[9] Since then, he has provided intelligence and other information to help law enforcement, acting as an expert witness in dozens of State murder and Federal racketeering trials and has spoken at a number of conferences and training sessions. Example kite / green light list, sent among Hispanic gang Members and associates of the gang remain fiercely loyal to the criminal organization both in and outside of prison, particularly in Southern California cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego. Rudy Espudo, who was accused by authorities last week ofcoordinating gang activity in North County as a member of theMexican Mafia, was born in the Imperial Valley, moved to Escondidowhen he was 8 and became involved in gangs when he was 15,according to his mother. Many of their operatives working outside the jails to control street gangs across the region were swept up in a series of federal raids in March and May 2018. The charges stemmed from Perez-Castaedas time as a high-level enforcer extorting Pomona street gangs for a portion of their drug trafficking proceeds taxes for operating in Mexican Mafia territory from 2012 to 2016. Ray and Marlene Wells were also shot execution style in their home in Belvedere Park. Belmont, CA: Wadesworth Publishing. Some of the gangs have rivalries, but their leaders all obey andmake payments to La Eme, a relatively small and powerful cabal ofabout 200 people spread out over several states. Usergen He lived in relatively quiet neighborhoods not associated withgang activity ---- an apartment on Nordahl Road in San Marcos, notfar from Walmart and Costco, and a condo in the Cape Concordneighborhood on Escondidos east side, a cozy area with an activehomeowners association. International Retrieved from website: Lowrey, B. Regions San Diego rent increases are slowing. Chicago Organized crime. Thats when histrue education most likely began. The Mexican Mafia mostly comprises senior members of Southern California gangs who banded together to profit off of crime. His father tried to teach him how to run the family business, but Rene preferred stealing with his friend, Johnny Mancillas, channeled his ambitions into the local street gang, Artesia-13. The Mexican Mafia should not be confused with illegal [35] This indictment charges 31 defendants and alleges violations of the federal racketeering (RICO) statute, as well as a host of narcotics, firearms, and fraud offenses. In response, they ordered the murder of two Familia leaders just prior to an important peace conference between Cadena and Death Row inmate Joe Gonzalez, an NF leader at Chino Reception center, undermining Cadena's peace mission and effectively "green-lighting" him. The investigators have done a magnificent job at thwarting this relationship. South On North County streets, la Eme ordered Surenos to obtain taxes from the local drug dealers. Once the surenos get out of jail,they impose La Emes rules on their own gangs. Drug Gangs Cavazos ultimately pled guilty to a single count of racketeering and was sentenced to more than 20 years in Federal prison. He would not appear as a registered sex offender in the witness protection program, he said, but added that he would be under stringent monitoring by the U.S. [31] The local gangs were smuggling narcotics into the Vista Detention Center in order to sell them for the Mexican Mafia. Three of the defendants were previously arrested in this case before todays enforcement activities, and eight are fugitives. Retrieved from, Category:Organized crime groups in Mexico, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, "Mexican Mafia's roots run deep in San Gabriel Valley - Whittier Daily News", "California Prison Gangs - The Price of Control", "Aladena 'Jimmy the Weasel' Fratianno boasted in a taped", "Prison Gangs (continued) Gangs and Security Threat Group Awareness", http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/17/local/la-me-0217-armenian-gang-20110217, Organized Crime in California Annual Report 2007-08, "America's 11 Most Powerful Prison Gangs", "Gang and Security Threat Group Awareness", http://foia2.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/aryanbro/aryanbro1.pdf, http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/exclusive-gang-bust-gives-rare-glimpse-of-mexican-mafia-s/article_cedea095-3c04-58ef-9479-83271b971789.html, "Latino Gang Charged With Racial Cleansing Attacks in California Town", "All US federal prisons in lockdown after deadly gang fight", Federal Bureau of Investigation file on the Mexican Mafia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mexican_Mafia&oldid=1142815404, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from February 2012, All articles needing additional references, Pages using infobox criminal organization with ethnicity or ethnic makeup parameters, Pages using infobox criminal organization with rivals parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Articles lacking reliable references from August 2020, Articles with dead external links from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Drug trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling, prostitution, assault and murder. A member must always treat another member's family with respect and kindness. At the age of nineteen, Enriquez first