Monday. He used rap to vent about what every other twenty-year-old male stuck in a small town vents about: how fucked-up life is. It is my hope the federal prison system is better equipped to derail the violence.. At home, Sir Dyno says hes just waiting for the truth to come out, but the phrase emerges like one thats been worn out, a fortification against the harsher truth: He stands to lose everything. 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. If Nuestra Familia invested in meth labs, a network was already in place. FBI reports show that while on the federal payroll, Lizard performed unauthorized drug deals. "There's family members still loyal to the guys in the fed," he said, referring to the exiled former generals and captains in Colorado. Snow-locked Highway 29 between Calistoga and the Lake County border will likely stay closed through the weekend, CHP announced Friday afternoon. Hoping to curtail the violence, wardens stopped putting Anglos, blacks, and Latinos in cells with one another. As a captain, he answered only to a handful of higher-ranking capos and the three generals inside Pelican Bay. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. Hes had plenty of time to contemplate. All Gratton needed was a rapper. Still Sir Dyno says he wasnt getting paid. I was ready to go, he recalled. OUR PUBLICATIONSCannabis ChronicleEast BayGilroy DispatchGood Times Santa CruzHollister Free LanceKing City RustlerMarin Pacific SunMetro Silicon ValleyMorgan Hill TimesNorth Bay BohemianPress BannerSalinas Valley TribuneSouth ValleyWatsonville Pajaronian, ADVERTISINGAdvertiseLegal NoticesObituariesSponsored ContentWriting An ObituarySubmit an Obituary, COMPANY INFOJob OpportunitiesPrivacy Policy. with prosecutors for reduced sentences, The Press Democrat reported In September, the final eight defendants pleaded guilty, following the first thirteen members indicted. SAN JOSE - A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 17 defendants with racketeering conspiracy, including acts involving murder, robbery, drug trafficking, and money laundering, and charging five others with drug trafficking-related crimes. The unit requires pin-drop silence from its inmates. Lizard initially followed his script and pushed for peace, according to the transcripts. Thats who I am. Inside his Tracy home, he sits comfortably against the oversize cushions on his fluffy couch, with his baby daughter rocking to sleep a few feet away. If he went back to Pelican Bay, his elders would be upset to see him. The FBI believes the exchange earned Lizard a quick $3,600. Lizard and the government deny this accusation. 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. He recorded From the Barrio with Love, taking his name outside California and into pockets of Chicano markets in places such as Phoenix, Denver, and Albuquerque. In the eyes of the law, that would make Sir Dyno a real-life gangster. Lizard is disappointed that he never got his moment on the witness stand. Theyre trying to say that when I met Robert Gratton I started selling drugs for him, and to finance the G.U.N. In November 1986, Lizard tried out these new skills on another inmate and was transferred to San Quentin. 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. He suggested that gang members cook our own shit to gain control, saying he could make twenty pounds of raw meth in one batch. If he wrote Dear Love, every sixth word mattered. They pulled in young guys by the bushel.. December 12, 1976. 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. The prosecutors revealed that Gratton would testify Sir Dyno dealt meth on his behalf. If the underbosses suspected that he was the target of an investigation, they might shun him or worse. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). He said that was where he picked up the nickname Lizard, from friends who admired his clandestine nature.. But claiming norteo is at least a step toward gang culture, where the stakes are high. According to transcripts and court documents, Ramirez brought up the touchy subject of Ray Sanchez, a competing heroin dealer who was boasting of taking over the drug game. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. To test his allegiance, he was ordered to move on his cellmate, Johnny Huero-T Fernandez. His FBI handlers had been clear: Talk down violence at all costs. In the weeks leading up to Lizards arrest, Kayln Santiagos apartment had been stormed by FBI agents. Louis G Rubalcaba, 15826 Silvergrove Drive, South Whittier / Sunshine Acres CDP, CA 90604 Find homes for sale, market statistics, foreclosures, property taxes, real estate news, agent reviews, condos, neighborhoods on Blockshopper.com Its a tough call. From inside Pelican Bay State Prison, Lizard had served as the brutally violent gangs principal secretary, helping inmates in solitary confinement set up bank accounts in Idaho, direct drug sales across Northern California, and even order murders. Gratton sought out Sir Dyno because the rapper had a following, needed to produce a successful CD, and was familiar with music distribution and marketing. Im so afraid, oh my God/Dont take me away, he raps, slowly, to the jailers whove come for him. Lizard returned to the Bay Area and worked closely with FBI Agent Sean Ragan. Had they not almost burned my identity, I wouldnt have had to be doing any of that, he said. I even convinced the government that Im this crazy guy.. Therefore John Ashcroft is a chicken.. Arresting the majority of the defendants was easy; they were already in prison. The California Supreme Court is now reviewing a case that questions whether inmates can be segregated for their first sixty days at reception prisons such as San Quentin. Nearby cops heard the shots and pulled in quickly. He was born in Pittsburg, which made him a Norteo by birth. This was the place where we took all of our training to the next level. Last year, a newly revised constitution for the gang was distributed through underground channels, allowing for change in the mesa's structure, said Santa Cruz County sheriff's