Theyre coming in from work, theyre coming out of the tanks to go eat or recreate or go to school or go to the chapel, said Sandoval. The main activities of the TS are centered on drug trafficking, extortion, protection rackets, and internal discipline and contract murdering. Of course, sometimes a hazing ritual goes too far. Sandoval is one of more than sixty TDCJ guards who have been indicted by McDonalds Special Prison Prosecution Unit over the past six years for felony offenses. Pascual Salazar, age 36 of Austin, one kilogram or more of heroin. Categories Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted. Some rules were just too silly to heed. Looking toward the chapel, he could see Crippin ahead of him, heading for the hidden narrow corridor at the west end of the B-wing. By the end of the eighties, the public fretting over prison gangs had dissipated. The impulse is to accommodate the inmate, since prisonsspiritual wastelands of concrete and metalcry out for random acts of human kindness. (LogOut/ For all of Sandovals claims that the system was making a sacrificial lamb out of him, the system came to his rescue in the end. At certain times, more than five hundred of them might flood the B-wing hallway en route to the gym, the chapel, the woodshop, or the chow hall. But to prison officials, the story is as familiar as the smell of marijuana in a cellblock and the sight of an inmate with a hand-tooled shank. But for males who want to get into the United Bloods, they usually have to endure a vicious beating (generally 31 seconds) or give a member of a rival gang a "buck-50," which is a slash across the face that requires a hundred and fifty stitches. At a given time, Sandoval would stand guard over hundreds of inmates. Prison gangs typically have rules on how to gain admission to the gang. On the outside, the operation is run very much like a business, while inside the prison is where activities are ruthless and violent, particularly within the realm of initiation. Drugs come from the free world. By the time 21-year-old Luis Sandoval, a new boot at Huntsvilles Ellis I Unit in the summer of 1985, was approached by an inmate with an unlit cigarette, his ears were still ringing from a more desperate request he had heard during his first week on the job. The Texas Syndicate (or Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly Texas-based prison gang that includes Hispanic and at one time White members (The organization at one time did allow non-Hispanic members to join, but that policy was repealed in the 1980s). Several of them testified vigorously that Ellis I was understaffed and overcrowded, and that the unit was riddled with blind spots. They were founded in Nigeria over a decade ago, but now operate in several African countries. The only witnesses who said that Sandoval had anything to do with the murder of inmate Joe Arredondo were two convicted felons: Carlos Rosas, a Texas Syndicate member who confessed to actually stabbing Arredondo but was offered a favorable deal in exchange for his testimony; and Ruben Ortiz, a convicted murderer and Texas Syndicate sex slave who was paroled after he agreed to testify. Now Turner could be seen pushing trash cans down the hall, twirling his knife in the air; nobody took his knife away. The inmate, a former gang operative now in protective custody, pulled a hand-rolled cigarette out of his white shirt and lit it. Yes, he had mailed Vicentes letters, had cashed two money orders for the inmate, and on three different occasions, had delivered packages from a parking lot to a telephone booth. The DPS projects Bandidos members will attempt to change their public perception by adding new members with clean criminal backgrounds and organizing charity events. Many recruits show up voluntarily, but the group does practice kidnapping and forced recruitment. None of them knew anything about Sandoval and drugs. But as the weeks rolled on, as the dos and donts of the training manual began to look more and more like some bureaucrats idea of a joke, his resolve cratered. Uneasy truces between gangs have developed. ISIS calls euphemistically calls this process "marriage"and in many cases, the thought of joining the group is less horrifying for a victim than having to explain to family members what happened. First, a new prisoner or prospective member is asked a question by a member. If a muleta is ordered, the TS will refer to this muleta or order as having a green light.. Without drugs, gangs would have little income; without income, they would have little power over the system. There was no further violence, a signal to those who understood gang behavior that Arredondo had been snuffed out by one of his own rather than by a rival gang. The 1985 lockdown put a damper on the atmosphere but not on the flow of drugs. Tri-City Bombers, Latin Kings and Surenos are more active on a street gang level. On the other hand, if his superiors caught him delivering inmate mail, they could fire him on the spot. Even before the call, Luis Sandoval had been sweating bullets. Texas chain with San Antonio bakeries files for bankruptcy, Report: San Antonio Rep. 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But Arredondo had brought back nothing. App., 2008) On Dec. 21, 2006, Texas Syndicate members are arrested for the contract killing of Julio A. Serrano. But, he insisted, that didnt make him a murderer. Garcia would later say that he told Sandoval shortly after the Arredondo murder, Man, youre in deep shit. Word spread that the Texans were a force to contend with. