Chapter One. Early History of the Eme. North South Division. Non-California Based Sureños

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1 Chapter One Early History of the Eme North South Division Non-California Based Sureños

The Birth of a Criminal Organization Early History: Huero Buff Flores To completely grasp the

southern California Mexican street gangs relate to the Mexican Mafia.

The answer is the Mexican street gangs, which have been in California since about 1900 (Valdez,

2 The Birth of a Criminal Organization Early History: Huero Buff Flores To completely grasp the development and current operations of the Mexican Mafia it is imperative to understand how southern California Mexican street gangs relate to the Mexican Mafia. So who was on the streets first in the west coast, prison or street gangs? The answer is the Mexican street gangs, which have been in California since about 1900 (Valdez, 2009). The word Sureños refers to all Hispanic street gangs south of Los Angeles, which includes 50,000 gang members from over 600 different street gangs (NAGIA, 2009).

3 The Mexican Mafia was formed at the Duell Vocational Institution (DVI) in Tracy, California in the mid-1950 s. Its original founder was Luis Huero Buff Flores, from Hawaiian Gardens, California. The nucleus of the gang was comprised of Snuffy Sanchez from Florencia 13; Jose Sluggo Pineda from El Hoyo Maravilla; Rudy Cheyenne Cadena from Primera Flats; Eddie Loera from Geraghty Loma, and Liro Pedroza also from Primera Flats. Ironically, all of the original gang members were U.S. citizens, not Mexican nationals; all primarily spoke English and Calo, and only a few spoke Spanish. Curiously, these southern California Mexican street gang members were rivals on the street, but became allies while incarcerated (Bauer, 1997). In a custodial environment these unique alliances are a direct influence of the Mexican Mafia. Flores concept was to create a gang comprised of the elite criminal element among the inmate population at DVI. Rather than appointing himself as the leader of this newly formed group, he immediately established an egalitarian principle that afforded all Eme members equality in the organization. One man, one vote, majority rules was his concept, and this practice still holds true today for the California faction of La Eme. This methodology was common for Mexican gangs whether in prison or on the streets. The membership ruled, rather than a single leader with a vertical command structure. In forming California s first official prison gang an immediate escalation of violence at DVI followed; all inmates identified as Eme members were transferred within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to San Quentin Prison and a variety of other prisons. Though wellintentioned, CDCR officials exponentially escalated the Mexican mafia s status and consequently its membership. The transfers exposed the inmate population (particularly the southern California Hispanic gang sub-culture) to a new type of criminal leadership. Cultivation and recruitment by the Mexican mafia led to many of these southern California inmates leading small armies controlled by the Mexican Mafia. Today they are known as the Sureños. Sociologists and many in law enforcement believe the Mexican Mafia was originally formed in part for protection - - protection from other prison inmates and for the advancement and education of Mexican inmates. However, according to Ramon Mundo Mendoza (an early member of the La EME) formation was much more than that; As Huero Buff related to me years ago, We were just having fun back then. The arrogance of the charter members had no fear and protection implies they feared other inmates. Creation was conceived to control illicit prison activities and terrorize the prison population, thus increasing creature comforts inmates seek while incarcerated.

4 Basing membership on race seemed to be a logical place to start by recruiting new members from the Los Angeles based Mexican street gangs. Mendoza continued, Our involvement in La Raza type groups was less for the advancement of Chicano s as it was to gain legitimacy with prison staff behind bars. As the Mexican Mafia prison gang membership grew, a rivalry started between the Mexicans from the northern part of California and those from the southern part of the state. Mexicans from the northern part of California were considered unsophisticated by southern Mexicans because they still spoke Spanish and worked in the rural and farming areas. As the internal rivalry developed, the northern gang members considered Mexicans from the south as hamburger-eating Mexicans (Valdemar, 1996). Because almost all northern California Hispanic gang members only spoke Spanish and were agricultural workers and still deeply entrenched in the Mexican culture, southern California gang members Gang member from northern California often ridiculed them. The northern California gang members were considered the Juan Gumps of Mexican street gangs and sometimes called sod busters. Mendoza added, Farmeros (Spanish for farmers)was a term I introduced in 1970 at San Quentin. A derisive term for NF or Northern Farmers. I chose to equate their different style with the fact they hailed from farming communities. In reality, the number of Norteños who actually worked the fields could be counted on one hand. As for the Eme taking advantage of them; the Eme took advantage of ALL Chicanos not considered allies. Many northern California gang members being taken advantage of while in prison; northern gang members were being taxed, robbed and victimized by early Mexican Mafia gang members. These actions only increased the tension and growing rivalry between Mexicans from northern and southern California. By 1967, some in the Mexican Mafia hierarchy were trying to unite all Mexicans within the California state prison system; making a concerted effort to put down minor rivalries and bring all California Hispanic gang members under the control of the Mexican Mafia. The goal was to form the strongest and largest prison gang in the state.

