DPS says the 2014 arrest of cartel leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes diminished the gangs influence. Once a gang member is initiated, the recruit is under a blood in blood out oath whereas, they typically make a cut on their arm to symbolize their blood in, and that their only way to leave the gang is death, either from murder from a rival gang, or death for treason. In many places, it is normal to get "jumped in." Conditions were no different on December 17, 1986, which was why Sandoval was given the assignment of B-wing hall boss that afternoon. State, No. Coded language is frequently utilized in order to mislead law enforcement as to the true message contained in the letters or telephone calls. The strict rules and harsh discipline governing the Texas Syndicate help insure that the organizations members and associates function as a continuing unit despite any changes in membership. I dont have any money to get any stamps, Garcia explained. The rules of the Texas Syndicate prohibit the distribution of information regarding fellow members to law enforcement. The letter was not what one might expect from a former prison guard. The gate opened. The system snitches on one mule while protecting another. Coded language is commonly utilized during drug related phone calls. The two inmates snitched for Sandoval and herded him away from troublemakers, admonishing him, Boss, stay away from those guys.. Members of the Texas Syndicate regularly hold meetings (sometimes referred to as barbeques or juntas) where members discuss and vote on important decisions. The most common form of initiation for a male gang member is. To the newer guards, Sandovals stature among the inmates was something to behold. Sandoval put his hand against the wound, looked up, and saw Crippin and McCool standing there, gaping. At Ellis I, Sandoval had never seen so many rules enforced so haphazardly. However, in the world of criminal gangs, where there is concern for nothing more than loyalty, initiation rites take a different and terrifying form. The Bloods and the Crips will likely adapt to their new environment just as other inmates do. Youre telling us its a coincidence that you werent down at the end of the hallway? Between full members and associates both within and outside of the prison system, the group has an estimated membership of around 10,000, and as the name implies, it is a white gang. The inmate staggered forward, blood gushing from his head and neck. Like any good businessman, Garcia kept a close eye on the marketplace. Are you on trial or is TDC on trial?. Youre telling us you saw nothing? There were estimated _____ gang members at this time. And call for a gurney.. 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. By the fall of 1986, several months after the gang lockdown policy had been instituted, Joe Arredondos cockiness began to catch up with him. So dont try. Guards have been instructed to monitor gang activity but have shown an embarrassing inability to do so. The relationships between gangs and cartels are constant, but show no particular loyalties or allegiances. His neck had been slashed; his head was all but severed. The guards were hired. They have more than one ritual to get into the gang, but two of the most common are taking a brutal beating (getting jumped in) and in other cases, recruits are told to murder someone. Aside from drug-related operations, the cartel has numerous other interests, including smuggling organs. Beneath the cosmetic alterations, however, things at Ellis I are just as Sandoval left them. Detention hearings are expected to occur over the next two weeks in U.S. Magistrate Court in Austin for all defendants except May. The DPS projects Bandidos members will attempt to change their public perception by adding new members with clean criminal backgrounds and organizing charity events. Many recruits show up voluntarily, but the group does practice kidnapping and forced recruitment. RELATED:Why 'El Chapo's' beauty queen wife says she is 'afraid for his life'. The murder would take place in a corridor abutting the B-wing: the maximum-security area where Luis Sandoval often worked. Their leader is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted criminals. TS rules are strictly enforced, primarily resulting in violent attacks on and executions of TS members who violate their rules. If he refused to do the favor, they could always snitch on him for lighting an inmates cigarettethough Sandoval didnt think either was that type of inmate. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It was a pleasure to deal with an inmate man to man, for once. Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue. 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. If the recruit answers, "I will share my umbrella," he is deemed unworthy of membership and becomes a s*x slave. So it may be a week or a month or a yearbut that hit is on.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The experiences of being involved in Prison Gangs. According to a report a couple of years ago, children were rescued from a refrigerated van that was linked to this group, and they were thought to have been intended for organ trafficking. After release from prison, a TS member is required to contact the high-ranking member in the geographical area where the released member intends to reside. Then, the new recruit is expected to participate in the kill. If you are switching factions, you will need to leave your company in order to change to Syndicate. Rumor had it that inmate Jesse Turner had stood between an inmate and a prison official and had taken the blade himself. 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. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has initiated a process, which provides a method for inmates who have been assigned to restrictive housing as a member of a security threat group on a previous incarceration, to renounce their membership with the security threat group (STG). He did not turn himself in. There are a couple of rituals that are listed among their practices for new members, including r*ping a woman and sustaining a brutal beating. Scroll through the slideshow for 10 facts you need to know about the Texas-Mexico border gang. Texas Syndicate Gang Members. In fact, his disciplinary record was almost spotless, and he enjoyed the privileged position of commissary clerk. Some of the states most violent criminals were housed there. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. After that first transaction, Sandoval went back for morea total of three, four, or five times, he told me, though he vividly described six transactions to an investigator hired by his family. Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. texas syndicate initiation. Everybody knew about this scum. Yet Apple Jack went unpunished: He tithed a share of his profits to the Texas Syndicate and gave the supervisors something to crow about by setting up a guard now and then. Other chapters of the gang make this cocktail but use the blood of other members and recruits, along with wine and ashes to make it. Chow time meant that vast numbers of inmates would be crowded together in one room. Click Expand to view. The Joint Crime Information Center thanks these agencies and centers for contributing to the production of this assemss ent. He would stand at the searchers desk like he was running the building, Sandoval said. Just as he entered, Sandoval heard someone yell, Hes on the floor! He continued to walk, step after tortured step, a full fifty yards, before collapsing, dead, in the doorway of the infirmary. Dale Schaper dutifully typed up his report, and sent it through the proper channels. Popular on college campuses, most fraternities or sororities still have rites of initiation, but the focus is now being put on making the experience fun and mildly embarrassing, rather than something that causes a new member to need therapy. Such retribution helps enforce loyalty of the organization which is necessary for ensuring the smooth running of the drug distribution business as well as maintaining discipline within the enterprise. Initiation is one of those controversial topics that has gotten increased negative press in the last few years. But for males who want to get into the United Bloods, they usually have to endure a vicious beating (generally 31 seconds) or give a member of a rival gang a "buck-50," which is a slash across the face that requires a hundred and fifty stitches. Texas Syndicate. 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. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. They were founded in Nigeria over a decade ago, but now operate in several African countries. On March 19, the name of Luis Sandoval was called three times in the Walker County courthouse, but the defendant did not respond. (LogOut/ As the free world would have it, there are good inmates and bad inmates. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Peaceable inmates who had lost faith in TDCJs ability to protect them now felt less inclined to carry shanks everywhere they went. For the vast majority of high school and college teams, at least in the United States, there is at least some form of initiation; and these days, most of them are alcohol-based. Rosas would do the killing, while another TS member held Arredondo and two others stood by as lookouts. But Arredondo had brought back nothing. Give me your shirt, he ordered an inmate and with it applied pressure to the wound. TI was developed in 2010 in an effort to create a new breed of automobile competition. Push inevitably came to shove: In two separate gang confrontations, the Texans murdered one California inmate and seriously wounded another. In 2011, the FBI reported that Barrio Azteca also had members in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Garcia himself was not a TS member. The federal agency is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. 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. The Barrio Azteca gang is known to engage in a wide range of criminal activity including contract killing, murder, torture, drug trafficking and human trafficking among other offenses. Sandoval got off in Los Angeles and found his way to Van Nuys, where a cousin put him up in his apartment. Any violation of the rules may result in harsh penalties, including death. Virtually everyone saw it coming. 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. Most gangs will just have their way with female members (referred to as s*xed-in) who want to join. He took up smoking, two packs every eight-hour shift. 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. Ive seen about five new boots take one step out of the control riot-gate and into the main hallway and turn around and say, See you later, said Sandoval. There is little supervision, no governing oversight other than the hierarchy, and quite literally the only purpose of these is to test would-be members to see if they have what it takes to serve the purpose of the group. The youth gangs havent caused trouble yet, but the realities of prison life suggest that this will surely change. The impulse is to accommodate the inmate, since prisonsspiritual wastelands of concrete and metalcry out for random acts of human kindness. Sandoval told me that he took the money, though he denied it in court. Officials knew this meant that every day from three-thirty until after chow time, activities in the narrow corridor went unmonitored. However, they also have plenty of killers who ruthlessly hunt down members of rival gangs. After the lockdown, the murder rate plunged. 