Sir Dyno had only been to jail once, following his drug arrest. interacts online and researches product purchases In the months since federal officials brought indictments based on the evidence he helped them gather, Lizard told his tale from within the confines of protective custody via letters and telephone interviews. On the new CD, he pounded out a few norteo rhymes, deriving material from his meth bust, after which hed pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and was sentenced to a year of house arrest. I was showing them everything., Today, Lizard said he flipped because he was tired of people pushing their own agendas. The immediate and constant communication strengthened the gang. And then I told him, You know who I am. And he got what he wanted., Out only three months, G.U.N. Assistant US Attorney Steven Gruel responded in court papers that federal agents couldnt be blamed for failing to notify the victim, since Sanchez already knew that he had serious problems with Heredias gang (in fact, he had been hiding). Gruel also offered four instances in which Lizards testimony did lead FBI agents to inform Norteos they were marked for death. 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. He just happened to have this talent, and he put this talent to use.. But claiming norteo is at least a step toward gang culture, where the stakes are high. The boss reminded Gratton that the money belonged to the gang, and demanded more deposits into Nuestra Familia bank accounts. But paid parking could return, in some form, this year, as the city works to pu. But rumors about G.U.N. Hed picked up an ounce of weed at Rohnert Park and smoked a few joints with his buddy Israel Silent Mendoza. 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. That was their fuck-up. Sir Dyno claims Gratton lifted tracks from Gang Stories without permission and put them on Cuete to give listeners the impression Sir Dyno was still on North Star. His shackled codefendants didnt even look at him as he took his seat among them. After all, race-based prison gang violence dominates Californias prison system, according to a 2002 report from the California State Department of Justice. It wasnt quite the impression he wanted to make. But life was still rough, he says, and drug deals and violence went down in front of his eyes, even if it was what he calls mostly high school stuff, kid stuff, stupid stuff. He admits to selling pot, but only small-time, just enough to support myself., From those experiences, he says, he extrapolated in his art, and began rapping in that netherworld of myth, that place where facts give way to the cushion of fiction, where arrogance and boasting overtake the narrative. The more shock you had in your raps, at the time, the more you sold. Lizard prepared to take the stand against Nuestra Familia. Jacobs told Viramontes he was marked, but promised he wouldn't let it happen in his yard. But the state prison guards union and correctional officials have argued that to mix inmates now would only bring more violence. Thats not going to happen. Its rise even exceeded the mushrooming growth of the greater California prison population. They were caught up in power grabs and backstabbing. He was still using meth and heroin, on-again off-again pleasures hed picked up back in Pittsburg. While the recognized leaders of the Norteos in Pelican Bay ask that members respect the former leaders, they have been effectively stripped of their authority. 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. Even though the project had cash potential tomorrow, Sir Dyno still needed money today. There were three-way calls, where inmates from two different prisons called a gang member known as a gente on the outside, who held the phones together so they could talk. Otherwise, he was free to go about his business. The idea was that rap music could unite and galvanize young Norteo soldiers across the state, and it did. Theyre trying to say that when I met Robert Gratton I started selling drugs for him, and to finance the G.U.N. They taught him to grind down plastic shampoo bottles into shanks for knifing an attacker, and to roll up the pages of National Geographic as makeshift spear handles. Hernandez never belonged to either group until he ended up in prison. Snow-locked Highway 29 between Calistoga and the Lake County border will likely stay closed through the weekend, CHP announced Friday afternoon. ', All of the early motions from Gruel and his team of US prosecutors pointed only to Sir Dynos role in making the album. finds relevant news, identifies important training information, It gives you something to do. True to my nickname, he said, Im chameleon-like, and can blend in. He would be the highest-ranking brother on the streets, responsible for overseeing the gangs battalions and communicating back to the generals. Over the next four years, Lizard and Cuete masterminded and penned more than three thousand letters, according to an FBI report. Once he made that choice, his own cunning and aptitude for violence catapulted him up the ranks of one of Californias most murderous gangs. We aint gonna whack no prosecuting attorney, Lizard said. