The DPS projects Bandidos members will attempt to change their public perception by adding new members with clean criminal backgrounds and organizing charity events. In 2011, the FBI reported that Barrio Azteca also had members in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. 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. The Bloods and the Crips will likely adapt to their new environment just as other inmates do. Compared with Luis Sandovals quiet life in Alice, Ellis I must have seemed like an opium den. (LogOut/ Without a doubt, the Texas Invitational ("TI") is the pinnacle of high-caliber automotive airfield competition in the United States. Take over the hallway for me, Sandoval said to his subordinate while handing him his keys. Given the size of the gang and the number of areas in which they operate, there are a few initiation rituals. The 1,577 gang members currently housed in administrative segregation represent only a fraction of those inmates who actually do the gangs bidding. Extra guards to supervise the gathering had to come from some other post. Most new members are initiated in a two-step process. Arredondo took the two hundred dollars, went home, and blew the money. But things got more interesting when Internal Affairs investigator Dale Schaper walked into the room and handed Sandoval copies of his phone records, showing that 25 phone calls he had made on Vicentes behalf were to a high-ranking TS official named Felix Benavidez. It is a method of psychologically breaking a kid and has been used in many war zones in recent years, including Joseph Kony in Uganda and the Sierra Leone conflict. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. Rank is taking care of them.. Although, they do have alliances with some Hispanic gangs. Coded language is commonly utilized during drug related phone calls. App., 2008) On Dec. 21, 2006, Texas Syndicate members are arrested for the contract killing of Julio A. Serrano. 826 Hispanic members operate across Texas, including specific reportings in the Coffield Unit, about 60 miles southwest of Tyler, and . He would stand at the searchers desk like he was running the building, Sandoval said. But now that seemed the least of Luis Sandovals worries. Scroll through the slideshow for 10 things you need to know about the Barrio Azteca gang. RELATED:21 alleged members of drug cartel-affiliated Barrio Azteca gang arrested in West Texas. (LogOut/ His wife divorced him. Initiation is one of those controversial topics that has gotten increased negative press in the last few years. If you are switching factions, you will need to leave your company in order to change to Syndicate. 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). Ellis I officials caught wind of the deal through a snitch. When asked on the witness stand if the hallway was ever undermanned, the reply of Nolan McCoolanother officer working the B-wing that afternoonwas emphatic: Constantly.. During August and September of 1985, a long-standing rivalry between the Mexican Mafia and the TS exploded into a free-for-all throughout the prison system, leaving eleven inmates dead. Video cameras monitor the hallways. He lives in Ottawa, Canada, a desolate wasteland that nobody should call home. Sandoval did not tell his mother why he was such a vulnerable candidate. He had long since survived the new boots six months of hell. During this investigation, authorities seized over 100 kilograms of methamphetamine and multiple firearms attributed to this organization. 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. Homosexuality was prohibited, yet punks strutted about in their cells, wearing womens panties and makeup. The west end of the B-wing hallway was left unguarded after three-thirty every afternoon, when the guard normally stationed there was transferred to the chow hall. 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. When asked about it, Sandoval testified that the report merely contained Schapers accusations, which Sandoval denied then and would deny now, under oath. The threat being that they will show it to that person's family members, destroying them in the eyes of those they love. This group is one of the deadliest and most disgusting on Earth and employ many methods when it comes to spreading terror. Company profile page for Texas American Syndicate including stock price, company news, press releases, executives, board members, and contact information But no one suspected a thing. It took the jury 33 minutes to decide that Sandoval was not guilty. In his first year on the job, Luis Sandoval found himself delivering drugs to a self-described drug runner on behalf of the states deadliest prison gang, the Texas Syndicate. A long, metal objecta homemade knife, or shankprotruded from his jugular. Members of the TS are bound by a set of strict rules which ensure loyalty to and participation in the enterprises criminal activities. Garcia, of course, could snitch to the Ellis I authorities. Ten Ellis I guards who worked with Sandoval testified that they had no knowledge that Sandoval was involved in drug transactions with prison gangs. Detention hearings are expected to occur over the next two weeks in U.S. Magistrate Court in Austin for all defendants except May. 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. The blacks, in turn, formed the Mandingo Warriors. When Arredondo got killed, Sandoval was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 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. Sandoval is one of more than sixty TDCJ guards who have been indicted by McDonalds Special Prison Prosecution Unit over the past six years for felony offenses. Just like in the free world. 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. The Texas Syndicate 2,082 views Jun 18, 2022 62 Dislike Share Save Gangsters Cops and Politicians 3.4K subscribers Gang Expert Gabe Morales discusses the California roots of the Texas. TS members will also assist a fellow member in this pending criminal case. Now it was May 1991, and Sandoval was behind bars, his fate in the hands of a Huntsville jury. Leave them on the floor! said Sandoval. He squinted through the smoke and the bars and the memories. Twelve days later, Texas chief prison prosecutor Travis McDonald flew to L.A., took custody of Sandoval, and flew him back to Huntsville, where he was held without bond at the Walker County jail. Some are disgusting, some are dehumanizing and shocking, while others are just confusing. If a muleta is ordered, the TS will refer to this muleta or order as having a green light.. The decision was reached: Arredondo would be taken down. The next day, a Sunday, the newlyweds threw their possessions into a suitcase and a grocery bag, and drove Sandovals Datsun to Conroe. Sandoval knew this. Other gangs have a voting system to determine whether the member is initiated or not. As to everything he had told his investigatorsnone of that was true either, he said. 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. A federal grand jury indictment, returned in Austin and unsealed yesterday, charges those arrested with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. a. being sexed in. 