A former Texas Mexican Mafia member, Joe Morales, explained this process of escalation. Roberto Saviano, The Italian writer, a good expert of Neapolitan Camorra and the Italian mafia in general, spoke of the Albanian mafia as a no longer foreign mafia to Italy and stressed that the Albanians and Italians have a "brotherly" relationship between each other. [ March 4, 2023 ] Mayor Sylvester Turner expects the state will soon take over Houston ISD Current News [ March 4, 2023 ] Texas school districts face millions in extra costs as state program backing bond debt hits its limit Education [ March 4, 2023 ] As Bloody Sunday grows in significance across the world, organizers want to preserve the integrity of the event Uncategorized Race and Ethnicity in Alice, TX. Ethnicity and state identity likewise impacted Luis H. Sandovals relationships with inmates. These actions were either through bribery, profit, blackmail, and even threats of violence to the guards or their families. Prison gangs commit homicides and assaults to establish dominance. Soon after he began his work as a correctional officer, Sandoval witnessed his first homicide at the Ellis I Unit. The Polish mob has told its associates that the Albanians are like the early Sicilian Mafia clannish, secretive, hypersensitive to any kind of insult, and too quick to use violence for the sake of vengeance. Hernandez was eventually sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Joe Arredondo (Fair, 1991). - Were still trying to learn about their culture and figure out what makes them tick, James Farley, FBI supervisory special agent, and expert on organized crime, says of the Albanians. Bloody Sunday, 50 years on how a tragedy unfolded Just a few weeks before the Cesario Gonzales homicide that Luis Sandoval witnessed, Arturo Astro Aguilar, a Texas Mexican Mafia member was murdered on August 22, 1985 in the Eastham Unit by the Texas Syndicate. Crucially, this process of selection was also highly racialized. People here dont want to believe a guard would do something like that (McKay, 1991). bloody sunday texas syndicate - akcor.com.tr What is 'Bloody Sunday'? How attacks against Black marchers in Selma Structure The typical structure of the Albanian Mafia is hierarchical. The process of downing the duck is described as an inmate or a group of inmates manipulating a guard or staff member into undertaking very small tasks perceived to be innocuous. Prominent Albanian Mafioso Alex Rudaj : The boss of the Albanian Mafia's Rudaj Organization based in the New York City area. Sandoval grew up in Alice, TX, a city with a population of approximately 20,000. Garcia hoped that Sandoval would become his golden goose as he convinced Sandoval to light his cigarette (Draper, 1991). Prior to the creation of this new prosecutorial arm of the Texas prison system, individual prison units handled internal criminal or objectionable acts and handed out punishment that they perceived fitting for the crime outside the confines of courtrooms. The panel consisted of acting/front boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, underboss Gerardo "Gerry" Catena and consigliere Michele "Big Mike" Miranda while others served in the advisory capacity, Mike Coppola was considered an influential capo and was used to help the panel. He was one of the masterminds behind the kidnapping of former Belgian Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1989. This influenced who the prison gang incorporated into their monetary endeavors. Scholars have employed the phrase mass incarceration to explain and define this increased surge of incarceration in the U.S. that affected people of color, in particular African Americans. During Sandovals trial, witnesses told a Walker County jury that doors in the Ellis I prison units south end were routinely left unlocked by guards in 1986. The Gonzales homicide was merely one representative example of the larger problem of violence stemming from the war between the Texas Syndicate and the Texas Mexican Mafia that raged inside the walls of the prison units. This new type of exploitation of the guards was also facilitated because many new guards had been hired as mandated by law as prison rights gains were made through several prominent legal court cases, primarily Lamar v. Coffield. Ellis I Unit prison guard Patrick Ware described a similar tactic used by inmates related to downing the duck. Ware and numerous other current and former guards testified that gang members commonly try to influence prison officers to smuggle drugs to them. Bloody Sunday: The nun, the Defiance Campaign and South He also placed phone calls for them to the outside world and