55 charged in gang bust targeting Nuestra Familia
A five-year federal investigation centered on the Nuestra Familia prison gang has culminated in charges against 55 individuals, a sprawling collection of cases that lays out what officials say is a highly structured enterprise that has “terrorized neighborhoods.”
Through a flurry of court documents unsealed Thursday, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged alleged gang members in multilevel conspiracy cases that involve crimes including robbery, firearms sale and conspiracy to commit murder. Of the 55 defendants, 28 were charged with racketeering crimes, while the others face charges of drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
Most of Nuestra Familia’s leadership is imprisoned in various California institutions, but still pull the levers for streetlevel enterprises, according to charging documents. The allegations additionally showcase an organized hierarchical structure that extends both inside and outside prison settings, consisting of a series of rankings, dues that were distributed into a banking system and even a “constitution.”
Prosecutors say 12 of the defendants are members of either El Hoyo Palmas or San Jose Grande, two street regiments that pay monthly dues to Nuestra Familia.
Several of the indictments were filed last month but unsealed Thursday, after FBI agents arrested the defendants, officials said.
“The arrests made (Wednesday), most significantly the arrests of the Nuestra Familia leadership, will severely cripple the ability of this criminal enterprise to continue to facilitate crimes in communities throughout the state and help break a decades-old cycle of violence,” Craig Fair, FBI San Francisco special agent in charge, said in a statement.
The case, dubbed Operation Quiet Storm, was deemed “one of the largest gang takedowns in FBI SF division’s history,” officials wrote on the branch’s official Twitter page. “The gangs targeted in this case are responsible for much of the illicit drug distribution and violent crime that has plagued areas throughout CA.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds said the indictments represented “a major law enforcement effort to curb street gang violence.”
“A principal objective of San Jose Grande and El Hoyo Palmas street gangs was to generate profits through narcotics trafficking, robbery, and other criminal activities,” Hinds said in a statement. “The operation demonstrates that this office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will use all the tools at our disposal to quell the violence in our streets.”
Representatives with the Federal Public Defender’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
In one indictment alleging racketeering and drug charges against 22 defendants, prosecutors list 14 instances of conspiracy or attempt to commit murder. Many of these alleged conspiracies transpired in Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga (Fresno County). It was not immediately clear from court filings whether these planned murders were carried out.
Another court filing centered on El Hoyo Palmas gang, alleging that its members conspired to commit murder, assault and robbery. The three counts carry sentences ranging from three to 20 years in prison.
The crimes served multiple purposes, with gang members seeking to enhance the enterprise’s prestige, maintain discipline within their ranks or intimidate members of the community, prosecutors said in court documents.
In another indictment, prosecutors said six alleged members of the San Jose Grande committed more than two dozen crimes including armed robberies, a stabbing and a home invasion — all in order to promote the gang. All six defendants are charged with a single count of racketeering conspiracy, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
While most of the allegations centered around selling or discussing the sale of methamphetamine, the indictment also laid out a handful of alleged crimes that involved violence.
Among them, prosecutors say in 2016 defendant Joshua Hernandez stabbed a former San Jose Grande member several times as punishment and incentive to follow orders. In September 2017, officials said defendant Andrew Anchondo used a firearm to rob an Arco gas station and an employee, according to court documents. And in an SJG meeting in June 2018, prosecutors said members discussed assaulting another member for cooperating with law enforcement.
Alleged members of El Hoyo Palmas gang listed in the indictment are Jose Garcia, Juan Gonzalez, Paul Valenzuela, Caleb Eller, Kyle Leonis and Juan Dominguez. In addition to Hernandez and Anchondo, alleged members of the San Jose Grande charged are Giovanni Coria, Charles Pineda, Eliseo Martinez and Nicholas Mendez.