When Sandoval told me that, he was sitting in the interrogation room of the Walker County jail in Huntsville, wearing prison whites. Prison units are individually controlled by a local chairman and vice chairman. Sandoval buckled. One of the first things that often happen when these kids are taken is that the local leaders will take them back to their villages and force them tokill their parents. One of them is fear. The federal agency is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. 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. Initiation is one of those controversial topics that has gotten increased negative press in the last few years. [1], The history of the group and documented acts of violence in other jurisdictions warrant their certification as a Security Threat Group. Prison officials could boast that their residents stood less chance of being killed than did the average Texas city dweller. 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 gurney was produced, but the inmate ignored it. While the Texas Syndicate is primarily a prison-based gang, they have many members who operate on the outside. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Everyone wanted informationon the inmates, on their superiors, on their peers. His father died. Thats all they dolook for our weaknesses.. (For that matter, Garcia testified during the trial, outside the presence of the jury, that Sandoval muled drugs countless times.) Sandoval was never searched, he told me, and came to learn that the only way they bust you is if theyre told by a snitch, This guys coming in today., While Sandoval said there were other guardsand even supervisorsinvolved in drug activity, the Texas Syndicate preferred that Garcia deal directly with Sandoval, a fellow Hispanic. He squinted through the smoke and the bars and the memories. 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. Theyre coming in from work, theyre coming out of the tanks to go eat or recreate or go to school or go to the chapel, said Sandoval. Many prison gangs have a generalized standard of who to accept. Prison Gangs, affecting American Prisons atLarge. At a given time, Sandoval would stand guard over hundreds of inmates. Sometimes, members who have a problem or muleta that they need to work off in order to achieve better status with the TS are called upon to perform the ordered task. The system snitches on one mule while protecting another. In 2006, Andres Garcia was arrested for allegedly luring George Garza, a member of rival Valluco prison gang, and then stabbing him to death. What sustains the gangs is money, which inmates use to bribe prison employees. Pascual Salazar, age 36 of Austin, one kilogram or more of heroin. Nothing during three weeks of by-the-book lectures at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice training academy had prepared him for the helplessness he felt as a lone correctional officer constantly surrounded by violent criminals. If several TS members commit a crime, it is not uncommon for one member to demonstrate his loyalty by taking responsibility for the crime in order to shield other TS brothers from the attention of law enforcement. To pay for his legal expenses, his mother sold the family home. Sandoval knew this. Syndicate Initiation: Bradbury Fields (Everfall) Syndicate Initiation: Dayspring Mills (First Light) Syndicate Initiation: Abadier's Anger (Monarch's Bluffs) Syndicate Initiations occur when the Syndicate are chosen as a player's faction . In a sense, you become a convict also.. 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. But they werent enough: A guard like Luis Sandoval would be assigned to a hallway filled with hundreds of inmates. 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. Aventus has hired you to lure the altered wolves to Midnight Den and cull them, then meet him at the Syndicate Enclave to the north-east when you are finished. 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. 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. Juan Carlos Castilleja, age 29 of New Braunfels, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; Roman Gabriel Luna, age 34 of Austin, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine/one kilogram of heroin; Brandon Carrasco, age 21 of Kenedy, TX, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; David Cantu, age 46 of Gonzales, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; John Vera, age 26 of Gonzales, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; Josh Vera, age 26 of Gonzales, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; Lisa Anzaldua, age 31 of Luling, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; Noemi Medina, age 25 of Seguin, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; Paul Villarreal, age 45 of Luling, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; Michael Armstead, age 47 of San Marcos, less than 50 grams of methamphetamine; Steven Klasing, age 37 of Austin, less than 50 grams of methamphetamine/less than 100 grams of heroin; Rafael Salas, age 38 of San Antonio, one kilogram or more of heroin; and. TS members will also assist a fellow member in this pending criminal case. He lit cigarettes, which led to other small favors, which led to bigger ones. Agencies assisting in making arrests include: Karnes County Sheriffs Office, Guadalupe County Sheriffs Office, Comal County Metro Narcotics Task Force, San Marcos Police Department, Hays County Narcotics Task Force and the San Antonio Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some, but not all, TS members have TS tattoos. In total, the gang had an estimated 5,000 members in Juarez and 3,000 in the United States in 2013, Insight Crime reported. I just want to take care of my business, he would tell gang members who tried to recruit him. By the end of the eighties, the public fretting over prison gangs had dissipated. The gangs alleged leader Eduardo Ravela is on the FBIs Top Ten most wanted list. The money chiefly comes from drugs. Initiation into the group comes from other members, and members are required to make a life-long commitment. Ten Ellis I guards who worked with Sandoval testified that they had no knowledge that Sandoval was involved in drug transactions with prison gangs. Theres no way to shut them down, Sandoval said. The Numbers Gangs operate in South Africa and do so both inside and outside of the prison system. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. This time, however, four Internal Affairs officers greeted him inside by reading him his rights and charging him with murder. Scroll through the slideshow for 10 facts you need to know about the Texas-Mexico border gang. To defend themselves against harassment and assault by California prison gangs, they formed their own protection group. Change). Federal, state and local authorities have arrested 17 members and associates of the Texas Syndicate in connection with a methamphetamine/heroin trafficking operation in central Texas announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash, FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, and Gonzales Police Chief Tim Crow. That statistic does not come close to reflecting the actual number of TDCJ employees suspected of involvement in corrupt activities. 