Now Turner could be seen pushing trash cans down the hall, twirling his knife in the air; nobody took his knife away. So it may be a week or a month or a yearbut that hit is on.. As the organization continued growing, drug trafficking came to be one of their favorite activities and sources of income. He was muling, said McDonald. General Info This past May, the bullet-riddled body of Mexican Mafia member Andres Sampyro was found in a San Antonio barrio. Respect other members; 8. Just like in the free world. But others suspected that this hit was done on behalf of the Carrillo-Fuentes DTO (Juarez Cartel). texas syndicate hand signs Eventually, however, Vicente and Garcia began to ask for more than a light. 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. The attorney was advised that his client would never again wear gray in a state penal institution. I was in the dayroom. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. Push inevitably came to shove: In two separate gang confrontations, the Texans murdered one California inmate and seriously wounded another. Nope, the Arizona election is NOT over yet (Video - stateofthenation.co He lit cigarettes, which led to other small favors, which led to bigger ones. 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. 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. Garcia himself was not a TS member. Sandoval did not know any warden, ranking officer, or CO at Ellis I who did not have at least one snitch. His father died. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Garcia would later say that he told Sandoval shortly after the Arredondo murder, Man, youre in deep shit. 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. Sign Installer Wanted - Fresno California - Employment Job Listings 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. USPS Orders 9,250 Ford E-Transit Vans & 14,000 EV Charging Stations Sandoval felt more at home with fellow Hispanics than with the black inmates, who terrified him. The real picture presents gloomy evidence of who really is in charge at TDCJnot the state, not the guards, but the convicts themselves. Or if they cared to enforce the rule. When Luis Sandoval went to work for the Texas prison system, he did the wrong favors for the wrong people. Two years after . Video cameras monitor the hallways. ), The Sandoval trial was a rare public washing of the Texas penal systems bloodstained linen. Homosexuality was prohibited, yet punks strutted about in their cells, wearing womens panties and makeup. As to everything he had told his investigatorsnone of that was true either, he said. The two inmates snitched for Sandoval and herded him away from troublemakers, admonishing him, Boss, stay away from those guys.. Well, so does the inmate. A Texas man sentenced to 25 years for aggravated assault of a family member was erroneously . Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. The Bloods and the Crips will likely adapt to their new environment just as other inmates do. After its formation in 1986, both the Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia refused to recognize the Aztecas and declared war on the gang. But the system will not change. It was their fault, not his, but someone would have to take the fall. The only witnesses who said that Sandoval had anything to do with the murder of inmate Joe Arredondo were two convicted felons: Carlos Rosas, a Texas Syndicate member who confessed to actually stabbing Arredondo but was offered a favorable deal in exchange for his testimony; and Ruben Ortiz, a convicted murderer and Texas Syndicate sex slave who was paroled after he agreed to testify. BUSTED: 22 alleged gang members accused of running Houston brothels filled with undocumented immigrant s. The answer was always no said former Ellis I officer Nolan McCool, If the opportunity exists, theyre gonna make the hit. Our prisons, far from turning out reformed citizens, have instead become incubators of a statewide crime wave. If they dont make this hit, theyll become the person to get hit. Facebook . Intelligence & Counterterrorism Division . texas syndicate hand signs - creditsolutionexperts.com The gang murders that once took place inside prisons now take place on the streets. Inmates fashioned shanks out of road signs, door hinges, food trays, typewriter platen rods, and field equipment. At a given time, Sandoval would stand guard over hundreds of inmates. Sandoval took a step toward the crashgate but was held back by the more experienced guard. Dale Schaper dutifully typed up his report, and sent it through the proper channels. [3] Syndicate members have been known to carry out contract killings for Los Zetas, the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel. Ten months after the murder, on October 23, 1987, Sandoval was again summoned to the wardens office. I didnt do it, Sandoval announced to me in a recent phone conversation. Conditions were no different on December 17, 1986, which was why Sandoval was given the assignment of B-wing hall boss that afternoon. 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. 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. He was a drug dealer, with connections dating back to his days peddling heroin in El Paso. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. Its a society, Luis Sandoval told me of the world he inhabited five days a week, eight hours a day. (Officials also say the Texas Syndicate is far more selective and does not, for example, recruit homosexuals.) Employees come and go unfrisked, unobserved. 