Helton checked out Grattons business licenses, and learned of Sir Dynos involvement through the music distributor. I kind of paused, Sir Dyno says, adding that he suddenly thought better of asking too many questions. 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. "There's family members still loyal to the guys in the fed," he said, referring to the exiled former generals and captains in Colorado. Sir Dyno claims Gratton lifted tracks from Gang Stories without permission and put them on Cuete to give listeners the impression Sir Dyno was still on North Star. As a kid growing up in this small town, David Rocha was a freestyle BMXer who bounced along on one wheel during Fourth of July parades. At the end of the day he gets to go home.. For now, at least, the final guilty pleas appeared to have pruned back the Blooming Flower. Still, the weekend he got out, he was intent on getting paid. He was a long way from his former East Bay stomping grounds, and hadnt dared visit his wife and children, who still lived locally. There was Henry "Happy" Cervantes, built like . federal racketeering case, according to court papers. Lizard was then ordered to make a move on Jeremiah Ruiz, a Nuestra Familia dropout. At Lizards behest, Crazy Girl opened two bank accounts and made deposits from gang soldiers who were required to remit 25 percent of their profits. Monday. I dont rattle, he said. After several years of upheaval -- stemming largely from the massive federal prosecution called Operation Black Widow -- the top leadership of the Nuestra Familia is once again firmly established. In his FBI interrogation, Gratton never makes it clear whether Sir Dyno knew he was rapping for the mob, or that North Star Records had been set up to launder money. If he went back to Pelican Bay, his elders would be upset to see him. 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 . In a way, its a compliment to me. Its founding fathers adopted the phrase Blood in, blood out, and wrote a fifty-page constitution setting out the organizations bylaws. I could rap political, I could rap street, it doesnt matter, Sir Dyno says. The cells are bone-white and feature little more than a chrome toilet and cement platform with thin mattress and pillow. I can get a gun and go down and do it, he boasted. For instance, if Lizard wrote Hey Love, that meant that every third word was part of the real message. 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. Now he had to prove he had a mind to match. They, in turn, approved hits and issued directives, while prison censors were prevented from reading the supposedly legal correspondence. Lizard wrote Big Smiley a wila, or small letter the size of a gum wrapper. In the meantime, Holguin had talked to Lizards sister and made a plea: Tell Danny to change his life. I want to be with my family/but I killed a man yesterday.. His alleged crime is conspiracy in other words, simply having associated with the men sitting beside him. Time to go, the agent said. They were much smaller than the Mexican Mafia, so they used it to their advantage, gang expert Jared Lewis said. 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. Frias, a 22-year-old Salinas native, maintains that Hernandez, the informant, approved the "green light," the execution order, on Sanchez while working for the FBI. If it read Hello Love!, it was every eighth word. was felt on the streets. Up to that point, Lizard had identified himself as a Sureo, but only when pressed. "He's trying to regroup these guys. Lizard prepared to take the stand against Nuestra Familia. One by one, the street commanders paid their respects. But copies were intercepted in Pelican Bay, giving investigators a heads-up about the leadership changes. Rocha still did not understand the charge or why he was being placed into custody. 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. Lexipol. They werent following what NF was about, he said. But on his way out the door, the veteran agent made Lizard an offer. Gang affiliation in California is often a matter of geography, but for Daniel Hernandez it wasnt that simple. Black tattoo ink scribbled across their forearms and crawled up their necks, and some of them hid stone-faced beneath dark Ray-Ban-style glasses. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. When the five were transferred out of California, Gov. Gerald Marvin Rubalcaba of Visalia, age 45, was arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance Violation Parole: Felony Reckless Driving Evading P.O. For penance, Cuete was allegedly ordered to write an essay on the consequences of being a gossip. , Just as knowledge can be the key, there is strength in numbers; therefore, we norteos can no longer continue to fight against one another. Please subscribe to keep reading. I mean, I would think not, but you better have some realness to it if youre going to rap that way., Despite his marketed image, Sir Dyno now claims hes never known anyone who died from gang warfare, never had anyone close to him go off to prison. Hed began his criminal career as a teenage norteo gang member, pulling off smash-and-grab robberies of jewelry stores. This was our college, Lizard said. After Gratton ratted out his fellow gang members one by one, offering a list of 350 names, he was moved into the federal Witness Relocation