The cycle of predatory violence against non-gang members had continued to historically breed new prison gangs. (Gang Intelligence 101), In 1984, the Texas Syndicate declares war on the Mexikanemi. Analysis: Bloody Sunday was a massive driver of activism and fund-raising within the Irish-American community With the possible exception of April 10th 1998, and May 5th 1981, no date has. Later, they would become affiliated with Cosa Nostra crime families before eventually growing strong enough to operate their own organizations under the Iliazi family name. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, time stopped and blood spilled as brave and righteous Americans sought to cross a bridge named after a Klansman in Selma . In the movie " In With Thieves " A blood diamond deal goes wrong which throws Albanian Mafioso into chaos in the criminal underworld. He alleged that internal affairs investigators had beaten him when he was arrested on the murder charge (McKay, 1991). Theyre difficult to infiltrate. Were just now catching up with Albanian organized crime, he says. In fact, the building tender system had purposely ignored Mexican Americans as potential candidates based on racial ideas. More than 15 marchers were hospitalized for injuries suffered in an event known as " Bloody Sunday ." Bloody Sunday commemorates when, in 1965, 600 people began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, demanding an end to discrimination in voter registration. H. Christoph/ullstein bild/Getty Images Young man shot by the British military on Bloody Sunday. While violence was a problem for both guards and inmates, there were also non-violent measures explored by prison gangs. Concerning "loyalty", "honor" and family (blood relations and marriage being very important) most of the Albanian networks seem to be "old-fashioned". Inmates used this perceived racial brotherhood to manipulate Sandoval for the gains of the prison gangs illegal activity by initiating the common process in prisons called downing the duck (Bedard, 2013). The day would be labeled Bloody Sunday. Torres was a Texas Syndicate informant who provided information crucial to a federal case against fellow gang members. Letters may have contained coded messages concerning drug trafficking or other illicit activity. 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. These actions were either through bribery, profit, blackmail, and even threats of violence to the guards or their families. Their exit does not exist and the prison gang has now also gained a member that will remain in their proximity for the duration of their sentence, equivalent to their life. Sandoval was eventually found not guilty on May 29, 1991 after jurors deliberated for only approximately half an hour. Under Sandovals watch on December 17, 1986 Joe Arredondo, a Texas Syndicate member was found murdered. 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. 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). Ismail Lika : Ismail Lika was an Albanian mobster active in New York City in the 1980s. The assailant was nowhere in sight (Draper, 1991). 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). In South Texas, Sandoval primarily interacted with Mexican American friends from the barrios and the housing projects of Kingsville, TX. (Gang Intelligence 101), In 1990, Texas Syndicate members murder two Houston-area parolees, Anthony Rosalio Acosta, 42, and Jimmy Lopez Rangel, 29, in a desert southeast of El Paso. With the lack of social mobility due to economic constraints, Mexican Americans were forced into what limited opportunities were afforded to them. (Associated Press), 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 its self with the Mexikanemi. The gang felt that the mother of 3 had crossed the line and ordered TS member Magnaleno Medina to kidnap and murder her. A week later, a well-known event called Bloody Sunday occurred on September 8, 1985. How long must we sing this song? The unconstitutional findings exposed by the court ruling uncovered issues within the Texas prison system such as overcrowding, inadequate security (collapsed the building tenders), inadequate healthcare, unsafe working conditions, and severe punishment policies. Sat Jan 22 2022 - 06:00. While Sandoval hid from authorities prior to the trial he wrote and sent a 24-page letter to his mother Delia Sandoval, whom he asked to then send it to members of the media. May 2, 2011. Almir Rrapo : Leader of the "Krasniqi Crew" based in New York and other US cities. Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova took over the 116th Street Mob , and became in boiled in the Mafia-Camorra War. Both were also newly employed prison guards, a continuation of the 1980s-increased-hiring-wave. Texas Syndicate Tattoos: By Fintan O'Toole. He claimed the states justification in charging him was based on the fear of a lawsuit. 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. In October 2004, the FBI arrested 22 men who worked for it. Contemporarily, its population numbers have been consistent and Alice has historically also largely been populated primarily by people of Mexican descent. Dubbed the king of the New York drug underworld, Ismail Lika issued a contract on Rudy Giuliani 's prosecutors in 1985. The downfall of the building tenders was brought on by the success of the legal court case Ruiz v. Estelle. 