South Carolina Criminal Lawyer Blog

99 gang members of the Mexican Mafia were arrested in California this week. Also seized by law enforcement were multiple weapons and drugs. One of the gang members associated with this crime is already incarcerated and was continuing to run Latino street gangs from his prison cell. The Mexican Mafia, also know as La Eme, started in the California prison system in the 1950's and eventually spread its influence to local street gangs. The gang's main focus was trafficking narcotics inside and outside the prisons. The investigation that lead to these arrests, "Operation Black Flag", had been going on for over 30 months and included many investigators from local and federal agencies.

In the 1970's the Mexican Mafia joined forces with another prison gang, Aryan Brotherhood, to prevent new California prison gangs from forming. Many of the prison gang members have committed very serious federal offenses, including violent crimes and crimes involving large amounts of drugs and weapons. While they serve their life sentences, they feel as if they have nothing to lose so they continue to commit violent crimes as ordered by their gang leader. Gang leaders even have the power to order murders and drug deals outside prison walls.

Most of the gang member inmates are in prison due to gang activity in the streets. This week, a cocaine bust occurred in Texas which involved suspected members of the Mexican Mafia and another gang called Texas Syndicate. The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Austin on July 5, contains no detailed accusations against the men other than to charge them with conspiring to deal more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 1 kilogram of heroin from April 1, 2009, to July 4, 2011. Each man faces up to life in prison. One of those charged in the case, Eloy Davila Jr., 53, is among four men with ties to the Mexican Mafia who are awaiting trial on a murder charge in Hays County. Authorities say the presence of the Mexican Mafia is not a good sign considering their brutal and violent crimes.

In 2003, 19 Texas Syndicate members and associates in Austin were charged and later convicted of being part of a drug-dealing gang that wreaked havoc with robbery, kidnapping and several murders from the mid-1990s to 2003. During that trial, a federal criminal lawyer said the gang's presence in Austin was overwhelming and that even as members were sent to prison, others got out, and the gang's Austin chapter was replenished with new soldiers to deal drugs and enforce the gang's rules with brutal violence.

If you or someone you know has been charged with a federal crime, call one of the federal criminal defense lawyers at The Mace Firm for a free consultation.

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