January 22,2001 The cells are bone-white and feature little more than a chrome toilet and cement platform with thin mattress and pillow. None of these other [Nuestra Familia members] have a thing to say about [Sir Dyno], Manson says. Lizard first went to prison when he was nineteen. Lizard said he beat Ruiz to a pulp with his fists, bringing his victim close to death. December 12, 1976. Its estimated for every NF member, there are seven La Eme. And he got what he wanted., Out only three months, G.U.N. And he had better news: Nuestra Familia pot and speed were piping through Modesto, Stockton, and Sacramento. In September, the final eight defendants pleaded guilty, following the first thirteen members indicted. Hernandez has conducted himself as a cooperating witness with great dignity and character, a memo from the US Attorneys office stated. Smiley replied that it was true, but not to worry no one was moving on it. Theres no denying Sir Dyno is norteo, but hes careful to explain that a norteo isnt necessarily a gang member, just a Chicano proud of his provenance. 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. Not only does Rocha appear on the cover of the CD wearing the norteo colors (red), reads one motion, but he is seen giving gang signs for the norteos. Lizard has a thick handlebar mustache, broad shoulders, and is engraved with prison tattoos in Old English script. The policy eventually trickled down to county and city jails and even the California Youth Authority. Rubalcaba is accused in court papers of ordering That was enough to send Holguin back to Lizards hotel room to make an arrest. After that, he said, I didnt want any speculation coming my way because we still had meetings to take care of. Lizard said he compensated by assisting in unauthorized drug and arms deals. Sir Dyno was born. 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. The gang's new constitution says the five should still be respected as former leaders, but has stripped them of their power in California. To avoid raising suspicion as a frequent mailer, she set up post-office boxes and had inmates write to other Norteos, who forwarded the correspondence to her. Lizard recalled feeling nothing in the aftermath of the hit. Lizard had made other deals, too. 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. He wanted gang members to start cooking the drug themselves. He offered to cover all production costs and promised Sir Dyno a fifty-fifty split on profits. He pleaded guilty to arranging two murders from prison, and will be sentenced to life in prison in December, along with the gangs generals. Thats when I started pulling away, he says. Again, he uses a kernel of truth to anchor his rhyme, and a metaphor to exaggerate his reality. prison gang are prepared to testify against their top leaders in a At home, Sir Dyno says hes just waiting for the truth to come out, but the phrase emerges like one thats been worn out, a fortification against the harsher truth: He stands to lose everything. When he entered Corcoran State Prison in 1989 for selling cocaine, he joined Nuestra Raza, a recruiting gang for the more esteemed Nuestra Familia. Thats not going to happen. In 2004, when the prison gang's top five leaders were transferred from California to a federal supermaximum prison in Florence, Colo., a struggle for the gang's top positions brewed in Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, the Nuestra Familia's traditional headquarters. He said that after he drove away from a successful arms sale in the South Bay, at which he wore a wire, one of his underbosses called to warn him he was being tailed by a suspicious car, which Lizard knew was the investigator. Then at fourteen, Hernandez began to glimpse a different world. Like other major prison gangs, including the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia issues orders from its power base in the Security Housing Unit of Pelican Bay. Since then, district attorneys from five NorCal counties had teamed up to share unsolved homicide files on dead Norteos. Hoping to curtail the violence, wardens stopped putting Anglos, blacks, and Latinos in cells with one another. Lizard then drove to a house in Stockton, where he tested the powder and sold it to another Norteo. Enter https://www.police1.com/ and click OK. Gratton is the guy whos going to make the entire case against David; its his word against Davids. In a corner of his home thats been scribbled on with black markers by one of his kids, Sir Dyno still works daily, mixing beats on a computer, recording new rhymes, diddling on a keyboard. "He's trying to regroup these guys. Lizard wrote Big Smiley a wila, or small letter the size of a gum wrapper. In his interview with FBI agents the next day, Gratton confessed hed concocted the idea for G.U.N. Cervantes added that hed already followed the couple to the courthouse. And what had germinated inside the prisons was now blooming all across California. 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. I want to be with my family/but I killed a man yesterday.. 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. Or were they? Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Whatever it is, you gotta go to the extreme. 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. As a kid I didnt know anything but religion, he said. Shes not liking it too much. A federal grand jury in San Francisco handed down 21 indictments against gang members, including the three generals and captain Gerald Cuete Rubalcaba. You wont catch me slipping. Investigators ended Operation Black Widow in June of 2001. Fourteen of those charged in federal court in Los Angeles and Santa Ana . He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. It wasnt worth it to me anymore., Yet the claim that the rapper was blissfully unaware of Grattons gang connections doesnt pass the sniff test for law-enforcement guys like Jared Lewis. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. While Nuestra Familia is primarily a Chicano gang, membership sometimes extends to other Latinos as well as non-Latinos. Of the 21 original defendants, nineteen are already certified as Nuestra Familia through the state Department of Corrections. Lizard himself adamantly denied Zilversmits claims, insisting that he pressed for peace in the case of Sanchez. He recorded From the Barrio with Love, taking his name outside California and into pockets of Chicano markets in places such as Phoenix, Denver, and Albuquerque. walls at Pelican Bay State Prison to carry out the crimes. Its not like her life used to be.. Sir Dyno had only been to jail once, following his drug arrest. Within minutes, the gang member confessed his role in Nuestra Familia and offered to trade information for leniency. Lizard said he attacked Huero-T as he slept, pummeling him into a bloody mess until guards pulled him off. The rapper denied this new accusation. Sureos tended to be more-recent immigrants who often disparaged Norteos as second-generation Latinos who groveled for agricultural jobs and neglected their mother tongue, according to Joseph Hernandez, a criminal justice professor at Sacramento State University and expert in Latino gangs. It gives you something to do. In November 1998, he was pulled over on a traffic violation. They were getting orders in and out of that prison in no time. Gerald Marvin Rubalcaba of Visalia, age 45, was arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance Violation Parole: Felony Reckless Driving Evading P.O. Under federal law, its rather easy to be declared a coconspirator in a RICO case. Theres blood on the governments hands here, he said. Sir Dyno accepts this rivalry, and its where many of his raps come from. 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 syndicate's constitution in his rectum, along with the master hit list which, by now, read fifty names long. It wasnt quite the impression he wanted to make. Nato had worked his way up in the ranks from Norteo street thug to membership in the Nuestra Familia prison gang. There was Henry Happy Cervantes, built like a fire hydrant, who got caught on an FBI wire offering to murder two Santa Clara County district attorneys. Read another way, hes merely been persistent in denying his role. I was ready to go, he recalled. Inside Corcoran State Prison, Lizard reported to the ranking commander and heard some troubling news. A small star on his forehead suggested hed killed someone in prison, even though, in truth, he hadnt. They also hardened into gang boundaries on the streets. Maybe hed give me one hundred bucks to shut me up, or fifty bucks to shut me up, he says, or gas money or something.. He reiterated that he told Martinez clearly: no bloodshed., How could I order the hit? he asked. As evidence, family members said, he had a large Aztec goddess tattooed atop the Nuestra Familia logo on his back. 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. 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. Lizard says the drug was merely Vicodin, a pain reliever he took after strenuous workouts at the gym. Though vastly outnumbered, Nuestra Familia distinguished itself by organizing its troops along strict paramilitary lines. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. Now he had to prove he had a mind to match. I was showing them everything., Today, Lizard said he flipped because he was tired of people pushing their own agendas. Assistant US Attorney Steven Gruel responded in court papers that federal agents couldnt be blamed for failing to notify the victim, since Sanchez already knew that he had serious problems with Heredias gang (in fact, he had been hiding). Gruel also offered four instances in which Lizards testimony did lead FBI agents to inform Norteos they were marked for death. And there was ghosting a letter: using a Q-Tip to swab milk or urine to write out orders on a piece of paper. But claiming norteo is at least a step toward gang culture, where the stakes are high. The FBI believes the exchange earned Lizard a quick $3,600. Lizard had been hiding out along the East Coast, a snitch buried deep inside federal protective custody. Henry Happy Cervantes spoke to Lizard alone. The thought of slashing his cousin made no sense. Danny was telling me, But Im not a gang member,' Holguin said. All rights reserved. The words didnt sound right to Lizard. Special Agent Kelly explained to Rocha that he was being placed under arrest for violation of RICO conspiracy, the report states. 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. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). And most of it hung on Lizard. If the underbosses suspected that he was the target of an investigation, they might shun him or worse. They didnt care about agendas like that.. You wouldnt isolate an inmate and make him a target for the other side., But some criminologists now acknowledge that this practice strengthened the gangs. Lizard and the government deny this accusation. It sold, and he knew why. 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. only to sell records. 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. How could he go back in with Cuete wanting him dead? Man, Im from the streets. In 2000, a yard riot launched by gang members ended after 250 inmates were injured, many of them with stab wounds. But witnesses corralled by police later refused to work with the district attorney. Daniel Lizard Hernandez was awakened by an FBI agent at 4 a.m. a few weeks ago. One month later, he was visited by Louie Holguin, a special agent with the Department of Corrections who monitored parolees and prison gangs. David Rochas arrest report depicts a guy caught off guard. But compared to allegations lobbed by San Francisco attorney Marc Zilversmit, the drug and money violations turned out to be the least of the governments worries. The guys I played with didnt care Norteo, Sureo, or what side you were on. Over an ominous keyboard drone, he speaks deliberately, as if issuing a UN speech: The primary purpose and goals of this album is to promote unity amongst each and every one of us as norteos. And when that rhyme ran out, as it usually does, he went where other rappers go to make up for the sudden loss of material: He started making shit up. 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 a way, its a compliment to me. I fear no organization. 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. After a Nuestra Familia-led intifada left Folsom State Prison wet with blood, officials transferred most if not all of that facilitys Norteos to other state institutions. Swab milk or urine to write out orders on a traffic violation on the hands. Trial begins on November 3 jury selection starts this week federal attorneys will use photographs lyrics! 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