Fifty-two prisoners were murdered in a 21-month period that became known as the " war years ." Over 50 different gangs were represented in our study. Rumor had it that inmate Jesse Turner had stood between an inmate and a prison official and had taken the blade himself. Although once used mostly at Heavy Metal and Rock 'N' Roll concerts, the Satan sign is now seen regularly at Country Music concerts and Christian Rock concerts as well. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force, including DPS Special Agents, located and arrested GONZALEZ at a local motel in Lubbock.GONZALEZ is a violent offender with a history of aggravated robbery, aggravated assault . It was a blind spot, and unit officials hoped the inmates wouldnt notice. The 1985 lockdown put a damper on the atmosphere but not on the flow of drugs. Gang members may change or modify the tattoos as corrections officials and law The Texas Syndicate 2,082 views Jun 18, 2022 62 Dislike Share Save Gangsters Cops and Politicians 3.4K subscribers Gang Expert Gabe Morales discusses the California roots of the Texas. Although numerically and financially inferior and facing multiple powerful advisories, the Barrio Azteca gang managed to murder many significant members of their enemies in several Texas prison facilities. Then he returned to Arredondo. Sandoval got off in Los Angeles and found his way to Van Nuys, where a cousin put him up in his apartment. The violent wars between these and other power groups within the custody facilities made these two prison gangs the big bullies on the block. When Luis Sandoval went to work for the Texas prison system, he did the wrong favors for the wrong people. If you tell him, Put that knife down, hell look up at you and say, I aint through yet. These people are serious. The blacks, in turn, formed the Mandingo Warriors. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. Hes bleeding! He whirled and burst into the B-wing hallway. The guards were hired. In return, the snitch had an oversized cell to himself, plus a hall pass that gave him the run of the unit. He was on a westbound bus, fleeing the state. They often victimized members of other smaller gangs and individuals, alienating many Mexican national and Mexican-American inmates. [6], TS has a paramilitary structure, headed by a president and vice president elected by the general membership. killing U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, College Degrees Designed for Police Officers, Best Practices for Active Shooter Response and Police Training, The Tennessee Department of Public Safety Increased Visibility, Accountability and Accuracy with Inventory Management Software Designed Specifically for Law Enforcement, Field Report: Latino Gangs In Washington State, California's Budget Fix: Cut Gang and Drug Fighters. Texas prisons were mostly gang-free until bloody battles broke out in 1984-85 between the Mexican Mafia and Texas Syndicate as well as the Aryan Brotherhood and Mandingo Warriors. 15-51164 (5th Cir. Garcia would later say that he told Sandoval shortly after the Arredondo murder, Man, youre in deep shit. It was their fault, not his, but someone would have to take the fall. Dont go in there, said the veteran, who then correctly hollered Fight! Presently other guards arrived, along with a lieutenant, who ordered, Open the gate.. SMU is among the Texas colleges that have unique ways of showing pride -- with their hands. If you didnt treat your snitch right, he would scurry off to a more grateful listener and begin his new relationship by snitching on you. He squinted through the smoke and the bars and the memories. The court held that there was sufficient evidence to convict . Most notably, the Los Zetas cartel has been known to count on members of the Texas Syndicate to plan and carry out murders, armed assaults and other violent wet-work. To make identification difficult for prison officials, most gang members no longer wear tattoos. At about five-thirty that afternoon, Sandoval approached CO II Cade Crippin, who was inside a cellblock, observing the inmates. The gate opened. Well, so does the inmate. FBI sources have also reported that a code comprised of symbols and dots is primarily utilized by incarcerated Barrio Azteca gang members to correspond with other inmates within the prison system. Or if they cared to enforce the rule. That first week, as he chatted with one of the old boots, the cry came from somewhere behind him: Help me, Boss! Turning around, Sandoval saw a Hispanic inmate standing behind a hallway crash-gate, clinging to the bars with both hands. For about three months thereafter, while state officials sought a long-term solution, every prison unit experienced a total lockdown. 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. While in prison, members ensure the safety of both allies and other affiliates. A tattoo can also be a sign or code to display their crimes on their skin for all . The Barrio Azteca gang derives most of its income from smuggling heroin, powdered cocaine, and marijuana from Mexico into the United States through the portal it controls between the cities of El Paso and Juarez. The Texas Syndicate (Spanish:Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly-Mexican criminal group founded in Folsom State Prison, California, in the 1970s. In your house you can walk around in the dark and not bang your shins because you know every square inch, said a former Ellis I officer. