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 syndicate's constitution in his rectum, along with the master hit list which, by now, read fifty names long. But one day on the yard, he was approached by Juan Nato Gurule, a long-lost cousin from the East Bay. He was a long way from his former East Bay stomping grounds, and hadnt dared visit his wife and children, who still lived locally. Heres my card.'. Sir Dyno accepts this rivalry, and its where many of his raps come from. Almost two decades later, Lizard still recalls the clarity of that moment. Nuestra Familia prestige is now generational, passed from father to son, uncle to nephew. 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. Man, Im from the streets. A judge will decide in December whether his cooperation as an informant outweighs his considerable criminal past. 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. But he was undergoing a lot. Arresting the majority of the defendants was easy; they were already in prison. Its getting airtime on radio stations in the Central Valley, and Sir Dyno has gone into super-marketing campaign mode, making a goal to get the ballad single Daddys Home in rotation on 75 radio stations nationwide. The album would preach the unification of norteos Chicanos born north of an invisible border located somewhere around Fresno who, once inside the prison system, were eligible to join Nuestra Familia. And in another case, according to his handlers, Lizard drove to Lodi with Happy Cervantes for a weekend getaway, where he left his wire behind and failed to stay in touch with the FBI. But at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. All rights reserved. After a Nuestra Familia-led intifada left Folsom State Prison wet with blood, officials transferred most if not all of that facilitys Norteos to other state institutions. The shooters blasted Brown Bob with seven shots to his arms, chest, back, and legs. with prosecutors for reduced sentences, The Press Democrat reported interacts online and researches product purchases Im a Northerner, he says, arms wide. And I wanted to go high.. In its fifteen years of operation, at least a dozen inmates have been strangled to death inside its walls, according to lawsuits and published reports. It's the most comprehensive and trusted online destination for law enforcement agencies and police departments worldwide. In total, aside from the five convictions and twenty guilty pleas credited to Lizards grand jury testimony and undercover work, federal officials said Operation Black Widow led to a total of 75 Nuestra Familia convictions. Thats when Lizard began his career as a rider an inmate prone to acting violently toward fellow inmates. Rubalcaba is accused in court papers of ordering In her written response, she pointed out the governments logical error: All NF members and associates are norteos; David is a norteo. 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. Still, the weekend he got out, he was intent on getting paid. At the end of the trial, after Mr. Rocha spends four to six months sitting with other Latin males, the rest of whom are chained to the floor, how will jurors see him as an individual and judge him fairly in light of the limited evidence against him? they argue in one motion. Cuete was among the final holdouts. was drawing the attention its makers craved, and then some. That report, based on information from another snitch, revealed that Cuete was demoted by the generals to the lowest rank for skimming funds and gossiping. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. During his time with Nuestra Raza, Gratton learned the boot camp basics: how to make shanks, decode letters, and memorize the NF Constitution. Nato had worked his way up in the ranks from Norteo street thug to membership in the Nuestra Familia prison gang. Click here to read the Nuestra Familia constitution. Violence was averted in those cases, Gruel said. If the underbosses suspected that he was the target of an investigation, they might shun him or worse. My stuff has softened up a lot, Sir Dyno says. One of those footnotes involves Sir Dyno who, despite his history of gangsta-rap posturing, clearly is not a criminal on a par with his codefendants. gang's leaders communicated by some form of secret code within the When he entered Corcoran State Prison in 1989 for selling cocaine, he joined Nuestra Raza, a recruiting gang for the more esteemed Nuestra Familia. He was all business, all the time.. But government agents said that Brown Bob actually had pulled away from the gang. Its founding fathers adopted the phrase Blood in, blood out, and wrote a fifty-page constitution setting out the organizations bylaws. Jared Lewis, a former Modesto gang investigator, says the impact of G.U.N. If he went back to Pelican Bay, his elders would be upset to see him. Lizard returned to the Bay Area and worked closely with FBI Agent Sean Ragan. Sir Dynos lawyers argue that a group trial will taint the jurys perception of their client. In his role as head of security, Cuete was responsible for stashing the groups original constitution among his legal papers, and keistering the gangs master hit list in his rectum, according to FBI documents. For now, at least, the final guilty pleas appeared to have pruned back the Blooming Flower. In the eyes of the law, that would make Sir Dyno a real-life gangster. 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.. He wanted gang members to start cooking the drug themselves. And there was ghosting a letter: using a Q-Tip to swab milk or urine to write out orders on a piece of paper. Former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernndez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristn and Tex Marn Hernndez. After Gratton stabbed an enemy in Corcoran, he was transferred to Pelican Bays infamous Secured Housing Unit the college for prison gangsters. Everyone says they want to rap, says they want to make CDs, but David was really doing it. All you have to do is find out where the motherfucker is, pull up on the side of them., Lizard ended the conversation. It looked like they were unhappy with the content of G.U.N., Manson says, and thats why David was indicted for the content of his music. Thats not going to happen. 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. The red line also called for (NF) lieutenant David Cervantes to be put on retirement status. When the five were transferred out of California, Gov. Three leaders soon emerged at Pelican Bay, filling the ranks of the gang's mesa, or board of directors: David "DC" Cervantes of Chino, Jose "Huerito" Gonzalez and James "Conejo" Perez. Even outside prison, members were expected to remain loyal to the gang. Three days before Christmas, Lizard called Holguin. But one year later, his family moved to Long Beach, the heart of Sureo country. 