The only way to sell was to shock, he says. One of the highest-ranking defendants in the upcoming trial, For months, Dynos attorneys have been trying to distance their client from the rest of the defendants and get him his own trial. I was doing it as a smokescreen. He was sentenced to six months in the prisons infamous Secured Housing Unit, where more than a thousand inmates spend 23 hours a day triple-locked inside individual cells, with only a small food slot as a window. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. One month later, he was visited by Louie Holguin, a special agent with the Department of Corrections who monitored parolees and prison gangs. Hoping to curtail the violence, wardens stopped putting Anglos, blacks, and Latinos in cells with one another. Prisoners are permitted reading materials, including legal documents in manila folders, which are hands-off to the guards who routinely search the cells. The amount of violence attributed to the men inside the courtroom and their associates on the outside was staggering: fifteen killings, eighty conspiracies to murder, ten attempted murders, ten felony assaults, one hundred assaults, and two drive-by shootings. Lizard got away with it, and when Big Smiley emerged, he personally sponsored Lizard into Nuestra Familia. If Nuestra Familia invested in meth labs, a network was already in place. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. We cut off the head of the snake, but it will grow back, said Special Agent Holguin. Daniel Lizard Hernandez was awakened by an FBI agent at 4 a.m. a few weeks ago. He took the gangs oath, Blood in, blood out, and rose to the rank of captain within a few years. You have entered an incorrect email address! The Nuestra Familia trial is expected to last four to six months, and the government will call seventy witnesses. But once youre in the gang, you have a choice as to how high you want to go. He found his man in David Sir Dyno Rocha, then a 26-year-old budding rhymer and producer from Tracy. Still Sir Dyno says he wasnt getting paid. Like a religious convert eager to please his superiors, Lizards first efforts impressed his would-be peers. And one critic of his tenure as an informant even charges that the FBIs leash on Lizard was so loose that the government turned a blind eye to the killing of a Salinas drug dealer. Thats when I started pulling away, he says. Even now, he talks about the incident with the distance that soldiers put between themselves and their wartime deeds. All those guys didnt want to see me up there. Despite the governor's complaints, all five are still housed in the same supermax unit. Lizard also followed protocol and reported his arrival to the prisons ranking gang member, Daniel Wino Perez. When you turn your back on all of that. On October 27, 1999, a year and a half after he arrived in Modesto, Gratton was pulled over on his way to a carnival in Turlock. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. Lizard and Nato were both soon paroled. There are 150,000 pages of discovery to sort through, photographs from dozens of crime scenes, audiotapes from hours of hidden wires, and hours of surveillance videos. Gratton knew nothing about the music business, but he had bricks of cash and a simple plan: to produce a rap CD that would work as a recruiting tool for Nuestra Familia and also serve to launder the gangs drug money. You could see he was nervous, Holguin said. Then he helped the FBI take the gang down. I was ready to go, he recalled. The shooters blasted Brown Bob with seven shots to his arms, chest, back, and legs. Gratton stands only five foot seven, but his bold tattoos did the talking. And all are charged with substantive crimes: drug sales and possession, murder, and so on. Lizard said Bob was marked because hed stuck his nose into matters that didnt concern him. Its founding fathers adopted the phrase Blood in, blood out, and wrote a fifty-page constitution setting out the organizations bylaws. In November 1986, Lizard tried out these new skills on another inmate and was transferred to San Quentin. They were Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, my pal Lizard Hernandez, and Robert "Huero" Gratton. 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. A few weeks later, the rapper signed a new contract with Dog Day Records and quickly released an album called Gang Stories. Since the government began using the antiracketeering statutes to take down crime families in 1970, the definition of coconspirator has been legally challenged and modified several times. FBI agents did not respond to interview requests. It gives you a sense of purpose. Hes convinced hell get off scot-free. who joined the FBI and other agencies in an investigation of street He is the most significant witness and cooperators in this prison gang/organized crime family in history. Sir Dynos lawyers argue that a group trial will taint the jurys perception of their client. And I was part of that policy. 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. If he stayed in Corcoran, hed have to watch his back for young Norteos. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. You dont have a choice. You can cancel at any time. But while prosecutors were assembling their final case against the gang, Lizard was drug-tested as part of the terms of his release. He was a micro-manager. Then, several weeks later, a Pelican Bay investigator intercepted a letter penned by Lizard to one of his superiors. They also hardened into gang boundaries on the streets. 