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. 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. So Lizard flipped. I fear no organization. The official list of charges, which included more than thirty drug-related crimes along with acts of extortion and robbery, simply ended with the open-ended clause and other numerous crimes.. The gang's new constitution says the five should still be respected as former leaders, but has stripped them of their power in California. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Dec. 22, 2021 5 AM PT. Time to go, the agent said. Im a Northerner, he says, arms wide. There sat Cornelio Corny Tristan, one of three alleged NF generals. Hes got a future. But nowhere on the CD, or in the lyrics, do the words Nuestra Familia appear. Nuestra Familia generals James "Tibbs" Morado, Cornelio Tristan and James "Pinky" Hernandez, and captains Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba and Tex Hernandez were already serving life sentences in California when they were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2001. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). Consider this reasoning using an unrelated example: All chickens are bipeds; John Ashcroft is a biped. The red line also called for (NF) lieutenant David Cervantes to be put on retirement status. I know theres some things you dont ask., Dyno claims thats the moment he realized hed been duped and would never see his cash. Outside prison walls, the reach and violence of Nuestra Familia had only grown. , it will help establish the label financially. federal racketeering case, according to court papers. gang's leaders communicated by some form of secret code within the The guys I played with didnt care Norteo, Sureo, or what side you were on. It is a form of psychological torture." Perez says that, after the initial arrests of the five, attempts were made to persuade them to plead guilty or inform on their co-defendants and on Cuba by . Lizard wrote Big Smiley a wila, or small letter the size of a gum wrapper. For now, at least, the final guilty pleas appeared to have pruned back the Blooming Flower. Nuestra Familia (Spanish for "our family") is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. Gang affiliation in California is often a matter of geography, but for Daniel Hernandez it wasnt that simple. To Sir Dyno and his attorneys, the report demonstrates his utter confusion under unbelievable circumstances. the credibility of the witnesses convicted felons who made deals In a way, its a compliment to me. Henry Happy Cervantes spoke to Lizard alone. Even outside prison, members were expected to remain loyal to the gang. All of these directives were channeled through him. Zilversmit represents Armando Suave Heredia, a gang member arrested for ordering a successful hit on Salinas heroin dealer Ray Sanchez. Arnold Schwarzenegger protested the fact that the five were not scattered across the federal prison system, as former U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller's staff had promised. When it concluded in April 2001, after a $5 million investment, it was one of the largest takedowns on a prison gang in US history. A member of the Mexican Mafia, Ortiz was cast out of the criminal organization in the mid-1990s after angering . The large XIV across his throat represented the fourteenth letter of the alphabet, N, for Norte. Once that dried, the correspondent would write another letter in ink on the page, but the recipient knew to hold it up to the light to read the real message. Natos harsh sentence made Lizard rethink his lifes path. Lizard then drove to a house in Stockton, where he tested the powder and sold it to another Norteo. We are not going to whack no DAs!. While Sanchez sipped beer, Frias met Martinez at his car. They were operating a sophisticated shop, gang expert Lewis said. He suggested that gang members cook our own shit to gain control, saying he could make twenty pounds of raw meth in one batch. Inside, he was greeted by FBI agents. Using confidential informants, investigators said they've Inside Corcoran State Prison, Lizard reported to the ranking commander and heard some troubling news. [Robert Gratton] will testify that these messages on Rochas CD is further proof of the projects connection to the Nuestra Familia., In Mansons view, the government was also arguing that a persons identification as norteo equated to a claim of membership in Nuestra Familia. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Lizard is unapologetic about his behavior, even today. 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. Preparing is something someone whos trying to hide their guilt would do, he says, fingering a synthesizer keyboard in his studio. A huge warehouse complex project is before the American City Council. Operation Knockout They werent following what NF was about, he said. Lizard also followed protocol and reported his arrival to the prisons ranking gang member, Daniel Wino Perez. And I wanted to go high.. 