Home - Julian Samora Research Institute - Michigan State University So, I started realizing that if I did that I was going to stay here a lot longer, so I started thinking about my family and the world [and realized] they need me more than the family I was here with in this game (Riggs, 2011). 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. Membership was tied to their regional home state and in this case trumped ethnicity as the only restriction towards membership. Thirteen. Their longer sentences mean they must continue to do the bidding of the prison gangs because they will have a longer stay and cannot escape the gang. Historically, prison gangs had been built along strict racial guidelines regarding membership, but also for those who participated in gang activity. He did not complete his college education although he went farther than many Mexican Americans from this region. Loaded on March 15, 2003 by C.C. This occurred amidst the war between the two prominent Mexican American prison gangs that forced the state to act. Buentello, S. Texas Syndicate: A Review of Its Inception, Growth in Violence and Continued Threat to the TDC. The Texas Syndicate's activities include drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder. 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. History The 116th Street Mob In the early 1890s, a group of five brothers (Antonio, Nicholas, Giuseppe and half-brothers Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova) arrived in New York City from Corleone, Sicily. He had graduated quickly from menial tasks to more important tasks. Crucially, this process of selection was also highly racialized. He was also unfamiliar with the environment of a prison. More than 15 marchers were hospitalized for injuries suffered in an event known as " Bloody Sunday ." Sandoval may have seen these interactions as encouraging, but inmates instead saw vulnerabilities and took advantage. The murder came as a result of the Gulf Cartel hiring the Texas Syndicate to kidnap Serrano from his home in Texas and take him to cartel members in Mexico. The Albanians are too violent and too unpredictable." Sandoval was charged with criminal homicide under state law that provides penalties for persons who aid in a killing but do not actually participate in the act (Buentello, 1987). Texas Syndicate Tattoos: Fifty-two prisoners were murdered in a 21-month period that became known as the "war years." Over 50 different gangs were represented in our study. For Sandoval, this was the lighting of an inmates cigarette, a task perceived in the outside world as nonthreatening, but inside the walls of a prison, a very dangerous act. But the circumstances surrounding the murder also exposed internal issues of the prison system which the trial brought to light. A lawsuit against the Texas prison system and Sandoval was underway by Arredondos family. * Overlapping "TS", or an "S" superimposed over a "T", * longhorn steer horns, or any figure with horns, Criminal activities: He was part of the new guard that was rapidly hired which attempted to respond to overcrowding and the resignation of the old guard. The day would be labeled Bloody Sunday. Southern Albanian groups also have good relationships with Sicilys Cosa Nostra "The Albanian criminals were special from the beginning," said Francesca Marcelli, an organized-crime investigator for the Italian government. Both the Texas Syndicate and Mexikanemi team up against the Barrio Azteca. Authorities said Sandoval unlocked a door to a hallway between a chapel and recreation yard at the Ellis I Unit and then left his post so gang members could attack Arredondo (Fair, 1991). March 7, 1965, would become known as "Bloody Sunday," a day when more than 600 people marching for civil rights were attacked by state troopers. An official inquiry in 2010 found that none of those killed by the British . A myriad of factors may have explained why Sandoval took on the tasks by the Texas Syndicate. Stamps are also a form of currency within prisons. The Artichoke King Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova controlled the 116th Street Crew during the prohibition era. Building tenders were also selected from the inmate population pool who were deemed more aggressive and violent to ensure strict control through violence and fear. The method was also wed with ideas of race because prison gangs are primarily built within racial structures. In this case, exploring the Mexican American experience within the development of the Texas prison system has broad implications. Bloody Sunday Marchers marching from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, March 7, 1965 (Bloody Sunday). Prosecutors announced they were pursuing criminal charges against two British soldiers who took part in the Bloody Sunday. He could not return to employment at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Five months earlier, in August 1971 and against a backdrop of escalating violence and increased bombings in Northern Ireland, a new law was introduced giving the authorities the power to imprison . SELMA, Ala. -- March 7, 1965, will forever be etched in American history as "Bloody Sunday." On that fateful day, 600 civil rights activists gathered in Selma, Alabama, to begin a 52-mile march to . The day began with an IRA operation, organised by Michael Collins' Intelligence . Unfolding in real time we're able to see exactly how the . (Gang Intelligence 101), In 2004, The Raza Unida and Texas Syndicate settle on a truce. "On the 27th of July 1999 police in Durres (Albania), with Italian assistance arrested one of the godfathers of the "Sacra Corona Unita", Puglias Italian Mafia. Sandovals lawyer Steve