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. Do they spread their message and beliefs through peaceful interaction and pamphlets? Prospects are generally not allowed to make decisions or be present inside the meetings and are required to stand outside when such decisions are made. If they dont make this hit, theyll become the person to get hit. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. 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. To the public, the saga of Luis Sandoval will be a shocking revelation of how Texas prisons have spawned an organized crime wave that afflicts the entire state. Symbols : TS, Tejanos, Texas symbols, long horns, demons, horned dragons, cuernos and syndicatos. The next day, a Sunday, the newlyweds threw their possessions into a suitcase and a grocery bag, and drove Sandovals Datsun to Conroe. house for rent waldport oregon; is thanos a villain or anti hero The threat being that they will show it to that person's family members, destroying them in the eyes of those they love. TS membership is comprised predominantly of Texas-born Mexican-American males and operates under a formal paramilitary organizational structure with a constitution and strict established rules. Today supervisors advise guards: We cannot stop a hit. Not one of them said that Sandoval was a bad officer; many, in fact, went out of their way to laud his abilities. (After the trial, Sandoval became less talkative on the subject of drugs. 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. I cant honestly tell you why he did it, said the inmate of Sandoval. The prosecutors of Luis Sandoval not only conceded this but went out of their way to make it part of their case. In 1967, the Nuestra Familia prison gang (which is comprised of inmates from the northern rural areas of California) and the Texas Syndicate (made up of inmates from Texas) formed to defend themselves against the Mexican Mafia (EME), the Aryan Brotherhood, and Black prison gangs that existed in the California penal system. 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. Yet a former prison drug-runner confirmed the obviousthat without the help of TDCJ employees, the flow of drugs into state prisons would dry up. One of them is fear. Bring on the Shiplap? And Sandoval welcomed his company. Texas Syndicate, a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion and narcotics distribution.. Ellis I officials caught wind of the deal through a snitch. Homosexuality was prohibited, yet punks strutted about in their cells, wearing womens panties and makeup. Show More Show Less 20 of 32 7. But the first six months is hell. Sandoval was determined to tough it out. Within prisons, there are a couple of parts to the initiation process. by . Some rules were just too silly to heed. After their verdict was announced on Wednesday, May 29, the jurors milled around outside the courtroom and vented their disgust with the states case to the media. They have an ultra-violent reputation that is well-earned. For several years, they have been using s*xual tactics to get people to join their ranks. 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?" To make identification difficult for prison officials, most gang members no longer wear tattoos. As to everything he had told his investigatorsnone of that was true either, he said. Then he returned to Arredondo. 10 facts about the Barrio Azteca, one of the most dangerous gangs in Texas, Mark Lambie/AP Photo/El Paso Times, Mark Lambie. Scroll through the slideshow for 10 things you need to know about the Barrio Azteca gang. 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. The following day, Chaplain Alexander Taylor, who witnessed Sandovals efforts, wrote the CO III a letter of commendation. Jurors convicted 38-year-old Raul "Fatboy . In 1850, the population of New York City had soared to well over one-half million residents. A week later another juror wrote Sandoval a four-page letter, expressing her chagrin that he had been put through all the agony. At the close of the eighth hour, the shift changes, but the inmates remain. Two years after lighting his first cigarette, Sandoval was arrested and charged with murder for allegedly aiding a gang plot to kill an inmate. When Arredondo got killed, Sandoval was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 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. Their initiation ritual for new recruits includes a pledge but also a bath in a mixture of goat's blood, urine, and tripe. Lighting an inmates cigarette is considered an act of friendship or favoritism, and favoritism is forbidden by TDCJ rules. To pay for his legal expenses, his mother sold the family home. And all you see is white shirts. And the courier must possess a particular power: He must be able to walk through walls. In addition, you will have to deregister from any wars or invasions. Theyre gonna say you were in on it. The order to kill has been given to men as young as 14, with one kid missing his target and then getting killed by police. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. Word spread through the unit the way it always had, at bewildering speed: Joe Arredondo was a dead man. 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. 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. [2], Texas Syndicate members abide by a constitution requiring members to:[1], Additionally, gang leadership is determined by democratic elections, requiring a unanimous decision. Recruits show up voluntarily, but show no particular loyalties or allegiances mule while protecting another of B-wing boss... 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