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MRxBULLETx831

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#1
Jun 28, 2003
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Falling into FBI sting
By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
[email protected]

When Armando Frias killed Raymond Sanchez, he fell into the web of Operation Black Widow, a three-year FBI sting operation that has trimmed the roots of the notorious prison gang.

The $5 million investigation, which involved 30 agencies from Santa Rosa to Salinas, was made possible by a key informant, Daniel Hernandez, the Nuestra Familia's street general who, according to Frias, approved the execution of Sanchez.

With Hernandez's help, investigators learned how the gang's leadership operated a criminal enterprise from behind the walls of Pelican Bay State Prison, controlling most of the drug trafficking in Northern California and ordering the murders of hundreds who crossed the gang.

They unraveled the gang's communication system in and out of its prison headquarters, a system that included wilas, tiny notes containing micro-writing secreted away in body cavities, and letters disguised as legal mail, coded in the ancient Aztec language or written in "invisible ink," urine that became legible when exposed to heat.

And they learned the hierarchy of the gang, from Category I members who are still being schooled in the gang's strict constitution to the generals, La Mesa, the only members who can sanction a murder.
 
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MRxBULLETx831

Sicc OG
#2
Jun 28, 2003
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#2
As a result of the investigation, 21 gang members were indicted on federal charges alleging violations of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Other charges in the indictment include conspiracy, drug trafficking and murder.

Many of the defendants are from Salinas, including Ceasar "Lobo" Ramirez and Rico "Smiley" Garcia, the only defendant in the federal case facing the death penalty.

No trial date has been set for Garcia. Ramirez pleaded guilty to RICO violations and is awaiting sentencing. Here is the status of the cases against the other 19 defendants, some of whom are expected to testify for the prosecution.

• A trial-setting hearing will be held Dec. 1 for the lead defendant, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba and James "Tibbs" Morado, Cornelio "Corny" Tristan, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Tex Marin Hernandez, Daniel "Stork" Perez, Alberto "Bird" Larez and Henry "Happy" Cervantes.
 
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MRxBULLETx831

Sicc OG
#3
Jun 28, 2003
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#3
• Five defendants pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy: Sheldon "Skip" Villanueva was sentenced to 14 years in prison; Robert "Chico" Rose, 15 years; Israel "Silent" Mendoza, 12 years and six months. Ramiro "Goose" Garcia and Diana Vasquez are awaiting sentencing.

• Luis "Roach" Aroche pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the 1999 murder of Robert "Brown Bob" Viramontes, a former leader of the gang. Arache is awaiting sentencing.

• Armando "Suave" Heredia Santa Cruz, the leader of the Salinas regiment, and Vidal "Spider" Fabela pleaded guilty to narcotics distribution and are awaiting sentencing.

• Jacob "Blackie" Enriquez pleaded guilty to gun and narcotics violations and is awaiting sentencing.

• Anthony "Chino" Morales pleaded guilty to drug offenses and was sentenced to nine years.

• David "Sir Dyno" Rocha, the rapper who performed on the notorious G.U.N. (Generations of United Norteños) CD, pleaded guilty on Monday to narcotics distribution and is awaiting sentencing.

Frias was not indicted in the federal case but was convicted of murdering Sanchez in a state case built on the FBI's investigation. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison.

Frias, a 22-year-old Salinas native, maintains that Hernandez, the informant, approved the "green light," the execution order, on Sanchez while working for the FBI.

In an unsuccessful "outrageous governmental conduct" motion, defense lawyers in the federal case argued the FBI itself was responsible for Sanchez's murder, since agents were controlling Hernandez when he gave the green light. Federal prosecutors argued Hernandez forbade any gang violence and the Salinas regiment acted on its own in carrying out the murder.

According to Frias, Hernandez did initially resist the hit, but when Sanchez continued to ignore the gang's warnings to leave its territory, he changed his mind.

"He already made his bed," Frias recalled Hernandez saying. "He gots to sleep in it."
 
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MRxBULLETx831

Sicc OG
#4
Jun 28, 2003
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#4
While federal prosecutors hope and believe the indictments eliminated some gang violence, Frias said federal case may indirectly have fueled some Salinas-area crime by leaving the Salinas regiment in disarray. With no leaders to "school" them in rules of Norteño conduct, he said, young gang members are committing robberies against the elderly and other unsanctioned crimes, such as drive-by shootings against rival gang members when children are present.

He said some crimes have been carried out on orders from the state prison at Pelican Bay to replace the drug profits that were diverted by the FBI during Operation Black Widow. Others have rumored that the recent spate of robberies and violence in Salinas is the result of a Pelican Bay order for the street regiments to provide money for legal fees for the upcoming cases, even though all of the defendants are represented for free by court-appointed attorneys.

Frias, who now denounces the gang, sees the Nuestra Familia slowly fading out. Many of the gang's veteran members facing the federal charges have agreed to testify against their former gang mates.

"It's funny in a way, all these guys cooperating," said Frias. "These guys are getting what they deserve. They've hurt so many people. They're getting a taste of their medicine by getting back-stabbed now by people testifying against them."
 
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