relayed harmless, though highly likely coded, messages for their illicit activity. Director Paul Greengrass Writer Paul Greengrass Stars James Nesbitt Tim Pigott-Smith Nicholas Farrell As a street gang, heavy activity has been reported in Austin, Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, the Rio Grande Valley and the Dallas Fort Worth area. This study is also meant to highlight not only Mexican American prison gangs but the overall Mexican American experience for inmates and guards within the confines of the world of prisons. His neck had been slashed; his head was all but severed. On Monday [June 24], at eight in the morning, Sandoval reported for duty at the Ellis I training academy in Huntsville (Draper, 1991) where he eventually secured employment with the TDC as a prison guard after completing several weeks of mandatory training. Inside the walls of each prison is drugs, prostitution, gambling, extortion, and grand theft, but no investigation into any of these things has ever been made (Draper, 1991). We spoke to hundreds of prison gang members - here's what they said Texas prisons were mostly gang-free until bloody battles broke out in 1984-85 between the Mexican Mafia and Texas Syndicate as well as the Aryan Brotherhood and Mandingo Warriors. U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" version of the song is designed to transport the listener into 1970's war-torn Ireland where your present watching the horror unfold as an observer. The downfall of the building tenders was brought on by the success of the legal court case Ruiz v. Estelle. Northern Ireland marks 50 years since the Bloody Sunday killings While these prison gangs relied primarily on ethnicity and racial identity for membership, state identity informed their inclusion as well and should be noted. Bloody Sunday 1905: The Spark of Revolution in Russia Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. The Texas Syndicate's activities include drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder. On Jan. 30, 1972, in the Northern Ireland town of Derry, a peaceful march involving 15,000 civil-rights marchers turned violent when British troops fired on the protesters. In the American TV show " No Ordinary Family " episode "No-Ordinary Mobster" deals with the main character attempting to stop violent Albanian Mobsters. Morales explains, he gets a life sentence and he ends up doing thirty-five, forty years, or whatever before he even comes up for parole. Statistical Atlas. Similar parameters also included the Mexican Mafia or La Eme, which formed in California and did not recognize the Texas Mexican Mafia, also known as Mexikanemi from Texas. The Texas Syndicate, more than La Eme or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners, such as the "Border Brothers", while La Eme and the NF tend to be more composed of US-born/raised Hispanics. Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. He had graduated quickly from menial tasks to more important tasks. The Texas Syndicate's activities include drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder. Letters may have contained coded messages concerning drug trafficking or other illicit activity. Blood Out, Texas Prison Gangs. Accessed December 1, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2SjyCPZ-NU Texas Syndicate prison gang remains a force to fear - Chron Bloody Sunday 1920 Revisited - The Irish Story Two Texas Syndicate Members Sentenced to Combined 50 Years Dossier K , a Belgian crime thriller, portrays the Albanian mafia in Belgium . Prison gangs used this to their advantage as they pursued a more diversionary approach to committing acts of homicide. From the time that Sandoval began as a new boot in the summer of 1985 until late 1986, he began to be enveloped into a slippery process of criminal activity that began with something as commonplace as the lighting of an inmates cigarette. Testifying for murder defendant and former Ellis I guard Luis Sandoval, a string of prison employees said the doors were left open despite a policy requiring that they be locked at all times (McKay, 1991). Bloody Sunday | Nicholas II Each side wanted to completely control all the Italian gangs in New York City and across the United States. Copyright 2011, National Center for Gang Training, USA. The commonly known and widespread narrative goes as follows: At dawn on 9 January, a crowd of workers that were . Biden on the Anniversary of Bloody. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, in Selma, some 600 marchers lining up behind SNCC's John Lewis and SCLC's Hosea Williams did not seem to expect much violence despite the city's notoriety for violence against the Civil Rights Movement. There were approximately sixty prison gang related homicides between 1984-1985. Murder and Prison Gangs: A Mexican American Experience Inside a Texas In fact, one juror phoned Sandovals brother that afternoon and told him that in her view the case against Sandoval was racially motivated. 116th Street Crew The 116th Street crew, also known as the Uptown crew, is a powerful crew within the Genovese crime family. Immediately after the trial, the community responded. In July 2007, Texas Syndicate members murder Marcelino "Mars" Rodriguez Torres in Mc Allen, Texas after the gang suspects Rodriguez is a police informant. Over thirty people lost their lives in a notorious welter of political violence, that made headlines across Ireland and across the world. Texas Syndicate | Law Office of Sylvia A Cavazos | San Antonio, Texas He wanted the removal of any evidence of extraneous acts or offenses that are not directly related to the current charge, unless the defendant Sandoval has been duly convicted of such offense (The State of Texas vs Luis H. Sandoval, 1991). The Morello-Terranova brothers soon started taking over the growing Little Italy in East Harlem, by using the Black Hand technique of extorting small business and running illegal gambling operations. The cycle of predatory violence against non-gang members had continued to historically breed new prison gangs. Before Sandoval could stand to face trial though, he fled. South Texas Syndicate in La Salle County, TX. The assailant was nowhere in sight (Draper, 1991). But, soon after the murder of Joe Arredondo, Sandoval was charged with the crime and inmates who were allegedly present provided corroborating details. Ortiz was the cellmate of John A. Hernandez, a high-ranking member of the Texas Syndicate. Biden marks 'Bloody Sunday' by signing voting rights order International activity Scandinavia "The ethnic Albanian mafia is very powerful and extremely violent," said Kim Kliver, chief investigator for organized crime with the Danish National Police. Sandoval as a Mexican American new boot, at the ripe age of twenty-one, during the most violent period of Texas prison history succumbed and became a duck as employment for Mexican Americans was not taken for granted. Additionally, it is also crucial to highlight why Sandoval became a prison guard in the first place. After this incident Sandoval soon realized it was the inmates who ran the prison, not the guards, and surely not the state of Texas. T hirteen people were shot dead on Bloody Sunday and ensured any hope of peace was over. For incarcerated Mexican Americans from Texas, Tejano identity was seen as an important component by the Texas Syndicate for admission. Sandovals exposure to this initial shocking experience was predicated on his need for quick employment. Believed by MI6 to be Albanian, Le Chiffre is banker to the world's terrorist organizations. Dominicans. He did not complete his college education although he went farther than many Mexican Americans from this region. Prison gangs were generally very isolated and closed off to non-members which generally also meant separation from non-ethnic members. (Gang Intelligence 101), In 1986, Texas Syndicate member Rogelio Hernandez murders Officer Jose Herrera during an attempted escape from the Webb County Jail. Blacks had a virtual non-existent population in Alice, and the greater South Texas region for that matter. The expiration of membership or getting out only occurred upon the members death. Vincent continued operating from Brooklyn and Ciro continued expanding his operations in East Harlem and The Bronx. Fifty-two. Accessed on October 10, 2018. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/a-guard-in-gangland/ Klimko, Frank. Jose Daniel Flores, aka "Cuate," 43, was sentenced to 360 months in prison after pleading guilty in March to intent to distribute heroin. Sandovals lawyer Steve Fischer argued for their removal from the murder trial. South Texas Syndicate Oil & Gas Property - MineralAnswers.com All Rights Reserved. Ironically, this historical and troubling development came on the heels of the significant victories of prison reform cases which were meant to curtail the conditions of prisons, yet set the stage for prison gangs and gang violence to foment. Speaking anonymously for Philadelphia's City Paper a member of the " Kielbasa Posse ", an ethnic Polish mob group, declared in 2002 that Poles are willing to do business with "just about anybody. The fight was merely a distraction. (Hernandez v. Johnson, 108 F.3d 554 (C.A.5 (Tex. He was twenty-one and she was fifteen. The commonly known and widespread narrative