Program. After Gratton stabbed an enemy in Corcoran, he was transferred to Pelican Bays infamous Secured Housing Unit the college for prison gangsters. And in every fashion when necessity called for it, I wanted the NF hierarchy to recognize my loyalty and dedication to NF. Since his first arrest, hes produced a new CD nearly every month. Sir Dyno accepts this rivalry, and its where many of his raps come from. The risks had Lizard thinking. What if you get away with it? But Lizards exploits show how prison policies adopted to control gangs such as Nuestra Familia may actually have helped them bloom. Under the federal RICO laws used to indict criminal organizations like Nuestra Familia, anyone who knowingly associates with one member of a gang becomes part of it and if the gang goes down, so does he. According to Lizard and FBI informants, the accounts held up to $25,000. prison gang are prepared to testify against their top leaders in a Preparing is something someone whos trying to hide their guilt would do, he says, fingering a synthesizer keyboard in his studio. Lizard claimed Norteo. January 22,2001 They were getting orders in and out of that prison in no time. Within minutes, the gang member confessed his role in Nuestra Familia and offered to trade information for leniency. Dyno has since expanded his own label, Darkroom Studios, starred in three independent movies, and penned a fictional autobiography about a gangster named Joaquin who takes up arms for the Zapatistas. Sicc OG. ', All of the early motions from Gruel and his team of US prosecutors pointed only to Sir Dynos role in making the album. Danny was telling me, But Im not a gang member,' Holguin said. Not long after Gang Stories came out, Gratton released North Stars second title, a compilation called Cuete. In 2000, a yard riot launched by gang members ended after 250 inmates were injured, many of them with stab wounds. Hed loaded up the hit list and was feuding with two of the generals while angling for a promotion. Copyright 2023 How could he go back in with Cuete wanting him dead? Lizard has a thick handlebar mustache, broad shoulders, and is engraved with prison tattoos in Old English script. In his interview with FBI agents the next day, Gratton confessed hed concocted the idea for G.U.N. It is a form of psychological torture." Perez says that, after the initial arrests of the five, attempts were made to persuade them to plead guilty or inform on their co-defendants and on Cuba by . His shackled codefendants didnt even look at him as he took his seat among them. Around 6:30 p.m. on April 19, 1999, Brown Bob was watering his roses. The California Supreme Court is now reviewing a case that questions whether inmates can be segregated for their first sixty days at reception prisons such as San Quentin. The former leaders include James "Tibbs" Morado, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, Cornelio Tristan, and Tex Marin Hernandez. Holguin and his team came up empty that night. After sentencing, leadership of the organization will be dispersed across the country, while new members look to fill the void. Membership. And though prison officials recently reorganized the housing in a way that slows down gang communications, coded directives are still smuggled out that translate to violence in California cities and farm towns. I was doing it as a smokescreen. Despite the governor's complaints, all five are still housed in the same supermax unit. Otherwise, he was free to go about his business. Joe Gonzales orders the murder of familiano Richard Hernandez for failing to carry out orders. The only way to sell was to shock, he says. In all, 21 people were indicted in the FBIs three-year investigation into Nuestra Familia, code-named Operation Black Widow. Lexipol. From inside Pelican Bay State Prison, Lizard had served as the brutally violent gangs principal secretary, helping inmates in solitary confinement set up bank accounts in Idaho, direct drug sales across Northern California, and even order murders. His most recent, Engrave These Words on My Stone, is probably his most cathartic, if not authentic. Its not like her life used to be.. Nobody expects you to rap exactly what your life is. You gotta understand, all these guys made their own choices, he said. Even though he was broke and sleeping on friends couches, Sir Dyno felt he was on the cusp of the big time, ready to break. Sir Dyno claims Gratton stiffed him on payments a few months after the CD hit the streets, and that he never worked with the dude again. 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. On the back cover, he stands next to Gratton, flashing XIV signs. The founder of the failed company is Sam Bankman-Fried. They let in only the guys who followed the rules to the T, and bought into the cause. For this outburst, prison administrators shipped Lizard off to Pelican Bay State Prison the last stop for riders. In the days following the indictments, his FBI handlers put him on a plane headed for the East Coast. and manufacturers. Now, the legal definition rests simply on whether a person has a slight connection to the mob. If he stayed in Corcoran, hed have to watch his back for young Norteos. Under federal law, its rather easy to be declared a coconspirator in a RICO case. 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