But such sentiments are meaningless down on the farm. RELATED:Feds: Fugitive Texas elementary teacher tied to hit men, drug running and kidnapping. Several of them testified vigorously that Ellis I was understaffed and overcrowded, and that the unit was riddled with blind spots. An estimated 70,000 in their ranks, they are as violent as they are numerous, and what was once a Los Angeles-based operation, now has interests across the United States and in Canada. The Mac Baller Brims are a relatively small group operating in New York City, but they have made a mark on that area through brutality both inside and outside of the prison system. The Bloods, Crips, Surenos and Latin Kings are the most active street gangs, while Tango Blast cliques in San Antonio (Orejones) and Austin (La Capirucha) rule the prisons, along with the Texas Mexican Mafia and Aryan Brotherhood. If several TS members commit a crime, it is not uncommon for one member to demonstrate his loyalty by taking responsibility for the crime in order to shield other TS brothers from the attention of law enforcement. Their initiation ritual may not be practiced by all chapters these days, but it is pretty simple and disgusting. In contrast, sixteen current or former Ellis I employees testified. The federal agency is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. He was on a westbound bus, fleeing the state. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Syndicate Initiation: Bradbury Fields (Everfall) Syndicate Initiation: Dayspring Mills (First Light) Syndicate Initiation: Abadier's Anger (Monarch's Bluffs) Syndicate Initiations occur when the Syndicate are chosen as a player's faction . Meanwhile, white inmates, tired of being robbed and sexually assaulted by the larger population of black inmates, began the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Extra guards to supervise the gathering had to come from some other post. Take over the hallway for me, Sandoval said to his subordinate while handing him his keys. Throughout the Sandoval trial, guards on the witness stand were asked if they had ever stopped a gang member from murdering an inmate. When they got there they found Joe Arredondo lying on his back. That beating often takes the form of "running the gauntlet," in which a recruit is forced to run between two lines of members who are armed withwellwhatever weapons they can get their hands on. For several years, they have been using s*xual tactics to get people to join their ranks. While there are many Jihadis who willingly join their ranks, they often kidnap young people and force them into service. ), The Sandoval trial was a rare public washing of the Texas penal systems bloodstained linen. A member who violates the rules and loses favor becomes a muleta, a term which is used to mean a problem. Such a violation may result in the TS bringing its own official gang-based charges against the member who is being accused of violating the rules. Without a doubt, the Texas Invitational ("TI") is the pinnacle of high-caliber automotive airfield competition in the United States. According to a US Justice Department press release: Texas Syndicate, a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion and narcotics distribution. After the lockdown, the murder rate plunged. By the end of the eighties, the public fretting over prison gangs had dissipated. If the Texas Syndicate had told him there was a murder happening, he wouldnt have gone for it. His refusal would prompt the reply, Then Ill tell your supervisor about when you lit my cigarette., At first the young guard spurned the inmates who pestered him, and threatened to write them up for disciplinary action. To pay for his legal expenses, his mother sold the family home. The first major TDCJ gang, a Hispanic group known as the Texans, consisted of former residents who were doing time in California penal institutions in the mid-seventies. If the person answers that, he will put down his umbrella and stand in the rain (signifying willingness to share a burden and way of life). We in the free world classify inmates according to motivation: those who do not wish to live a life of crime and those who know no other life; those who wish only to do their time and get out and those who function best in a kill-or-be-killed environment. A federal grand jury indictment, returned in Austin and unsealed yesterday, charges those arrested with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. As the free world would have it, there are good inmates and bad inmates. App., 2008) On Dec. 21, 2006, Texas Syndicate members are arrested for the contract killing of Julio A. Serrano. They will brutally violate any men they wish to join their cause and catch it on video tape. If you are facing serious criminal charges, you need a lawyer who is prepared to go to trial, Law Office of Sylvia A. Cavazos 110 Broadway St.Suite 210San Antonio, TX 78205 San Antonio Office, Phone:210-468-1130Toll Free: 800-681-6406Fax: 888-566-7765, 2023 Law Office of Sylvia A. Cavazos All Rights Reserved, Disclaimer| Site Map| Privacy Policy |Business Development Solutions by FindLaw, part of Thomson Reuters. The group was started in the 1970's in California's prison system, in response to the need for more protection for Mexican-Americans (primarily from Texas) who were in the Cali prison system. 10 facts about the Barrio Azteca, one of the most dangerous gangs in Texas, Mark Lambie/AP Photo/El Paso Times, Mark Lambie. Joe Arredondo was one of those inmates, an arrogant squirt barely over five feet tall who frequently provoked guards but never got in trouble for it. Their leader is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted criminals. Like any good businessman, Garcia kept a close eye on the marketplace. Not only was the event novel at the time, it started the trend of airfield racing across the country. Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. Pursuant to this objective, members act to protect each other and to build a strong, disciplined organization through intimidation and violent retribution against outsiders and through strict and harsh discipline of members and associates who violate the rules and goals of the enterprise. They are affiliated with local prison gangs and often stock their ranks with young children, some in their early teens (not an uncommon practice for gangs in general). Assistant U.S. When Luis Sandoval went to work for the Texas prison system, he did the wrong favors for the wrong people. The relationships between gangs and cartels are constant, but show no particular loyalties or allegiances. The five-foot-six, soft-voiced young man had spent most of his life in the South Texas town of Alice, where blacks were scarcely seen. Sandoval lied: No, sir. Contradicting this claim, Internal Affairs investigator Dale Schaper took the stand and read his report of the night Sandoval was arrested. The brutality of the murder, coupled with Sandovals complete inability to prevent it, made quite an impression on the young guard. In prison, he had come to learn, if you gave, you got. a. being sexed in. It criticized TDCJs good ol boy system, which Sandoval claimed has ruled with an iron fist since the penal system was first established. Hispanic guards, he said, were either coerced into quitting or found doing something wrong. Supervisors treated inmates like animals. He further wrote, I am not the only one who worked there that knows that TDCJ is linked to the gangs and their illegal activities. The gang murders that once took place inside prisons now take place on the streets. But the defendants earnest tone suggested that this was itself an injusticethat the prison system had asked the impossible of prison guards and was now punishing Sandoval for the states shortcomings. If you are switching factions, you will need to leave your company in order to change to Syndicate. The TS rules provide that the TS is to come before family. While the Texas Syndicate is primarily a prison-based gang, they have many members who operate on the outside. Yell fight, he said, but the two officers seemed paralyzed. That afternoon, Ellis I warden Jerry Peterson called Sandoval into his office to congratulate him on a fine job. To keep him at ease, the Texas Syndicate requested that the inmate return from his furlough with two hundred dollars worth of heroin and marijuana. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. Employees come and go unfrisked, unobserved. The other factor that has led guards to traffic in drugs is the peculiar morality of Ellis I, where rules are never universally applied and the use of drugs is so widespread that officials have to knowand acceptthat prison guards are involved in the supply chain. One Ellis I officer reported that in 1986, between one hundred and two hundred gallons of chock was discovered on a weekly basis within the unit. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. Prisons, crammed with thrill-seekers and outright junkies, provide the ultimate captive consumers. Arredondo did take part in a different contract killing, but when all the conspirators except Arredondo were placed in administrative segregation, TS members concluded that Arredondo had snitched on the rest to save himself. Not everyone was so sympathetic, however. Lighting an inmates cigarette is considered an act of friendship or favoritism, and favoritism is forbidden by TDCJ rules. The murder came as a result of the Gulf Cartel hiring the Texas Syndicate to kidnap Serrano from his home in Texas and take him to cartel members in Mexico. Our nation-wide commitment to reducing gun crime in America, Report Waste, Fraud, Abuse or Misconduct to the Inspector General, Find Help and Information for Crime Victims, Register, Apply for Permits, or Request Records. Texas Syndicate members, therefore, generally attempt to conceal their association with the TS from law enforcement. Snow flakes glide gently from the sky.The Farm Hand. Within prisons, there are a couple of parts to the initiation process. He was pronounced dead at seven that evening, a victim of twenty stab wounds. Even before the call, Luis Sandoval had been sweating bullets. A relative newcomer in the world of criminal gangs, the Knights Templar Cartel, which operates in Mexico, was officially founded in 2011 after the disbanding ofLa Familia Michiacana. Sandoval got up, ran into the hallway, and yelled fight twice. The Bloods and the Crips will likely adapt to their new environment just as other inmates do. Sandoval marveled at the river of red the inmate had left behind. Convicts made primitive ovens out of foil-lined cardboard boxes equipped with a light bulb, and cooked deer or rabbit killed by inmates working in the fields. Prison officials believe that the rivalry between the TS and the Mexican Mafia has produced homicides in Austin, Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and especially San Antonio, where nearly one hundred suspected prison-gang-related murders were committed last year. When asked on the witness stand if the hallway was ever undermanned, the reply of Nolan McCoolanother officer working the B-wing that afternoonwas emphatic: Constantly.. Sandoval took the advice three years after Garcia gave it. Sandoval put his hand against the wound, looked up, and saw Crippin and McCool standing there, gaping. These Texas offenders banded together for protection purposes and became known as one of the most feared prison gangs within the California prison system. Then he returned to Arredondo. One day Garcia told Sandoval to expect a call at home that evening. Beneath the cosmetic alterations, however, things at Ellis I are just as Sandoval left them. TS membership is comprised predominantly of Texas-born Mexican-American males and operates under a formal paramilitary organizational structure with a constitution and strict established rules. 