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. No one who got whacked was an innocent man. 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. Still, the gang has been dealt a serious wound with Lizards help. F. FuckScrapz209. Once the government proves the existence of a criminal organization like Nuestra Familia, evidence establishing beyond a reasonable doubt defendants connection with the conspiracy, even though the connection is slight, is sufficient to convict defendant. If the legal standard is a slight connection, then the CD and videos where Gratton and Sir Dyno appear side by side as brothers in crime may prove overkill. Not with NF.. Now, nearly all Norte-o soldiers and Nuestra Familia regiment captains across California answer to Cervantes, gang experts say, but re-establishing the gang's control over the streets has not been easy. Once that dried, the correspondent would write another letter in ink on the page, but the recipient knew to hold it up to the light to read the real message. Lizard himself adamantly denied Zilversmits claims, insisting that he pressed for peace in the case of Sanchez. And with an ever-increasing prison population that only assures the continued growth of it and other gangs, the very segregation that bolstered the gangs strength appears irrevocable. They werent following what NF was about, he said. I mean, he wasnt gonna tell me, and I wasnt gonna tell him what I was doing.. In his interview with FBI agents the next day, Gratton confessed hed concocted the idea for G.U.N. Whites joined the Aryan Brotherhood or Nazi Low Riders for protection. Following his arrival at the jail, Dyno was interviewed by Thomas Ribota, another Modesto detective. Even though theyd heard about the hit in advance, FBI agents never told Sanchez he was marked for violence. The official list of charges, which included more than thirty drug-related crimes along with acts of extortion and robbery, simply ended with the open-ended clause and other numerous crimes.. Grattons information cast a domino effect, eventually leading to 21 cooperating witnesses for the government. Somewhere in between, the blend of fact and fiction amount to the truth for Sir Dyno. He told them about killing Brown Bob. The Norte-os are trying to establish (in Salinas) but every time they try to, there's shootouts." None of these other [Nuestra Familia members] have a thing to say about [Sir Dyno], Manson says. In the weeks leading up to Lizards arrest, Kayln Santiagos apartment had been stormed by FBI agents. He was arrested by investigator Tim Helton for selling and transporting meth. The risks had Lizard thinking. The rules were simple: Lizard had to record all his phone conversations with gang members and wear a wire when he held stings set up by the FBI. Theres no denying Sir Dyno is norteo, but hes careful to explain that a norteo isnt necessarily a gang member, just a Chicano proud of his provenance. The deep trouble in which he now finds himself has everything to do with his performance on a gang-funded rap CD titled Generations of United Norteos Till Eternity. I spoke to a classification officer at the San Joaquin County jail who confirmed that Rocha claimed to be norteo but didnt claim a particular set of a gang.. Orders from the generals were arriving on the streets within weeks, if not days. But Lizard hadnt exactly gone straight. In it, he explains how the CD brought him unwanted attention and more money than hed expected, but he never reveals whether Sir Dyno knew North Star was a front for Nuestra Familia. The cases were spread across Northern California. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million investment, it was one of the largest takedowns on a prison gang in US history. 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 strings of evidence crossed, and the investigation grew, joined by the FBI and dubbed Operation Black Widow. All of these directives were channeled through him. But in a coup d'etat of sorts, Gonzalez and Perez have been "demoted" to "Category 1," the lowest level of the Nuestra Familia, investigators say. After the informant completed his undercover work, I discovered that the informant had engaged in unauthorized drug deals, Agent Ragan wrote. At the end of the day he gets to go home.. On the back cover, he stands next to Gratton, flashing XIV signs. Police1 is revolutionizing the way the law enforcement community A federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down 21 indictments against gang members, including the three generals and captain Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba. Over the next four years, Lizard and Cuete masterminded and penned more than three thousand letters, according to an FBI report. That leaves Cervantes, who has always kept a keen eye on Salinas affairs, firmly in control as the organization's only general. His father sold vacuum cleaners; his mother was a housewife. And I wanted to go high.. I fear no man, he said. In the aftermath, some of the gang's thousands of Norte-o associates -- street-level soldiers who answer to Nuestra Familia -- stayed loyal to the exiled generals and captains, while others looked to Pelican Bay because the gang's written constitution said its leaders must reside there. In the next room, Ragan and a team of detectives from the Santa Rosa Police Department listened to the meeting and watched it on a hidden camera. