A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. No member is permitted to break away from the group. Then he returned to Arredondo. The guard made the call, apparently unaware that such messages, and the letters, might contain coded instructions from a prison drug-runner to a high-ranking member of the Texas Syndicate. We in the free world classify inmates according to motivation: those who do not wish to live a life of crime and those who know no other life; those who wish only to do their time and get out and those who function best in a kill-or-be-killed environment. The blacks, in turn, formed the Mandingo Warriors. (Fong 41) The fact that the gangs would still find ways to take advantage of people not qualified for their gang, is enough evidence that the gangs in the prison system, find their ways in maintaining power over their victims. A federal grand jury indictment, returned in Austin and unsealed yesterday, charges those arrested with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Upon conviction of the drug trafficking charge: Castilleja, Luna, Salazar, Salas and Alvarez face between ten years and life in federal prison; Jimenez-Jaimes, Carrasco, Cantu, Accord, John Vera, Josh Vera, Anzaldua, Medina, Villarreal and May face between five and 40 years in federal prison; Armstead and Klasing face up to 20 years in federal prison based on their involvement, drug type and drug amount involved. 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. 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 the tenements across the street from the Texas A&I University stadium lived a fifteen-year-old girl named Veronica, whom he married on June 22, 1985, after learning that TDCJ had accepted his application for employment as a correctional officer, or CO. 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). Some, but not all, TS members have TS tattoos. Assistant U.S. In 1978, in California, making the Texas Syndicate the oldest prison gang in Texas' history. The impulse is to accommodate the inmate, since prisonsspiritual wastelands of concrete and metalcry out for random acts of human kindness. The packages, he admitted, most likely contained drugs. Peaceable inmates who had lost faith in TDCJs ability to protect them now felt less inclined to carry shanks everywhere they went. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The Texas Syndicate originated in the early 1970s in the California prison system as a response to other prison gangs that were preying on native Texan inmates. Gangs didnt worry about guards; they worried about each other. Prison officials could boast that their residents stood less chance of being killed than did the average Texas city dweller. After being released from California prisons these inmates returned to Texas, often returning to violence and re-entering the prison system. Word spread that the Texans were a force to contend with. Tejanos were being preyed upon by California prison gangs in some of the most notorious California . It revealed a world where drugs and weapons are freely available to inmates, where murderous prison gangs control inmate behavior far more than prison guards do, and where the guardians of law and order have just as much trouble distinguishing right from wrong as do the inmates they are watching. To defend themselves against harassment and assault by California prison gangs, they formed their own protection group. Though inmates werent allowed needles for tattooing, resident artists took to using the metal pieces of windup toys. Our nation-wide commitment to reducing gun crime in America, Report Waste, Fraud, Abuse or Misconduct to the Inspector General, Find Help and Information for Crime Victims, Register, Apply for Permits, or Request Records. For about three months thereafter, while state officials sought a long-term solution, every prison unit experienced a total lockdown. Leave them on the floor! said Sandoval. 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. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. Arredondo took the two hundred dollars, went home, and blew the money. He took up smoking, two packs every eight-hour shift. 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. 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. Cocaine might be referred to by many names including sheet rock, girls, teenager, teener, french fries, bacon, white shirt and flour. Marijuana might be referred to by names including elbows, feed, stuff for horses, hay for horses, green and grass. Methamphetamines were commonly referred to as ice, crystal, windshields, the cold stuff and yellow. Suppliers and customers also use abbreviated numbers to indicate quantity and price, such as an order for a whole onion that costs at least 7 bucks, meaning that an order of an ounce of cocaine would cost $700. If you tell him, Put that knife down, hell look up at you and say, I aint through yet. These people are serious. On the fourth day of the Sandoval trial, as if to punctuate the implicit warning in the testimony that gangs till thrived within the system, a member of the Mexican Mafia stabbed a Hermano de Pistolero to death at the Eastham Unit. 