01-07-00443-CR (Tex. Although obtaining TS-related tattoos was once a common practice, some TS members now avoid obtaining tattoos in order to shield their association with the TS from law enforcement. So wed just lay back, let him cool down. Once a gang member is initiated, the recruit is under a blood in blood out oath whereas, they typically make a cut on their arm to symbolize their blood in, and that their only way to leave the gang is death, either from murder from a rival gang, or death for treason. To make identification difficult for prison officials, most gang members no longer wear tattoos. Sandoval, he was a good kid, said the inmate of the guard who had once done him favors. The majority of what they do is criminal, from extortion to execution. (LogOut/ Garcia, a four-time loser serving a life sentence for repeated theft and heroin offenses, was one of the friendlier inmates: 33 years old but actually grandfatherly in demeanora gentleman, you could almost sayquiet and unthreatening. Once out of prison, many TS members continue to commit violent offenses, narcotics-related offenses, and other illegal activities in the area of the country where the members are living and associating with each other. And perhaps he was vaguely aware that the request, if honored, would be only the first of manythat later he would be asked for cigarettes, chewing gum, packs of sunflower seeds, and more. Sandoval got off in Los Angeles and found his way to Van Nuys, where a cousin put him up in his apartment. The organization, also known as Los Barrios, derives some of its strength through alliances with Mexican drug cartels. The mule, they believed, had done the drugs himself. Other gangs also sprang up: the Hermanos de Pistoleros, the Self-Defense Family, the Texas Mafia, the Nuestra Carnales. A deal was struck between the gang and Garcia: Garcia would acquire the drugs, give half to the Texas Syndicate, and sell the other half himself. Everyone agreed that the building tender system was a cheap and crudely effective method of maintaining order. And call for a gurney.. And the courier must possess a particular power: He must be able to walk through walls. Other chapters of the gang make this cocktail but use the blood of other members and recruits, along with wine and ashes to make it. It generally signifies new membership into a club or group, and while some examples of initiation can be fun and bring people together, others are downright traumatizing. While many of the initiation rites we have discussed here are things that people go through to get into gangs, ISIS (ISIL, whatever) does things a bit differently. Sandoval knew this. Each society sustains the other, but the economic cycle depends on a vital link, for the supply will not meet the demand unless the product reaches the consumer. It is understood that members and prospects of the TS may receive a telephone call and instructions to commit a crime including homicide for the Texas Syndicate at any time. If you last six months in there, youll make it. But, he insisted, that didnt make him a murderer. West Texas Syndicate has always embraced the spirit of a hardworking, relentless underdog. Within the prison system, there is a widely agreed upon initiation requirement, and it is that a new recruit must kill someone. Yet a former prison drug-runner confirmed the obviousthat without the help of TDCJ employees, the flow of drugs into state prisons would dry up. [1] Gang members smuggle multikilogram-quantities of powdered cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, and multiton-quantities of marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. for distribution inside and outside prison. He lives in Ottawa, Canada, a desolate wasteland that nobody should call home. (This inmates name has been changed as a condition of his interview.) It is important to note that an indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. [2] As a street gang, heavy activity has been reported in Austin, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and the Dallas Fort Worth area in Texas. The recruitment techniques of gangs vary from gang to gang, but generally, they have some common recruitment techniques and requirements. To defend themselves against harassment and assault by California prison gangs, they formed their own protection group. Its a society all its own. A member who has fallen out of favor might also be referred to in the feminine form. Theyd say, Dont mess with him., The new boot thereby became a feared boss among bosses. The Texas Syndicates control of those in prison is so far-reaching that members both in and out of prison follow a procedure by which the TS ensure that members are not and have not been police informants. He was whisked off to the Walker County jail. The only witnesses who said that Sandoval had anything to do with the murder of inmate Joe Arredondo were two convicted felons: Carlos Rosas, a Texas Syndicate member who confessed to actually stabbing Arredondo but was offered a favorable deal in exchange for his testimony; and Ruben Ortiz, a convicted murderer and Texas Syndicate sex slave who was paroled after he agreed to testify. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. If you tell him, Put that knife down, hell look up at you and say, I aint through yet. These people are serious. In many places, it is normal to get "jumped in." Some are disgusting, some are dehumanizing and shocking, while others are just confusing. In the Kikuyu language, "mungiki" means "united people" or "multitude," and the basic goals of the group include rejection of all things Western and embracing traditional African culture. a) Texas Attorney General conference, October 1999 and 2003 b) Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Security Threat Group Officers c) California Department of Corrections A long, metal objecta homemade knife, or shankprotruded from his jugular. They have their money. One can easily compare joining a gang while in prison to joining a fraternity in college. If you work at any time for the TDCJ, said assistant prosecutor Burt Neal Tuck Tucker during the first day of testimony, you know how powerful the Texas Syndicate can be.. The caller advised Sandoval not to show up for his March 18, 1991, trial, and then hung up without identifying himself. 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