Fischer argued for their removal from the murder trial. He was eventually terminated from the Texas Department of Corrections. An Introduction to the New York Albanian Mob. Their criticism may have largely rested on the divisiveness of race. Albanian "banks" in Germany are a special story. In 1993, the Barrio Azteca brutally beat and murder a Texas Syndicate member in the El Paso county jail causing the Texas Syndicate to alliance it's self with the Mexikanemi. Mexican Americans did not hold many of these positions, if any at all. Formed in the California prison system in the 1970s by incarcerated Tejanos, the Texas Syndicate sought protection against Californios. In " We Own the Night "; A final drug transaction is made with the Albanian Mafia. TheTexas 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). Thirteen people were shot dead and at least 15 others injured when members of the Army's Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside - a predominantly Catholic part. Charles Brown, a TDCJ spokesman said, an 8-inch long flat piece of metal and a boning knife were recovered at the scene, likely the murder weapons (Graczyk, 1985). The Sandoval and Arredondo incident illustrated the complexity that went into relations between Mexican American guards and inmates. According to The New York Times published on January 2006, "Beginning in the 1990s, the Corporation, led by a man named Alex Rudaj, established ties with established organized crime figures including members of the Gambino crime family , the authorities say. The Texas Syndicate 's . F or many on both sides of the Irish Sea, the killing of 14 unarmed civil rights demonstrators by members of the British army's Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday in 1972 remains the defining . Photographer Helped Expose Brutality Of Selma's 'Bloody Sunday' : Code Switch Some of the most iconic images of marchers being attacked by Alabama state troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in . Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova took over the 116th Street Mob , and became in boiled in the Mafia-Camorra War. This complicates mass incarceration scholarship which primarily rests along the Black and White binary of American history. Lulzim Krasniqi :(1863-2006) Former leader of the Albania Mafia based in Zagreb, Croatia. He crossed into Mexico into Cuidad Juarez and allegedly stayed with an uncle there. Sunday Bloody Sunday Lyrics [Intro] Yeah, mm-hm [Verse 1] I can't believe the news today Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away [Refrain] How long? Prison gangs have existed in the Texas prison system since at least the 1970s. Arredondo had been ineffective for the prison gang, and failed them on several occasions. Dominicans. These homicides were in part, primarily caused by the war between the Texas Syndicate and the newly formed Texas Mexican Mafia who sought to gain the reins of power as the building tender system was being demolished. Sandoval had lit the cigarette for newly befriended Armando Garcia (name changed) and another inmate named Vicente. The process had begun for Sandoval. The Northern Albanian Mafia which runs the drug wholesale business is also known by the name of "The Fifteen Families." In an Albanian television station ""ShqipTV" Saviano went on to say that the Albanian and Italian factions are "one of the same", and that they dont consider each other as foreigners. Immediately after the trial, the community responded. They undermined, and ultimately controlled many prison guards making them do their biddings, even outside the confines of the prisons as extensions of their economic enterprises. The Texas Syndicate 2,082 views Jun 18, 2022 62 Dislike Share Save Gangsters Cops and Politicians 3.4K subscribers Gang Expert Gabe Morales discusses the California roots of the Texas. They are led to believe they must join a prison gang for protection and in the process of believing this, they eventually secure longer terms of incarceration. May 2, 2011. (Gang Intelligence 101), In April 2002, members of the Texas Syndicate murder a Tango Blast member at the J.B. Connally state prison. Since the removal of the building tender system many of the old guard force resigned and left many green guards to come in and figure out the new and changing Texas prison system. 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. Paul Vanden Boeynants was released (physically unharmed) a month later, on 13 February, when an undisclosed ransom was paid to the perpetrators. 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). (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). A mural in Derry commemorating Bloody Sunday. 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. Eventually, he became their golden goose. Blood Out, Texas Prison Gangs. Accessed December 1, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2SjyCPZ-NU 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). Russians. 