RESPECT

When most people in free society, verses those convicted of a criminal offense, are asked to give a response to what the word "RESPECT" means, most responses are; showing reverence toward another; to show kindness; showing esteem toward another etc.

To the person that is incarcerated, it takes on a series of other meanings. Space; time; not discussing politics of ones' gang; mad dogging, etc. (These can also be interpreted as showing the lack of, or dis-respecting).

The bottom line is that this seven letter word can save one's self or get one killed depending how it is used. A person in the inside can actually be not guilty of committing an act, but to the one who feels dis-respected, it doesn't matter.

The reason that I am bringing this out, RESPECT or DISRESPECT is that in my humble opinion,
some of the prison gangs are coming apart because of it. In the beginning, when the gangs were starting out, there was a certain respect for those that had been around for a longer period of time than the "new inmates". This is one of the reasons that the term "Shot caller" came into existence. There was a respect for their word over others. Most of the "shot callers" were either older "veteranos" or wise for their ages. As time went on and these older inmates went to the federal prisons, died, or became informants the gangs had an influx of youngsters who did not want to take orders from "vietos" (old men) and started pushing their weight around and lost respect for them. Amongst themselves, they believed that they commanded respect when in fact, they in actuality receive little.

Because of this lack of respect, not only amongst themselves but from other gangs, this once the all powerful prison gang will collapse. Law enforcement has been battling them for half a century, but up to a few years ago it had some tough leadership, but now it is like an old friend of mine said back in 1972, "it is like a ship upon the sea, without a rudder".

HERE'S MY ANSWER TO VITA-PRO !

During the 1990's in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, a food program was initiated to feed the inmates a high protein diet. For whatever reason, the program failed. There were stories of fraud etc. and it was done away with. Some of the inmates felt that they were being used as guinea pigs, and refused to consume this meal. Here is what one inmate decided to do about it.

"Joe Green", not his real name, decided to capture the attention of those in charge of this feeding program. Joe filled several envelopes with his feces and mailed it to them. Needless to say, the recipient's were not pleased at all.

All his mail was scrutinized after this.

I GAVE IT UP

Way back in 1972,the Brotherhood, just as did the Sicilian Mob, deny the existence of their respective groups. One difference was that as long as the Sicilian families married other families of Sicilian background there did not seem to be a problem. Once they started marrying outside their Sicilian groups, such as Genovese, Calabrese, things started to change. Members started telling the deep secrets of the mob.

This is not to say after awhile, even Sicilians got into the act.
The early members of the Mexican Mafia also stood their ground. Even when our first "turn-around," Carlos "Pie Face" Ortega told us about the inter-workings, the other members denied the existence. Those members knew, or felt that anyone who violated the eMe trust would be eliminated and their secrets would remain intact. When "Pie Face" testified against a fellow Mexican Mafia member, Gilbert Pedro "Shotgtun" Sanchez, there were several other members that said "Pie Face" did not know what he was talking about. "Pie Face" had been voted into the eMe some 6 years earlier. "Shotgun" was found not guilty and alot of people did not believe that such an organization such as the Mexican Mafia existed.

Another member, was Mike "Slim" Mulhern. After his arrest with the late Frank "Chivo" Buelna, Mike adamently refuted claims that such an organization existed. He also would later give it up. He testified against a high ranking member of the Hell's Angels. Then there was Michael "Acha" Ison. He was a major player from the San Francisco area. In a taped interview with Steve Mallory, he flatly denied the existence of the eMe. Yes, he too gave it up.

There are several other major "shot callers" such as Ramon "Mudo" Mendoza, Rene "Boxer" Enriquez, and others of lesser positions within the eMe that have turn against their fellow members. Some claim born again Christians, others for whatever they could get from the tax payer through the witness protection program, time off their sentence or what have you.

The bottom line is that when one has his back against the wall, and the price is right, most anyone will take what he feels will better fit his need.

WHAT'S A PICTURE WORTH?

Most people have heard the old adage, "A picture is worth a hundred words." Truer words were never spoken in the case of "Pete". For those of you who have spent time "behind the walls" you know what I am talking about. For those who have not, this maybe a lesson to learn.

Some of the best pencil drawings, and paintings that I have seen over the years have been done by inmates. A good example is look at the tattoos that most of the ex-con display, intentionally or not. Most of these two examples are done with some of the crudest tools that they themselves make or have other prison "genuis's" make. I have heard guard after guard, including myself say on ocassions, "this guy could make a lot of money if he would only put his mind to work on the streets instead of wasting away in here."

To get back to "Pete", we arrested him at his home back in the early 1970's. The other cops and I were busy being excited with finding pictures of other convicts, some on the run, some not. As we were about to leave his home, I noticed a small, maybe 10" X 14" painting hanging on the wall. I was facinated with it and asked him what it was about. He told us that it summed up his entire life. I can't remember all that was on it, but here are some of the features:
At the very top was a human skull which represented his pending death. Beneath it was a hypo syringe with a few drops of blood coming out. This represente his drug addiction to heroin. There were numbers, 1, 5, 10, that stood for the years he spent in prison. Two clowns, one smiling and the other crying. He said that it meant Smile now, cry later. It also had the Ace of Spades, which he said was the card of death. He said many times he felt like he was going to die of an overdose, or being killed by someone over a drug deal gone bad. He just recently died in an automobile accident...