encountered the Mexican Mafia, or La eMe. [citation needed], Alfred Arthur Sandoval a.k.a. These include becoming an informant, acts of homosexuality, acts of cowardice, and showing disrespect against fellow gang members. Exclusive Mafia denied, 124 S. Ct. 1729 and 1736 (2004). Organization's name tattooed on member's abdomen. In return, prosecutors dropped charges of robbery, evading apolice officer with reckless driving, receiving stolen property,possessing a concealable firearm and resisting a police officer---- crimes that would have doubled his sentence if he wereconvicted at trial. Among the major stories he has covered are destructive wildfires, Christopher Dorner's rampage, the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Chase Merritt murder trial and the Perris torture case. It was notclear when he was released, but he had been a carnal in Escondidofor two to three years after his release, according to the sourcefamiliar with Espudo. South Defendants racketeering enterprise taxed the distribution of controlled substances by gangs in Pomona and issued fines for violations of rules as sources of income, they wrote. Itll take a while for the Mexican Mafia to get back in placeafter this, he said. Case Files Enriquez was born to recent immigrants from Mexico and grew up in a middle-class home in Cerritos, California but hung out in Artesia, California. The conspiracy charge and the counts related to methamphetamine each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison (20 years if the defendant has a prior drug conviction, which may affect about half of the defendants in the indictment) and a maximum statutory sentence of life without parole. Featured Cadena and Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, who became his best friend and mentor, led the gang to prominence in the California correctional system by terrorizing other unorganized ethnic inmate groups, gaining a monopoly over the sale of drugs, pornography, prostitution, extortion, and murder for hire. [3], "Our true motivation for stopping the drive-bys was to infiltrate the street gangs and place representatives in each gang, representatives which then, in turn, tax illicit activities in the areas," he said. Members of Lermas operation also committed violent crimes and drug trafficking, the indictment alleges. Mafia Insider Latinos must ask the mafia bosss permission to fight oneanother and must follow any orders he hands down ---- whether itssmuggling drugs, relaying messages or killing another inmate. The film was co-produced, directed and starred in by actor Edward James Olmos, who allegedly received death threats by members of the Mexican Mafia for what they considered an unflattering depiction of the gang. 3 Pomona gang members accused of murdering L.A. The Mexican Mafia appears to have immense reach and influence into every Hispanic street gang in Southern California, including the notoriously brutal MS-13 and 18th Street Gang[citation needed] who are under the Mexican Mafia's control. The members of La Familia named in the indictment allegedly oversaw the distribution of methamphetamine and marijuana in the Southern California area, as well as provided money and drugs at discounted prices to members of the Mexican Mafia. Over the next year the lives of 31 prisoners were lost in tit-for-tat killings. Lerma is one of about 140 full members of the Mexican Mafia, also known as La Eme, which the indictment described as a gang of gangs.. The indictment alleges that participants in the Project sought to give La Familia members free rein to sell methamphetamine in Southern California and to provide protection for incarcerated cartel members in exchange for money and methamphetamine going to Mexican Mafia members. "I can contribute to dissuading other individuals from participating in this. Through them, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum for Perez-Castaeda, Lerma controlled controlled the majority of drug distribution by Hispanic gangs in and around the city of Pomona, as well as within Calipatria State Prison, through threats, intimidation and acts of violence.. Mob Hits [7], "I cannot undo the past. Archives Some mafiamembers or associates serving long sentences claim a prison andrule it from within. His fate effectively sealed, he chose instead to go out the way he had come in, fighting. Still, older gang members tend to be wiser, more deliberate andmore motivated by cash than blood lust, gang experts have told theNorth County Times. Rudy Espudo, 39, controlled Latino gangs in North County anddemanded taxes from drug dealers and gang members as tribute toLa Eme ---- Spanish for The M and a nickname for the MexicanMafia, according to the indictment. It didn't work. [31] Rudy "Crazy" Espudo (Esco Varrio Diablos Escondido, California) was in control of the Hispanic gangs in the area and forced drug dealers to pay taxes in tribute to La eMe or face the consequences. (January 29, 2012). Midwest Espudo was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center inSan Diego, a federal prison, and is scheduled to appear in federalcourt at 9 a.m. Monday, said U.S. Attorney spokeswoman DebraHartman. Alfred Sandoval was also charged in these murders. from La Puente T-54481 Fernando BERMUDEZ aka 'Fernie B" from Dog Patch B-53002 Victor GALLEGOS aka "Psycho" from Santa Monica E-34131 Raul MOLINA aka People The victim was identified in the indictment only by the initials S.B. [album: https://www.streetgangs.com/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/Mexican Mafia figures/], Lived corner Mich.