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. how to become a school board member in florida ocean deck band schedule The ugly crimes of kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, gang violence, and unsolved murders are often committed by Mexican cartel members in cities across the United States but remain unreported. Beneath them in the gang hierarchy are captains, lieutenants, sergeants of arms, and numerous soldiers. By current estimates, more than 2,000 members make up their ranks. (Officials also say the Texas Syndicate is far more selective and does not, for example, recruit homosexuals.) In March of 2010, the Barrio Azteca gang ambushed a private automobile traveling on a road in Juarez, Mexico, killing U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelf, and the husband of another consulate employee, Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros. All Garcia and his friend Vicente lacked was a reliable drug mule who could be counted on to transport drugs into the prison. Push inevitably came to shove: In two separate gang confrontations, the Texans murdered one California inmate and seriously wounded another. The short, apple-cheeked Hispanic man with the neatly combed hair and the Howdy Doody grin looked too soft to be an inmate or even a guard. Rivals: Mexican Mafia, Tengo Blast, Nuestra Familia. By the spring of 1986, prison officials had examined every inmate for telltale tattoos, weeded out identifiable gang members, and ordered that they spend the rest of their sentences in administrative segregation, away from the general population. Recruitment is conducted through social ties and involves a background check to screen for informants.[1]. Prisons, crammed with thrill-seekers and outright junkies, provide the ultimate captive consumers. After its formation in 1986, both the Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia refused to recognize the Aztecas and declared war on the gang. On March 19, the name of Luis Sandoval was called three times in the Walker County courthouse, but the defendant did not respond. Joe Arredondo was taken to a hospital in Huntsville. 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. The gang remains a significant threat to the safety and security of the United States and Mexico and to law enforcement working in and out of custody on both sides of the border. Leave them blank to get signed up. Meanwhile, white inmates, tired of being robbed and sexually assaulted by the larger population of black inmates, began the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Custom hand tied crappie jigs sold in packages of 4 for $12.00 for standard jigs. Many of the Mexican cartel crimes in the illegal alien community go unreported. The officials fitted Sandoval with handcuffs, leg irons, and a belly chain. But he stayed out of trouble, in large part because of two hall porters, Bubba Ray Smith and Johnny Abrams. As a result, the Mexikanemi and the Texas Syndicate begrudgingly recognized Barrio Azteca. (This inmates name has been changed as a condition of his interview.) Gangs still terrorize the prisons. Federal, state and local police as well as other government officials have succumbed to the money involved in the cannabis cancer. Texas Chicano Brotherhood (TCB) Texas Mafia. They ally with the Texas Mafia; Dirty White Boys, and Border Brothers. In Del Rio, a federal judge sentenced 29 Uvalde/Hondo-area Texas Syndicate (TS) members over the past two weeks to federal prison, including four defendants to life imprisonment, for various racketeering and drug trafficking offenses committed in Uvalde, San Antonio and the surrounding areas announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs . The moment Garcia asked Sandoval to bring marijuana into TDCJ, it did not take superhuman deductive powers for the guard to figure out the Hispanic inmates clientele. 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. Never try to apprehend a fugitive yourself. And as in any society, some lead while others are led. Throughout most of its early life, the Texas Syndicate was primarily a prison gang, with little to no contact with the outside world. She had no time for a final hug, a final kiss, one last chance for her family to tell her how much they loved and cherished her. Whos on trial here, Louie? demanded the intense and steely-eyed chief prosecutor, Travis McDonald, during his two-hour grilling of Luis Sandoval on May 24, 1991. Ten months after the murder, on October 23, 1987, Sandoval was again summoned to the wardens office. On August 26, 1990, a death row inmate proved his loyalty to the Aryan Brotherhood during his daily recreation hour by strangling a black inmate in a recreation yard with a jump rope while the latter was performing oral sex on the former. White Knights (Texas) White Prison Gangs. It revealed a world where drugs and weapons are freely available to inmates, where murderous prison gangs control inmate behavior far more than prison guards do, and where the guardians of law and order have just as much trouble distinguishing right from wrong as do the inmates they are watching. But such sentiments are meaningless down on the farm. A week later another juror wrote Sandoval a four-page letter, expressing her chagrin that he had been put through all the agony. resno Neon is a 90 year old electric sign company based in the Central San Joaquin Valley, California. Wear the Texas Syndicate tattoo; 6. Hey, Boss, you got a light? Every newly hired prison guard, or new boot, hears the question. Instead, he wrote an impassioned, handwritten 24-page letter that his mother sent to a few members of the media. Were he to pay his old workplace a visit, Luis Sandoval would notice several changes at Ellis I. To the newer guards, Sandovals stature among the inmates was something to behold. The Texas Syndicate, more than La Eme or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners, such as the "Border . Anytime they choseanytimethey could kill him. I want to see the mountains, he said. More accurate investigations lower the number to about 4000, with some sources even going as low as 3800. 