8/21/2008) (Tex. But the circumstances surrounding the murder also exposed internal issues of the prison system which the trial brought to light. Director Paul Greengrass Writer Paul Greengrass Stars James Nesbitt Tim Pigott-Smith Nicholas Farrell Thus, in many areas of Italy, the market for cannabis, prostitution, and smuggling is run mainly by Albanians. Sandovals lawyer Steve Fischer argued for their removal from the murder trial. They start rumors to your supervisor that youre bringing in drugs, or theyll bring bogus grievances against you, Ware said. Furthermore, the ability of inmates to force the prison administrators to hear their grievances was developed from the successes of prison reform. The Texas Mexican Mafia was initially formed in 1984 as a response to the predatory nature of the Texas Syndicate against non-member inmates. The issues of guards becoming corrupted continued and continues well into the 2010s. 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. 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 . Each side wanted to completely control all the Italian gangs in New York City and across the United States. They have been reported in the Federal Correctional Institute at Oakdale, Louisiana, and in San Quentin, California, with frequency. On January 30, 1972, British soldiers stationed in the Northern Irish city of Derry opened fire on crowds of unarmed civilian protesters, killing 13, mortally wounding another, and injuring 15 others with unprecedented brutality. 01-07-00443-CR (Tex. Agim Gashi : Leader of an Albanian Mafia clan based out of Italy. 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. Unfolding in real time we're able to see exactly how the . Due to the fact that the Mafia families are based on the blood ties, which is a factor that restricts the number of the clan members, the bonds between them are very strong, which makes getting close to and infiltrating into them almost impossible. 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. (El Paso Times), On August 17, 1997, Texas Syndicate members murder Gerardo Garcia in the El Paso County Jail. On the morning of November 21st, an elite assassination unit known as 'The Squad' mounted an operation planned by Michael Collins, Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Reporters tried to investigate the roots of Albanian organized crime but have complained that it is too hard to penetrate the structure and organization of the Albanian mafia, but set out that the Albanian mafia acts on the model of the Italian one, whose crime is part of the "activities of entire families" and which has a clearly defined hierarchy. 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. 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. Drug Trafficking, Murder, Robbery, Allies: Border Brothers, Tri City Bombers, Texas Mafia, Dirty White Boys, Rivals: Mexikanemi, Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia, Aryan Brotherhood, Mandingo Warriors, Black Guerrilla Family, In 1970, The Texas Syndicate is founded by Juan Pajaro Solis-Vela and Francisco Panchito Gonzales in Californias Folsom prison. Seventeen Texas Syndicate gang members living across Central Texas were arrested after federal authorities uncovered a methamphetamine and heroin trafficking operation, according to a news. But, soon after the murder of Joe Arredondo, Sandoval was charged with the crime and inmates who were allegedly present provided corroborating details. 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. Members of other ethnic groups can be accepted only to execute certain one time or secondary jobs. 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 . He was part of the new guard that was rapidly hired which attempted to respond to overcrowding and the resignation of the old guard. 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. On March 7, 1965, police, state troopers, and a citizen " posse " violently attacked civil rights marchers attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, United States. Prison gangs used this to their advantage as they pursued a more diversionary approach to committing acts of homicide. Palma Boys crew. Their options were either possibly losing their job, or continue assisting the inmates and they would remain silent. Danielle S. Willkens "Once we identify a name and the story behind them, we can track. 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). Some inmates who testified against him were prison gang members including those who were eventually convicted of the murder. Sandoval contends that the door was kept unlocked and that he was framed because officials at the prison feared they would be held liable in Arredondos death (News Briefs, 1991). 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. He largely failed in attempts to procure streams of revenue, namely from drug trafficking for the Texas Syndicate. 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). It was also against the guidelines of the Texas prison system. These allegations of internal issues of the TDCJ leveraged by Sandoval may not have been directly addressed, however, a new development became the designated base where prison officials addressed criminal concerns inside the walls of Texas prisons. A false sense of belief existed for an inmate who joined with his racial or ethnic group and that protection occurred through their ethnic solidarity.