& Humpery be for hosp. The Mexican Mafia member in control of a lockup or neighborhood will assemble a team of associates to carry out orders. A resident of the Westside of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for using websites and apps such as Snapchat to meet and entice children to engage A South Bay man who along with three other accomplices victimized a 15-year-old girl by creating sexually explicit videos of her has been sentenced to 220 months in Central District of California Gangs and drug dealers who refuse to pay a protection "tax" to the Mexican Mafia are often murdered or threatened with murder. Cadena was born on April 15, 1943 in San Antonio, Texas, the son of second-generation Mexican immigrants Anita (ne Alvarado) and Daniel Hernandez Cadena. In 2013, when someone shot her son, Perez-Castaeda ordered the killing of a man in jail out of retaliation, according to the sentencing memorandum. The Los Angeles County Coroners Office website says that on June 29, 2020, 39-year-old Steve Bencom died in an unspecified jail from strangulation with a rope or cord and stab wounds. A locked padlock The indictment alleges that two incarcerated Mexican Mafia members are the leaders of the Florencia 13 gang, and that they directed the activities of the street gang from a California state prison and received payments derived from the gangs illegal activities. Movies A second indictment unsealed this morning concerns the Mexican Mafia and its control over the Florencia 13 criminal street gang in south Los Angeles County. They operate in state prisons and county jails. Cadena continued to run the Mafia's activities and began to look beyond the walls of the prison, envisioning a statewide monopoly of crime. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [2], The Mexican Mafia is involved in a variety of criminal activities both inside and outside the prison system, but its main source of income is extorting drug distributors outside prison and distributing various narcotics within and outside the prison system. At 12, Rene was jumped into Marc's gang. Interview Orders are shuttled in and out of prisons by phone, prison system emails, smuggled notes and visitors. Suite 1200 While serving a life sentence for murder at Pelican Bay State Prison, Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Olmos, Universal Studios, and other producers of the film. Mexican mafia's roots run deep in san gabriel valley. Brown again denies parole for ex-Mexican Mafia killer Rene Enriquez", Video: Chris Blatchford talking about book The Black Hand, Video interview of Rene Enriquez on San Diego's most wanted, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rene_Enriquez_(mobster)&oldid=1127752735, BLP articles lacking sources from December 2012, Articles lacking in-text citations from December 2012, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 December 2022, at 13:02. Being loyal to the Mexican Mafia is an integral part of being a Southern California Hispanic street gang member, and it is openly understood that when individuals join such gangs that they are joining an entity loyal to the Mexican Mafia, the indictment says. [6] In 1992, an example of La Eme's influence and power over Sureos was made clear to law enforcement. The History Channel website. 312 North Spring Street The gang's primary symbol, which is often used in tattoos by members, is the national symbol of Mexico (eagle and a snake) atop a flaming circle over crossed knives. He is one of the few white guys in the gang. Brian Rokos has worked in newspapers since 1985, at the Mountain Democrat in Placerville, News Chronicle in Thousand Oaks, the Cincinnati Post, the Orange County Register and currently The Press-Enterprise/Southern California News Group. New York Random Their grammar school is juvenile hall, said Richard Valdemar,a retired Los Angeles County Sheriffs gang investigator who spentmuch of his 30-year career investigating the Mexican Mafia. He was a carnal, the indictment said. Olmos subsequently applied for a concealed handgun permit, which was denied. Mob Hits The document also detailed how prosecutors say the Mexican Mafia leadership operates its vast enterprise of drug trafficking and violence inside and outside of prisons. Typically, serious trouble involved being beaten and robbed,the indictment says. They would then deposit the money in Lermas prison account, in installments of around $100 to $200. ", In 1985, Enriquez became a full-fledged Carnal (Mexican vernacular Spanish for brother) or made guy in the Mexican Mafia. WebThe Mexican Mafia, or "La EME," is a U.S.-based gang made up primarily of Mexican-American street gang members. In mid-2011, both sides agreed to end the war and make peace. Philadelphia Weapologize. Members Only In some cases, Espudos associates were demanding monthlytribute from local gangs: the Westside and Diablos of Escondido,Varrio San Marcos and Varrio Fallbrook Locos. 