Sgt. It was a hell of an audience to keep waiting. Under federal law, its rather easy to be declared a coconspirator in a RICO case. had pulled down between $50,000 and $80,000. While working as an informant, he tested positive for drug use. The five former leaders are James "Tibbs" Morado, 59, whose common-law wife, 20-year-old Salinas resident Crystal Nenque, was found slain on Hecker Pass Road near Watsonville in 2005; Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, 58; Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, 52; Cornelio Tristan, 46; and former Monterey resident Tex Marin Hernandez, 53. Natos harsh sentence made Lizard rethink his lifes path. He makes drug deals here, he caps sureos there, he disses cops everywhere, all of it in the name of norteo supremacy. He took the gangs oath, Blood in, blood out, and rose to the rank of captain within a few years. who joined the FBI and other agencies in an investigation of street They, in turn, approved hits and issued directives, while prison censors were prevented from reading the supposedly legal correspondence. As evidence, family members said, he had a large Aztec goddess tattooed atop the Nuestra Familia logo on his back. They didnt care about agendas like that.. Not with NF.. He kept a stable of flashy cars, but favored a cherried-out 1969 Impala with a vanity license plate that read NORTENO.. 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. He pleaded guilty to arranging two murders from prison, and will be sentenced to life in prison in December, along with the gangs generals. There was Henry "Happy" Cervantes, built like . They were drooling, Lizard later wrote. Then he helped the FBI take the gang down. Lizard hadnt, so Nato schooled him on the long-standing war. with his boss while in prison, and took it out of prison with him, after the idea was ratified by the NF leadership. He estimated the CD had netted about $80,000 and that hed sent only $5,000 to a bank account in Boise, Idaho, where a female accomplice transferred the money into a separate account for NF prisoners. After Gratton stabbed an enemy in Corcoran, he was transferred to Pelican Bays infamous Secured Housing Unit the college for prison gangsters. Even though theyd heard about the hit in advance, FBI agents never told Sanchez he was marked for violence. Lizard first went to prison when he was nineteen. A small star on his forehead suggested hed killed someone in prison, even though, in truth, he hadnt. The "filter," or official paperwork announcing the hit, came down to Jacobs, who, by this time, had developed a close friendship with Viramontes. Sir Dyno accepts this rivalry, and its where many of his raps come from. Otherwise, he was free to go about his business. All rights reserved. Not only was there one less Sureo, but Lizard also showed a knack for attacking without detection. They dont want guys to get close; it blurs the lines. Hes convinced hell get off scot-free. And I wanted to go high.. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Enter https://www.police1.com/ and click OK. As gang-on-gang violence grew in the late 1970s, prison administrators also began housing Norteos and Sureos in separate cells. I told him, Listen. If he was going to hold the case together, hed need to account for his own alleged crimes as a snitch. Cuete took a shine to Lizard because Lizard was a stickler for detail, one police investigator said last year. His middle-class Long Beach upbringing was spent golfing, surfing, and skateboarding. attempts on two assistant district attorneys in Santa Clara slated for Sept. 13 in San Francisco, is Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba Its not like her life used to be.. October 10, 1976. Lizards letters were sent to code breakers at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. It wasnt worth it to me anymore., Yet the claim that the rapper was blissfully unaware of Grattons gang connections doesnt pass the sniff test for law-enforcement guys like Jared Lewis. Right after the CD came out, red-on-red violence all but ended, he says. The idea was that rap music could unite and galvanize young Norteo soldiers across the state, and it did. If you say, I dont know, they say Where are you from? When you tell them, they direct you to that side of the prison. Smiley replied that it was true, but not to worry no one was moving on it. 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. 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. It was during that interrogation Sir Dyno says he first learned about Grattons connections to Nuestra Familia. Both were steeped in the Jehovahs Witnesses faith. I didnt realize lyrics could be taken so seriously, he now says, claiming that he rapped for shock value on G.U.N. 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. Nuestra Familia is organized in a military-like hierarchy, with generals running the gang from inside prison and paroled regiment captains running the streets outside. Now, for a CD he cut five years ago, for a guy he claims he barely knew, for a dollar he never made, David Rocha faces a life sentence on a single count of conspiracy. After he was expelled, his parents sent him back north to live with an aunt in Pittsburg, where he continued to. Big Smiley immediately ordered his soldier to enforce gang law back in C-Facility. But on his way out the door, the veteran agent made Lizard an offer. Thats not going to happen. According to transcripts, two carnals, Israel Silent Mendoza and Anthony Morales, brought Lizard sixty grams of negra, black-tar heroin to sell, use, or barter. Outside prison walls, the reach and violence of Nuestra Familia had only grown. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. By 1965, Sureos outnumbered Norteos by roughly seven to one inside the prison system. Lizard and Nato were both soon paroled. Zilversmit said the feds were preoccupied with preserving their investigation instead of saving lives. But I knew more about Cuete and his family, and he did about mine. 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