In Del Rio, three Texas Syndicate members from Uvalde, TX, face up to life in federal prison after a federal jury convicted them last night of various violations of federal racketeering offenses committed in Uvalde, San Antonio and the surrounding areas announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman. Tango Blast cliques along the Rio Grande Valley and in Corpus Christi are the region's major players, along with Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia. This allows members to function with less oversight, especially within the prison system. It is a method of psychologically breaking a kid and has been used in many war zones in recent years, including Joseph Kony in Uganda and the Sierra Leone conflict. In contrast, sixteen current or former Ellis I employees testified. Then, he is deemed fit to join the gang. Everybody knew about this scum. Yet Apple Jack went unpunished: He tithed a share of his profits to the Texas Syndicate and gave the supervisors something to crow about by setting up a guard now and then. West Texas Syndicate Energy is an energy company with practical and futuristic goals, continuing to push environmental-friendly and pioneering technologies in more traditional energy endeavors. 826 Hispanic members operate across Texas, including specific reportings in the Coffield Unit, about 60 miles southwest of Tyler, and . There was no further violence, a signal to those who understood gang behavior that Arredondo had been snuffed out by one of his own rather than by a rival gang. Se Habla Espaol Call For aFREEInitial Consultation. Perhaps it was because Vicente was so quiet and servile or perhaps he had such a talent for lingering that the porters simply paid him no mind. 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. I was in the dayroom. Sandoval, he was a good kid, said the inmate of the guard who had once done him favors. Theyre coming in from work, theyre coming out of the tanks to go eat or recreate or go to school or go to the chapel, said Sandoval. However, it counts among its rivals some cartel heavyweights such as the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by notorious drug lordJoaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Sandoval took a step toward the crashgate but was held back by the more experienced guard. By the fall of 1986, several months after the gang lockdown policy had been instituted, Joe Arredondos cockiness began to catch up with him. 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. But Arredondo had brought back nothing. His neck had been slashed; his head was all but severed. And all you see is white shirts. Well, so does the inmate. [4] [5] Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Criminal activity 2 Structure The motorcycle gang has roots going back to the 1960s, but only debuted on the DPS's Texas Gang Threat Assessment in 2015 after a deadly clash with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Waco on May 17 that left nine people dead. Plain and simple, many young people trying to get into this group are instructed to kill a member of a rival gang. 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. And the courier must possess a particular power: He must be able to walk through walls. Compared with Luis Sandovals quiet life in Alice, Ellis I must have seemed like an opium den. 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. Many recruits show up voluntarily, but the group does practice kidnapping and forced recruitment. Can I still get Beyonc tickets? After the big lockdown, metal detectors were installed in every prison unit to discourage the carrying of shanks. Virtually everyone saw it coming. Over time, Sandoval got sucked into the undertow of prison life. Hispanics who were not TS members formed their own gang, the Mexican Mafia, which today outnumbers the TS two to one but is not considered as well organized by prison officials. 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. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. TI was developed in 2010 in an effort to create a new breed of automobile competition. Coded language is commonly utilized during drug related phone calls. In short, gang initiation can in some cases relate to membership in a college fraternity, as one cannot join another fraternity once initiated and once initiated, you are a member for life. The United Blood Nation, who still operate to this day in New York, was a gang started back in the early 1990's to protect members from Puerto Rican and Hispanic gangs, such as the Latin Kings and Netas. New recruits who hoped to join the Knights Templar have been forced to eat a child's heart in order to prove their loyalty to the cause. In 2006, Andres Garcia was arrested for allegedly luring George Garza, a member of rival Valluco prison gang, and then stabbing him to death. The Department of Public Safety has released its 2015 Texas Gang Threat Assessment report. Prison units are individually controlled by a local chairman and vice chairman. Bring a gurney! called the lieutenant. Yes, we know that there is some discrepancy listing a major terrorist organization along with prison gangs, but recruiting methods and reliance on crime for income make terror organizations like ISIS similar enough to gangs to list them here. Upon their release from prison, gang members returned to Texas, renamed themselves the Texas Syndicate (TS), committed crimes, and wound up in TDCJ, where they developed an extensive network of drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and contract murder behind Texas prison walls. I want to see the mountains, he said. One juror phoned Sandovals brother that afternoon and told him that in her view the case against Sandoval was racially motivated. ), the group has somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 members across the United States (mainly on the east coast), in Canada, Mexico, and in several countries in central America. One day Sandoval received a phone call at work. It was not