1 R.I.P. On North County streets, the mafia and gangs under its control,or surenos, also shook down drug dealers and robbers, demanding ashare of their ill-gotten gains, according to the indictment. Members of the Mexican Mafia divide control of criminal activities in lockups and in communities. His connections with cocaine and heroin suppliers in Mexico helped pave the foundation for the Mexican Mafia's narcotics distribution throughout California. That's how you carry yourself in the Mexican mafia. A member must not show disrespect for any member's family, including sex with another member's wife, or girlfriend. The family later moved to Bakersfield, California where Cadena attended East Bakersfield High School. Their high school is jail, and prison is their college. Sports The character Miklo Velka is largely based on Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, having lost his leg from getting shot during a robbery (one of the rumored ways that Morgan lost his). Random New York If you get caught lying, you know, or try to dodge, dodge thatkind of (expletive), youre going to get into some serious(expletive), the indictment says. The night before his death, Cadena had received multiple death threats and knew that when he left his cell in the morning, he would be leaving it permanently. [28][unreliable source? I would say it would be several monthsbefore they find themselves a leader again and try to reorganizethe group.. At the time of his conviction, Cadena was only 16 years old. There is no official hierarchyamong its members, or carnales, and major decisions, such asinducting a new member, require a vote, according to the indictmentand Valdemar. [3], In 2003, Enriquez left the Mexican Mafia. Cadena was the basis for the 1992 movie American Me, in which, Montoya Santana, a character based upon Cadena, was portrayed by Edward James Olmos. Federal authorities have described the gangs tax collection scheme as operating like an illegal government within county jails. Mexican Mafia members have also been known to order an end todrive-by shootings. WebMexican Mafia ("La EME") One of the first prison gangs to develop in the United States, the Mexican Mafia began in 1957 in California where a few dozen Latino convicts banded together at Deuel Vocational Institution under the leadership of Luis 'Huero Bluff' Flores. The gangs, likeanyone else, were reminded and threatened about due dates andassessed late fees for tardy payments. Detroit In all prisons in the United States there are groups of prisoners organized according to race. The whites sometimes call their group The Aryan Bro In his late teens, Enriquez was arrested after committing a string of armed robberies and was sentenced for a long period in prison. Any adult who is arrested and put behind bars in San DiegoCounty will spend time in a county jail. The gang was able to filter money from alcohol and drug prevention programs to finance their criminal activities. Its a democratic organization. Cadena could have saved himself by requesting Protective Custody, a move that would have shown weakness to the way of life he had fought and killed for. North County Times. Lets just put it that way OK., 5 Mexican Mafia members pleading guilty in, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Bay Area weather: After thunderstorms and hail, snow could be on the way this weekend, 5 Mexican Mafia members pleading guilty in extortion racket directed from Northern California prison, Bay Area probation officer sexually abused children for years as complaints went ignored, lawsuit claims, In fentanyl overdose case, police uncovered video evidence Martinez man molested multiple girls, feds say, Colorado election denier Peters guilty of obstruction, Authorities: Man bombed PG&E transformers in South San Jose, Belarus imprisons Nobel laureate Bialiatski for 10 years. Street gangs that are aligned with the Mexican Mafia often use the number 13 as a gang identifier, as the letter "M" is the 13th letter of the modern Latin-derived alphabet. Espudo, known as Crazy or Crazyboy, had risen to powerthrough this system. Archives [27], The primary rivals of the Mexican Mafia are Nuestra Familia. In April 2019, Enriquez was again denied parole by California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to her plea agreement, Perez-Castaeda communicated with a Lerma associate mostly through text messages to coordinate collecting money from different gangs around the region. [4], In 2015, Enriquez testified how Marc and other members of Artesia-13 savagely beat him up behind a gas station as a gang initiation. LOS ANGELES A coalition of federal, state and local authorities this morning arrested eight defendants named in a federal grand jury indictment that outlines an alliance between the Mexican Mafia prison gang and the La Familia Michoacna drug cartel that sought to protect and expand the cartels drug trafficking activities across the nation. A member must not politic against another member or cause dissension within the organization. 