There was also the lean and smooth figure of Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, the gang's most powerful captain, whose job inside Pelican Bay, a fellow gang member told the feds, was to "keister" the. Lizard was paroled to the outside world on May 18, 2000. The rappers story varies somewhat depending on whos doing the telling. But Lizard played it cool. The young guys trying to make their name were always the craziest, just as Lizard once had been. Lizard had made other deals, too. He smoked pot and tasted alcohol. 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. Lizard brushed aside Holguins offer. Right after the CD came out, red-on-red violence all but ended, he says. Since his first arrest, hes produced a new CD nearly every month. In his role as head of security, Cuete was responsible for stashing the groups original constitution among his legal papers, and keistering the gangs master hit list in his rectum, according to FBI documents. I didnt have a choice, he recalled. The report counted nearly seven thousand cases of inmate assault in the states 32 institutions, along with nine murders that year, a steady increase over the past decade. Released from the Secured Housing Unit in August 1995, Lizard was chiseled and fit as a warrior in heart and mind. Vallejo is raising concerns about water. In total, aside from the five convictions and twenty guilty pleas credited to Lizards grand jury testimony and undercover work, federal officials said Operation Black Widow led to a total of 75 Nuestra Familia convictions. None of these other [Nuestra Familia members] have a thing to say about [Sir Dyno], Manson says. Its getting airtime on radio stations in the Central Valley, and Sir Dyno has gone into super-marketing campaign mode, making a goal to get the ballad single Daddys Home in rotation on 75 radio stations nationwide. Ribota declined comment for this story, in light of the upcoming trial. After a few weeks of writing and recording, the CD was released on Cinco de Mayo of 1998 and found its audience immediately. 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. 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. In 1968, in response to La Emes overwhelming power, a group of Norteos bonded together in the exercise yard of what was then named Soledad State Prison. County./AP. Its the life story of a petty hood who reached his full criminal potential only afterentering the California prison system. Silent also provided Lizard with a stolen Dodge Durango to test-drive. Using racketeering statutes to bust the organized crime ring, the indictment carried six charges of murder or attempted murder, as well as charges of assault, conspiracy, drug trafficking, and arms dealing. Lizards initial work was flawless. 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. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. And then I told him, You know who I am. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. According to Lewis, the gang grew from about a thousand members in the late 80s to more than two thousand just six years later. Enter https://www.police1.com/ and click OK. I didnt know the guy was selling drugs, too. You see, this is Norte, he growls on Scrap Killa. X-I-V fourteen, dont ever ask me what I mean/I got the gat that will put you in the dirt/I piss on your grave with your mamas feelings hurt.. They, in turn, approved hits and issued directives, while prison censors were prevented from reading the supposedly legal correspondence. According to one source, Ribota took the CD to the San Joaquin County district attorneys office to see if it constituted an official threat to a police officer. Cuete arranged for the new hotshot to move into his cell. Thats when Lizard began his career as a rider an inmate prone to acting violently toward fellow inmates. But a year into the case, the governments complaint against Sir Dyno shifted course. He found his man in David Sir Dyno Rocha, then a 26-year-old budding rhymer and producer from Tracy. The rapper arrived dressed in neatly pressed beige Dickies pants, spotless work boots, and an untucked flannel-print shirt a vato in his Sunday best, mumbling his apologies. Lizard himself adamantly denied Zilversmits claims, insisting that he pressed for peace in the case of Sanchez. He folded up the missive, stuck it to a piece of gum, and dangled it into Smileys cell using a thread of elastic hed plucked from his waistband. If Sir Dynos case were only about lyrics, its likely the First Amendment would swiftly end the debate in his favor. In the aftermath of Operation Black Widow, the five highest-ranking leaders of Nuestra Familia, James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez, were transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. Lizard and the government deny this accusation. His middle-class Long Beach upbringing was spent golfing, surfing, and skateboarding. For months, Dynos attorneys have been trying to distance their client from the rest of the defendants and get him his own trial. Its different for her, he said. 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.. Frias returned to the bar, gun tucked in his waistband, walked behind Sanchez, and fired a bullet into the base of his skull, killing him. Hed been Cuetes right hand for four years. For seven months, he secretly recorded meetings with his gangs underbosses, allowing federal agents to listen in as his carnals planned drug deals, bought firearms, and talked openly about killing people, including two deputy district attorneys from Santa Clara County. That night, Holguin led a three-car caravan of police investigators, federal agents, and prison investigators to meet Lizard. She was nicknamed Crazy Girl and had the moniker tattooed over her right kneecap, according to FBI documents. On October 27, 1999, a year and a half after he arrived in Modesto, Gratton was pulled over on his way to a carnival in Turlock. Lizard hinted in his early letters that hed be sending more important documents for his legal case. In actuality, he sent a list of code names using Aztec and Spanish words. Hed picked up an ounce of weed at Rohnert Park and smoked a few joints with his buddy Israel Silent Mendoza. He is currently a gang instructor at the FBI Headquarter's in-service nationwide training program for field agents. The rules were simple: Lizard had to record all his phone conversations with gang members and wear a wire when he held stings set up by the FBI. finds relevant news, identifies important training information, How could he go back in with Cuete wanting him dead? I wanted to be that NF member who the people could count on, Lizard recalled. 