Gallegos, 35, a onetime associate in Hanrahans Salinas gang crew, is charged with conspiracy like the others, and he also faces additional federal counts of using a telephone to further the conspiracy. The gangs targeted in this operation are responsible for much of the illicit drug distribution and violent crime that has plagued areas in the South Bay, Salinas and the Central Valley for years, Fair said. He is now in protective custody at an unknown location. And that price is going to be your freedom, said District Attorney Dean Flippo. Stats to follow: THE FEDERAL PROSECUTION. He agreed to abide by Justice Department guidelines that said he must not commit "unauthorized crimes." The records indicate Hernandez did not mention that a murder plot had been discussed; it is not known when agents listened to the tape -- before or after the murder. Operation Quiet Storm was the culmination of more than 5 years of complex investigative work. In grand jury testimony, a former cellmate said Hernandez ordered 17 stabbings while in prison. [ 11] Renewed organization 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. State gang experts credit the Nuestra Familia with about 1,000 killings since it began in the late 1960s, with Norteo gang members claiming hundreds more lives. Can he maintain credibility with fellow gangsters and yet prevent violent acts plotted by them in his presence? 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. Robert was a member of the Bay Area News Group reporting team awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for East Bay Times coverage of the fatal "Ghost Ship" fire. 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 Sheriff's 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 Attorney's Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, Modesto Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. For more than 10 years, one of California's most brutal criminal organizations has been operating from behind the walls of the state's highest- security prison. She had recently worked in a Salinas sandwich shop. 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. Informants, he said, will always be an essential part of investigations. Experts say the new guidelines were designed to provide outside checks and balances for the FBI without hindering agents' ability to do their jobs. The remaining nine defendants will face trial next year in San Francisco in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, and the legal proceedings are expected to last two to three years. [14] At the time of Operation Black Widow, law enforcement officials had estimated that Nuestra Familia was responsible for at least 600 murders in the previous 30 years. "Nuestra Familia will be back," says law enforcement gang consultant and former Modesto Police Officer Jared Lewis. It's all false.". When confronted about unauthorized trips, Hernandez said he slipped away without permission to play golf in Stockton. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. Alberto "Bird" Larez was convicted in Operation Black Widow. 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. Authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, as well as other drugs. The indictment, unsealed Thursday, surprised local law enforcement officials who eight years ago began pursuing several of the defendants as part of a task force named Operation Northern Exposure. According to FBI records, Hernandez handed over the tape of the conversation and reported to his handlers immediately afterward. Harriette Cole: I don't want the neighbor's kids at my house, Dear Abby: My wife said she doesn't like it, but it's part of my life, Ask Amy: I feel guilty for not speaking up about my co-worker's activities, Ask Amy: I'm your cabin housekeeper, and you apparently have no idea what I do. An official website of the United States government. Ceasefire depends on following through on commitments that if the violence doesnt stop, force will be applied vigorously.. Arizona, Florida,[2] Georgia, Idaho,[3] Nevada,[4] Kansas,[5] New Mexico, Northern California, Because Operation Black Widow was supposed to be keeping constant tabs on Hernandez, the FBI and other agencies had to know that he was ordering crimes, and that was enough to make their behavior gross misconduct, Zilversmit argues. [14] While members of the Norteos gang are considered to be foot soldiers of Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteo. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. The gangsters saw the vehicle as they approached and, according to the informant, postponed the attack. The man known as Hanrahans mentor in the East Las Casitas gang, Larry Paqui Amaro, has already been convicted of conspiracy charges in the case and is scheduled to be sentenced in April. Montoya is among a dozen of those arrested Thursday who face charges in federal court, where mandatory sentences for drug and gun crimes often mean longer prison terms. Hernandez cut a plea deal. Thirteen of the defendants plead guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. "The problem in this case is all these guys have criminal histories, so you can't say they're not predisposed," he said. This event put into motion the longest-running gang war in the state of California. For months, gang investigators from the California Department of Justice, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Salinas Police Department, the Monterey County Gang Task Force and the FBI worked to prepare arrest warrants for more than 40 high-ranking members of the gang in Salinas and nearby counties. . In a letter to the court, Frias said that a fellow gang member "pushed the matter (with Hernandez) and finally got the 'green light' for the murder .. . The FBI's Operation Black Widow resulted in arrests and indictments of 150 members of Nuestra Familia gang. Lawsuits seeking more than $2 billion have been filed against the government by families of people murdered in the course of informant-based investigations. Operation Black Widow was recorded in Oakland, CA 2015-2018 Mastered by Jim Haras Mixed by Samuel Montero Torres and Mackenzie Chami Layout by Kevin Gan Yuen Dedicated to Tami Lynn Torres license all rights reserved tags Tags heavy electronics modular synth power electronics Los Angeles about If you like Operation Black Widow, you may also like: But a few higher-level suspects, including Montoya, are headed to federal court, where arraignments were under way Thursday. Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. If I betray you, kill me.. 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. Robert Salonga is a Bay Area News Group reporter who covers criminal justice and public safety for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. [20] The remaining leadership of the organization in Pelican Bay consists of Daniel "Stork" Perez, Anthony "Chuco" Guillen and George "Puppet" Franco. The investigation did in fact lead to indictments in 2001 of 22 Nuestra Familia gang members on charges including murder, racketeering, assault, drug trafficking and conspiracy. The defendants charged in the alleged racketeering conspiracy include the following: 18 U.S.C. Operation Black Widow Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate Nuestra Familia, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. both faced life sentences in the FBI's sweeping Operation Black Widow conspiracy case in 2000. ", Hernandez then lectures Ramirez about how sometimes "we look the other way" when others are selling drugs, though "when they come and try to take over, that's different. 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. Sosa was impeached and Nuestra Familia's structure altered to im- pede future misconduct. 