Sandoval got off in Los Angeles and found his way to Van Nuys, where a cousin put him up in his apartment. Great comedians and humorists have a deep understanding of human complexity and emotions in a way that a computer application never can or will. McCool opened the picket gate to allow Sandoval into the rest room. 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. In the tenements across the street from the Texas A&I University stadium lived a fifteen-year-old girl named Veronica, whom he married on June 22, 1985, after learning that TDCJ had accepted his application for employment as a correctional officer, or CO. 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. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping. But no one suspected a thing. He told her that he feared the Texas prison authorities, who by now had surely discovered that the murder of Joe Arredondo was, if anything, a result of prison mismanagement. Several of them testified vigorously that Ellis I was understaffed and overcrowded, and that the unit was riddled with blind spots. 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. The Texas Syndicate (or Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly Texas-based prison gang that includes Hispanic and at one time White members (The organization at one time did allow non-Hispanic members to join, but that policy was repealed in the 1980s). Garcia, of course, could snitch to the Ellis I authorities. The officials fitted Sandoval with handcuffs, leg irons, and a belly chain. More accurate investigations lower the number to about 4000, with some sources even going as low as 3800. Uneasy truces between gangs have developed. He was a drug dealer, with connections dating back to his days peddling heroin in El Paso. 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. Sandoval described Ellis I warden Jerry Peterson as a good man but a figurehead. Later, when Vicente asked the guard to phone a number in Brady and ask the person who answered when Vicentes family would make their next visit, Sandoval had no objections. But such sentiments are meaningless down on the farm. 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. Leslie Zepeda died the day after Christmas. Were he to pay his old workplace a visit, Luis Sandoval would notice several changes at Ellis I. They grew quickly by recruiting violent individuals, especially from the El Paso-Juarez area. [1] The Texas Syndicate has approximately 1,300 members, the majority of whom are Mexican American males aged between 20 and 40. Armed robberies, the sale of illicit substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, and other crimes remain the main activities of this group. Either the guard didnt know what was going on, or he did. In 2000, reports indicated the existence of roughly 20000 members. [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. This booklet contains historical synopses of all STGs recognized by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), as well as recognized tattoos and other related indicators most often used by STGs and various street gang members. In addition to Shamoo Rodriguez and Porky Amaro, 11 others have already pled guilty. By the fall of 1986, several months after the gang lockdown policy had been instituted, Joe Arredondos cockiness began to catch up with him. texas syndicate hand signsjack paar cause of death. It was a pleasure to deal with an inmate man to man, for once. In his first year on the job, Luis Sandoval found himself delivering drugs to a self-described drug runner on behalf of the state's deadliest prison gang, the Texas Syndicate. Employees come and go unfrisked, unobserved. We are seeking a detail-oriented sign installer to transport and install a variety of signs. 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. Some veteran gang members claim that the Barrio Azteca gang can trace its roots in El Paso back to the original 1940s El Paso Tip gang (ept). Chow time meant that vast numbers of inmates would be crowded together in one room. I dont have any money to get any stamps, Garcia explained. The 1,577 gang members currently housed in administrative segregation represent only a fraction of those inmates who actually do the gangs bidding. Sandoval marveled at the river of red the inmate had left behind. Hes bleeding! He whirled and burst into the B-wing hallway. In collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies . Sandovals apparent relationship with the gang did not escape the attention of the Ellis I population. Bono Lady Gaga Ke$ha Aldous Huxley Nicki Minaj Michael Jackson Miley Cyrus Eminem No.5 Masonic Handshakes Im on trial, sir, conceded the polite young man in the pin-striped suit who sat in the witness stand. [4][5], The Texas Syndicate was established at Folsom State Prison in California in 1978 in direct response to the other California prison gangs, notably the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, which were attempting to prey on native Texas inmates. The caller, known as El Carpintero, was a convicted child molester from El Paso who nonetheless had managed to obtain a job, under an assumed name, as an x-ray technician at Ellis I. El Carpintero instructed Sandoval to drive to a location in Huntsville where a sack containing marijuana awaited. Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue. As a result, the Mexikanemi and the Texas Syndicate begrudgingly recognized Barrio Azteca. The ink from U.S. district judge William Wayne Justices signature on his 1980 Ruiz v. Estelle decree had not yet dried before critics were predicting that the prison reforms specified in the judges order would leave a dangerous power vacuum. Well, so does the inmate. Founded In: 1970s 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 main objective of the Texas Syndicate was that of offering protection to other native Texan inmates. Or if they cared to enforce the rule. Its a society all its own. But the sudden absence of gang wars did not mean that the gangs had gone away. Ten months after the murder, on October 23, 1987, Sandoval was again summoned to the wardens office. Not one of them said that Sandoval was a bad officer; many, in fact, went out of their way to laud his abilities. What is noteworthy in this pleading before U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert J. Garney in the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division, is that while both are BA members, Shamoo Rodriguez, 35, is a resident of El Paso. The steaks would have come from the kitchen; the laundry basket that held them would have been wheeled past a guard. Sandoval figured the odds were about even. Exaggerated? And theres always somebody, the ex-drug runner told me, wholl do something for you.. As the free world would have it, there are good inmates and bad inmates. The caller advised Sandoval not to show up for his March 18, 1991, trial, and then hung up without identifying himself. The Barrio Azteca goal was to wrestle away control from the other gangs and gain dominance of the prison system. Its a society, Luis Sandoval told me of the world he inhabited five days a week, eight hours a day. And the courier must possess a particular power: He must be able to walk through walls. But he also acknowledged that he had made mistakes; and to me, though not to the jury, he confessed that one of those mistakes was bringing drugs into Ellis I. 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 mule, they believed, had done the drugs himself. A few days later, on April 12, 1991, FBI agents showed up at the apartment where Sandoval had been hiding and took him to the Los Angeles County jail. The next day, a Sunday, the newlyweds threw their possessions into a suitcase and a grocery bag, and drove Sandovals Datsun to Conroe. On March 19, the name of Luis Sandoval was called three times in the Walker County courthouse, but the defendant did not respond. The following day, Chaplain Alexander Taylor, who witnessed Sandovals efforts, wrote the CO III a letter of commendation. As a former prison gang member, I'm ashamed to look in the mirror because my failures are staring back at me. I was a damn good officer, he told both me and them. (Today, Sandoval says that statement was coerced.) The Texas Syndicate (Spanish:Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly-Mexican criminal group founded in Folsom State Prison, California, in the 1970s. The first Texas prison guard ever to be tried for the murder of an inmate seemed eager to describe, to me and to the jurors, the pressures and temptations a correctional officer faces. Beneath the cosmetic alterations, however, things at Ellis I are just as Sandoval left them. The prosecutors of Luis Sandoval not only conceded this but went out of their way to make it part of their case. At the Ferguson Unit, for example, guards wore special caps sporting a patch designed by an inmate. Prison units are individually controlled by a local chairman and vice chairman. By current estimates, more than 2,000 members make up their ranks. The gang murders that once took place inside prisons now take place on the streets. The BA gang also imposes a street tax, or "cuota," on other criminal enterprises and businesses operating on turf where the Aztecas claim control. It took months before someone looked closely at the gas mask featured on the patch and realized that every correctional officer at the unit had been wearing the letters TS across his forehead. The assailant was nowhere in sight. When they got there they found Joe Arredondo lying on his back. Barrio Azteca members also are involved in alien smuggling, arson, assault, auto theft, burglary, extortion, intimidation, kidnapping, robbery, and weapons violations. It was a blind spot, and unit officials hoped the inmates wouldnt notice. Hey, Boss, you got a light? Every newly hired prison guard, or new boot, hears the question. 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. 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. If they dont make this hit, theyll become the person to get hit. The war ended with a treaty in 1997. Nothing during three weeks of by-the-book lectures at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice training academy had prepared him for the helplessness he felt as a lone correctional officer constantly surrounded by violent criminals. On Monday, at eight in the morning, Sandoval reported for duty at the Ellis I training academy in Huntsville. A long, metal objecta homemade knife, or shankprotruded from his jugular. It was their house, not his or the states. school of professional studies acceptance rate duplexes for rent in lebanon, mo duplexes for rent in lebanon, mo In San Antonio, federal, state and local authorities have arrested twelve Texas Mexican Mafia (TMM) members and associates on federal drug charges in connection with a methamphetamine/heroin/cocaine trafficking operation in the San Antonio area, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. 