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. The only known members are Dardan Petrela, Kalem Vulaj, and Bledar Morina. Their gang activity in this case was approved because of racial kinship. Sandoval was eventually found not guilty on May 29, 1991 after jurors deliberated for only approximately half an hour. Vice squad officers estimate that "Albanians now control more than 75 per cent of the countrys brothels and their operations in Londons Soho alone are worth more than 15 million a year." Deep in the bowels of the 4,000-man H. H. Coffield State Prison in east Texas, a young prisoner . The group planned to march to the state capitol in Montgomery, 54 miles away, to protest of the February 26 murder of Jimmy Lee . Director Paul Greengrass Writer Paul Greengrass Stars James Nesbitt Tim Pigott-Smith Nicholas Farrell While the lawyers made their arguments for and against Sandovals case, Sandoval expressed the states impetus to charge him which he argued was based on an entirely different motivation. Bloody Sunday, demonstration in Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland, on Sunday, January 30, 1972, by Roman Catholic civil rights supporters that turned violent when British paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 and injuring 14 others (one of the injured later died). People here dont want to believe a guard would do something like that (McKay, 1991). Like many Mexican Americans in the U.S. Southwest, Sandoval was unacquainted with racial groups other than his own. 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. David Weeks, a special prison prosecutor stated, more than 90 percent of inmate homicides are gang-ordered and more than one-half of the assaults are the result of gang warfare (Klimko, 1987). But they won't go near the Albanian mob. Employment opportunities were not plentiful in South Texas, and so the next day, a Sunday [June 23], the newlyweds threw their possessions into a suitcase and a grocery bag, and drove Sandovals Datsun to Conroe (Draper, 1991). Prison gangs used this to their advantage as they pursued a more diversionary approach to committing acts of homicide. A week later, a well-known event called Bloody Sunday occurred on September 8, 1985. Prison guards were rapidly hired. 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. 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. The cycle of predatory violence against non-gang members had continued to historically breed new prison gangs. Travis McDonald, the prison prosecutor for Texas stated, Its hard to try a case against a guard in Huntsville. Jose Lopez, founding member of the Texas Mexican Mafia stated, once you know you get out well youre marked by the gang for extermination (Riggs, 2011). Securing employment, it seemed, was more important at that moment then securing a college degree. If the guard or staff member refused or rejected the task, the inmate(s) then informed them that they would notify prison administrators of previous favors (Bedard, 2013). 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. Some inmates who testified against him were prison gang members including those who were eventually convicted of the murder. He was one of the masterminds behind the kidnapping of former Belgian Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1989. Klimko, Frank. Prominent Albanian Mafioso Alex Rudaj : The boss of the Albanian Mafia's Rudaj Organization based in the New York City area. Dossier K , a Belgian crime thriller, portrays the Albanian mafia in Belgium . The pressure to commit murder for prison gangs was necessary for them to gain and continue membership. 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. Thus, in many areas of Italy, the market for cannabis, prostitution, and smuggling is run mainly by Albanians. Germany "Ethnic Albanians" (as the German police officially calls them), no matter where they come from Albania, Republic of Macedonia, or Kosovo created for a very short time in the last decade of the century, a very powerful criminal network, says Manfred Quedzuweit, director of the Police Department for Fighting the Organized Crime in Hamburg. Robert Draper, a journalist for the Texas Monthly provided an apt description of this homicide scene: Help me, Boss! Turning around, Sandoval saw a Hispanic inmate [Cesario Gonzales] standing behind a hallway crash-gate, clinging to the bars with both hands. They are said to be present in every big city in Britain as well as many smaller ones including Telford and Lancaster , after having fought off rival criminals in turf wars. These actions were either through bribery, profit, blackmail, and even threats of violence to the guards or their families. Copyright 2011, National Center for Gang Training, USA. Structure The typical structure of the Albanian Mafia is hierarchical. When boss Vito Genovese was imprisoned in the late 1950s, various influential members began running the crime family through a ruling panel/committee . Today, November 21, 2020, is 100 years since the events known as ' Bloody Sunday' in Dublin in 1920. Fourteen died and 13 . Two Texas Syndicate gang members were sentenced today to a combined 50 years in prison for drug trafficking in Lubbock, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox. There were approximately sixty prison gang related homicides between 1984-1985. Soon after he began his work as a correctional officer, Sandoval witnessed his first homicide at the Ellis I Unit. 116th Street Crew The 116th Street crew, also known as the Uptown crew, is a powerful crew within the Genovese crime family. Hernandez was eventually sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Joe Arredondo (Fair, 1991). 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, 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. [1] Bloody Sunday in Derry, January 30 . This was especially insightful because it was written with the viewpoint of a prison guard. This study provides exploration of the varying Mexican American experiences within prisons as victimized inmates, as stifled prison guards, and also as prison gangs or security threat groups who employed efforts to demonstrate their own autonomy, regardless of the problematic legal and ethical quandaries through prison gangs. These prison gang related homicides from the war between the Texas Syndicate and the Texas Mexican Mafia were not only happening in the Ellis I unit, it stretched beyond and consumed the entirety of Texas prison units. Mexican Americans exist in a difficult space as a protected group under the White category but not Black, such as reflected in the ruling of Hernandez v. Texas. In fact, one juror phoned Sandovals brother that afternoon and told him that in her view the case against Sandoval was racially motivated. Travis McDonald, the primary prosecutor for the states recently developed prosecution unit headed this charge against crime inside of prisons. The Texas Syndicate, a prison gang that operates in and outside of penitentiaries, is considered by state law-enforcement officials to be among the most dangerous criminal organizations in. 