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.. 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. 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 ordering hits and demanding payments from drug sales, robberies and other gang crimes. The indictment handed down onAugust 25, 2021, and unsealed today, catalogues a litany of crimes allegedly directed by the Nuestra Familias command structure incarcerated in California prisons. The FBI said gang commanders sent orders from six prisons in the state: Pelican Bay State Prison, High Desert State Prison, California State Prison-Sacramento, California State Prison-Solano, Pleasant Valley State Prison and Salinas Valley State Prison. Five defendants in the Valley Star case have already undergone trials in Sacramento federal court, and all have been convicted of drug and conspiracy charges. But police and the FBI, wanting to build their case, did not arrest the gang members for conspiracy to commit murder. Operation Knockout began last year with gang intelligence from the Salinas Police Department and other local agencies, and soon was spearheaded by the California Department of Justices Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. In legal motions filed over the past four weeks, defense attorneys for 15 alleged members of the Nuestra Familia the prison gang that governs the Northern California-based Norteo and. In all, 21 people were indicted in the FBI's three-year investigation into Nuestra Familia, code-named Operation Black Widow. Among the crimes committed under Hernandez' leadership was the killing of a rival drug dealer. The charges pending against these defendants are as follows: 21 U.S.C. In the weeks leading up to Lizard's arrest, Kayln . Once the codes were understood and the messages intercepted, "Operation Black Widow" turned up 10 hit lists. But to those who choose to stop the violence, there are available resources to help them. 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 largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow. The attack occurred in October 1998, after a gangster was shot and wounded as part of a Nuestra Familia internal power struggle in Salinas. 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 Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon. It's a business. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? This civil war has been going on for quite a while, almost since the Black Widow convictions, said Julie Reynolds, a journalist who authored the book Blood in the Fields about the Black Widow case. We will continue to look at these organizations structurally to disrupt and dismantle them., According to the indictment, the 17 racketeering defendants were members and associates of the Nuestra Familia (NF) prison gang, a violent and lucrative organization formed in the 1960s. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. While the recognized leaders of Nuestra Familia in Pelican Bay ask that members respect the former leaders, they have been effectively stripped of their authority. Hitt said agents tried to serve Guzman an arrest warrant in Salinas on Thursday but were unable to find her. 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. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, Southern California home sales fall to all-time low, Denver just got a direct flight to this Caribbean island known for music history and vegetarian cooking, NYC Mayor Adams dismisses need to separate church and state, declares himself a servant of God, Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. A San Jose native, he graduated from UCLA with a BA degree in history and from the University of Maryland with a MA degree in journalism. 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. Lock The only idea of wit, or rather that inferior variety of the electric talent which prevails occasionally in the North, and which, under the name of Wut, is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste, is laughing immoderately at stated intervals.Sydney Smith (17711845), A white face goes with a white mind. Ramirez pled guilty for conspiring to murder Raymond Sanchez, and told Salinas police that the FBI's informant allowed the hit. The investigation is the first time law enforcement has attempted to bring in such large numbers of Nuestra Familia associates from one geographic area, and the hope is this will virtually shut down the gangs business in Salinas long enough for other anti-violence strategies to take hold. San Francisco, CA 94102, San Francisco: (415) 436-7200 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. Before January the FBI had a policy of shielding its informants' identities from outside agencies. " Hernandez: "Yeah. Agents only need to know that there is a conspiracy, Coulson said. He later told a federal grand jury that law enforcement agents had not arrested the gang members earlier because prosecutors and the task force wanted to gather more evidence in the murder conspiracy. Huerta, too, has been under the lens of law enforcement for nearly a decade. Editorial | What will future hold for a 'reimagined' Seacliff State Beach? Federal investigators refuse to comment on the case, saying they will eventually answer in court, and at least one local law enforcer calls the charge bogus. Membership in the gang extends beyond prison. 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. The California Department of Corrections says Nuestra Familia controls street gangs from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. 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Hernandez, who grew up in Pittsburg in Contra Costa County, has a long and violent criminal history, committing armed assaults, admitting conspiring to murder a former gang member in San Jose in 1999 and to talking with fellow gang members about killing two Santa Clara County prosecutors. [11], Members of Nuestra Familia are known to wear red bandanas ("red rags") to identify themselves. Montoya is one of 10 who were charged in a federal drug conspiracy case, facing a maximum of life in prison. Further, the indictment describes the appointment by these leaders of NF members to positions of power over hierarchical and paramilitary structures called regiments, imposed on its gang members operating on the streets in California. The Monterey County District Attorneys office has since charged her with felony resisting arrest and she remains in the jail in Salinas. "He was directed that any telephone calls he made, any meeting he had with various NF members or associates, he was to record the conversations," FBI Special Agent Sean Ragan told the grand jury. 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. He could only participate in crimes approved by his FBI handlers, such as planned drug and gun purchases. Operation Knockout: Gang raid targets Nuestra, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), CIF State boys basketball playoffs: Monterey rallies for win over Kingsburg, Operation Knockout: Gang raid targets Nuestra Familia in Salinas, Avalanche engulfs two stories of Tahoe apartment building; evacuations are ordered, Nursing school admission can be a long wait in California. The codes were understood and the FBI 's informant allowed the hit build their,. But to those who choose to stop the violence, there are available to! With fellow gangsters and yet prevent violent acts plotted by them in his presence huerta,,. For the Mercury News and East Bay Times choose to stop the violence, there are available to! The messages intercepted, & quot ; Operation Black Widow conspiracy case 2000. Salinas sandwich shop official government organization in the United States to FBI records, Hernandez over... 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