County border will likely stay closed through the weekend, CHP announced Friday afternoon. Ultimately, Judge Charles Breyer denied Zilversmits motion. He said he knows they may try to find him, but that he will not hide. They, in turn, approved hits and issued directives, while prison censors were prevented from reading the supposedly legal correspondence. There were three-way calls, where inmates from two different prisons called a gang member known as a gente on the outside, who held the phones together so they could talk. And most of it hung on Lizard. But Wino rejected Lizard. A grand jury indictment was in the works. They made their beds, and so did Bob. He was as bright and loyal as they came, so Cuete could trust him.. Click here to read the Nuestra Familia constitution. For instance, if Lizard wrote Hey Love, that meant that every third word was part of the real message. In the eyes of the law, that would make Sir Dyno a real-life gangster. In an interview last year, Zilversmit said Lizard and his FBI handlers were culpable in the death of Sanchez. In the meantime, Holguin had talked to Lizards sister and made a plea: Tell Danny to change his life. Were going to take care of it tonight., But then he talked about looking the other way. He told his carnal, We got more on the table than just a fight for powder. The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida Anti-Castro Cuban exiles who have been linked to bombings and assassinations are living free in Miami. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, If you need further help setting your homepage, check your browsers Help menu, Copyright 2013 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved, New police chief hired at N.C. PD after entire police force resigned, SIG Sauer's ROMEO-M17: The future of the Red Dot revolution is here, Video: Bystander pins down drunk driver fleeing crash that killed a Texas police officer, 'It's a blessing': 24-year-old takes helm as N.C. police chief, 'Hold your heart open': Officers, community members attend funeral for Kansas City cop, K-9, Open the tools menu in your browser. The gang's new constitution says the five should still be respected as former leaders, but has stripped them of their power in California. Time to go, the agent said. Despite the governor's complaints, all five are still housed in the same supermax unit. Sir Dyno wanted to make a name for himself, Lewis says, so he sold his soul to the devil. Its not a good thing, said former San Quentin warden Vasquez. But he was undergoing a lot. One of the highest-ranking defendants in the upcoming trial, In hindsight, the move only solidified the stature of race-based gangs, said Daniel Vasquez, a former San Quentin prison warden and gang investigator. A small star on his forehead suggested hed killed someone in prison, even though, in truth, he hadnt. The images leave no doubt the rapper supports norteos. Rapper David Rocha thought a norteo gangsta CD was his ticket to glory -- not life in prison. But a year into the case, the governments complaint against Sir Dyno shifted course. Even though he was broke and sleeping on friends couches, Sir Dyno felt he was on the cusp of the big time, ready to break. After the informant completed his undercover work, I discovered that the informant had engaged in unauthorized drug deals, Agent Ragan wrote. 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. Hes turned his attention to rapping about what he knows, rather than what he fantasizes. [21] By 1965, Sureos outnumbered Norteos by roughly seven to one inside the prison system. Over an ominous keyboard drone, he speaks deliberately, as if issuing a UN speech: The primary purpose and goals of this album is to promote unity amongst each and every one of us as norteos. If you continue to listen to them, then youll be in there for life, too.'. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. By the time Dyno got to the specially constructed federal courtroom, he was fifteen minutes behind schedule. It would bring the most attention and the most sales. Silent also provided Lizard with a stolen Dodge Durango to test-drive. Hernandez never belonged to either group until he ended up in prison. Zilversmit represents Armando Suave Heredia, a gang member arrested for ordering a successful hit on Salinas heroin dealer Ray Sanchez. But while prosecutors were assembling their final case against the gang, Lizard was drug-tested as part of the terms of his release. A federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down 21 indictments against gang members, including the three generals and captain Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba. Lizard swung his weight around hard. You wouldnt isolate an inmate and make him a target for the other side., But some criminologists now acknowledge that this practice strengthened the gangs. had pulled down between $50,000 and $80,000. Gratton is the guy whos going to make the entire case against David; its his word against Davids. It probably aggravated the situation, and forced people to align, pick a side. Citing the First Amendment, the DA chose not to pursue the case. Gratton, already growing weary with the gang after learning that one of his closest allies, Robert Brown Bob Viramontes, had been murdered outside his Campbell home, ignored Rubalcabas letters. He told them about killing Brown Bob. He said that after he drove away from a successful arms sale in the South Bay, at which he wore a