When he left prison, he became Nuestra Familia's "street liaison commander" in charge of all the gang's operations outside prison, according to court documents. "Start whacking these fools," one gang member exhorted in one such discussion. Unbeknownst to him, he'd been snared in the web of Operation Black Widow, a three-year FBI sting operation that led to federal racketeering and murder indictments against 21 gang members. 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. 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. 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. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest-ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia, James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez, were transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. "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. "Brown Bob," had spent most of his life inside California's state prisons, rising to become one of the highest ranking members of Nuestra Familia, the notoriously vicious Northern California Latino prison gang. All seven members of the NFs General Council led the NF organization while incarcerated in the California prison system. They do not have to get involved in this., Seave said the operation fits perfectly into the Ceasefire strategy. [21] Other symbols include use of the number 14 or XIV, as the letter "N" is the 14th letter of the English alphabet. 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 just under way in a Sacramento federal court. The 17 indictmentstarget several facets of the Nuestra Familia gang and represent the most significant law enforcement action to disrupt the NF organization in decades, Hinds said. The three Generals of the gangs leadership council were identified as David DC Cervantes, Antonio Chuco Guillen, and James Conejo Perez. He told the young man that if he wanted to be recognized by Nuestra Familia, he could appeal to the generals. It would be tough for Zilversmit to make a case that his client had no predisposition to commit the crimes he is accused of committing something the defense would have to prove in order win an acquittal, he said. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest-ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia, James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez, were transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. FBI informant Daniel Hernandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. The indictments came after a three-year police investigation dubbed Operation Black Widow. 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. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California hasn't followed: What should you do? Some law enforcement agents speculate that the Nuestra Familia gang, which operates in and out of prisons, influences much of the criminal activity of thousands of Norteo gang members in California. 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. FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. That forces police to turn to informants, who by their very nature are untrustworthy. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. [20] Cervantes' rise marked the first time in decades that the Norteos had a single leader at the helm of their criminal organization. Editorial | What will future hold for a 'reimagined' Seacliff State Beach? But he says the defense's claims against the government are actually more serious than entrapment, in which the rights of a suspect are violated, because they allege the government actually was in a position of knowingly tolerating crimes. Local authorities hope the arrests will cripple the gangs grip on younger gang members in the area and make existing gang-violence intervention efforts, such as Ceasefire, more effective. In the late 1990s, law enforcement officials put into action the only plan that could crack open the violent criminal enterprise -- getting someone from the inside to turn on his brethren. 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. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 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. To join Nuestra Familia ("Our Family") and rise in its ranks takes years of studying the gang's written constitution, training, and committing violent crimes inside and outside of prison. In a $5 million crime-fighting effort dubbed Operation Black Widow, several Nuestra Familia members agreed to become FBI informants; they wanted protection when they found themselves on the gang's hit list, or they cut a deal as the government was about to indict them. Journalist Reynolds uses her unprecedented access to gang members, both in and out of . "It seems very risky from a concerned-citizen point of view," Zilversmit said. " Hernandez: "Yeah. Its the way we should do business. If it comes to it we have no choice but if we have a choice in the matter, then let's make it the right choice. He faces at least 20 years and perhaps life if convicted in the federal case. 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. 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. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California has not followed: What should you do? TTY: (415) 436-7221, Oakland: (510) 637-3680 By removing violent actors and crime drivers from the streets, we make our neighborhoods safer.. Law enforcement authorities seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, and dozens of firearms. Oregon,[6] Texas, Utah,[7] Washington[8]Mexico, Nuestra Familia was organized at Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California in 1965. If he is going to betray one group the gang what's going to stop him from betraying the second the government?". . At least one of those sought had Santa Cruz County ties, and several others were targeted in the San Jose area, authorities said. The end result was the creation of federal and state factions of the gang that continue to lock horns. The defendants are scheduled to make initial federal court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Nathanael Cousins and U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Sallie Kim today. One FBI supervisor was starkly realistic about the whole process. "I find it to be a horse of a different color from using a low-level informant. Huerta, too, has been under the lens of law enforcement for nearly a decade. [20] Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had complained that keeping the five remaining gang leaders located in the same prison only continued to add to California gang violence, and that they should be scattered throughout different prisons. Once the codes were understood and the messages intercepted, "Operation Black Widow" turned up 10 hit lists. The gangsters stopped in front of an apartment building, and Nuestra Familia member Paul Salcido and an associate got out of the car and ducked into an alley. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, 36 of the defendants named in the indictments were already in state prison and have been moved to federal holding facilities. The attack occurred in October 1998, after a gangster was shot and wounded as part of a Nuestra Familia internal power struggle in Salinas. FBI transcripts and court testimony revealed at least five revenge murders were discussed during several taped meetings. From cells in Pelican Bay State Prison, Nuestra Familia's leaders have ordered murders and assaults and controlled much of the drug trade in Northern California cities, according to court and law enforcement records. 450 Golden Gate Avenue The allegations about the way Operation Black Widow handled the case are based on information from the government's discovery documents, Zilversmit said. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. 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. Arizona, Florida,[2] Georgia, Idaho,[3] Nevada,[4] Kansas,[5] New Mexico, Northern California, Law enforcement's use of informants is controversial. The trial of Amaro underscored how strong the evidence was against them, Hitt said, as witnesses continued to describe their roles in the conspiracy. 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. Summer Lin covers breaking news and general assignment for The Mercury News. A check of her cell phone showed gang indicia, the report said, referring to photos of gang members. At their news conference Thursday, local and state leaders, including Schwarzenegger, pointed to job training and other services offered by Ceasefire as the other choice gang members can make if they want to avoid crackdowns like Thursdays. 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. 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 .. . FBI informant Daniel Her- nandez at a Nuestra Familia gang meeting in Rohnert Park. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind.Nikki Giovanni (b. Hanrahan was a Nuestra Familia leader from Salinas who oversaw drug-dealing crews in that city and conveyed orders to the Nuestra Familias Watsonville regiment. KTVU FOX 2 SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU and wires) - Seventeen alleged Nuestra Familia gang members were in custody and six others were being sought Friday on charges ranging from attempted murder to. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders . but they reasoned it was the only way they could build a far-reaching racketeering case that might break up the gang once and for all. The judge agreed, saying "the government has presented substantial evidence suggesting that the government's role in the affairs of the Nuestra Familia was at most that of a facilitator" and, citing legal precedent, was not "tantamount to the 'engineering and direction of the criminal enterprise from start to finish.' 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. Alberto Larez, 45, known in Salinas as "Bird," was taken into custody Thursday morning at his residence in . Over the past decade there have been several high-profile cases in which law enforcement involvement with informants has resulted in legal problems, including the prosecution of El Rukn gang members in Chicago. 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. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. Norteo gang members, who police say number about 6,000 in Monterey County, act as street-level soldiers for prison-based Nuestra Familia, which operates as the parent company of the Norteos. 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