the most hospitable climate for trust, which was something Sandoval felt inclined to consider when Armando Garcia and Vicente held out a letter and asked Sandoval to mail it for them. It was a blind spot, and unit officials hoped the inmates wouldnt notice. Here are fifteen of the most troubling and horrifying gang initiation rituals around the world. Gang initiation typically has a homeboy requirement, that is, one of the other members can testify that they know the character of the prospective recruit and thus whether or not he deserves initiation. Tango Blast, Texas Syndicate, Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples and MS-13 all were identified as active in human smuggling operations in 2014. With what was left of his final J.C. Penney paycheck, Sandoval and his cousin drove to Las Vegas, a place Sandoval had always yearned to visit. The two inmates snitched for Sandoval and herded him away from troublemakers, admonishing him, Boss, stay away from those guys.. If the recruit answers, "I will share my umbrella," he is deemed unworthy of membership and becomes a s*x slave. (LogOut/ 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. Texas Syndicate Members In San Antonio Indicted On Racketeering Charges Charges allege responsibility for four murders, three attempted murders and drug distribution . But to prison officials, the story is as familiar as the smell of marijuana in a cellblock and the sight of an inmate with a hand-tooled shank. 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 . gangs in Texas, and they underscore the commitment among law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in Texas to share information and intelligence in order to effectively combat crime and improve public safety. Barrio Azteca members are suspected of carrying out the March 2010 assassination of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee. According to Sandoval, Howard Digby, a runty burglar with a pug nose and heavily tattooed arms, was known as a captains boy, a snitch who filled his bosss cup with coffee and his ear with prison gossip. But, he insisted, that didnt make him a murderer. There is little supervision, no governing oversight other than the hierarchy, and quite literally the only purpose of these is to test would-be members to see if they have what it takes to serve the purpose of the group. Asked point-blank by his attorney, Did you ever bring drugs inside TDCJ? The Farmer.For this one farmer the worries are over, lie down and rest your head, Your time has been and struggles enough, put the tractor in the shed. The group control certain parts of major cities in Kenya and generally recruit youths from poor neighborhoods. 0333 344 7476. muck tool progression. by chloe calories quinoa taco salad. 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. 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. TS members will also assist a fellow member in this pending criminal case. But the first six months is hell. Sandoval was determined to tough it out. A certain order prevailed, which stilled the critics and deflected the interest of the media. He had lied to his own investigator, just as inmates and Internal Affairs had lied to the jurors. [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. The question was when. Any violation of the rules may result in harsh penalties, including death. For all of Sandovals claims that the system was making a sacrificial lamb out of him, the system came to his rescue in the end. Word spread through the unit the way it always had, at bewildering speed: Joe Arredondo was a dead man. This case resulted from an investigation conducted by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Austin Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Gonzales Police Department. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. 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. The inmates handed Sandoval a letter, wondering if the guard could mail it for them. (Fong 41) This requirement, which exists in the case of the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia for example, serves as a means of sponsorship, so therefore anyone interested in joining the gang, their trustworthiness can be verified if a current gang member is familiar with them. Detention hearings are expected to occur over the next two weeks in U.S. Magistrate Court in Austin for all defendants except May. The new boot suffered the usual abuse from veterans and inmates. When a new recruit is deemed ready for membership, several of the more capable members wail on him for a period of 18 seconds, and as long as that recruit fights back (against 5-6 usually larger men), they will then be welcomed into the gang. 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. Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. Members of the Texas Syndicate maintain regular communication with members who have been imprisoned. Thereafter, inmates made their blades out of hard plastic or made do with whatever crude instrument was within reach, like the cast-iron weight an inmate found in the recreation yard and used, with one vicious swing, to lop off the ear of another inmate. The brutality of the murder, coupled with Sandovals complete inability to prevent it, made quite an impression on the young guard. He lives in Ottawa, Canada, a desolate wasteland that nobody should call home. Everyone wanted informationon the inmates, on their superiors, on their peers. 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.. Prisoners join gangs, thereby becoming strong, and prey upon the weak. Gangs didnt worry about guards; they worried about each other. The so-called "hybrid members" allow the gangs to grow their empires with increased influence both in prisons and on the streets. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Seventeen San Antonio-based members of the Texas (TS) have been charged by federal grand jury indictment with conspiring to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt (RICO . The soldiers and prospectos (prospects) are often used to carry out violent TS business. (This inmates name has been changed as a condition of his interview.) 