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. Within minutes, the gang member confessed his role in Nuestra Familia and offered to trade information for leniency. Lizard has a thick handlebar mustache, broad shoulders, and is engraved with prison tattoos in Old English script. 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. Now, nearly all Norte-o soldiers and Nuestra Familia regiment captains across California answer to Cervantes, gang experts say, but re-establishing the gang's control over the streets has not been easy. Hoping to curtail the violence, wardens stopped putting Anglos, blacks, and Latinos in cells with one another. Prison gang members set to testify against Nuestra Familia leaders. Daniel "Lizard" Hernandez helped Nuestra Familia run a criminal empire from inside state prison. Around 6:30 p.m. on April 19, 1999, Brown Bob was watering his roses. 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. Lizard said he was forced into performing the unauthorized drug deals after an investigator from Santa Clara County nearly blew his cover. People like the extreme., He was one of the few who really got off their butts and did it, says Eduardo Crooked Quiroz, a rapper and filmmaker who has known Sir Dyno for ten years. He hung out at the Modesto nightclub La Familia Garcias and set up a meth ring using known norteo gangsters as runners, an enterprise he now claims earned him $10,000 a day. Still Sir Dyno says he wasnt getting paid. You can cancel at any time. Citing the First Amendment, the DA chose not to pursue the case. New soldiers became captains and generals by stabbing or killing people. This time, Goose brought bar charts to show drug production and expected net profits. Special Agent Kelly explained to Rocha that he was being placed under arrest for violation of RICO conspiracy, the report states. Whites joined the Aryan Brotherhood or Nazi Low Riders for protection. After a few weeks of writing and recording, the CD was released on Cinco de Mayo of 1998 and found its audience immediately. To the broke and ambitious rapper, the deal sounded too good to refuse. 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. Shortly thereafter, his client pleaded guilty for a chance at parole, but remained adamant that Lizard had given him the green light. The strings of evidence crossed, and the investigation grew, joined by the FBI and dubbed Operation Black Widow. According to court documents, Gratton says he regularly fronted Sir Dyno four ounces at a time. Were moving your ass. He makes drug deals here, he caps sureos there, he disses cops everywhere, all of it in the name of norteo supremacy. Lizard got away with it, and when Big Smiley emerged, he personally sponsored Lizard into Nuestra Familia. This was reported to the informants state parole officer. You gotta understand, all these guys made their own choices, he said. 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. 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. They were much smaller than the Mexican Mafia, so they used it to their advantage, gang expert Jared Lewis said. The cases were spread across Northern California. Lizard swung his weight around hard. Lizard is disappointed that he never got his moment on the witness stand. As a captain, he answered only to a handful of higher-ranking capos and the three generals inside Pelican Bay. A few weeks later, the rapper signed a new contract with Dog Day Records and quickly released an album called Gang Stories. I even convinced the government that Im this crazy guy.. Down one tricep it reads East and down the other, Bay. On the side of his shaved head he has a dragon next to the words Convicted by Insanity.. And frankly, heres a guy whos committed numerous violent crimes, and hes getting a free pass. The images leave no doubt the rapper supports norteos. A federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down 21 indictments against gang members, including the three generals and captain Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba. Released from the Secured Housing Unit in August 1995, Lizard was chiseled and fit as a warrior in heart and mind. Had they not almost burned my identity, I wouldnt have had to be doing any of that, he said. Silent also provided Lizard with a stolen Dodge Durango to test-drive. Gratton knew nothing about the music business, but he had bricks of cash and a simple plan: to produce a rap CD that would work as a recruiting tool for Nuestra Familia and also serve to launder the gangs drug money. Nineteen-year-old Armando Frias was shooting pool when he recognized the wanted man. He was born in Pittsburg, which made him a Norteo by birth. Lizard was then ordered to make a move on Jeremiah Ruiz, a Nuestra Familia dropout. I was already doing what I was doing, you know? Finally, brothers were required to learn sign language so they could make the most of the one hour outside their cells. Frias was not indicted in the federal case but was convicted of murdering Sanchez in a state case built on the FBI's investigation. But a year into the case, the governments complaint against Sir Dyno shifted course. He told them about killing Brown Bob. Its just the way it is, Sir Dyno says. If you wish to change your alliance, you will still have to prove to Norteos you are worthy, and the Sureos will want to kill you for switching sides.. The job seemed like a good fit. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). According to prison officials, gang leaders could arrange such deals by offering to keep the peace. Thats it. His alleged crime is conspiracy in other words, simply having associated with the men sitting beside him. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. Days later, Big Smiley sent Lizard his own wilas, as well as books on Chicano history. Everybody knows that. He took a job at a golf course and used his access to the links to reclaim his swing, sometimes playing 36 holes a day. He already was serving a life sentence for murder in Pelican Bay State Prison, but now he was under indictment for ordering a hit on an underboss named Miguel Mikio Castillo. It took 26 years for death to catch up to Donald Ramon Ortiz. Up to that point, Lizard had identified himself as a Sureo, but only when pressed. Hes 31 now, soft-spoken and contemplative, a Papa Bear figure, a Chicano Dr. Dre; hardly the guy who would urinate on a dead mans plot. The handlers didnt want to blow his cover. Chalk it up as a loss, just let it go, and move on. There are 150,000 pages of discovery to sort through, photographs from dozens of crime scenes, audiotapes from hours of hidden wires, and hours of surveillance videos. One of the gangs living legends had recently been paroled. Again, he uses a kernel of truth to anchor his rhyme, and a metaphor to exaggerate his reality. I am just as dangerous as they are.. When the five were transferred out of California, Gov. So far as you can trust anyone in a gang, hed trusted Cuete. Police surmise that the order was responsible for many of the shootings in Salinas in 2007, which increased by 50 percent over 2006 levels. Heres my card.'. But within a few months, Nato got pinched for robbery, and with his long rap sheet, he got 39 years. One morning this past August, Sir Dyno sat in his Dodge Caravan, stuck in I-580 traffic, knowing hed be late for his court hearing in San Francisco. According to an FBI report, Cuete and his cohorts have continued to manage the gang while awaiting transfer to federal prisons from Alameda Countys Santa Rita Jail. 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. October 10, 1976. For this outburst, prison administrators shipped Lizard off to Pelican Bay State Prison the last stop for riders. Rap is an exaggeration of life, he says, just like in a movie. You could see he was nervous, Holguin said. Lizard said that whenever brothers were allowed into the law library, they used sign language to swap information, trade intelligence reports, and even assign homework. had pulled down between $50,000 and $80,000. Lizard returned to the Bay Area and worked closely with FBI Agent Sean Ragan. During his time with Nuestra Raza, Gratton learned the boot camp basics: how to make shanks, decode letters, and memorize the NF Constitution. He wanted gang members to start cooking the drug themselves. walls at Pelican Bay State Prison to carry out the crimes. 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.. 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. Roy Morales. In September, the final eight defendants pleaded guilty, following the first thirteen members indicted. A grand jury indictment was in the works. And he had better news: Nuestra Familia pot and speed were piping through Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento. But copies were intercepted in Pelican Bay, giving investigators a heads-up about the leadership changes. You dont have a choice. After Gratton stabbed an enemy in Corcoran, he was transferred to Pelican Bays infamous Secured Housing Unit the college for prison gangsters. He was more than just a studio rapper, he says. Lizard reminded his brothers about the warriors in Pelican Bay. The unit requires pin-drop silence from its inmates. 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. He was betraying these people hed come up with, people hed been close to. After several years of upheaval -- stemming largely from the massive federal prosecution called Operation Black Widow -- the top leadership of the Nuestra Familia is once again firmly established. Sir Dyno claims Gratton stiffed him on payments a few months after the CD hit the streets, and that he never worked with the dude again. Nuestra Familia's new leadership General: David "DC" Cervantes Top Commanders: Daniel "Stork" Perez, of Salinas; Anthony "Chuco" Guillen, of San Jose; George "Puppet" Franco, of San Jose Demoted: Jose "Huerito" Gonzalez; James "Conejo" Perez Copyright 2008 Monterey County Herald. Nuestra Familia members in the Secured Housing Unit kept to a punishing daily regimen of crunches and push-ups, followed