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. He just got involved with the wrong people.. We assembled and maintain a team of the best talent with a keen eye on the future. 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. In many places, it is normal to get "jumped in." This time, however, four Internal Affairs officers greeted him inside by reading him his rights and charging him with murder. Syndicate Initiation : Over The Cliffs, And Through The Woods - New WordJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW2N5MbCNEM. The organization, also known as Los Barrios, derives some of its strength through alliances with Mexican drug cartels. College Fraternities are a basis of social support and are a useful means of college students to feel part of a group and not isolated from other college students. That statistic does not come close to reflecting the actual number of TDCJ employees suspected of involvement in corrupt activities. A federal grand jury indictment, returned in Austin and unsealed yesterday, charges those arrested with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. by . He was arrested for driving while intoxicated, following a one-car accident that left his limbs temporarily paralyzed. Apple Jack protected his mule, however, and though many knew of the officers extracurriculars, the hammer never fell on him. Hes bleeding! He whirled and burst into the B-wing hallway. DPS says the 2014 arrest of cartel leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes diminished the gangs influence. They specialize in the usual street crimes including robbery, car theft, drug trafficking, assault, and murder, but the 18th Street Gang is also known to have been involved with human trafficking and illegal immigration initiatives. Give me your shirt, he ordered an inmate and with it applied pressure to the wound. I was a damn good officer, he told both me and them. The decision was reached: Arredondo would be taken down. By that time, things were quiet again at Ellis I. The brutality of the murder, coupled with Sandovals complete inability to prevent it, made quite an impression on the young guard. Change). The answer was always no said former Ellis I officer Nolan McCool, If the opportunity exists, theyre gonna make the hit. 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. Jurors convicted 38-year-old Raul "Fatboy . They will brutally violate any men they wish to join their cause and catch it on video tape. And all you see is white shirts. The threat being that they will show it to that person's family members, destroying them in the eyes of those they love. 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. [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. However, prospects stand ready to carry out decisions made at these meetings as this would help improve their status in the organization. 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. In fact, his disciplinary record was almost spotless, and he enjoyed the privileged position of commissary clerk. 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. 8/21/2008) (Tex. The gang also allies with other gangs including the Mexican Mafia and MS-13. Members of the Texas Syndicate regularly hold meetings (sometimes referred to as barbeques or juntas) where members discuss and vote on important decisions. [1] The Texas Syndicate has approximately 1,300 members, the majority of whom are Mexican American males aged between 20 and 40. Coded language is frequently utilized in order to mislead law enforcement as to the true message contained in the letters or telephone calls. Each society sustains the other, but the economic cycle depends on a vital link, for the supply will not meet the demand unless the product reaches the consumer. That question is something to the effect of "if it is raining, and you have an umbrella but I do not, what would you do?" Even before the call, Luis Sandoval had been sweating bullets. The investigators didnt tell me much, nor was I particularly inquisitive, he said. When a new member is ready to be "patched in," they are instructed to go buy a new pair of jeans and a denim jacket. The roles in the Arredondo hit were decided in either the chow hall or the chapel, where numbers were drawn from a cup. After the trial, Sandovals attorney, Steve Fischer, contacted TDCJ officials and asked them to let bygones be bygones. Receipt of inmates on interstate compact and the current membership in groups with Hispanic and Latino supremacy ideology lend to the threat of an organizing TS within our facilities. When they got there they found Joe Arredondo lying on his back. In 2006, Andres Garcia was arrested for allegedly luring George Garza, a member of rival Valluco prison gang, and then stabbing him to death. Get these inmates in the chapel, he told them. An estimated 70,000 in their ranks, they are as violent as they are numerous, and what was once a Los Angeles-based operation, now has interests across the United States and in Canada. By the mid-1800s, there were street gangs in _____. Yes, he had made the phone calls. Free Quote: 0333 344 7476 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. Today, Sandoval says he mailed the letter and others like it with a kind heart but with bad judgment. And in an institution where judgment allowed some inmates to flaunt dangerous weapons while officials looked the other way, mailing the letter seemed like a minor transgression. Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. On Sandovals shift alone, at least four or five guards had been busted for bringing drugs into prison, but there were others who hadnt been busted and probably never would be. The rules of the Texas Syndicate prohibit the distribution of information regarding fellow members to law enforcement. 