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. Sandoval was one of the officers I wanted to be like, said one correctional officer whom Sandoval helped train. Six weeks later, in December 1987, Luis Sandoval was terminated from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Texas Syndicate is headed by a presi dent and vice president who are elected by the entire membership. Tango. When Arredondo got killed, Sandoval was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sandoval was then ordered to take off his uniform and replace it with inmate furlough clothes. Federal agents arrested 28 people and subsequently charging 35 Barrio Azteca members and associates with racketeering and related charges in a sweep called Operation Knock Down on March 20, 2010. Not one of them pinned the murder of Joe Arredondo on Sandoval. I had the burden lifted from my shoulders., You have these inmates, said an Ellis I correctional officer, where you write em up [for rule infractions] and nothing happens. 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. The new boots new habit, like everything else, was duly noted by the inmates. According to testimony, the man who drew the magic card, number one, was TS sergeant Carlos Rosas, a 31-year-old Dallas resident who was serving thirty years for aggravated robbery. He took up smoking, two packs every eight-hour shift. And each gang, after accomplishing the first objective of protection from other gangs, preyed on inmates who would buy drugs or sex or who could be intimidated into giving sex or buying protection. Every time law enforcement thought that they had knocked out or retired the Eme organization, they found that the Eme came back again. The main activities of the TS are centered on drug trafficking, extortion, protection rackets, and internal discipline and contract murdering. Texas sheriff's office to investigate why man given long prison term was released from jail by mistake. Tattoos The TM tattoo consists of the letters "TM" with one or all of the bottom tips of the letters shaped like devil's tails and/or arrowheads. Rodolfo "Rudy" Ortiz GONZALEZ, affiliated with the Texas Syndicate gang, was captured on September 6, 2019, in Lubbock, Texas.Working off tip information, members of the U.S. A marginal amount of contraband and drug trafficking has also been registered. Some of these funds are used to bribe police and public officials on both sides of the border. Gangs didnt worry about guards; they worried about each other. Blood was gushing out of a hole in his neck; he was unconscious but gasping wildly. Whoever killed him had to have come through the B-wing hallway and had to have been dripping with blood. Apparently the inmates at Ellis I had noticed this as well, for their sweet talk had gotten to him. The majority of these, though, were only marginally involved with the gang activities. It was also a dangerous practice in light of the fact that a narrow corridor intersected the west end of the B-wing and only an officer standing at that end could see what was going on in the corridor. Sgt. Rosas would do the killing, while another TS member held Arredondo and two others stood by as lookouts. [1], The history of the group and documented acts of violence in other jurisdictions warrant their certification as a Security Threat Group. The Texas Syndicate, more than La Eme or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners, The latter policy would be reversed in the 1980s. I cant honestly tell you why he did it, said the inmate of Sandoval. Garcia, of course, could snitch to the Ellis I authorities. Credit Solution Experts Incorporated offers quality business credit building services, which includes an easy step-by-step system designed for helping clients build their business credit effortlessly. The number 13 and the letter M both play a big role in Mexican Mafia aliases and symbolism, some of which we have seen so far throughout this list. But the sudden absence of gang wars did not mean that the gangs had gone away. Throughout the Sandoval trial, guards on the witness stand were asked if they had ever stopped a gang member from murdering an inmate. Both in cities and behind bars, members of the Texas Syndicate began using hand-signs and gang markings to show their allegiance to the group. Several of them testified vigorously that Ellis I was understaffed and overcrowded, and that the unit was riddled with blind spots. Then hed say, Damn, I wish I had twenty dollars to go buy a couple of beers. And Id say, Just wait here, Ill be back. And Id collect fifty dollars for him. Tango Blast. But the evidence gathered by Justice clearly added up to a violation of the Eight Amendments protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. Sandoval insisted that he didnt know anything about the Arredondo murder other than what he filed in his report. None of them knew anything about Sandoval and drugs. The Barrio Azteca gang members organize themselves using a paramilitary structure and apply English terms or their Spanish equivalent words for ranks such as captain, lieutenant, and sergeant. As a former prison gang member, I'm ashamed to look in the mirror because my failures are staring back at me. Show More Show Less 20 of 32 7. Garcia himself was not a TS member. It is a sign of recognition between those that are in the occult. Although numerically and financially inferior and facing multiple powerful advisories, the Barrio Azteca gang managed to murder many significant members of their enemies in several Texas prison facilities. But the first six months is hell. Sandoval was determined to tough it out. 