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. by . The group control certain parts of major cities in Kenya and generally recruit youths from poor neighborhoods. Dale Schaper dutifully typed up his report, and sent it through the proper channels. The impulse is to accommodate the inmate, since prisonsspiritual wastelands of concrete and metalcry out for random acts of human kindness. Drugs come from the free world. Gangs still terrorize the prisons. I have the Experience and Reputation to Fight for Your Rights. Plain and simple, many young people trying to get into this group are instructed to kill a member of a rival gang. The procedure is referred to as clearing a TS member or running the lights. Members in prison were cleared by exhibiting documentation such as plea agreements, presentence investigation reports, judgments or other case-related document, to enable higher-ranking members to verify that the person to be cleared did not cooperate with law enforcement. Apple Jack protected his mule, however, and though many knew of the officers extracurriculars, the hammer never fell on him. The inmate, a former gang operative now in protective custody, pulled a hand-rolled cigarette out of his white shirt and lit it. Yell fight, he said, but the two officers seemed paralyzed. Prison officials believe that the rivalry between the TS and the Mexican Mafia has produced homicides in Austin, Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and especially San Antonio, where nearly one hundred suspected prison-gang-related murders were committed last year. 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. In your house you can walk around in the dark and not bang your shins because you know every square inch, said a former Ellis I officer. If you last six months in there, youll make it. The roles in the Arredondo hit were decided in either the chow hall or the chapel, where numbers were drawn from a cup. Tejanos were being preyed upon by California prison gangs in some of the most notorious California . The investigators didnt tell me much, nor was I particularly inquisitive, he said. Theyd say, Dont mess with him., The new boot thereby became a feared boss among bosses. [1] Gang members smuggle multikilogram-quantities of powdered cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, and multiton-quantities of marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. for distribution inside and outside prison. texas syndicate initiation. And in March 1991, McDonalds prosecution force indicted yet another Ellis I guard. The Junky Funky Kids, who operate in areas in and around the Cape Flats part of Cape Town, South Africa, are just one of several dangerous gangs that operate in those areas. Recruitment is conducted through social ties and involves a background check to screen for informants.[1]. Examples of coded language indicating that someone is to be eliminated include putting an X over the name of the individual or by referring to this targeted individual as X. Additionally, TS members will state that this targeted individual has a green light, or has been designated as a muleta (problem). 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. 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. On August 26, 1990, a death row inmate proved his loyalty to the Aryan Brotherhood during his daily recreation hour by strangling a black inmate in a recreation yard with a jump rope while the latter was performing oral sex on the former. They have their money. His assignment was one of the toughest jobs in Ellis I. After you sit there for twenty-four hours a day with nothing else to do, you discover all sorts of good hiding places. Added a current officer, The only time that we can find drugs is if an inmate snitches and tells us.. It is important to note that an indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. [4] [5] Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Criminal activity 2 Structure Likewise the gangs allow inmates the opportunity to be free from isolation and as a result to have a support system. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. The packages, he admitted, most likely contained drugs. Can I still get Beyonc tickets? RELATED:Feds: Fugitive Texas elementary teacher tied to hit men, drug running and kidnapping. Word spread through the unit the way it always had, at bewildering speed: Joe Arredondo was a dead man. So it may be a week or a month or a yearbut that hit is on.. If the recruit answers, "I will share my umbrella," he is deemed unworthy of membership and becomes a s*x slave. The Texas Syndicate also operates in state and federal prisons across the United States, with significant activity being reported at FCI Oakdale in Louisiana and San Quentin State Prison in California, as well as some representation in the Florida Department of Corrections. The Bloods and the Crips will likely adapt to their new environment just as other inmates do. One Ellis I officer reported that in 1986, between one hundred and two hundred gallons of chock was discovered on a weekly basis within the unit. Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. One can easily compare joining a gang while in prison to joining a fraternity in college. Anyone who gets through that is considered tough enough to be a member. He was accused of leaving a door unsecured and unguarded as part of a murder plot. 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. We know who youre tied to. During this investigation, authorities seized over 100 kilograms of methamphetamine and multiple firearms attributed to this organization. However, they also have plenty of killers who ruthlessly hunt down members of rival gangs. Like any good criminal organization, there is an interesting ritual for all new members, although there are some variations for different chapters. [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. 826 Hispanic members operate across Texas, including specific reportings in the Coffield Unit, about 60 miles southwest of Tyler, and . gangs in Texas, and they underscore the commitment among law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in Texas to share information and intelligence in order to effectively combat crime and improve public safety. Company profile page for Texas American Syndicate including stock price, company news, press releases, executives, board members, and contact information West Texas Syndicate has always embraced the spirit of a hardworking, relentless underdog. The Department of Public Safety has released its 2015 Texas Gang Threat Assessment report. Garcia himself was not a TS member. The new boots new habit, like everything else, was duly noted by the inmates. 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