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. Joshua Fechter is a reporter covering City Hall and San Antonio politics for the Express-News. The enterprise constitutes an ongoing organization whose members function as a continuing unit for a common purpose of achieving the objectives of the enterprise. His assignment was one of the toughest jobs in Ellis I. It took months before someone looked closely at the gas mask featured on the patch and realized that every correctional officer at the unit had been wearing the letters TS across his forehead. 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. Tango Blast, Aryan Brotherhood and Aryan Circle are the most active prison gangs in the region. Were he to pay his old workplace a visit, Luis Sandoval would notice several changes at Ellis I. I looked up and as he was running by, he looked at melike he wanted to cry, you know? The DPS projects Bandidos members will attempt to change their public perception by adding new members with clean criminal backgrounds and organizing charity events. 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. 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 TS will not hesitate to kill anyone who interferes with the business of the gang or who commits a violation of Texas Syndicate rules. All of above. [4][5], The Texas Syndicate was established at Folsom State Prison in California in 1978 in direct response to the other California prison gangs, notably the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, which were attempting to prey on native Texas inmates. Around the same time, prison officials expressed concern about the fifty or sixty members of the two Los Angeles-based black street gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, that had recently entered the system. Although, they do have alliances with some Hispanic gangs. 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. Guards could still smell burning marijuana and still see inmates giggling to themselves. The Texas Syndicate, a prison gang that operates in and outside of penitentiaries, is considered by state law-enforcement officials to be among the most dangerous criminal organizations in. 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. RELATED:21 alleged members of drug cartel-affiliated Barrio Azteca gang arrested in West Texas. The gang mostly deals drugs, with Oxycontin, heroin, and crack being the big ticket money-makers. Sandoval came to enjoy these moments. Then, he is deemed fit to join the gang. 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. Members of the TS are bound by a set of strict rules which ensure loyalty to and participation in the enterprises criminal activities. McCool opened the picket gate to allow Sandoval into the rest room. But other factors have caused guards to agree to be drug mules. 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. Running Into Fire: The Legacy of Jeff Blackburn, The Apache, the Irish Catholic Priest, and a 40-Year-Old Miscarriage of Justice, An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake, How the Texas Rangers Became One of the Most Powerful Forces in the State, How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. In some cases, a recruit is instructed to kill two people; either way, a murder is involved. The rules require that a member continue his participation in the organization upon his release from prison. 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. Then hed have to do something for us. However, it counts among its rivals some cartel heavyweights such as the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by notorious drug lordJoaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 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. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. At a given time, Sandoval would stand guard over hundreds of inmates. Youre telling us its a coincidence that you werent down at the end of the hallway? Texas chain with San Antonio bakeries files for bankruptcy, Report: San Antonio Rep. 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There are a few different methods of initiation in this gang. That first week, as he chatted with one of the old boots, the cry came from somewhere behind him: Help me, Boss! Turning around, Sandoval saw a Hispanic inmate standing behind a hallway crash-gate, clinging to the bars with both hands. texas syndicate initiation. They are affiliated with local prison gangs and often stock their ranks with young children, some in their early teens (not an uncommon practice for gangs in general). On March 19, the name of Luis Sandoval was called three times in the Walker County courthouse, but the defendant did not respond. There are examples of people dying or being seriously injured during initiation stunts gone wrong. During this investigation, authorities seized over 100 kilograms of methamphetamine and multiple firearms attributed to this organization. In addition, you will have to deregister from any wars or invasions. 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. Apple Jack protected his mule, however, and though many knew of the officers extracurriculars, the hammer never fell on him. A deal was struck between the gang and Garcia: Garcia would acquire the drugs, give half to the Texas Syndicate, and sell the other half himself. Scroll through the slideshow for 10 things you need to know about the Barrio Azteca gang. I didnt do it, Sandoval announced to me in a recent phone conversation. 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. The group control certain parts of major cities in Kenya and generally recruit youths from poor neighborhoods. 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