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. Furthermore, the ability of inmates to force the prison administrators to hear their grievances was developed from the successes of prison reform. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award, writer-director Paul Greengrass' "magnetic and impassioned" drama is a "staggering re-creation" of the events of Sunday, January 30th, 1972 when British troops clashed with unarmed protestors in Derry, Northern Ireland. Agim Gashi : Leader of an Albanian Mafia clan based out of Italy. On a cold Sunday, the 22 nd of January, 1905, tens of thousands of workers in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, marched to the Tsar's splendorous Winter Palace to deliver a petition. Regardless of what skeptics may argue, they engage in various illicit criminal activities such as the drug trade, prostitution, robbery, and extortion within the walls of Texas prison units (Fair, 1988). In his testimony, Ortiz alleged that while in his cell with Hernandez, he was told about Sandovals role of leaving his post and leaving the door unlocked (Fair, 1991). Sandoval was hired as part of the new guard force that was coming in and was separate from the old guard who had largely stayed to themselves, was predominately white, and had strong rapport with the building tenders. Later in the game, Albanian gangs appear working as muscle for other organizations, such as the Cosa Nostra or the Bratva . After this incident Sandoval soon realized it was the inmates who ran the prison, not the guards, and surely not the state of Texas. In Albania alone there are over 15 mafia families or clans that control organized crime. In July 2007, Texas Syndicate members murder Marcelino "Mars" Rodriguez Torres in Mc Allen, Texas after the gang suspects Rodriguez is a police informant. The Boston College Irish Studies program will mark the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday"a tragic milestone in the decades-long Northern Irish conflict, "The Troubles"with a symposium on February 18 and 19 that will examine the events of the fatal day and its legacy. The gangs agree to revise the manifesto each year on May 5th. In the case of Luis Sandoval, while he was not a member, the Texas Syndicate preferred that Garcia deal directly with Sandoval, a fellow Hispanic. Sandovals acceptance and willingness to acquiesce was alleged in part, because as one inmate stated Sandoval always seemed to be hurting for money (Draper, 1991). Ethnicity and state identity likewise impacted Luis H. Sandovals relationships with inmates. Prison officials argued prison gangs grew because the collapse of the building tender system created a power vacuum. bloody sunday Dem Leaders Urged to Mark Bloody Sunday by Acting on Voting Rights, Economic Justice "This is no time for foolishness, photo-ops, and flaky commitments," declares a letter from faith leaders including Bishop William Barber II and Rev. ), 1997), In 1990, the Mexikanemi and Texas Syndicate agree on a truce. "What we have here might be considered a sixth crime family," after the five Mafia organizations Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese said Fred Snelling, head of the FBI's criminal division in New York. A former car dealership displays a graffiti representation of Bloody Sunday on its boarded facade. The fight was merely a distraction. These members expressed their concern, similar to those leveraged by Sandoval in his 24-page letter, that the state used Sandoval as a Mexican American scapegoat for the corruption and problems occurring in the prison system as they became visible to the public during a tumultuous period following Texas prison reform. 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. The War was between the Sicilian Morello-Terranova family and Brooklyn Camorra gangs led by Pellegrino Morano. Fields such as criminal justice, sociology, and criminology have provided vast research into prison gangs, and more specifically Mexican American prison gangs. Caught with at least $125 million in heroin, Lika issued a $400,000 contract on the prosecutor Alan Cohen and the detective Jack Delemore, both placed under protective custody. Sandovals attorney, Steve Fischer, had helped Sandoval in his trial by successfully eliminating the option for the prosecutor to illustrate the connection of Sandoval to the criminal activity. Total Value: $6,014,687: 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. (Associated Press), In 1994, the Texas Syndicate and the Raza Unida agree that the gangs would share the drug trade in Brownsville by dividing gang territory in the border town in sections. First prison gang remains a force to fearThousands of Texas Syndicate members behind bars, but murder, mayhem continue. Jessica Corbett Feb 20, 2023 Released or parole members who generate money for the Texas Syndicate must surrender a 10% tax ("the dime") of all proceeds toward the gang in prison. Albanian mobsters Rexho and Luan feature in the Danish crime film Pusher III .