5 The Shoe War In 1968 at San Quentin, a state prison in northern California, an incident occurred that would change prison and street gang behaviors forever. The most accurate version of the story is that the conflict began over a pair of black leather shoes supposedly stolen from Hector "Mad Dog" Padilla (a northern California gang member) by a Mexican Mafia gang member named Carlos Pie face Ortega. Mad Dog s shoes were his prized possession; he would shine and care for his shoes every day. One day while he was out of the cell, Pie Face Ortega stole the shoes. Pie face quickly discovered the shoes were too small for him and decided to give the shoes as a gift to another member of the Mexican Mafia, Robert Robot Salas. The shoes fit Robot and he walked back into the cell area only to find Mad Dog frantically looking for his shoes. Mad Dog immediately recognized that Robot was wearing his shoes and accused Robot of stealing them. This was an insult to the Eme member and a fight ensued in which Mad Dog was stabbed several times. Word of Mad Dog s assault quickly spread throughout the prison system, especially among Mexican inmates. (Ramon Mendoza, 2011) North-South Division Mad Dog s assault sparked the solidification of the rivalry between northern and southern Mexicans, both in the prisons and on the streets. The Mexicans from the north responded to Mad Dog s assault by forming Nuestra Familia (NF), a second Mexican prison gang. It formed to protect the northern Mexicans from members of La Eme, the southern California based Mexican prison gang. Nuestra Familia prison gang members started to identify with the number 14. It represented the 14 th letter of the alphabet, the letter N. The letter stood as an abbreviation for the word Norteño, the Spanish word for northerner. The Spanish word for the letter N is ene. The word norte (north) was also used to show that a person was from northern California. Anybody from southern California was automatically considered a rival, in or out of prison. Southern California gang members started to identify with the number 13. The 13 th letter of the alphabet is the letter M. The word for this letter in Spanish is eme. Southern California gang members in and out of prison started using words like Sureño, meaning southerner to identify their allegiance, much like the participants of the U.S. Civil War did. Sometimes Sureño was abbreviated as Sur, meaning the south. Gang members also began displaying tattoos with the number 13 and with the words Sureño or Sur to signify their allegiance.

6 Mexican street and prison gangs from northern California also used the color red, based on the fact that most of the original members had the red-colored railroad issued handkerchief when the Nuestra Familia gang was formed. The only color left was blue, so the Mexican Mafia and southern California gang members used that color. The Bloods and Crips were not the first to use these colors; Crips as we know them today did not form until the later part of 1969, and Bloods not until the middle to late 1970s. Even though this polarization started in prison, it quickly spread to the street, helping to establish a gang behavior that was particular to northern and southern California Street and prison gang members. California was essentially split in two. The Sureño and Norteño style of gang behaviors have now also spread to other states and even other countries. Rival southern California Hispanic street gangs now had one thing in common - - they all were enemies with any street or prison gang members from northern California and vice versa. The Mexican Mafia took advantage of this rivalry and used it to unite southern California rival Hispanic gang members while they were incarcerated. As one could expect, Nuestra Familia took advantage of the same rivalry to consolidate Norteños (Valdez, 2009). Somewhere, while the dust was settling between these groups, an imaginary geographical line was made. It was supposed to mark the boundary between northern and southern California, but this geographical boundary really turned out to be a gray area in central California. It was usually agreed that the division was located somewhere between the cities of Bakersfield and Delano. North of the boundary, rival Hispanic street gangs would affiliate with the northern California prison gang Nuestra Familia and any Hispanic street gang member from south of that line would align themselves with the Mexican Mafia. The most likely reason Bakersfield, California was chosen is if one travels north on the I-5 Freeway from Los Angeles you will travel over a small mountainous area known as the Grapevine. As you travel down the leeward side of this mountain the first city you will encounter is Bakersfield, which is the southernmost city in the central valley area of California; a major agriculture area whose jobs are taken by migrant farm workers. Although Bakersfield was generally considered a Norteño territory; a Sureño presence was noted as early as 1965, led by Raymond Chavo de Bakers Perez and Bakersfield native Rudy Cheyenne Cadena, who was an early member of La Eme. The city of Bakersfield was never completely absent of a Sureno presence.