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. On the witness stand, Sandoval suggested that the caller was someone from TDCJ Internal Affairs; more likely, he was a Texas Syndicate member delivering the message that the TS would not be amused if Sandoval blew the whistle on their activities. Two years after lighting his first cigarette, Sandoval was arrested and charged with murder for allegedly aiding a gang plot to kill an inmate. They didnt believe Sandoval. The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. But the sudden absence of gang wars did not mean that the gangs had gone away. Ive seen about five new boots take one step out of the control riot-gate and into the main hallway and turn around and say, See you later, said Sandoval. Their initiation ritual for new recruits includes a pledge but also a bath in a mixture of goat's blood, urine, and tripe. Whoever killed him had to have come through the B-wing hallway and had to have been dripping with blood. Today, Sandoval says he mailed the letter and others like it with a kind heart but with bad judgment. And in an institution where judgment allowed some inmates to flaunt dangerous weapons while officials looked the other way, mailing the letter seemed like a minor transgression. By the spring of 1986, prison officials had examined every inmate for telltale tattoos, weeded out identifiable gang members, and ordered that they spend the rest of their sentences in administrative segregation, away from the general population. One juror phoned Sandovals brother that afternoon and told him that in her view the case against Sandoval was racially motivated. In Del Rio, a federal judge sentenced 29 Uvalde/Hondo-area Texas Syndicate (TS) members over the past two weeks to federal prison, including four defendants to life imprisonment, for various racketeering and drug trafficking offenses committed in Uvalde, San Antonio and the surrounding areas announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs . For his trouble, the inmates offered the guard $75. His assistant wardens run the building. Indeed, Peterson said to me that his units drug problem isnt rampant, but he also acknowledged that much has escaped his attention over the years. Prospects are generally not allowed to make decisions or be present inside the meetings and are required to stand outside when such decisions are made. Though inmates werent allowed needles for tattooing, resident artists took to using the metal pieces of windup toys. After the big lockdown, metal detectors were installed in every prison unit to discourage the carrying of shanks. Relying on American trained experts with global experience, we have created an open minded culture with a never ending drive for innovation. By the fall of 1986, several months after the gang lockdown policy had been instituted, Joe Arredondos cockiness began to catch up with him. Get these inmates in the chapel, he told them. If you are switching factions, you will need to leave your company in order to change to Syndicate. This past May, the bullet-riddled body of Mexican Mafia member Andres Sampyro was found in a San Antonio barrio. Any violation of the rules may result in harsh penalties, including death. Jun 29, 2022. ogden clinic cardiology . If several TS members commit a crime, it is not uncommon for one member to demonstrate his loyalty by taking responsibility for the crime in order to shield other TS brothers from the attention of law enforcement. The first major TDCJ gang, a Hispanic group known as the Texans, consisted of former residents who were doing time in California penal institutions in the mid-seventies. It criticized TDCJs good ol boy system, which Sandoval claimed has ruled with an iron fist since the penal system was first established. Hispanic guards, he said, were either coerced into quitting or found doing something wrong. Supervisors treated inmates like animals. He further wrote, I am not the only one who worked there that knows that TDCJ is linked to the gangs and their illegal activities. Yes, we know that there is some discrepancy listing a major terrorist organization along with prison gangs, but recruiting methods and reliance on crime for income make terror organizations like ISIS similar enough to gangs to list them here. 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. If the recruit answers, "I will share my umbrella," he is deemed unworthy of membership and becomes a s*x slave. In Del Rio, three Texas Syndicate members from Uvalde, TX, face up to life in federal prison after a federal jury convicted them last night of various violations of federal racketeering offenses committed in Uvalde, San Antonio and the surrounding areas announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman. Employees come and go unfrisked, unobserved. This coded language is often hidden in an otherwise meaningless letter or telephone call. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has initiated a process, which provides a method for inmates who have been assigned to restrictive housing as a member of a security threat group on a previous incarceration, to renounce their membership with the security threat group (STG). Texas Syndicate Gang Members. But the first six months is hell. Sandoval was determined to tough it out. Sandoval told me that he took the money, though he denied it in court. 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 syndicate initiation. After the lockdown, the murder rate plunged. It is understood that members and prospects of the TS may receive a telephone call and instructions to commit a crime including homicide for the Texas Syndicate at any time. West Texas Syndicate has always embraced the spirit of a hardworking, relentless underdog. I looked up and as he was running by, he looked at melike he wanted to cry, you know? (For that matter, Garcia testified during the trial, outside the presence of the jury, that Sandoval muled drugs countless times.) Sandoval was never searched, he told me, and came to learn that the only way they bust you is if theyre told by a snitch, This guys coming in today., While Sandoval said there were other guardsand even supervisorsinvolved in drug activity, the Texas Syndicate preferred that Garcia deal directly with Sandoval, a fellow Hispanic. Dale Schaper dutifully typed up his report, and sent it through the proper channels. But the system will not change. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. The quality of cocaine is frequently discussed in terms of how pretty or how good the girls are. Payments for drugs are often called receipts and cheese.. All of the defendants remain in federal custody. Sandoval did not tell his mother why he was such a vulnerable candidate. How to score cheap flights (and mistake fares) in 2023. The group was started in the 1970's in California's prison system, in response to the need for more protection for Mexican-Americans (primarily from Texas) who were in the Cali prison system. 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