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. He was whisked off to the Walker County jail. Neither possibility seemed likely, given what Sandoval had learned about TDCJ in his first few months on the job. After release from prison, a TS member is required to contact the high-ranking member in the geographical area where the released member intends to reside. Prisons, crammed with thrill-seekers and outright junkies, provide the ultimate captive consumers. 01-07-00443-CR (Tex. There are a few different methods of initiation in this gang. This is a carousel. Around the same time, prison officials expressed concern about the fifty or sixty members of the two Los Angeles-based black street gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, that had recently entered the system. A man was stabbed twenty times. DPS also cited the 2014 indictment of 55 Barrio Azteca members and associates as handicapping the gang's effectiveness. Sandoval got off in Los Angeles and found his way to Van Nuys, where a cousin put him up in his apartment. The gang murders that once took place inside prisons now take place on the streets. Inside the walls of each prison is drugs, prostitution, gambling, extortion, and grand theft, but no investigation into any of these things has ever been made. The letter did not say what such an investigation would say about Luis Sandoval. Click Expand to view. Change). It is important to note that an indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. How to score cheap flights (and mistake fares) in 2023. Beneath them in the gang hierarchy are captains, lieutenants, sergeants of arms, and numerous soldiers. When they got there they found Joe Arredondo lying on his back. There were many times when he said, I aint gonna do this shit anymore. And wed think, well, maybe were putting too much pressure on him. [3] While the gangs maintains its headquarters in California, there are around 1,000 members in prisons and jails throughout Texas, with many others operating on the outside. I cant honestly tell you why he did it, said the inmate of Sandoval. The TS rules provide that the TS is to come before family. Joe Arredondo was taken to a hospital in Huntsville. [2] The Syndicate is the oldest Texan prison gang. Look, man, I think Im being watched, Sandoval told Garcia the next day. Their leader is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted criminals. The money chiefly comes from drugs. The roles in the Arredondo hit were decided in either the chow hall or the chapel, where numbers were drawn from a cup. He had been ordered to carry out a hit on another inmate and had failed to do so. . Sandovals apparent relationship with the gang did not escape the attention of the Ellis I population. The system snitches on one mule while protecting another. However if a member is not deemed worthy to be initiated, the denied appellant could end up becoming victimized by the gang, such as making the person pay money for protection and be put to work for the gang through prostitution. Many prison gangs have a generalized standard of who to accept. The Texas Syndicate or Syndicato Tejano was the first prison gang to heavily impact the prison system in Texas. By now he was a CO III, an old boot, and he had trained many of the guards who now worked with him. Berry) Like fat-bellied ships heavily laden with riches, our 19 ewes lie uncomfortably at anchor, waiting to be offloaded. Membership is for life. But he stayed out of trouble, in large part because of two hall porters, Bubba Ray Smith and Johnny Abrams. (For that matter, Garcia testified during the trial, outside the presence of the jury, that Sandoval muled drugs countless times.) Sandoval was never searched, he told me, and came to learn that the only way they bust you is if theyre told by a snitch, This guys coming in today., While Sandoval said there were other guardsand even supervisorsinvolved in drug activity, the Texas Syndicate preferred that Garcia deal directly with Sandoval, a fellow Hispanic. This practice violated the Ruiz stipulation that an officer must be present at all times at any entrance or exit of the main building. There are examples of people dying or being seriously injured during initiation stunts gone wrong. 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. 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. Alcohol was forbidden, yet chock, or homemade wine, was made in a variety of ways in cells, the crudest method being by letting food wrapped in a plastic bag fester in a toilet tank. RELATED:21 alleged members of drug cartel-affiliated Barrio Azteca gang arrested in West Texas. Youll drain all the blood to his head. Three other officers arrived on the scene. Word spread that the Texans were a force to contend with. There is then a period of time during which those clothes cannot be washed. Within prisons, there are a couple of parts to the initiation process. The thought worked away at his nerves. Or if they cared to enforce the rule. Gangs still terrorize the prisons. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. 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. Probably the most famous of any gang on this list, the Hell's Angels have hundreds of chapters in dozens of countries across the globe. Some, but not all, TS members have TS tattoos. He previously covered real estate, economic development, retail and tourism. The decision was reached: Arredondo would be taken down. Prepare for battle and place the lure in Midnight Den Cull the Alpha Wolf and Pack Travel north east to the Enclave Talk to Aventus Valenti Introduce yourself to Cleo Elsayad Talk to Aventus Valenti Head northeast to the Midnight Den . Then he returned to Arredondo. The new boots new habit, like everything else, was duly noted by the inmates. 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