7 Non-Californian Based Sureños Even outside the state of California, this north-south rivalry has intensified. Some Mexican street gangs even started writing gang graffiti using red or blue colored paint to signify what part of California they claimed to be from. In the late 1980s, states to the north of California began to see the appearance of Sureño and Norteño gangs and the related violence associated with the rivalry. This provided evidence that gang migration and/or the migration of California Mexican street gang behaviors (the gang culture) would proliferate across the country. By the late 1980s to early 1990s, southwestern states began to note the presence of street gangs calling themselves Sureño or Sureño-13. In other states, members of Sureño gangs were not from southern California, they were from rival sureño gangs, now associating as one gang. Sometimes, these types of Sureño street gangs claimed southern California allegiance by adding the number 13 to the Sureño name. This could happen even though there were no formal connections to traditional Hispanic street gangs from southern California. The same mechanism could also occur with Hispanic street gangs that formed outside California claiming Norteño affiliation. Theses gangs tend to also use of the number 13 and this is very important in the street gang culture. The use of this number in reality signifies the street gang is aligned with the Mexican Mafia. Gangs using this number outside California are not trying to align with any specific sureños gang, rather, to demonstrate an alliance to the Eme; making influence of the Eme nationwide. These kinds of Sureño and Norteño street gangs can be localized in one part of a city or they can travel all over a city. In some cases, these kinds of Sureño gang members live in different cities or counties and meet to socialize and/or to commit crime. Females can also be members in these hybrid Sureño gangs. With the gender membership barrier gone, the gang can grow rapidly. Sometimes the females may be the girlfriends of a participating gang member (Blatchford, 1996). This tends to support the concept that makes these females gang sympathizers and/or gang associates willing to help with gang related crimes. The most common form of crime appears to be drug trafficking (NAGIA, 2009). Sureño and Norteño female associates have been used as drug couriers and/or for gathering intelligence on rival gangs.

8 The majority of street gangs usually develop in the geographical location where they live (Howell, 2008). In the 1980s and early 1990s, gang migration accounted for a small percent of gang growth (Klein, 1995); however, there is plenty of law enforcement anecdotal evidence to suggest that some California Hispanicbased street and prison gang members have formed new gang clicas in other countries and states. These types of gang members could act as catalysts that can cause the rapid, seemingly overnight appearance of Sureño or Norteño type gangs outside the state of California. Some Sureño or Sureño-13 gangs have roots that can be traced back to southern California, but, enough time has passed to see first or second generation Sureño gangs forming outside the state of California as well. Some of these Sureño gangs mimic the attitudes and activities of traditional California Hispanic street gangs. These may be gang emulators (Enriquez, 2010) whose behaviors can include the claiming of turf, wearing gang- related clothing, slang use, hand signs and tattoos, even though these gangs are geographically located outside California. Many in law enforcement believe some out-of-state Sureño gang members maintain contact with their southern California based parent gang. For other out-of-state Sureño gangs there may be no direct connection other than the use of the name and the connection is difficult to determine because of common behaviors shared by all gangs. The term Sureño now has three definitions. The first refers to the southern California style of gang behaviors that are common to all Hispanic street gangs. Sureño style behaviors also suggest there is an allegiance between southern California Hispanic street gangs and the Mexican Mafia. This is why many Sureño gang members use the number 13 in tattoos or graffiti. In southern California, Sureño based gangs have become the power base for the Mexican Mafia (Enriquez, 2010). The same concept is also true for those gang members claiming Norteño status. The second and more recent definition refers to Hispanic based street gangs outside California that have southern California gang members from different and/or rival gangs associating as a Sureño or Sureño-13 street gang. In California, these individual gang members may attack each other because they are rivals, but out-of-state Sureño or Sureño-13 street gang members are peer gang members.

9 For example, in early 1993, rival Hispanic street gang members from Los Angeles formed a Sureño-13 gang in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being turf-oriented in California, they battled whenever they saw each other because they were southern California rivals. In New Mexico, these rival Hispanic gang members began working together to traffic illegal drugs attempting to take over drug markets in an Albuquerque area known as the war zone from the less experienced and less violent groups. These rival gang members banded together under a common name, Sureño-13 (Blatchford, 1996). Again, rival gang members from northern California could band together and call themselves Norteño or Norteño-14. This tactic was successfully used by the Crips and Blood gangs in the late 1980s when they expanded their cocaine market outside California. The third definition of Sureño is applied to non-native California gang members who claim membership in a gang that uses the name of a well known southern California based street gang. Members in these types of street gangs tend to be immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Often, these types of Sureño gangs are encountered in the mid-west and eastern parts of the country (i.e., 18 th Street, Mara Salvatrucha, and Sureño-13 gangs whose members have never been to California). Yet, all three gangs use a Sureño style of gang behaviors, including calling themselves Sureños. To many, this implies they have a formal connection to southern California, however, this is not usually the case. Rather the only commonality is the southern California gang name they share. The same concept is also true for Norteño based gangs in other countries or states which supports the Enriquez emulator principle. Law enforcement has encountered all three types of Sureño and Norteño gangs; which have family ties to or were formed by migrating California gang members. Sureño and Norteño gangs that adopted the name and have no formal ties to California. Sureño and Norteño gangs that have members from different California Hispanic street gangs working together as one gang. Sureño Prison Gangs

North American Criminal Gangs

North American Criminal Gangs North American Criminal Gangs Street, Prison, Outlaw Motorcycle, and Drug Trafficking Organizations Edited by Tom Barker Carolina Academic Press Durham, North Carolina Copyright