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THE LONG ARM OF THE OUTLAW

Despite promises from federal officials, gang leaders are still housed together in the same prison

Monterey County Herald | January 20, 2006 Friday
Copyright 2006 Monterey County Herald. All Rights Reserved. Posted with permission.

By JULIA REYNOLDS and GEORGE B. SANCHEZ
Herald Staff Writers

Despite federal prosecutors' assurances that the top Nuestra Familia gang leaders incarcerated in California would be separated in federal prisons throughout the country, all five have been sent to the same place -- Colorado's "Super Max."

The maximum security prison in Florence, Colo., is where other gangs -- notably the Aryan Brotherhood -- have set up national headquarters.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted the gang leaders' state sentences last year, he did so specifically because "separating them into (prisons) across the country would enhance public safety and security in California," said spokeswoman Julie Soderlund.

"It's unacceptable to him that these individuals are together in federal prison," Soderlund said.

Authorities fear that the gang leaders will continue to direct their criminal activities throughout the country.

The U.S. Attorney's Office that urged the governor to commute the sentences, based on the promise of separating, acknowledged Thursday the decision to place them together ultimately was not up to their office.
"As in all cases, we recognize that the (Federal) Bureau of Prisons, after weighing a host of factors, makes the final decision on where inmates will be incarcerated," spokesman Luke Macaulay said.

Separating the gang's leaders was also the main argument used to justify the tremendous cost of the Nuestra Familia prosecution, which some have pinned at $20 million to $30 million. Additionally, it helped the Justice Department recruit the assistance of dozens of law enforcement agencies, including the Monterey County District Attorney's Office, the Salinas Police Department and the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.

Secret codes and tiny notes|

California prison investigators say they have already intercepted messages indicating that the Nuestra Familia has set up a federal "division" led by the five men sent to Florence.

"The members of the Nuestra Familia in the federal system are organizing the other members in federal prison," said Devan Hawkes, a gang specialist at Pelican Bay, California's super-maximum security prison. One message that Hawkes said he personally intercepted included directions to establish communication between Pelican Bay and Florence.

In December, James "Tibbs" Morado, 57, Joseph "Pinky" Hernandez, 56, Gerald "Cuete" Rubalcaba, 50, Cornelio Tristan, 44, and Tex Marin Hernandez, 51, were moved to the federal prison system. Other Nuestra Familia members are housed in federal prisons in California, Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, Hawkes said.

Salinas police, whose investigations and arrests formed a core part of the federal prosecution, were surprised to learn that the five are now housed in one institution.

The point of sending the leaders to separate prisons was to "break up the communications of the Nuestra Familia," said Dino Bardoni, who heads the Monterey County Gang Task Force. That the dispersal has not happened is disturbing to local law enforcement, in light of the gang's history of hiding miniature notes in prison law libraries and passing coded messages inside prison walls.

"There was at least an idea that they'd be split up to different institutions to hamper their communication. They're a prison gang and we know what they're capable of in isolation," said Salinas police Lt. Manny Perrien.

"We, local and federal law enforcement, all hoped they'd be sent to different institutions to break that up."

Perrien remains hopeful the five may yet be separated.

A who's-who prison list|

When the Justice Department planned to move Nuestra Familia leaders into federal prisons, U.S. Attorneys already knew that another prison gang exported from California -- the Aryan Brotherhood -- was able to run its criminal operations from the super high-security unit known as ADX at Florence.

Nearly 100 miles south of Denver, the Florence Federal Complex is one of four federal prisons at the 640-acre complex.

The ADX unit houses some of the biggest names in crime: "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, convicted with Timothy McVeigh for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who helped plot the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid; white supremacist Matthew Hale, who tried to solicit the killing of a federal judge; FBI double agent Robert Hanssen; and Eric Rudolph, who was behind the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta.

Also housed there are members of the Aryan Brotherhood, formed in California in 1964, whose activities have included drug sales, extortion, murder and controlling the sale of prison sex slaves.

After federal indictments more than 20 years ago, the Brotherhood split into two factions, one in California and one in federal prisons, known as the Federal Commission.

In a 2002 federal case based in California, two leaders of the Federal Commission were indicted on charges of conspiring to order multiple killings and assaults from Florence ADX. Barry Byron Mills of Santa Rosa and Tyler Davis Bingham of Sacramento face the federal death penalty in a case that is expected to go to trial Tuesday, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

California gang investigators say the Nuestra Familia has set up a similar system, with a new general based in Pelican Bay running the gang's overall operations in California, and the five leaders now in charge of the federal branch.

Communication experts|

Bureau of Prisons officials would offer no explanation as to why the five landed in the same facility, but said security at Florence ADX is extensive.

"We operate 24/7 under special precautions for all our inmates," Florence ADX spokeswoman Krista Rear said.

Rear and Karla Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, said all inmate mail and telephone calls are monitored by prison staff. Cells are practically soundproof because of triple-layer entrance construction. Inmates can receive visitors behind glass, but visiting rights are granted only to immediate family, attorneys and "persons with a relationship to the inmate prior to incarceration." Inmates also have access to the prison's law library.

While there are several levels of security within the ADX unit, with varying restrictions, at least one of the Nuestra Familia five, Gerald Rubalcaba, has been allowed to make phone calls from the facility. It is not known if the other four have similar privileges.

In many ways, the environment is not unlike Pelican Bay's Security Housing Unit, where the gang leaders were previously housed. As long as they can still receive mail, get phone calls and see visitors, Perrien, of the Salinas Police Department, said, the leaders will figure out how to communicate with other members.

"Even in isolation cells in Pelican Bay, they knew how to communicate," Bardoni said. "They're down for their cause and they've got nothing but time."

Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com.

George B. Sanchez can be reached at 753-6771 or gesanchez@montereyherald.com .

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