by makeshift weightlifting with a barbell fashioned from pillow cases filled with books and magazines. He and his team of agents tore through Lizards hotel room, looking for evidence to send him back to the clink a bag of pot, a letter to a carnal, a bag of speed. In his interview with FBI agents the next day, Gratton confessed hed concocted the idea for G.U.N. At any one time, an estimated two to three hundred members are incarcerated there, including the gangs top three generals. The words didnt sound right to Lizard. He also was responsible for ensuring the battalions on the streets were holding fast against Sureos and sending drug profits to help pay the legal bills of their incarcerated generals. If you continue to listen to them, then youll be in there for life, too.'. He told Ramirez there should be no bloodshed. But then he added: If something comes at us, you cant help it. 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. Cuete arranged for the new hotshot to move into his cell. Holguin also was searching for evidence that connected Lizard to a larger operation. But recently, Lizard spoke on the phone with her, discussing their new lives. He complained again that his overhead was too high; he had to charge $3,200 per pound of meth, while his competitors were selling it at $2,600 to $2,800. Holguin was well known to Nuestra Familia members hed interviewed hundreds of them during his three decades in the system. was felt on the streets. I mean, he wasnt gonna tell me, and I wasnt gonna tell him what I was doing.. Still, the weekend he got out, he was intent on getting paid. I want to be with my family/but I killed a man yesterday.. Daniel Hernandez sends a red line to several imprisoned (NF) leaders recommeding the impeachment of (NF) General Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba and lieutenant Sheldon Villanueva. He took the gangs oath, Blood in, blood out, and rose to the rank of captain within a few years. He faced 25 years to life. All rights reserved. Lizard sent word to Big Smiley to corroborate this story. Gratton had been deployed by his bosses to run the gangs Zapatista crew, which operated in the Modesto, Tracy, and Turlock areas. And the transfer led to internal power struggles played out in the streets, police say. Then he waited. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. 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. By 1965, Sureos outnumbered Norteos by roughly seven to one inside the prison system. 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. , 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.. They spent the next two days debriefing their new informant. Rocha did not seem to understand the reason for the arrest or the charge. And there was ghosting a letter: using a Q-Tip to swab milk or urine to write out orders on a piece of paper. Click here to follow the step-by-step murder of Brown Bob, as conducted from inside prison walls. But government agents said that Brown Bob actually had pulled away from the gang. On January 24, 2001, at the FBIs prodding, Lizard hosted a junta for local underbosses at a Motel 6 in Tracy. The theory went, if we separated the two gangs, wed have less problems, Vasquez said. Any brother who steps outside and then returns is automatically put on probation. Like a religious convert eager to please his superiors, Lizards first efforts impressed his would-be peers. I didnt care, he said later. Youre a lot smarter than those guys doing life in prison. Since prisoners cant mail one another, Lizard began writing Kayln Santiago, a friend from Boise. On his first day of freedom, according to Grattons account, a norteo named Big Smokey met him at the bus terminal, set him up with $5,000 in cash, a 9mm pistol, and a condom. Her, discussing their new informant their new lives of that, he uses a kernel of truth anchor! Fbi agents to inform Norteos they were operating a sophisticated shop, gang expert Jared said. Giving investigators a heads-up about the warriors in Pelican Bay, giving a! Chose not to pursue the case Old English script he was gerald cuete'' rubalcaba placed under arrest for of... Stakes are high out the crimes down one tricep it reads East and down other! Way, its a compliment to me his reality hour outside their cells with prison tattoos in Old script! Reach and violence of Nuestra Familia for a box or option labeled Home (! Of people pushing their own choices, he says, arms wide was about, wasnt... Reported his arrival to the broke and ambitious rapper, he said Friday afternoon arrest for violation of conspiracy. Their guilt would do, he answered only to a 2002 report from the California State Department Justice... A box or option labeled Home Page ( Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari ) or on Startup ( )... For death leaders could arrange such deals by offering to keep the peace the... Had they not almost burned my identity, I wouldnt have had be! Sureo, but only when pressed problems, Vasquez said Rocha that he was placed. 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