In the largest criminal gang case in county history, the Santa Clara County Grand Jury indicted 48 suspected members – 11 of them from Gilroy – of the notorious Nuestra Familia gang on 77 felony counts including drug sales, witness intimidation, homicide and bank robbery.
Nuestra Familia exercises control over 27 street-level Santa Clara County gangs, according to District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who detailed the three-year operation during a live press conference Tuesday.
The DA described the criminal organization as a very significant, powerful and organized gang requiring in-depth police solutions to get them off the streets. Rosen told the media he could not accurately estimate Nuestra Familia’s size, but they are “too large.”
Of the 11 Gilroy suspects, 10 are in custody for charges ranging from witness intimidation and probation violations to selling controlled substances and felony possession of a firearm. Alleged Nuestra Familia associate Alex Bettencourt, 26, is still on the run, according to Sgt. Joseph Deras with the Gilroy Police Department’s Anti-Crime team.
The Gilroy arrestees in custody include Leonard “Gordo” Rodriguez, 44; Andrew “Turtle” Rodriguez, 28; Jose Ricardo “Largo” Garcia, 48; Emiliano “Lunatic” Ontiveros, 27; Jose Luis “Looney” Garcia, (his age is not listed in GPD’s database); Angel “Baby Angel” Espinoza, 26; Charlie Rivera, 28; Naomi Martinez, 31; Maura Rodriguez, 24; and Martha Castro, 31. Eight other suspects of the 48 are also on the run. The Grand Jury issued the indictment May 31.
The alleged gang members and associates were arraigned and identified their attorneys Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
GPD Police Chief Denise Turner hopes the wave of indictments of Nuestra Familia gang members and associates will yet again clean the streets of gang violence that has been on the rise in Gilroy since January.
Most recently, 30-year-old Gilroyan Jesse Emmanuel Silos, who was engaged to be married, was shot to death April 3 on the front steps of a Chestnut Street home in a gang-related double shooting that left another 37-year-old victim seriously injured. The case is still under investigation according to the GPD.
Turner said the Nuestra Familia has a long history of committing violent crimes in Gilroy.
“The east side of our community is afraid to let their children out to play because of stray bullets,” she added. “We have to partner with state and federal and local partners to bring the heat on these gangs and get them out of our area.”
Deras declined to comment on the recent outbreak of auto thefts and burglaries in Gilroy when asked if they were related to Nuestra Familia gang activity.
Rosen said he wants the county’s strict anti-gang policies to weaken the allegiance of suspected gang members and affiliates while they are incarcerated.
“When you remove the soldiers from the street, there is less (gangs) can do because they don’t have resources,” he said.
Deras said that breaking ties with a gang as structured and brutal as Nuestra Familia is extremely difficult.
The gang has held a foothold in California and Santa Clara County since it formed in the California prison system in the ’60s. Police estimate there are currently 900 gang members in Gilroy alone. Of those, 500 are actual suspected gang members and 400 are suspected gang associates, according to GPD. A gang member is a certified member of the gang, while associates are classified as those who fraternize with gang members and partake in activities that are ancillary to belonging in a gang.
Nuestra Familia is involved in several criminal enterprises such as drug production and auto theft, which often result in other crimes such as the possession of illegal firearms and homicide, Deras explained.
“We know that families are in a vicious circle,” said Mayor Don Gage, a lifelong Gilroy resident who explained that Nuestra Familia has had a generational foothold in the Garlic Capital. “Gang membership is passed down in the community, it goes from the grandfather, to the father, to the son.”
Deras added: The gang lifestyle is idealized by youth. They see the money, the parties and the power and want to live that lifestyle, he explained, but have no concept of the violence, jail time and the other horrors associated with gang activity often until it’s too late.
Echoing Gage, Deras pointed out that almost 50 years after its inception, the Nuestra Familia still has a prominent presence here – despite attempts by community and youth organizations to prevent gang membership. Preventing gang activity is a heavy task for local law enforcement and the city spends a significant amount of money, time and resources on anti-gang task forces, Gage added.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Rosen said the indictment of the Nuestra Familia’s regional leaders, members and associates will hopefully reduce the number of gang crimes in the county and result in similar results to “Operation Royal Flush” – Gilroy’s 2011 anti-gang undercover operation that resulted in indictments of 36 Nuestra Familia gang members.
Turner said Royal Flush nearly eliminated gang violence in Gilroy for a year. There were no gang-related homicides, and police responded to only two drive-by shootings that resulted in no injuries.
Comparably, in the years prior to Royal Flush, gang shootings, stabbings, drive-by shootings and assaults were occurring on a weekly basis, Turner said.
Royal Flush was part of a series of multi-agency anti-gang operations centered around Gilroy’s rash of auto burglaries and gang violence. In its sister operation, “Operation Garlic Press,” an unprecedented 16-month-long, 39-agency investigation that concluded in October 2011, 105 suspected gang members and associates were nabbed for theft, drugs and weapons crimes.
Officers recovered 87 stolen vehicles and roughly 50 firearms, including handguns, shotguns, rifles and automatic weapons. The raids also turned up more than three pounds of methamphetamine, 28.5 grams of heroin, and marijuana, cocaine, hashish, oxycontin and ecstasy, officials said.
As a result of Operation Royal Flush and Garlic Press, the removal of many local gang leaders caused a gang power vacuum in Gilroy, said Deras. And while there has been close to no gang violence for a year, there has been a resurgence of gang crime since January including two gang-related homicides and several other violent crimes, according to Deras.
“They are violent and are dangerous individuals,” Turner added, referring to her past experiences with Nuestra Familia. “We had an aggravated assault where a gang member took a brick and crushed the skull of another individual.”
When gang members are sent to prison, they frequently become even more entrenched while incarcerated and commit more crimes, added Deras, who deals with gangs on a daily basis.
Deras said Nuestra Familia still finds ways to communicate with the outside world, commanding hits and orders from the inside through small pieces of paper with minuscule text called micro-writing, phone calls, mail and even corrupt attorneys.
Correctional facilities are continuously trying to halt this by minimizing methods of communication. Deras said this is done by housing inmates in the Secure Housing Unit – the state’s most secure prison design – at California Correctional Institution, Pelican Bay State Prison, Valley State Prison for Women and California State Prison Corcoran.
Rosen urged anyone with information about the wanted Nuestra Familia members and associates to immediately call the police or Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP.
The coalition between federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the recent waves of Nuestra Familia gang violence formed three years ago.
“We are going to aggressively prosecute [gang members] and send them to prison for a long, long time,” said Rosen. “It is significant but not the end of the battle.”