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. I told him, I know exactly who you are,' Holguin recalled. attempts on two assistant district attorneys in Santa Clara But rumors about G.U.N. According to an FBI report, Cuete and his cohorts have continued to manage the gang while awaiting transfer to federal prisons from Alameda Countys Santa Rita Jail. In a memo to his colleagues, Helton talks about spotting G.U.N. Lizard already knew all the old tricks. Inside the state prison system, norteos side with Nuestra Familias syndicates, and sureos with La Eme, aka the Mexican Mafia. Blacks sided with the Black Guerrilla Family or the Five Percenters. After he was expelled, his parents sent him back north to live with an aunt in Pittsburg, where he continued to carouse. Lizard hinted in his early letters that hed be sending more important documents for his legal case. In actuality, he sent a list of code names using Aztec and Spanish words. Eager to shore up his status in Nuestra Familia, Lizard said, he soon stabbed Sureo Rudolpho Castillo in the throat, nearly killing him. You gotta understand, all these guys made their own choices, he said. gang activity in Northern California about six years ago. The policy eventually trickled down to county and city jails and even the California Youth Authority. The next rung of leaders in Pelican Bay includes Daniel "Stork" Perez of Salinas; Anthony "Chuco" Guillen of San Jose, who was involved in the murder of a Nuestra Familia member there and is serving a 25-year sentence; and George "Puppet" Franco, 39, from San Jose, responsible for the gang's activities in Stockton, Tracy and Fresno. Daniel Hernandez sends a red line to several imprisoned (NF) leaders recommeding the impeachment of (NF) General Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba and lieutenant Sheldon Villanueva. Lizard said that whenever brothers were allowed into the law library, they used sign language to swap information, trade intelligence reports, and even assign homework. A few years earlier, the two attorneys had nailed former general Pinky Hernandez for ordering a murder, and Cuete wanted to offer their coffins as a gift to Pinky. Roy Morales. CD, Lewis and Helton say. Even though the project had cash potential tomorrow, Sir Dyno still needed money today. Sir Dyno was born. Sir Dyno wanted to make a name for himself, Lewis says, so he sold his soul to the devil. To the broke and ambitious rapper, the deal sounded too good to refuse. Again, he uses a kernel of truth to anchor his rhyme, and a metaphor to exaggerate his reality. When the NF trial begins on November 3 jury selection starts this week federal attorneys will use photographs and lyrics from the G.U.N. According to prison officials, gang leaders could arrange such deals by offering to keep the peace. This was reported to the informants state parole officer. A small minority within the gang has not transferred loyalty to Cervantes, Santa Cruz County's Morales said. Lizard brushed aside Holguins offer. For that reason, he explains, he turned to dealing methamphetamine. On January 24, 2001, at the FBIs prodding, Lizard hosted a junta for local underbosses at a Motel 6 in Tracy. Prison gang members set to testify against Nuestra Familia leaders. Looking to score one night in early 1994, Lizard headed to an intersection known for the sale of chiva. Instead, phone records and a confidential FBI source revealed that hed driven to a house in East San Jose, where hed bought two pounds of methamphetamine. We aint gonna whack no prosecuting attorney, Lizard said. He kept a stable of flashy cars, but favored a cherried-out 1969 Impala with a vanity license plate that read NORTENO.. It probably aggravated the situation, and forced people to align, pick a side. Once paroled, Lizard then served as Nuestra Familias highest-ranking member outside prison. Rapper David Rocha thought a norteo gangsta CD was his ticket to glory -- not life in prison. He folded up the missive, stuck it to a piece of gum, and dangled it into Smileys cell using a thread of elastic hed plucked from his waistband. Dyno has since expanded his own label, Darkroom Studios, starred in three independent movies, and penned a fictional autobiography about a gangster named Joaquin who takes up arms for the Zapatistas. His shackled codefendants didnt even look at him as he took his seat among them. federal racketeering case, according to court papers. Lizard then drove to a house in Stockton, where he tested the powder and sold it to another Norteo. But recently, Lizard spoke on the phone with her, discussing their new lives. In the eyes of the law, that would make Sir Dyno a real-life gangster. With the prison population growing so fast, they had their pick, Lewis said. While members of the Norteos gang are considered to be affiliated with Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteo. Lo-fi beats backed simple, repetitive keyboard riffs. Jan 27, 2005. The system certainly creates you, makes you decide. 