I Know "them"

In the first few months of the Prison Gang Task Force's operation, we were contacted by an ex-convict who had spent a few years in both San Quentin and Folsom prisons. He said that he was originally from El Paso, Texas. He showed us his tattoo which consisted of three large letters across his chest...EPT

As we were unfamiliar with these letters, I asked him what did they stand for. He said the El Paso Tip. (We would later confirm this with Sergeant Bill Hankins, who was the investigator for San Quinten Prison.

This person had been stopped by one of the patrolmen who after a brief question and answer session, told him that he might get some help from our unit. To make sure that
he came to the trailer, the patrolman had the person follow him.

The person had a California driver's license with the name of Charlie Chasco. We verified his backgound through CDC and found it to be true. Charlie said that he did time with several of the names we ran by him and he said, "I know them." Charlie agreed to work as an informant for us and we sent him out to find the locations where many of the ex-cons hung out. We did not hear from Charlie for about a week. We thought that he had just went on his way without doing anything for us.

We received word from one of the L.A. Co. homicide Deputy Sheriff's who related that they had found a Hispanic male body with several prison tattoos on his body that had been stabbed several times, there was no identity on him. We were shown tattoos of the body and were sad to say the least, that the first possible ex-con informant had been murdered. There were no leads/arrests for a long time. We had no clues as why.

Later on the Task Force learned that he was murdered by the Aryan Brotherhood

Warden, here's my finger

Lenny was convicted for the kidnapping and rape of a teenager. He was an angry young man and decided to "get even" for the man who had molested him years earlier when he too was a teenager. If that had not been bad enough, the molester was infected with aids. This was not discovered until several months after he was put into a prison medical center. Because of his bitterness, he was constantly involved in fighting, biting, and throwing things at other inmates and guards.

After being placed in solitary confinement for some six months he grew more agitated by the day. He kept asking for the guards to ask the warden to come and see him, however, it must have fell on deaf ears as the warden didn't show up.

In desperation, he chose to bite off the first diget if his own index finger. He then placed it in an envelope and gave it to one of the guards to take it to the warden. When the warden opened the envelope he could not believe his eyes. He had Lenny taken to the emergency room for treatment and then had him taken to the prison psychiatric hospital for follow-up.

Three months later, Lenny was returned to his very cell in solitary to complete his sentenced for his criminal deeds he had commited in prison. He wrote the warden time and time again, but as before, the warden refused to go to Lenny's cell to see him.

Once again, Lenny decided that the only way to get the wardens attention was to do something of magnitude to get the warden's attention. Lenny decided to to bite the first diget of his middle finger. This time however, Lenny took the portion of finger that he bit off, wrapped a long piece of dental floss around it and dangled it outside his cell, swinging it back and forth as the blood spurted forth.

The warden had enough of these antics and had had Lenny transfered to the psychiatric hospital until his death...

SOLD FOR A CARTON OF CIGARETTES

John had no way of knowing what to expect while sitting in the courtroom waiting to be sentenced for his criminal action...embezzlement. Sure, he heard about how bad things were in most prisons, however, he felt that since he was forty-five years old, married and with kids, he would be relatively safe. What John didn't realize was that age in itself had no bearing on what the criminal gangs had in their twisted minds.

John was sentenced to five-years. As he was riding on the "Blue Bird" (prison bus), toward the prison, he began to wonder how his family would make out without his support. His wife didn't work, sure she was an educated woman, but John told her that when they got married that she would not have to work any more. She needed to stay home with the kids as he didn't want them to grow up living on the street as he had. No, his kids were going to get better than he had.

As John exited the bus, he immediately was met with cat calls. Although they could have been anyone of the sixty inmates, John felt the were directed towards him. As the sergeant started barking the orders at the inmates, his eyes were constantly moving back and forth at the inmates lined up at the fence at the reception center line.

"Hey you sweet thing, come stay with me",shouted a big black inmate. He was about 6' 6" and about 275 pounds of solid muscle. Although John was about six feet himself, he was in no condition to take on such an animal.

As John picked up his clothing at the reception center, reality set in. He was scared, real scared! As John made his way up to the second tier, he noticed some real mean characters gathered at the end of the stairs. As John walked by, one old
inmates grabbed his ass. John made the fatal error of cussing out this inmate. John had barely sat down the inmate clothes and was in a semi-bent over-position. Before John could straighten up, three inmates grabbed him and throw him on the bunk. Before John could defend himself, his pants were pulled down and the rape begun. Not one, two or three, but six inmates took advantage of his predicament.

John was left bruised and beaten lying on the cell floor sobbing. Since he was a new comer in the prison, he was wanted by several of the various gangs. The blacks made a bid of 1 carton for him and the Hispanics sold him...