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. If youre a norteo, and youre flamed-up in reds a 49ers jersey will do a lone sureo, who might be dressed down in his Dodgers blue, could make a move on you, unprovoked. If you ever want to help yourself, you can. Im from up here, I grew up with norteo friends. Its not a good thing, said former San Quentin warden Vasquez. In his FBI interrogation, Gratton never makes it clear whether Sir Dyno knew he was rapping for the mob, or that North Star Records had been set up to launder money. Theres nothing to prepare. Lizard prepared to take the stand against Nuestra Familia. Lizard reminded his brothers about the warriors in Pelican Bay. He was more than just a studio rapper, he says. One such order last year told Norte-os across Northern California to clean the streets of Sure-os. According to Lewis, gang members have been linked to an estimated three hundred homicides across Northern California. He suggested that gang members cook our own shit to gain control, saying he could make twenty pounds of raw meth in one batch. They didnt care about agendas like that.. The report counted nearly seven thousand cases of inmate assault in the states 32 institutions, along with nine murders that year, a steady increase over the past decade. She was nicknamed Crazy Girl and had the moniker tattooed over her right kneecap, according to FBI documents. 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. 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. For the cover art, Sir Dyno says he told all his friends to tell their friends to show up at a park wearing their reds. Together, Nato and Lizard robbed drug dealers, committed petty crimes, and raised funds for their carnals back inside. , With that, let each of us as norteos recognize the true purpose of this album and come together, henceforth, presenting a strong united front, que viva puros norteos unidos.. While working as an informant, he tested positive for drug use. 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 . On seven of the CDs fourteen tracks, Sir Dyno raps as hired: Hes a heartless gangsta with a nihilistic agenda. The policy eventually trickled down to county and city jails and even the California Youth Authority. Maybe hed give me one hundred bucks to shut me up, or fifty bucks to shut me up, he says, or gas money or something.. Helton checked out Grattons business licenses, and learned of Sir Dynos involvement through the music distributor. FBI agents did not respond to interview requests. To test his allegiance, he was ordered to move on his cellmate, Johnny Huero-T Fernandez. She disguised her own missives as legal mail from a fictitious San Francisco attorney and sent them directly back into the Secured Housing Unit, where all three gang generals were locked up. Any brother who steps outside and then returns is automatically put on probation. He was a loyal and merciless soldier until a foolish parole violation threatened to send him back to prison, where his own safety was in question. His middle-class Long Beach upbringing was spent golfing, surfing, and skateboarding. Shes not liking it too much. Youre a lot smarter than those guys doing life in prison. One of the highest-ranking defendants in the upcoming trial, Still, the accusations put Lizards conduct under scrutiny. The thought of slashing his cousin made no sense. 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. Prison gang members set to testify against Nuestra Familia leaders. I did it because I was ordered to do it. I dont rattle, he said. Hed turned his parents garage into a makeshift studio, recorded cassettes, and sold them at low-rider shows and East Bay record stores. Holguin was well known to Nuestra Familia members hed interviewed hundreds of them during his three decades in the system. Lo-fi beats backed simple, repetitive keyboard riffs. 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. According to grand jury testimony, Lizard sent a coded letter that eventually reached Antonio Chuco Guillen just before he was paroled from San Quentin. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. 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. That leaves Cervantes, who has always kept a keen eye on Salinas affairs, firmly in control as the organization's only general. One month later, he was visited by Louie Holguin, a special agent with the Department of Corrections who monitored parolees and prison gangs. He did not return letters seeking comment for this article. I can get a gun and go down and do it, he boasted. It would bring the most attention and the most sales. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Meanwhile, Lizard received government paychecks totaling more than $52,000 for his seven months of work, according to FBI reports. And I did my time for what I was doing. slated for Sept. 13 in San Francisco, is Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba Released from the Secured Housing Unit in August 1995, Lizard was chiseled and fit as a warrior in heart and mind. I didnt have a choice, he recalled. And most of it hung on Lizard. The only problem is the limiting of audience outside Northern California., After costs for radio spots and posters and printing, the plan estimated profits of $21,051 on the first 4,000 units. Weeks later, the general was attacked by Sureos and landed in solitary confinement. As a captain, he answered only to a handful of higher-ranking capos and the three generals inside Pelican Bay. But if we want to prepare these people for integration to society, maybe we need to integrate them in the prison first, get them used to living with different peoples.. Or better yet, two prosecuting attorneys., Cervantes persisted. Lizard got away with it, and when Big Smiley emerged, he personally sponsored Lizard into Nuestra Familia. Shortly thereafter, his client pleaded guilty for a chance at parole, but remained adamant that Lizard had given him the green light. 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. Lexipol. Both were steeped in the Jehovahs Witnesses faith. Otherwise, he was free to go about his business. This was the place where we took all of our training to the next level. Not only was there one less Sureo, but Lizard also showed a knack for attacking without detection. Over the next four years, Lizard and Cuete masterminded and penned more than three thousand letters, according to an FBI report. He faced 25 years to life. In November 1998, he was pulled over on a traffic violation. 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