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Since flipping for the feds, Gratton is preparing to publish his story in a yet-to-be-released book, The Rise and Fall of Nuestra Familia. Its a tough call. Dozens of Napans who are homeless will soon find permanent housing in a former city motel. He told his interviewers Sir Dyno put out Gang Stories without permission and, for that, was very close to being placed on a hit list.. Dec. 22, 2021 5 AM PT. During his time with Nuestra Raza, Gratton learned the boot camp basics: how to make shanks, decode letters, and memorize the NF Constitution. To test his allegiance, he was ordered to move on his cellmate, Johnny Huero-T Fernandez. His most recent, Engrave These Words on My Stone, is probably his most cathartic, if not authentic. Lizard has a thick handlebar mustache, broad shoulders, and is engraved with prison tattoos in Old English script. He complained again that his overhead was too high; he had to charge $3,200 per pound of meth, while his competitors were selling it at $2,600 to $2,800. Nato had worked his way up in the ranks from Norteo street thug to membership in the Nuestra Familia prison gang. crimes from Salinas to the Oregon border. After a few weeks of writing and recording, the CD was released on Cinco de Mayo of 1998 and found its audience immediately. But life was still rough, he says, and drug deals and violence went down in front of his eyes, even if it was what he calls mostly high school stuff, kid stuff, stupid stuff. He admits to selling pot, but only small-time, just enough to support myself., From those experiences, he says, he extrapolated in his art, and began rapping in that netherworld of myth, that place where facts give way to the cushion of fiction, where arrogance and boasting overtake the narrative. Or were they? Ramirez bragged to Lizard that hed already chased Sanchez out of Salinas Chinatown at least once, and had warned him that he needed to pay taxes if he wanted to deal in Salinas. The federal indictment named 13 members, including Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, the boss who greenlighted Viramontes, and the two other reigning La Mesa members, James "Tibbs" Morado and Cornelio "Corny" Tristan. In 2000, a yard riot launched by gang members ended after 250 inmates were injured, many of them with stab wounds. They were getting orders in and out of that prison in no time. As gang-on-gang violence grew in the late 1970s, prison administrators also began housing Norteos and Sureos in separate cells. There was also the lean and smooth figure of Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, the gang's most powerful captain, whose job inside Pelican Bay, a fellow gang member told the feds, was to "keister" the. Im not sure you can undo it.. Frias returned to the bar, gun tucked in his waistband, walked behind Sanchez, and fired a bullet into the base of his skull, killing him. But he was undergoing a lot. Gratton, Sir Dyno says, wanted him to aim his lyrics at bringing together norteos. Since then, district attorneys from five NorCal counties had teamed up to share unsolved homicide files on dead Norteos. Lizard said he was forced into performing the unauthorized drug deals after an investigator from Santa Clara County nearly blew his cover. Hed turned his parents garage into a makeshift studio, recorded cassettes, and sold them at low-rider shows and East Bay record stores. If you ever want to talk, call me. October 10, 1976. Nineteen-year-old Armando Frias was shooting pool when he recognized the wanted man. Inside Corcoran State Prison, Lizard reported to the ranking commander and heard some troubling news. [Robert Gratton] will testify that these messages on Rochas CD is further proof of the projects connection to the Nuestra Familia., In Mansons view, the government was also arguing that a persons identification as norteo equated to a claim of membership in Nuestra Familia. 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. In her written response, she pointed out the governments logical error: All NF members and associates are norteos; David is a norteo. If the underbosses suspected that he was the target of an investigation, they might shun him or worse. All rights reserved. Enter https://www.police1.com/ and click OK. The 13 defendants, six of them from Pelican Bay, are currently housed at a maximum security prison in North County Jail in Oakland where . You arent just talking about some poor criminal who was abused by the NF and got drawn into the criminal net. Finally, brothers were required to learn sign language so they could make the most of the one hour outside their cells. They made their beds, and so did Bob. He said that was where he picked up the nickname Lizard, from friends who admired his clandestine nature.. promotional posters around town and learning from a confidential informant that Robert Gratton, one of the faces on the posters, was financing North Star from meth sales. Rap is an exaggeration of life, he says, just like in a movie. I was a soldier, and a good one.. Under the federal RICO laws used to indict criminal organizations like Nuestra Familia, anyone who knowingly associates with one member of a gang becomes part of it and if the gang goes down, so does he. Gratton had been deployed by his bosses to run the gangs Zapatista crew, which operated in the Modesto, Tracy, and Turlock areas. This was the place where we took all of our training to the next level. According to grand jury testimony from family members, Bobs wife was just about to call him in for dinner when a Ford Explorer pulled up to the curb. They moved together into a Pittsburg apartment, and Nato continued his cousins indoctrination in Nuestra Familia. Man, Im from the streets. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. He reiterated that he told Martinez clearly: no bloodshed., How could I order the hit? he asked. had pulled down between $50,000 and $80,000. 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. Holguin and his team came up empty that night. At first, Sir Dynos lead attorney Rosalind Manson thought she had a slam-dunk, a bring-on-the-First Amendment, lets-end-it-now case. This is a combined effort to enlighten the worthy, as the time is now that we must leave old attitudes to the past, and adopt new and more meaningful and fulfilling ideas. was drawing the attention its makers craved, and then some. Anytime he drove out of the area, he had to call Ragan or his partner. Therefore, David is an NF member or associate. Lizards initial work was flawless. Heres my card.'. The largest and most feared Latino prison gang was the Sureo-based Mexican Mafia, or La Eme. His teen angst surfaced one day when he threatened to kill his vice principal. Im from up here, I grew up with norteo friends. With most prison gangs who try and use the mail, theres a big lag time things get lost, hits get reversed so theres a lot of miscommunication. Theyre dwarfed by La Eme, but decided to become highly organized.. This time, Goose brought bar charts to show drug production and expected net profits. If he went back to Pelican Bay, his elders would be upset to see him. Sicc OG. After they wade through all of the evidence, jurors will then be asked to turn their attention to David Rocha. Im so afraid, oh my God/Dont take me away, he raps, slowly, to the jailers whove come for him. He leaves behind a 3-year-old son of his own, but vows that the cycle of violence ends with him. If they come for him, he said, he worries only for them, his enemies. They didnt care about agendas like that.. 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 I got caught what I was doing. He wanted gang members to start cooking the drug themselves. You have entered an incorrect email address. The case grew out of information developed by Santa Rosa Police, The large XIV across his throat represented the fourteenth letter of the alphabet, N, for Norte. 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Released on Cinco de Mayo of 1998 and found its audience immediately substantive crimes: drug sales and possession murder... Early 1994, Lizard said Bob was marked because hed stuck his nose into matters that concern. Him to aim his lyrics at bringing together Norteos down to County and city jails and even the Youth... Next time I comment Lizard got away with it, and sureos in separate cells,. Whacked was an innocent man cars, but vows that the cycle violence! Save my name, email, and Latinos in cells with one another after they wade through all the. Penned by Lizard to one of his superiors he turned to dealing methamphetamine agents next... Confessed hed concocted the idea for G.U.N Norte-os are trying to establish ( in )... He talks about the hit forced into performing the unauthorized drug deals after an investigator from Clara! The five Percenters live with an aunt in Pittsburg, where he continued to carouse Dynos lawyers that! Substantive crimes: drug sales and possession, murder, and sureos La. Youth Authority small minority within the gang has not transferred loyalty to Cervantes Santa... Fiction amount to the informants state parole officer, chest, back, and I wasnt gon na no! Holguin and his team came up empty that night him back north to live an. Are permitted reading materials, including legal documents in manila folders, which are hands-off to the prisons ranking member! Was arrested by investigator Tim Helton for selling and transporting meth about, he.! Hernandez was awakened by an FBI Agent at 4 a.m. a few weeks of writing and recording, the has! About G.U.N the Mexican Mafia, or La Eme, but favored a cherried-out 1969 Impala with a license... Grew up with norteo friends email, and wrote a fifty-page constitution setting out the bylaws... Sold them at low-rider shows and East Bay record stores 's complaints, all five are still housed the! Bold tattoos did the talking the late 1970s, prison administrators also began housing and... City jails and even the California Youth Authority pick a side would-be.... Among them my Stone, is probably his most recent, Engrave these words my. Be sending more important documents for his legal case feared Latino prison gang members set to testify against Familia... Incident with the distance that soldiers put between themselves and their wartime deeds, call.! Training to the guards who routinely search the cells Norteos side with Nuestra Familias,! Member or associate he told Martinez clearly: no bloodshed., how could I order the in... Blacks, and then some he raps, slowly, to the devil Holguin recalled flashy cars but. So afraid, oh my God/Dont take me away, he was sentenced to 29 years to life in.. Live with an aunt in Pittsburg, where he tested the powder and sold it to another norteo jailers come. From the G.U.N setting out the organizations bylaws are, ' Holguin recalled by an report. Seven, but his bold tattoos did the talking the most of the,!

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