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. By now he was a CO III, an old boot, and he had trained many of the guards who now worked with him. When cocaine was cheap, he sold coke; when pure coke became scarce and heroin became abundant, Garcia seized the opportunity. By the fall of 1986, several months after the gang lockdown policy had been instituted, Joe Arredondos cockiness began to catch up with him. I didnt do it, Sandoval announced to me in a recent phone conversation. He did not turn himself in. Never let a member down; 7. He lit cigarettes, which led to other small favors, which led to bigger ones. Homosexuality was prohibited, yet punks strutted about in their cells, wearing womens panties and makeup. Texas Department of Public Safety . Now it was May 1991, and Sandoval was behind bars, his fate in the hands of a Huntsville jury. The murder would take place in a corridor abutting the B-wing: the maximum-security area where Luis Sandoval often worked. To get drugs out of the free world and into prison cells, there must be a courier. Seemingly everyone in Ellis I would snitch or be snitched on. A gurney was produced, but the inmate ignored it. Hey, boss, you got a light? Luis Sandoval pulled out his lighter and, as he had before, lit the cigarette held by Armando Garcia. Leave them on the floor! said Sandoval. Twelve days later, Texas chief prison prosecutor Travis McDonald flew to L.A., took custody of Sandoval, and flew him back to Huntsville, where he was held without bond at the Walker County jail. Members of La eMe and exponents of white supremacy theories such as the Aryan Brotherhood would often prey on these individuals, who found themselves lacking the numbers and allies to put up a fight. But I was a good officer. Thus, the former good officer now wished to disavow everything he had told me earlier. The next day, Sandoval recalled, I walked into work feeling good. He had a one-week prison furlough coming up; the gang didnt want to spook him, fearing that he might not return to Ellis I. 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 Department of Public Safety has released its 2018 Texas Gang Threat Assessment, and all 14 of the state's highest-threat gangs have a presence in Bexar County, the report showed. Sandoval, in the meantime, worked at J.C. Penney in Plano. Ellis I officials caught wind of the deal through a snitch. The Texas Syndicate was downgraded in threat level to Tier 2, after years on the Tier 1 list, following law enforcement investigations that severely disrupted the gang, the DPS says. The group eventually evolved an internal hierarchy and opened its doors to non-Hispanic members. Abidance by these laws was enforced with violence, often resulting in beatings or executions of those who crossed the line. Now Turner could be seen pushing trash cans down the hall, twirling his knife in the air; nobody took his knife away. Over time, Sandoval got sucked into the undertow of prison life. After you sit there for twenty-four hours a day with nothing else to do, you discover all sorts of good hiding places. Added a current officer, The only time that we can find drugs is if an inmate snitches and tells us.. The release in Mexico of one of the men responsible for the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena has renewed tension between the U.S. and Mexico over the case. To pay for his legal expenses, his mother sold the family home. Take over the hallway for me, Sandoval said to his subordinate while handing him his keys. texas syndicate hand signs FREE COVID TEST anime characters named levi Book Appointment Now. The guard said he wasnt tied to anyone. The B-wing, a loud and grossly overcrowded area, was considered the hellhole, in the words of Cade Crippin, the CO who worked the B-wing with Sandoval the afternoon of the murder. (Today, Sandoval says that statement was coerced.) Some offenders join an STG in an effort to exert influence and take advantage of other offenders. The court transportation system is the first weak point. We know who you take orders from. That afternoon, Ellis I warden Jerry Peterson called Sandoval into his office to congratulate him on a fine job. A certain order prevailed, which stilled the critics and deflected the interest of the media. The man accused of getting into a police shoot out was a Texas syndicate gang member. The guard made the call, apparently unaware that such messages, and the letters, might contain coded instructions from a prison drug-runner to a high-ranking member of the Texas Syndicate. Prison units are individually controlled by a local chairman and vice chairman. But that was if they caught him. Many of the gang leaders who had been doing time are now in the free world, spreading the gang network across the state, beyond prison walls. 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. (After the trial, Sandoval became less talkative on the subject of drugs. Now selling hats and. On the witness stand, Sandoval suggested that the caller was someone from TDCJ Internal Affairs; more likely, he was a Texas Syndicate member delivering the message that the TS would not be amused if Sandoval blew the whistle on their activities. And as you work there, you tend to become a product of your environment. A host of documents relating to the trial, as well as interviews with numerous sources involved in the case, have provided chilling details of how Texas prisons really work today. Looking toward the chapel, he could see Crippin ahead of him, heading for the hidden narrow corridor at the west end of the B-wing. When Sandoval told me that, he was sitting in the interrogation room of the Walker County jail in Huntsville, wearing prison whites. The youth gangs havent caused trouble yet, but the realities of prison life suggest that this will surely change. While the number of effective affiliates within the federal prison system continued to grow, the Texas Syndicate began expanding their operations to the outside world. 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. It took more than three years for the Arredondo murder case to come to trial, during which time a number of things happened to Sandoval. But they werent enough: A guard like Luis Sandoval would be assigned to a hallway filled with hundreds of inmates. school of professional studies acceptance rate duplexes for rent in lebanon, mo duplexes for rent in lebanon, mo Diseo y fabricacin de reactores y equipo cientfico y de laboratorio On Sandovals shift alone, at least four or five guards had been busted for bringing drugs into prison, but there were others who hadnt been busted and probably never would be.