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. Hey, boss, you got a light? Luis Sandoval pulled out his lighter and, as he had before, lit the cigarette held by Armando Garcia. For about three months thereafter, while state officials sought a long-term solution, every prison unit experienced a total lockdown. He squinted through the smoke and the bars and the memories. 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. Some speculated that the car was shot up in retaliation against the male husbands of the employees, because one of them worked in a custody facility in El Paso where the Azteca gang members were incarcerated. 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. The Horned Hand or "Cornuto" represents the Devil, Satan, The Goat. 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 . 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. 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. When he sent the letter off to his mother, he knew it wouldnt be long before law enforcement officials discovered his whereabouts. Current Location: Most of Texas, Other Zones in The United States; Allies: Texas Mafia, Los Zetas; Power in the streets and prison is derived largely from criminal drug dealing, and the gang set out to control the lucrative drug trade. (Officials also say the Texas Syndicate is far more selective and does not, for example, recruit homosexuals.) Whoever killed him had to have come through the B-wing hallway and had to have been dripping with blood. Dale Schaper dutifully typed up his report, and sent it through the proper channels. Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. But as the weeks rolled on, as the dos and donts of the training manual began to look more and more like some bureaucrats idea of a joke, his resolve cratered. They often use the letters "BA" or numbers "21" as their identifying symbols and tattoos. After its formation in 1986, both the Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia refused to recognize the Aztecas and declared war on the gang. Full electrics grew share, whilst plugin hybrids remained static. The Barrio Azteca gang might have been hurt by Operation Knock Down but it certainly has not been knocked out. Prisons, crammed with thrill-seekers and outright junkies, provide the ultimate captive consumers. But I was a good officer. Thus, the former good officer now wished to disavow everything he had told me earlier. The packages, he admitted, most likely contained drugs. texas syndicate hand signs. But the report made no mention of Armando Garcia and El Carpintero; nor did it offer any evidence that Sandoval had actually smuggled drugs into Ellis I. The investigators didnt tell me much, nor was I particularly inquisitive, he said. TV Review: Mixed View of FX's 'The Bridge'. 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. And all you see is white shirts. The system snitches on one mule while protecting another. Its like a fly in a salt shaker., Today the numbers still favor the inmates: There are 47,751 of them and only 3,500 security personnelnone of whom carries a gunper eight-hour shift. Conditions were no different on December 17, 1986, which was why Sandoval was given the assignment of B-wing hall boss that afternoon. 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. They often victimized members of other smaller gangs and individuals, alienating many Mexican national and Mexican-American inmates. Arredondo was a Texas Syndicate member. 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. They have their prostitution, their gambling, their extortion. The letter was not what one might expect from a former prison guard. These would mostly come to life within the prison system; both as a physical response to assaults and as a way to achieve greater racial unity. With the impersonal manner of assassins who have long since become intimate with the odor of death, the witnessesguards, inmates, and prison officialsreadily supplied evidence that gangs are calling the shots in our prisons. 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. And Sandoval welcomed his company. Lighting an inmates cigarette is considered an act of friendship or favoritism, and favoritism is forbidden by TDCJ rules. The thought worked away at his nerves. When Sandoval told me that, he was sitting in the interrogation room of the Walker County jail in Huntsville, wearing prison whites. Texas Chicano Brotherhood 11. Recruitment is conducted through social ties and involves a background check to screen for informants.[1]. The inmate staggered forward, blood gushing from his head and neck. One of them is fear. Seemingly everyone in Ellis I would snitch or be snitched on. texas syndicate hand signs FREE COVID TEST anime characters named levi Book Appointment Now. Is Mexican Cartel Activity In the U.S. The Texas Syndicate, more than La Eme or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners, such as the "Border . Garcia himself was not a TS member. Armando, I cant jeopardize my life, man., Garcia took the story to the Texas Syndicate. Two years after . Look, man, I think Im being watched, Sandoval told Garcia the next day. The brutality of the murder, coupled with Sandovals complete inability to prevent it, made quite an impression on the young guard. Unlike most state crises, there is absolutely no mystery to the takeover of our prisons by violent gangs. No one, he seemed to be suggesting, was capable of telling the truth about Luis Sandovalnot even Sandoval himself. Facebook [2], Texas Syndicate members abide by a constitution requiring members to:[1], Additionally, gang leadership is determined by democratic elections, requiring a unanimous decision. Rumor had it that inmate Jesse Turner had stood between an inmate and a prison official and had taken the blade himself. We know who youre tied to. He was muling, said McDonald. Sandoval came to enjoy these moments. By the time 21-year-old Luis Sandoval, a new boot at Huntsvilles Ellis I Unit in the summer of 1985, was approached by an inmate with an unlit cigarette, his ears were still ringing from a more desperate request he had heard during his first week on the job. An eight-inch metal shank lay nearby. Sandoval felt more at home with fellow Hispanics than with the black inmates, who terrified him. Other inmates reacted to the TS as the TS members had first responded to California gang harassment. The impulse is to accommodate the inmate, since prisonsspiritual wastelands of concrete and metalcry out for random acts of human kindness. 