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. texas syndicate hand signs. Is Mexican Cartel Activity In the U.S. Facebook His refusal would prompt the reply, Then Ill tell your supervisor about when you lit my cigarette., At first the young guard spurned the inmates who pestered him, and threatened to write them up for disciplinary action. (Today, Sandoval says that statement was coerced.) And as you work there, you tend to become a product of your environment. Sandoval knew this. Prisoners join gangs, thereby becoming strong, and prey upon the weak. Come on, Sandoval. Whether it's the legal medical marijuana trade or illegal drug-trafficking gangs, it originates from the same criminal sources. Outside, the gang works as many others criminal organizations in the US. Velasquez, No. Blood was gushing out of a hole in his neck; he was unconscious but gasping wildly. Some prisoners do so to affirm and convey gang membership, indicate their rank in that gang, or display their ability to endure pain. But Arredondo had brought back nothing. Several of them testified vigorously that Ellis I was understaffed and overcrowded, and that the unit was riddled with blind spots. 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. Produced by the Texas Joint Crime Information Center . The other factor that has led guards to traffic in drugs is the peculiar morality of Ellis I, where rules are never universally applied and the use of drugs is so widespread that officials have to knowand acceptthat prison guards are involved in the supply chain. Never try to apprehend a fugitive yourself. Not one of them said that Sandoval was a bad officer; many, in fact, went out of their way to laud his abilities. Sandoval weighed his choices. Yes, he had mailed Vicentes letters, had cashed two money orders for the inmate, and on three different occasions, had delivered packages from a parking lot to a telephone booth. Sandoval experienced the escalated violence in the summer of 1985 first hand as he initiated . We know who youre tied to. Prison Gangs - Texas Gang Investigators Association - tgia.net Arredondo was a Texas Syndicate member. The court held that there was sufficient evidence to convict . One was an officer who muled marijuana and cocaine for a black inmate known as Apple Jack, whose activities were no secret at the unit. White Knights (Texas) White Prison Gangs. 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. Texas Department of Public Safety . 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. And the rise of gang activity as evidenced by the rash of shootings we've seen in major metropolitan areas like Chicago and elsewhere is increasingly threatening the very safety and security of both law enforcement officers and the communities we serve, nationwide. I knew he didnt have nothing to do with it. 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. Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. After the trial, Sandovals attorney, Steve Fischer, contacted TDCJ officials and asked them to let bygones be bygones. 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. A court granted the ACLU of Illinois and Black Lives Matter Chicago permission to intervene in the consent decree negotiations. In his first year on the job, Luis Sandoval found himself delivering drugs to a self-described drug runner on behalf of the states deadliest prison gang, the Texas Syndicate. I want to see the mountains, he said. And the courier must possess a particular power: He must be able to walk through walls. We are seeking a detail-oriented sign installer to transport and install a variety of signs. When asked on the witness stand if the hallway was ever undermanned, the reply of Nolan McCoolanother officer working the B-wing that afternoonwas emphatic: Constantly.. But no one suspected a thing. Other gangs also sprang up: the Hermanos de Pistoleros, the Self-Defense Family, the Texas Mafia, the Nuestra Carnales. Full text of "Texas Gangs" . Virtually everyone saw it coming. I just want to take care of my business, he would tell gang members who tried to recruit him. They often victimized members of other smaller gangs and individuals, alienating many Mexican national and Mexican-American inmates. 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. They blew the paycheck on the slot machines; they had a wonderful time. Not everyone was so sympathetic, however. The inmates handed Sandoval a letter, wondering if the guard could mail it for them. Show More Show Less 20 of 32 7. A long, metal objecta homemade knife, or shankprotruded from his jugular. Sandoval picked up the marijuana and smuggled it into Ellis Ifrightened every step of the way, he told me, that someone might notice the smell of marijuana and search him. 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. Murder and Prison Gangs: A Mexican American Experience Inside a Texas Texas Mexican Mafia comes in a distant second with 4,700 members, followed by the Texas Syndicate (3,400 members), Latin Kings (2,100 members) and MS-13 (800 members). Theres no way to shut them down, Sandoval said. Word spread that the Texans were a force to contend with. Sgt. He was pronounced dead at seven that evening, a victim of twenty stab wounds. This would put the Texas Syndicate in contact with several Mexican-based cartels. Not one of them pinned the murder of Joe Arredondo on Sandoval. To get drugs out of the free world and into prison cells, there must be a courier. But that was if they caught him. Some of the states most violent criminals were housed there. The corridor where Joe Arredondo was murdered is now permanently guarded. Lighting an inmates cigarette is considered an act of friendship or favoritism, and favoritism is forbidden by TDCJ rules. 15 Title TEXAS SYNDICATE (ESE TE: TS) History The TS originated in the California prison system in the early 1970s, primarily to protect the small number of native Texan Mexican-American inmates from DEA: Dozens of Texas Syndicate gang members arrested after - KABB Gangs. - 956 RGV Gangs Whoever killed him had to have come through the B-wing hallway and had to have been dripping with blood. Youll drain all the blood to his head. Three other officers arrived on the scene. 