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. Tango Blast, Aryan Brotherhood and Aryan Circle are the most active prison gangs in the region. Employees come and go unfrisked, unobserved. Prisons, crammed with thrill-seekers and outright junkies, provide the ultimate captive consumers. Sometimes, that person is allowed to chose between taking out a prison guard or a rival gang member, but other times, the decision is made by the member in a position of leadership. 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. On the outside, the operation is run very much like a business, while inside the prison is where activities are ruthless and violent, particularly within the realm of initiation. And each gang, after accomplishing the first objective of protection from other gangs, preyed on inmates who would buy drugs or sex or who could be intimidated into giving sex or buying protection. He was a drug dealer, with connections dating back to his days peddling heroin in El Paso. If the recruit answers, "I will share my umbrella," he is deemed unworthy of membership and becomes a s*x slave. texas syndicate initiation. If the question is answered correctly, he is then tasked with either stabbing another prisoner or a guard. Leave them blank to get signed up. 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. The investigators didnt tell me much, nor was I particularly inquisitive, he said. On another occasion, Vicente asked Sandoval to deliver the phone message that Vicente needed money to buy arts and crafts supplies. When cocaine is available, the supplier might tell his customers that he had work available. The next day, Sandoval recalled, I walked into work feeling good. Anytime they choseanytimethey could kill him. However, they also have plenty of killers who ruthlessly hunt down members of rival gangs. Several weeks after the jurys verdict, he told me over the phone that he wished to recant everything he had said to me on tape about his involvement with drugs. The field for their activities, though fertile, was finite, thus making turf wars inevitable. It was their house, not his or the states. 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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. I had the burden lifted from my shoulders., You have these inmates, said an Ellis I correctional officer, where you write em up [for rule infractions] and nothing happens. Categories Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted. Texas Mexican Mafia comes in a distant second with 4,700 members, followed by the Texas Syndicate (3,400 members), Latin Kings (2,100 members) and MS-13 (800 members). The majority of what they do is criminal, from extortion to execution. On March 19, the name of Luis Sandoval was called three times in the Walker County courthouse, but the defendant did not respond. Id say about eighty percent of the inmates knew he was dealing clamed one inmate who was close to the action. 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. But the defendants earnest tone suggested that this was itself an injusticethat the prison system had asked the impossible of prison guards and was now punishing Sandoval for the states shortcomings. 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. ), the group has somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 members across the United States (mainly on the east coast), in Canada, Mexico, and in several countries in central America. Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue. They were founded in Nigeria over a decade ago, but now operate in several African countries. Had Schapers investigation been thorough, this denial might have seemed implausible to the jury. He did so and, he told me, was then given $50 by the inmates. Although obtaining TS-related tattoos was once a common practice, some TS members now avoid obtaining tattoos in order to shield their association with the TS from law enforcement. 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. For several days, Sandoval read the Bible and considered his options. By now he was a CO III, an old boot, and he had trained many of the guards who now worked with him. Prisoners join gangs, thereby becoming strong, and prey upon the weak. DPS also cited the 2014 indictment of 55 Barrio Azteca members and associates as handicapping the gang's effectiveness. Recalling the letter deliveries and phone messages, Sandoval might have wondered just what he had gotten himself into and how deeply. 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). But, he insisted, that didnt make him a murderer. Some rules were just too silly to heed. Sandoval weighed his choices. 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.. A TS member will attempt to discover the evidence that will be used against the fellow member or discover the names of the witness of witnesses who will provide testimony in trial. The enterprise constitutes an ongoing organization whose members function as a continuing unit for a common purpose of achieving the objectives of the enterprise. 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 . Once out of prison, many TS members continue to commit violent offenses, narcotics-related offenses, and other illegal activities in the area of the country where the members are living and associating with each other. Rumor had it that inmate Jesse Turner had stood between an inmate and a prison official and had taken the blade himself. [1] The Texas Syndicate has approximately 1,300 members, the majority of whom are Mexican American males aged between 20 and 40. First, they have to kill a rival gang member, and once their kill has been confirmed, they are brutally beaten by other members while local leaders count to thirteen slowly. Armando, I cant jeopardize my life, man., Garcia took the story to the Texas Syndicate. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Officials knew this meant that every day from three-thirty until after chow time, activities in the narrow corridor went unmonitored. West Texas Syndicate has always embraced the spirit of a hardworking, relentless underdog. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. The gang is commonly referred to as Sindicato Tejano, Ese Te, Twisted Sister, Teresa Sanchez and Cuernos. Seventeen San Antonio-based members of the Texas (TS) have been charged by federal grand jury indictment with conspiring to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt (RICO . Ranking structure : Paramilitary/Buisness Territory : Houston . Other inmates reacted to the TS as the TS members had first responded to California gang harassment. I didnt do it, Sandoval announced to me in a recent phone conversation. Lighting an inmates cigarette is considered an act of friendship or favoritism, and favoritism is forbidden by TDCJ rules. The rules of the Texas Syndicate prohibit the distribution of information regarding fellow members to law enforcement. According to a US Justice Department press release: Texas Syndicate, a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion and narcotics distribution. On the other hand, if his superiors caught him delivering inmate mail, they could fire him on the spot. 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. The guard said he wasnt tied to anyone. 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