ARRESTS, TURNCOATS, RICO'S AND DEATH

As I am sitting at my computer going over some of the many emails that I receive (between 75-100 dailey) It just struck me, the Mexican Mafia will be 51 years old this December, according to the late Bill Hankins. Despite all the arrests, members dropping out, RICO's and death, this insideous gang is not going away, and like I have said many times in the past, it is getting larger, and like locusts spreading across America, and it is destroying many lives in it's path.

Every time a "shot caller" is taken down, someone steps up to take his place. No, the Mexican Mafia is not lacking for those who desire to climb the ladder of destruction, or recruiters to bring in more of their kind to continue their criminal acts.

Along these lines, we keep hearing stories from some of the drop-outs of things that they could not have possibly been involved in as they were not around during some of the time periods that they talk about. For example, during the numerous times that we surveilled Joe Morgan, and during the three times that I was present during his arrests, some of these drop-outs claim they were so close to him. We never saw them at any of the locations Joe Morgan had been followed to, nor were their names ever mention in any wire taps that we were asked, "do you know this name, or that name."

An interviewer has to know that some of these drop-outs embellish the story to make them appear more than they are. Sure, some of these drop-outs have valuable information, otherwise they would not have been selected by the investigators in the first place. I am just saying, "don't believe everything told to you, remember, the bottom lines is they are Mexican Mafia members and remain so until their demise. The Prison Gang Task Force was not exempt from some of these stories and got "sucker punched" on more than one occassion.

I can hear the critics now, "this is all well and good, but what is the solution to the problem?"

If I knew that, I could make a lot of money. We just have to keep chipping away, like the drug problem, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

THE STREETS OF LAREDO

On May 15th, my dear friend and confident Clemente Rodriquez, drove me down to Laredo, Texas for the TEXAS VIOLENT GANG TASK FORCE meeting to be held the next day. (I can still visualize the movie of the same name. I also can see the actors, William Holden and William Bendix who played the part of Texas Rangers, walking the streets.) We stayed at the La Quinta Motel next to the airport. Clemente noticed a Bexar County Probation car outside our window. He felt that it was the one another good friend of ours drove, Roger Lozano. He was in fact in the room next to us. We visited for a while, then Clemente drove him and I to visit one of the best investigators in the Laredo District, Mario Soria. It had been about one year since I last saw him, but as usual, he hadn't changed much. Mario is a charmer, and I believe that is part of the reason he is able to be one of the best in the business. We met in one of Laredo's oldest Barrios at a bar. Mario explained that all around this bar lives members of various Prison Gang members such as the Mexican Mafia (Mexikanemi), Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos and others. Mario is the type of individuals that can go just about anywhere he chooses without fear of one of these listed people trying to take his life.
Eventhough the session was for one day only, it was a success. Another of my friends, Kerry Pople gave his talk on Prison Gangs, and he too is one of the best in the prison life of the various gangs behind the walls. We only had 10 books left from the previous order and they sold out in about an hour. All in all, it was areal good seminar.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

I had the pleasure of being in Las Vegas on the 5th, 6th and 7th of May for a two day training seminar put on by the City of Las Vegas Detention and Enforcement in conjuction with IGIA. One cannot say enough about the multi-billion dollar Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. The food and hospitality was great, as was the presenters. I had an opportunity as did others in attendance to see the security, video cameras in action. This is something all involved in police work should see. These cameras, all digital can read the license plates in the parking areas as well as the casino players. It was something great to see. (This service was set up by my dear friend Mike "Poco Loco" Beringhele, who's is a friend of the security director, Mr. Jim Brown. Our President, Nelson Arriaga of the ILGIA has gone out of the way to find the best people to host our seminars, in this case it was Anthony Rodriguez. He also is one of the nicest cops to put on a uniform. (He works plain clothes). The presenters were top notch, as were the refreshments.
I also had the opportunity to meet several of those in attendance. Just to mention a few, Todd De Palma and his girlfriend Amelia, Antonio Rodriguez, William Dunn, Martha Salazar, Cisneros and his agents from Chihuahua, Mexico and many others.
I know a lot of the members cannot attend all our seminars, but they should try to go to as many as they can. I have attended as many as I can, and I have yet to be disappointed. Our next annual one will be in San Antonio, Texas in August 25/28. I will tell you this; please do try to make it. I can guarentee it will be well worth the trip. They are again lining up some of the best presenters in the business. I was in San Antonio for the last two weeks in May. and was at a strategy meeting with the San Antonio faction of ILGIA and they are going all out to make this a memorable session.

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.