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). The new boots new habit, like everything else, was duly noted by the inmates. Their initiation ritual may not be practiced by all chapters these days, but it is pretty simple and disgusting. Guards could still smell burning marijuana and still see inmates giggling to themselves. Other gangs also sprang up: the Hermanos de Pistoleros, the Self-Defense Family, the Texas Mafia, the Nuestra Carnales. RELATED:Feds: Fugitive Texas elementary teacher tied to hit men, drug running and kidnapping. [3] Syndicate members have been known to carry out contract killings for Los Zetas, the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel. Extra guards to supervise the gathering had to come from some other post. Members consider it to be an offense against the organization for a nonmember to have a TS tattoo or assert membership in the Texas Syndicate prior to becoming a full member. He would stand at the searchers desk like he was running the building, Sandoval said. Convicts made primitive ovens out of foil-lined cardboard boxes equipped with a light bulb, and cooked deer or rabbit killed by inmates working in the fields. Leave them on the floor! said Sandoval. But the system will not change. Released or parole members who generate money for the gang must surrender a 10% tax ("the dime") of all proceeds toward the Texas Syndicate in prison. Texas Syndicate Gang Members. We know who youre tied to. Upon graduating from Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014, Joshua joined the Express-News in 2014 as a breaking news reporter. A long, metal objecta homemade knife, or shankprotruded from his jugular. Detention hearings are expected to occur over the next two weeks in U.S. Magistrate Court in Austin for all defendants except May. Here are fifteen of the most troubling and horrifying gang initiation rituals around the world. Their members are behind the killing of a pregnant U.S. consulate and her husband. The letter was not what one might expect from a former prison guard. 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. 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. Every inmate was confined to his cell, stripped of recreation and visitation privileges, and fed sandwiches that guards tossed through the bars of the cell. The next day, a Sunday, the newlyweds threw their possessions into a suitcase and a grocery bag, and drove Sandovals Datsun to Conroe. Tri-City Bombers, Latin Kings and Surenos are more active on a street gang level. Now Turner could be seen pushing trash cans down the hall, twirling his knife in the air; nobody took his knife away. 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. Ruben Mosso, 'El MIlenio" "FBI: Los Zetas - problema de seguridad nacional para EU," January 9, 2008, "Prison Gangs (continued) - Gangs and Security Threat Group Awareness", "Special Issue: Gangs in the United States", "Appendix B. National-Level Street, Prison, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Profiles - Attorney General's Report to Congress on the Growth of Violent Street Gangs in Suburban Areas (UNCLASSIFIED)", http://www.communitycorrections.org/psn/publications/TxGngThrtAssessment2010.pdf, First prison gang remains a force to fear, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Texas_Syndicate&oldid=1123850487, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox criminal organization with ethnicity or ethnic makeup parameters, Pages using infobox criminal organization with rivals parameter, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles with dead external links from June 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Place the Texas Syndicate before anything else, Understand that the Texas Syndicate is always in the right, Keep all gang information within the group, This page was last edited on 26 November 2022, at 01:12. Sandoval knew this. Prison gangs typically have rules on how to gain admission to the gang. When Arredondo got killed, Sandoval was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Without a doubt, the Texas Invitational ("TI") is the pinnacle of high-caliber automotive airfield competition in the United States. As with some of the groups we'll cover in this list, some people will argue that the people involved with Mungiki are innocent victims in a struggle against the Kenyan government, but their operations closely mimic gang activities. 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. 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 group control certain parts of major cities in Kenya and generally recruit youths from poor neighborhoods. Whos on trial here, Louie? demanded the intense and steely-eyed chief prosecutor, Travis McDonald, during his two-hour grilling of Luis Sandoval on May 24, 1991. Many of the gang leaders who had been doing time are now in the free world, spreading the gang network across the state, beyond prison walls. (After the trial, Sandoval became less talkative on the subject of drugs. The Texas Syndicate, including its leadership, membership and associates, constitute an "enterprise" as defined by Title 18, United States Code, Section 1961(4), that is, a group of individuals associated in . He had long since survived the new boots six months of hell. Finally, in areas in which the Gangster Disciples (a rival gang) operate, groups of Latin Kings may drive around showing GD hand symbols and then carry out a drive-by shooting on anyone who flashes the signal back. Sandoval was then ordered to take off his uniform and replace it with inmate furlough clothes. The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. 'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' is at its lowest price yet, W&P Porter bowl review: A container that makes office lunch easy, Get a wireless iWalk portable charger for under $25 on Amazon, 5 of the best umbrellas for gale-force winds, Save on this Mandalorian LEGO set ahead of the season 3 premiere. Back in late 2014, police estimated their numbers to be over 500, but there is no telling how much that number has grown by now. They were founded in Nigeria over a decade ago, but now operate in several African countries. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. The corridor where Joe Arredondo was murdered is now permanently guarded. ISIS calls euphemistically calls this process "marriage"and in many cases, the thought of joining the group is less horrifying for a victim than having to explain to family members what happened. There is then a period of time during which those clothes cannot be washed. Texas Syndicate. 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. All of the defendants remain in federal custody. He was muling, said McDonald. And call for a gurney.. (Fong 41) The fact that the gangs would still find ways to take advantage of people not qualified for their gang, is enough evidence that the gangs in the prison system, find their ways in maintaining power over their victims. Word spread that the Texans were a force to contend with. One of them is fear. This allows members to function with less oversight, especially within the prison system. The majority of what they do is criminal, from extortion to execution. Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Ten months after the murder, on October 23, 1987, Sandoval was again summoned to the wardens office. Hispanic guards, he told both me and them long since survived the boots. The Texans were a force to contend with been sweating bullets criminal, from extortion to execution ago, now. 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