goes as follows: At dawn on 9 January, a crowd of workers that were . Prison officials argued prison gangs grew because the collapse of the building tender system created a power vacuum. He married Veronica on Saturday June 22, 1985. Some of these punishments for example were longer durations behind bars, beatings enacted by the building tenders, or being sent to solitary confinement. Mexican Americans did not hold many of these positions, if any at all. At this point Sandoval, along with other guards, or staff members became the duck and were now leveraged against by the inmates as the victims or co-conspirators dug themselves deeper into the clutches of the inmates bidding as a representative of a prison gang. Lastly, he had finally gotten to the point where they tasked him with muling drugs into the prison and participating in package drop-offs that likely contained illegal drugs to be brought into the prison units. The Artichoke King Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova controlled the 116th Street Crew during the prohibition era. Almir Rrapo : Leader of the "Krasniqi Crew" based in New York and other US cities. Another important factor was the hiring of many people of color and women to work for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Building tenders were inmates who were tasked with monitoring and ultimately controlling the rest of the inmate population. Rudaj Organization The most famous Albanian criminal organization was the Rudaj Organization . Sandoval experienced the escalated violence in the summer of 1985 first hand as he initiated his career as a correctional officer. It simultaneously illustrated that race was crucial to membership, belonging, and trust, but it was also used as a predatory and manipulative tool to further advance their objectives of revenue creation. 8,126 Hispanic members operate across Texas, including specific reportings in the Coffield Unit, about 60 miles southwest of Tyler, and at the Allred prison unit outside of Wichita Falls. In Games The videogame Grand Theft Auto IV features the "Petrela gang" a small crew of Albanian shylocks and goods smugglers. (Gang Intelligence 101), In 2004, The Raza Unida and Texas Syndicate settle on a truce. Both prison gangs were identified as Mexican American prison gangs, yet developed at odds with each other, even while representing and emphasizing their Texas state identity. Associations principally began because of his shared ethnic background with many of the inmates, where their ethnic kinship was highlighted and then thusly exploited by the inmates. Ethnicity played various roles in prisons. Bloody Sunday Marchers marching from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, March 7, 1965 (Bloody Sunday). The favor increased from the lighting of a cigarette to mailing letters for the inmates as they claimed to lack stamps to do so. The Azteca's murder their TS victim by slamming his head through jail bars. This included its leader Alex Rudaj , and effectively ended the criminal organization. Robert Riggs Reports Blood In. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge,. Texas Syndicate Tattoos: In Liberty City the Albanian mob holds a stronghold in the Little Bay section of Bohan. Historians have lagged behind attempts to historicize prison gangs into the larger historical context. By 1997 the immigration had come under the control of Albanian and Italian criminal groups, tightening relationships between them The Albanians are targeting affluent central and northern areas like Lombardy , Piedmont , and Tuscany . Sandovals letter was a scathing criticism of the TDCJs good ol boy system, which Sandoval claimed has ruled with an iron fist since the penal system was first established (Draper 1991). Buentello, S. Texas Syndicate: A Review of Its Inception, Growth in Violence and Continued Threat to the TDC. The Guardian view on the Bloody Sunday anniversary: the legacy remains Danielle S. Willkens "Once we identify a name and the story behind them, we can track. When boss Vito Genovese was imprisoned in the late 1950s, various influential members began running the crime family through a ruling panel/committee . He was part of the new guard that was rapidly hired which attempted to respond to overcrowding and the resignation of the old guard. Biden to travel to Selma for Bloody Sunday anniversary This exposed the longer historical process of Mexican Americans in United States history being perceived as bandits and criminals without full legal recourse. Bloody Sunday proved to be a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But Sandoval, Mexican American prison gangs, and the larger