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. In fact, his disciplinary record was almost spotless, and he enjoyed the privileged position of commissary clerk. Apple Jack protected his mule, however, and though many knew of the officers extracurriculars, the hammer never fell on him. So dont try. Guards have been instructed to monitor gang activity but have shown an embarrassing inability to do so. His mother and stepfather lived in a middle-class neighborhood, but most of Sandovals friends lived in the barrios or in the projects of Kingsville, where Sandoval attended college for three years. But others suspected that this hit was done on behalf of the Carrillo-Fuentes DTO (Juarez Cartel). Reminded that our earlier on-the-record, on-tape conversation contradicted this, he said, I have my life to think about.I made my mistakes. I didnt do it, Sandoval announced to me in a recent phone conversation. The Texas Syndicate, a prison gang that operates in and outside of penitentiaries, is considered by state law-enforcement officials to be among the most dangerous criminal organizations in. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. When Vicente and his friend Armando Garciaalso a pleasant, nonconfrontational fellowbegan to ask Sandoval if he had a light, the guard refused at first, and finally decided, after repeated requests, what the hell. tj springer wife services@everythingwellnessdpc.com (470)-604-9800 ; how to cite a foreign constitution chicago Facebook. On the fourth day of the Sandoval trial, as if to punctuate the implicit warning in the testimony that gangs till thrived within the system, a member of the Mexican Mafia stabbed a Hermano de Pistolero to death at the Eastham Unit. The roles in the Arredondo hit were decided in either the chow hall or the chapel, where numbers were drawn from a cup. [3] Syndicate members have been known to carry out contract killings for Los Zetas, the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel. The Texas Syndicate's activities include drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder. Justice therefore ordered that the two thousand building tenders be replaced by more prison guards, who would police the inmates with a firm but civilized hand. Compared with Luis Sandovals quiet life in Alice, Ellis I must have seemed like an opium den. 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. [6], TS has a paramilitary structure, headed by a president and vice president elected by the general membership. 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. Did you know that 40% of all inmate escapes occur during transport? Arredondo took the two hundred dollars, went home, and blew the money. Texas Gang Threat Assessment . Seventeen Texas Syndicate gang members living across Central Texas were arrested after federal authorities uncovered a methamphetamine and heroin trafficking operation, according to a news release. Though inmates werent allowed needles for tattooing, resident artists took to using the metal pieces of windup toys. By current estimates, more than 2,000 members make up their ranks. Just as he entered, Sandoval heard someone yell, Hes on the floor! Guards could still smell burning marijuana and still see inmates giggling to themselves. Each gang had its own hierarchy and its own rules; each member was not permitted to leave his gang, even outside of prison, except by his own death. As the organization continued growing, drug trafficking came to be one of their favorite activities and sources of income. But they werent enough: A guard like Luis Sandoval would be assigned to a hallway filled with hundreds of inmates. The Real Reasons for Chicago's Deadly Crime Wave. Louie would love nothing more than to be a guard again, Fischer told them. These include 13, Black Hand of Death, The M, and La Eme, which is Spanish for "the M". A marginal amount of contraband and drug trafficking has also been registered. Wear the Texas Syndicate tattoo; 6. As the organization continued growing, drug trafficking came to be one of their favorite activities and sources of income. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. The next day, Sandoval recalled, I walked into work feeling good. The youth gangs havent caused trouble yet, but the realities of prison life suggest that this will surely change. Theres no way to shut them down, Sandoval said. But the first six months is hell. Sandoval was determined to tough it out. Unfortunately, your shopping bag is empty. By that time, things were quiet again at Ellis I. This international criminal organization, which began as an El Paso street gang, has organized and proliferated on both sides of the Mexican border to become one of the most dangerous prison gangs operating in both state and federal facilities.