wire, one of his underbosses called to warn him he was being tailed by a suspicious car, which Lizard knew was the investigator. These defendants wisely elected to plead guilty rather than face the prospect of Mr. Hernandez appearance as a trial witness against them.. That autumn, according to testimony from a fellow gang member, Lizard ordered seventeen stabbings. With the prison population growing so fast, they had their pick, Lewis said. Sureos tended to be more-recent immigrants who often disparaged Norteos as second-generation Latinos who groveled for agricultural jobs and neglected their mother tongue, according to Joseph Hernandez, a criminal justice professor at Sacramento State University and expert in Latino gangs. But compared to allegations lobbed by San Francisco attorney Marc Zilversmit, the drug and money violations turned out to be the least of the governments worries. Any Nuestra Familia member who betrayed his fellow carnals was subject to article two, section five of the groups constitution: AN AUTOMATIC DEATH SENTENCE WILL BE PUT ON FAMILIANO THAT TURNS TRAITOR, COWARD, OR DESSERTER [sic]. For that reason, he explains, he turned to dealing methamphetamine. He said that was where he picked up the nickname Lizard, from friends who admired his clandestine nature.. 15 year old Carlos "Casper" Silva a Preston parolee is arrested murders 3 people witin a seven week span on behalf of Nuestra familia. Thats not going to happen. I see the reality of things now and now that Ive gone through that, theres, like, no glory in it, you know?. But witnesses corralled by police later refused to work with the district attorney. Again, he uses a kernel of truth to anchor his rhyme, and a metaphor to exaggerate his reality. I can get a gun and go down and do it, he boasted. In November 1998, he was pulled over on a traffic violation. It always does., Even Judge Charles Breyer seemed to question the value of Operation Black Widow. Preparing is something someone whos trying to hide their guilt would do, he says, fingering a synthesizer keyboard in his studio. 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. I could rap political, I could rap street, it doesnt matter, Sir Dyno says. 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. There was also the lean and smooth figure of Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba, the gangs most powerful captain, whose job inside Pelican Bay, a fellow gang member told the feds, was to keister the syndicates constitution in his rectum, along with the master hit list which, by now, read fifty names long. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. A local health care fraud enforcement action has resulted in federal charges against of 25 Southern California defendants for their alleged involvement in healthcare fraud schemes that fraudulently sought over $150 million from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as private insurers and union health benefit plans. Rocha still did not understand the charge or why he was being placed into custody. They spent the next two days debriefing their new informant. Hed began his criminal career as a teenage norteo gang member, pulling off smash-and-grab robberies of jewelry stores. Hes had plenty of time to contemplate. Hernandez has conducted himself as a cooperating witness with great dignity and character, a memo from the US Attorneys office stated. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Update: Highway 29, Howell Mountain Road may stay closed through weekend after Napa Valley snows, Former NFL star Chad Johnson says he saved money by living inside Cincinnati Bengals stadium for 2 years, American Canyon delays warehouse amid Vallejo concerns, Homeless people to get permanent housing at former Napa motel, A plan for paid parking set to emerge in Napa three decades after meters were removed, Two arrested in Napa after crash of stolen SUV, police say, Police: Man arrested after Napa apartment break-in, Man dies in apparent Napa County drowning, Browns Valley Road homes approved by Napa City Council, Police: Man arrested after reported knife threat in Napa, American Canyon considers Chicken Guy restaurant amid drive-thru concerns, Premiere Napa Valley fundraiser brings in $3.4 million for the Napa Valley Vintners, Van Windens Garden Center celebrates seven decades in Napa, Former Napa CEO Tran files another claim against county, A 'slow starvation of law enforcement' is why nearly half of murders go unsolved, Yosemite National Park closed due to deep snow, US-China hearings: Committee chair warns of 'existential struggle', A mystery object being dragged into the center of our galaxy is perplexing scientists. Chalk it up as a loss, just let it go, and move on. The following day, Ray Sanchez walked into Caps Saloon, unaware that hed been the discussion of a hit. Big Smiley immediately ordered his soldier to enforce gang law back in C-Facility. 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. The guys I played with didnt care Norteo, Sureo, or what side you were on. According to prison officials, gang leaders could arrange such deals by offering to keep the peace. What if you get away with it? The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. Danny was telling me, But Im not a gang member,' Holguin said. At the time, Operation Black Widow was just getting under way, and Grattons blueprint to the gangs hierarchy was invaluable. 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