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Nuestra Familia — Part 1

52 pages · May 11, 2026 · Document date: Mar 11, 1977 · Broad topic: Organized Crime · Topic: Nuestra Familia · 51 pages OCR'd
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imnyediately arrested by un- what it's likadetrpagd burn dercuver agents of the Judi- the Malia. cial Police and charged with Lopez and “Colorade” Joe mugder. Arias. a parolee from San kok ok Quentin. met in the spring of , 1972 in the Los Angeles area ehe Mexican Mafia system They decided that an ideal d for running heroin across 1 aot for heroin lay in the ihe border is simple and foolproof. It might be de- San Fernando Valley, home scribed as a self-help pro- ican community. gram for ex-convicls. “Arias, a ranking Maba A Southern California Def lieutenant. was supplied partment of Corrections int with a late.model black Lin- vealigator described it this} oom atong with clothes and | Way: money by. organization fin- | “Suppose you've just bee anciers, said a Department | released from Quentin with of Corrections investigator. {5 in your pocket, Yougoto In late summer, the pair @ L.A. area and look up journcyed to Tijuana where Jour brothers whoall served they met Albert “Beto” Ra- fime with you. _— mirez, then another Mafia “They supply you with g heroin dealer established in Cat, some clothes and alit- the Bullring area of the tle bread. town. ' “You jump ia your car , rr) ant head for Td, ” Fugitive Ramirez is a fugitive from California wanted in San Bernardino County for her- oin sales. Fight: ounces of the fami- liar brown Mexican narcotic was consigned to Arias and Lopez by Ramirez. Arias an¢ Lopez returned to the First Time “Now this is the first time you're buying dope in Mexi- 1. You're sure to get ripped f because everybody gets pped off the first time they yring some muney into Mex- ica, “But your Mafia brothers can contact a member of the organization and he'll front xutt_ the dope on consign- Intent. - “You take the stuff north gnd sell it In L.A. or Frisco ind then you return the gkim to the urganization.” The “skim” is usually 10 pervent of the money earned from street sales of the her- oin, narcotics officers said. That nioney, deposited in bank accounts in the names of ranking Mafia members, AS used (0 expand the dope suiugeling network or to pay ‘off certain Mexican officials. 8. x k & ent heroin and $1060 in cash. dJinymy Lopez, 2 3% year = Arias. upon returning to old Chin> state prison parol~ town, discovered Lopez had ee, found out the hard way absconded Witrthetiope and . they went into business in August, 1972, investigators say. . and a number of other per- sons were arrested outside a San Bernardino drug store for shaplifting. Arias was out of town at the time. The following day, Lopez{ ‘was bailed out of jail and, disappeared in the 1967 Ply; mouth he was using at the! time. ; 4 16 Trung Loadea In the Plymouth's trunk, investigators believe, was a cache of three ounces of un- for a large Mexican-Anver- - money. went looking for his former partner. Qn Sept. 16. 1972, River. sige County. deputies found Lopez’ battered body in some scrub bushes in Reche Canyon. The killer first shot his victim in. non-vital areas. Then, while Lopez was kneeling. he was worked over with a screwdriver. Finally, he was shot in the head and heart. “TE you give the Mafia a bad name or you burn the Mafia. there’s only one pun-- ishment and that's death,” a Riverside County investiga- tor said. Arias is sought for the Lopez murder, &* * & Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia heroin dealers work in every major California population center. prison in- vestigators believe. Mafia territory includes San Franciseo (primarily in the Mission District), Los Angeles, Sacramento, Fres- 1 no and Bakersfield. Familia dealers are known to serye San Jose, the Imperial Valley and Oxnard. Likewise, the two gangs prisons, Mafia and the Familia art. ed at’San Queitin in p- tember, 1968, over fifty lea gangs have been Killed i State prisons, Guthrie said, _ Another 200 non-tatal knif- ings and beatings have been linked to the bloody atrag- x & & The war almost ended ma truce. until a fateful Decem- ber day last year in the maximum security section of Chino prison. Rudy “Cheyenne” Cadena was returning from a meal when his body suddenly Plammeted from a_ third ier walkway in the ns adjustment center, Prise Although Cadena’s hea smashed into the con floor, he never felt it, convicted robber and m derer was dead before he the ground, When guards reached the ay, there were over 56 Slashing knife wounds from ] Cadena's head to waist. « ‘Set Up? “He had been set up,” San Bernardino area where ' have divided up California's Said a prison investigator. “They got him when he least Rackets in Folsonand San expected it.” Quentin prisons are both : Soledad, Duel Vocational fn- members control rackets in stitute in Tracy and aeh| At the time of his death, Iu early September, Lopez Mafia controlled. Familia {cadena was trying to forge an end to hostilities between the Mafia and Nuestra Fa- milia. As the undisputed rehabilitation center. leader of the Mafia, he had ooo. sent word to dozens of other ‘Hit is Proof Matia leaders asking thei Contre! of a prison like fiews on a truce. ; San Quentin means $4n2 | Ironically, when Caden leaders Tun the rackets: igied, investigators te dope. canteen ducats, bona- he was unaware that: most roo ipressed and starched! brotherhood members were denims, cigarettes ‘used as violently opposed . prison currency) and homo- ¥ opposed to a truce sexual prostitution. Coded Me New inductees in either Ssages roup are usually required Chino guards, it was lat a prove themselves by mak- learned, knew Caden ee ing a “hit” ‘against an or- ganization enemier————» Since the war between the a
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