2 City of the 187 DVD, L.A. Street Life Vol. According to the federal indictment, Mexican Mafia members exert their influence in both federal and state prison systems through either violence or the threat of violence. So far, five suspects in the scheme, including Perez-Castaeda, have agreed to plead guilty to a raft of changes. "[citation needed], In February 2015, Enriquez told the parole board that if released, he would enter the Federal Government's Witness Protection Program because he remains on the Mexican Mafia's hit list more than a decade after his 2003 cooperation with law enforcement. Through her connection to Lerma, Perez-Castaeda wielded significant power among Pomonas street gangs, prosecutors said. Dead Homies DVD, L.A. Street Life Vol. [3], Young Rene idolized his older brother, Marc, who was already an Artesia 13 gang member. Black Gangs in Los Angeles from the 1920s, Brik Boy Crips (BBC) in Northside Long Beach, Rollin 20s Crips on the Eastside of Long Beach, Crip Gangs in Willowbrook, Unincorporated Los Angeles County, Crip Gangs in Florence, Unincorporated Los Angeles County, Rollin 100s Crip Alliance in South Los Angeles, 102 Ten Deuce Raymond Avenue Crips in Inglewood, Transcript of Tony Sims statement made to police March 23, 1979, Partial Transcript from Tony Sims testimony during his murder trial, April 14, 1981, Hoover Crips alliance and history in Los Angeles, Parc Village Compton Crips | Wilmington Arms Apartments, Original Corner Poccet Hood Compton Crips, Blood Gangs in Athens, Unincorporated Los Angeles County, Cross Atlantic Pirus (Eastside Compton / Lynwood), Elm Street Pirus on the Eastside of Compton, Leuders Park Pirus | LPP | Eastside Compton Pirus, Village Town Piru / Ujima Village Piru in Willowbrook adjacent to Compton, Avenue Piru Gang (APG) in Inglewood, California, Crenshaw Mafia Gangster, CMG in Inglewood, CA, Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue #5 | Crips Founder Raymond Washington, Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue #6 | Rapper Nipsey Hussle | Jan Brewer from Inglewood Family, Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue #1 | History of Athens Park Bloods, Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue #2 | Grape Street Crips & Bounty Hunters, AS IS Magazine, Issue #1 Freeway Rick Ross | Kay Slay, Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue #3 The History of Neighborhood Bloods, AS IS Magazine, Issue #3 The Black Gangster: Larry Hoover, Stanley Tookie Williams, Fluckey Stokes, AS IS Magazine Issue #5 | Former Bank Robbery Chazz Williams | Curtis Scoon, AS IS Magazine, Issue #6 Flukey Stokes | Rick Ross |, AS IS Magazine, Issue #8 The Wayne Perry Story, AS IS Magazine, Issue #10 | Cocaine dealer Pablo Escobar | Paul Wall, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #22 | Harlems Jim Jones | Flukey Stokes Story, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #23 | Kevin Liles | Rapper Maino, after 10 years in prison, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #24 Irv Gotti Not Guilty, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #25 | Kevin Liles | Witness or Snitch |, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #26 | FBI declares Mara Salvatrucha (MS) most dangerous | Rick Ross the Boss, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #27 | Blood Diamonds | Young Jeezy | Making of AllHipHop.com, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #28 | Weed Guideline | Jamie Hector interview, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #29 | Fabolous Shot | Oaklands Young Don: Darryl little D Reed | Young Buck: beef with G Unit, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #30 | Wayne Perry, Washington DCs most violent killer | Kenneth Supreme McGriff | Mike Fray Salters, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #31 Bumpy Johnson, Barry Reese, Don Diva Magazine, Issue #35 Big Meech | BMF | Jim Jones, F.E.D.S Magazine, Issue #5 Tupac Shakur, F.E.D.S Magazine, Issue #7 Terrance Gangster Williams, F.E.D.S Magazine, Issue #8 Michael Harry O Harris. [citation needed]. Lerma, also of Pomona, was also charged with murder. Aztecs to honor 8 on Senior Night against Wyoming, but are all of them leaving? The penalty for refusing orders or failing to complete an assigned task is often death. During this mornings takedown, 14 of the 31 defendants named in this indictment were taken into custody. The new oath stipulated that the only way for a member to leave the Mexican Mafia was to be killed. La Eme has a blood-in, blood-out Murder or drawing of blood is a prerequisite for membership and anyone trying to get out will be killed. Before long, Espudo was arrested as a juvenile. Various defendants are charged in six other counts in the indictment that allege substantive narcotics-distribution offenses, five of which relate to methamphetamine and one of which concerns marijuana. Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceSign Up For Our NewslettersSite Map, Copyright 2023, The San Diego Union-Tribune |, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [1][2] He was a high ranking made man in the Mexican Mafia before defecting and becoming a federal witness in 2003. The Mexican Mafia, whose members are generally senior members of street gangs such as Florencia 13, also exercises control over and directs the narcotics trafficking activities of Latino street gangs across Southern California and in prisons. If a current leader would be recognized by rankings then it would have to be the east L.A. gangs and then the Inland Empire faction. The inland emp
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