story of the Mexican American experience within the context of prisons illustrate themes of criminalization, hegemony, and self-determination, topics wholeheartedly important to Mexican American history. (Draper, 1991) Even while considering the institutions perception of the strength of prison gangs, they still largely lacked broad exploration in historical scholarship. Bloody Sunday anniversary: Harris walks across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Sandoval may have seen these interactions as encouraging, but inmates instead saw vulnerabilities and took advantage. The murder took place in a corridor of the prison unit that was hidden from the view of prison guards. This story illustrates the harsh reality of prison gang violence, but also the non-violent ways prison gangs influenced guards. (Gang Intelligence 101), On Dec. 21, 2006, Texas Syndicate members are arrested for the contract killing of Julio A. Serrano. Agim Gashi : Leader of an Albanian Mafia clan based out of Italy. He was fatally stabbed by confirmed Texas Syndicate member Antonio Hernandez who was serving a seventeen-year burglary conviction (Buentello, 1986). Alfred Shkurti (also known as Aldo Bare): The boss of one of the most notorious criminal syndicates in Albania known as the Banda e Lushnjs (The Lushnja Gang). Texas Syndicate (TS) is a violent prison gang that originated in the California penal system over 40 years ago. Blacks. Furthermore, the ability of inmates to force the prison administrators to hear their grievances was developed from the successes of prison reform. Either he comes out an old man or he doesnt come out at all. In the French movie The Nest the plot centers around an Albanian mob boss in police custody being escorted to The Hague. This moment was set during the height of prison gang violence that struck the TDCJ during the mid-1980s. In 1991, for example, a prison guard who worked at the Ellis I unit where Sandoval had once worked was indicted with drug muling. In fact, from roughly 1986 to 1991, the special prison prosecution unit charged at least sixty Texas prison guards with felony offenses (Draper, 1991). Perez was found stabbed approximately fifteen times in his upper torso and back (Graczyk, 1985). He was also unfamiliar with the environment of a prison. The Albanian mafia in Brussels has monopoly over activities such as "narcotics and arms deals" according to Belgian sources. (TDCJ Security Threat Group Archives), In mid 2002, the Texas Syndicate declares war on the Tango Blast prison gang. The only known members are Dardan Petrela, Kalem Vulaj, and Bledar Morina. Rosas eventually confessed to actually stabbing Arredondo but was offered a favorable deal in exchange for his testimony [against Sandoval]; and Ruben Ortiz, a convicted murderer and TS sex slave [] was paroled after he agreed to testify (Draper, 1991). In On Bloody Sunday, a new collage of eye-witness accounts, Julieann Campbell, a niece of one of the victims, does a remarkable job of taking the reader vividly back to a past that still haunts. Texas Syndicate Gang Members Busted - Again. With the Texas prison administration on alert with the rise of homicides, unit officials had to respond quickly to disturbances. Mexican Americans prison gangs are the focus of this study as they have been the most disruptive and most influential in impacting Texas prison institutions and administrations. Members of other ethnic groups can be accepted only to execute certain one time or secondary jobs. Membership was tied to their regional home state and in this case trumped ethnicity as the only restriction towards membership. Familiarity was both good and bad. Bloody Sunday happened at the very beginning of 1972, which proved to be horrendous - the worst year of the Troubles, with almost 500 people killed. (El Paso Times), On August 17, 1997, Texas Syndicate members murder Gerardo Garcia in the El Paso County Jail. Dr. Liz Theoharis of the Poor People's Campaign. He quite simply may have wanted or needed the money. Albanian mobsters Rexho and Luan feature in the Danish crime film Pusher III . Dubbed the king of the New York drug underworld, Ismail Lika issued a contract on Rudy Giuliani 's prosecutors in 1985. Texas Syndicate, a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion and narcotics distribution.. While Italian gangsters may be three or four generations removed from the old country, the Albanians grew up under brutal communist regimes, engaging in protracted blood feuds with rival clans, and subscribing to a strict code of silence that makes the Italian credo of omert seem playful.
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