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. According to grand jury testimony from family members, Bobs wife was just about to call him in for dinner when a Ford Explorer pulled up to the curb. It is here that the stories begin to diverge: Rocha claims that in the eleven or so months he knew Gratton, the parolee never discussed his ties to the highly secretive prison gang. One day two months ago, federal agents arrived at her home, and she was swept into the program. While members of the Norteos gang are considered to be affiliated with Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteo. Lizard said Bob was marked because hed stuck his nose into matters that didnt concern him. In the eyes of the law, that would make Sir Dyno a real-life gangster. FBI agents did not respond to interview requests. At any one time, an estimated two to three hundred members are incarcerated there, including the gangs top three generals. Hes had plenty of time to contemplate. Not only was there one less Sureo, but Lizard also showed a knack for attacking without detection. Every day we prepared for war., Lizard speaks about his gang membership with such conviction and authority that one law enforcement official jokingly compared his oratory skills to those of Fidel Castro. Sir Dyno wanted to make a name for himself, Lewis says, so he sold his soul to the devil. CD, Lewis and Helton say. On one slow-burn track, Sir Dyno raps in a stoned vibrato: Today when I got up I knew it was a good day/Got on my red shirt, Dickies, and Im on my way., After the initial press run, Gratton restocked stores with an additional 1,000 CDs. But one year later, his family moved to Long Beach, the heart of Sureo country. One month later, he was visited by Louie Holguin, a special agent with the Department of Corrections who monitored parolees and prison gangs. "DC Cervantes is calling the shots," said J.R. Auten, a former gang investigator for state prisons and now a consultant for federal and state law enforcement. prison gang are prepared to testify against their top leaders in a In it, he explains how the CD brought him unwanted attention and more money than hed expected, but he never reveals whether Sir Dyno knew North Star was a front for Nuestra Familia. A huge warehouse complex project is before the American City Council. Snow-locked Highway 29 between Calistoga and the Lake County border will likely stay closed through the weekend, CHP announced Friday afternoon. and manufacturers. Thats who I am. Inside his Tracy home, he sits comfortably against the oversize cushions on his fluffy couch, with his baby daughter rocking to sleep a few feet away. By 1965, Sureos outnumbered Norteos by roughly seven to one inside the prison system. Even though hed participated in many stabbings and beatings in prison, hed avoided detection for most of his crimes. Im just going to wait for the trial.. Lizard said that during that time, he heard two Norteos disrespecting Smileys name and took the initiative to stab them both. It was his way or the highway. The cells are bone-white and feature little more than a chrome toilet and cement platform with thin mattress and pillow. Back among the general prison population, Lizard reported to his ranking captain, Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba, one of the gangs most revered members. Nuestra Familia prestige is now generational, passed from father to son, uncle to nephew. Rank and file morale plainly sucked under Parks. But since prison officials scanned all mail that wasnt legal mail, Lizards challenge was to create an even more surefire way to communicate. There was Henry "Happy" Cervantes, built like . Im so afraid, oh my God/Dont take me away, he raps, slowly, to the jailers whove come for him. All norteos must unite with the determination to fight and challenge all those who oppose our unity and advancement toward equal justice. Not just in rap, but everywhere. But witnesses corralled by police later refused to work with the district attorney. He took the gangs oath, Blood in, blood out, and rose to the rank of captain within a few years. This is a combined effort to enlighten the worthy, as the time is now that we must leave old attitudes to the past, and adopt new and more meaningful and fulfilling ideas. Please subscribe to keep reading. And he had better news: Nuestra Familia pot and speed were piping through Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento. Were moving your ass. When the NF trial begins on November 3 jury selection starts this week federal attorneys will use photographs and lyrics from the G.U.N. Ramiro Goose Garcia from Stockton complained that the gang wasnt sufficiently exploiting the Central Valley drug market. And he got what he wanted., Out only three months, G.U.N. I told him, Listen. He told his commander that hed received an order from Cuete to kill two deputy district attorneys, a husband and wife team in San Jose named Kitty and Charles Constantinides. In a memo to his colleagues, Helton talks about spotting G.U.N. It is my hope the federal prison system is better equipped to derail the violence.. Anytime he drove out of the area, he had to call Ragan or his partner. Norteos who enter a new prison are required to reveal their status to their superiors, either verbally or in writing. Whatever you want. That 50 percent looked like gold., Sir Dyno claims he never asked where Gratton got his money, and whether or not the jury believes that could be key to his fate. In the meantime, Holguin had talked to Lizards sister and made a plea: Tell Danny to change his life. He offered to cover all production costs and promised Sir Dyno a fifty-fifty split on profits. 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