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. Other weapons were by-products of inmate ingenuity, as in the case of Cosmo, the death row inmate who fashioned a bomb out of matchstick tips and an asthma inhaler and blew a hole in his cell wall. The Texas Syndicate - YouTube In return, the snitch had an oversized cell to himself, plus a hall pass that gave him the run of the unit. The symbols and meanings behind gang-related tattoos - Chron At Ellis I, Sandoval had never seen so many rules enforced so haphazardly. In contrast, sixteen current or former Ellis I employees testified. What you usually see in any gun buyback program is elderly people turning in old junk guns from some closet or garage where they have sat gathering dust for many years. The money chiefly comes from drugs. But the sudden absence of gang wars did not mean that the gangs had gone away. Drugs come from the free world. The investigators didnt tell me much, nor was I particularly inquisitive, he said. Peaceable inmates who had lost faith in TDCJs ability to protect them now felt less inclined to carry shanks everywhere they went. Sandoval told me that he took the money, though he denied it in court. Texas Syndicate Number eight on our list of biggest organized crime groups in America is the Texas Syndicate, established as a prison gang in order to counter other gangs preying on. former wnct news anchors Twitter. HANDS SIGNS PART 2: SATANIC ALLEGIANCE - Jesus-is-Savior.com The man accused of getting into a police shoot out was a Texas syndicate gang member. Word spread through the unit the way it always had, at bewildering speed: Joe Arredondo was a dead man. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. Post author: Post published: June 10, 2022; Post category: do coyotes eat crows; Post comments: . His wife divorced him. I remember when he yelled fight. As the organization continued growing, drug trafficking came to be one of their favorite activities and sources of income. 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. Most convicts who finish serving their sentence leave the gang life behind, with only a fraction continuing as street thugs. You better get the hell out of here, Sandoval.. Theyre gonna say you were in on it. 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. 10. Prison tattooing is the practice of "getting inked" while behind bars. His assignment was one of the toughest jobs in Ellis I. That afternoon in the interrogation room, Special Prison Prosecution Unit investigator Royce Smithey bore down on Sandoval. 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. Later, Vicente asked the guard if a free world individual could mail Sandoval two money orders, which Sandoval would cash and then bring the $250 to the inmates. 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. LUBBOCK, Texas - Cruz Perez, a/k/a "Travieso," 41, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 327 months in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana distribution conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.. Perez, a member of the Texas Syndicate pled guilty in February 2017 to one count of . In collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies . Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue. On the unit level, the Texas Syndicate is controlled by a chairman who over sees the vice chairman, captain, lieutenant, ser geant of arms, and soldiers. 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. United States v. Velasquez, No. 15-51164 (5th Cir. 2018) Texas Chicano Brotherhood (TCB) Texas Mafia. He just got involved with the wrong people.. On the way home Sandoval asked his cousin to drive the scenic route. 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. 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.. Hes bleeding! He whirled and burst into the B-wing hallway. Armando, I cant jeopardize my life, man., Garcia took the story to the Texas Syndicate. Beneath them in the gang hierarchy are captains, lieutenants, sergeants of arms, and numerous soldiers. texas syndicate hand signs - the-last-spartans.de Texas Chicano Brotherhood 11. texas syndicate hand signs FREE COVID TEST anime characters named levi Book Appointment Now. The assailant was nowhere in sight. Convicted killers and alleged drug traffickers among Texas' 10 Most Federal, state and local police as well as other government officials have succumbed to the money involved in the cannabis cancer. Rivals: Mexican Mafia, Tengo Blast, Nuestra Familia. Youre telling us its a coincidence that you werent down at the end of the hallway? PURCELL: Hey, ChatGPT, Don't Quit Your Day Job Anytime they choseanytimethey could kill him. 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. Armed robberies, the sale of illicit substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, and other crimes remain the main activities of this group. The Texas Syndicate's activities include drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder. Bring on the Shiplap. Source: National Gang Assessment 2009. Recruitment is conducted through social ties and involves a background check to screen for informants.[1]. One of them is fear. Then hed have to do something for us. 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. Now selling hats and. 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. Inmates know their surroundings, and they know that the surroundings are theirs. I dont have any money to get any stamps, Garcia explained. When he sent the letter off to his mother, he knew it wouldnt be long before law enforcement officials discovered his whereabouts. Unfortunately, your shopping bag is empty. 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. 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. 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. 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