REFLECTIONS

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege to be invited to the Arizona Gang Investigators Association's first annual conference in Phoenix. I was invited to sell copies of my book - The Mexican Mafia, The Story. It was a wonderful conference with over 400 people in attendance; real good for the first one. Everything was first class, from the speakers to the food service. While sitting in the lobby, I could not help but reflect on my early days at the conferences we put on. There were a few major changes that have taken place over the years. For instance, several women investigators attended this conference. We had none. I also could not help seeing several of the investigators entering and exiting the conference room while answering their cell phones, again we had none. We of course did not have these new contraptions. Our "cell phones" consisted of the old 4 pound radio we used on surveillances so as not to tie-up the unit radio that was being used for regular police functions. Of course we did not have computers, or the micro tape recorders now used by many investigators. We relied upon the old clumsy reel to reel to record during some of our interviews. It was also good to see so many "youngsters" in the group. They remind me of "sponges". (This is ment as a compliment, not as being disparaging.). Everyone has to start somewhere, and it is important to know, as my dear friend Robert Marquez so eloquently said, "Nothing is absolute." I interpret this to mean: check out and recheck the sources of the information given to you ... even then it may not prove to be perfectly true. The bottom line is that the training presented today is up to date, with some of the generational info included to give the new "Pepsi generation" a look into the past, for without the past, one cannot determine the future. ...Moco

MANUEL "TATI" TORREZ

The date of his death should read April 2005. Torrez (A74921) was stomped to death by fellow eMe members at Florence-ADX Max for allegedly encroaching on other members turf and lingering problems in the Victor Murillo homicide.

MAN THAT’S NOT MY STASH

It was a rather hot and smoggy day in the City of Monterey Park in July of 1972. The temperature was close to 89 degrees. Joe Delia was out on patrol duty when he spotted what appeared to him as a possible drug addict walking along one of the residential streets within the city. Joe Delia was an expert at catching intravenous drug users. He got so good that he even beat the PhD who wrote the book that most defense lawyers used to dis-credit officers in court on being an "expert" on the use of drugs.

One of the reasons this person was suspicious to Officer Delia was that on this hot day, this person was wearing a heavy trench coat. An earlier court ruling said that an officer could no longer have a person stopped for investigative purposes and order the person to roll up his sleeves to be inspected for illegal drug use.

As Joe was in the process of a "pat-down" to insure that the person did not possess any weapons, Joe felt a soft bulge under the person’s shirt. Joe thinking that this was the man's stash of narcotics started pulling at the bulge. The man shouted at Joe that this was not his stash. At that very time, the bulge was yanked out. To Joe's surprise, it was the man's colostomy bag and it was full. Joe not only got most of it on him but also on the man he took it from. Needless to say, the man was not arrested, but Joe had to go home and change uniforms.

ARMANDO "LUNES" "MUNDI" VARELA

At the prodding of my dear friend, COP Jon Elder, I am writing about an extra ordinary person. Yes, this person had been a murderer and yes, he had also been a member of the Mexican Mafia. He like a few men that had enough of the madness of the organization, decided to come over to our side to fight the very group that they swore an oath to behold. They obviously could not become members of law enforcement, but they helped put away several members of the Mexican Mafia legally. (Either testifying in court or giving us the needed information to turn others that came to our side)."Mundi" had a "persona" about him that made you want to believe his sincerity when talking to him. He was straight forward in answering the questions, and if he made a mistake, he would later bring it to our attention. We, at the Prison Gang Task Force (PGTF) had an occasion to take him to eat or drink, (he was of course on parole, but as far as I knew he did not have the 1 B condition (no drinking) attached to his sentence.

Several of us PGTF members had an opportunity to be alone with Mundi and had the benefit of de-briefing him on a one on one interview. He was very sharp when it came down to dates and who was involved in certain crimes.

As a cop, I cannot call him a friend, but an ally in the fight against the Mexican Mafia. Whenever he got lonely, he would either call us or just drop in at the trailer operation. One day after being placed into the Federal Witness program, he decided to leave that area, and came back to Monterey Park to one of the watering holes that he was familiar with, Agostino's Restaurant.

He did this all because he missed being around his new found police "buddies" and had no one else to talk to.

We let him hang around and drink for a couple of hours and then got in touch with the Federal Marshall's office. They blew a gasket when they found out about Mundi's shenanigans. He was indeed, a very interesting eMe killer.

Mundi later ended up in Arizona, where he helped out a dear cop friend of mine, (Frank "Paco" Marcell) that also has some interesting stories to tell.

I waited until after he died to tell this story for obvious reasons. May He Rest In Peace.