Resources and Input
Policing, Borders, Drugs, Cartels
and System Corruption
SOME GANG TASK FORCES AND GANG PREVENTION there is another section for this now
National Gang Center dot gov
New Mexico, first page, 217 articles total were available when Accessed on 2019/08/31:
https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Gang-Related-News?st=NM
NMGIA
NEW MEXICO GANG INVESTIGATORS ASSOCIATION VIGILANCE, PERSEVERANCE & JUSTICE
https://www.nmgia.org/
New Mexico Gang Task Force - NMGTF
Facebook listing for task force
https://www.facebook.com/nmgangtaskforce/
Biker Trash Network
(2018/03/12) New Mexico’s mysterious Gang Task Force invites ex-Sheriff to speak.
https://www.bikertrashnetwork.com/2018/03/new-mexicos-mysterious-gang-task-force.html
Albuquerque
CABQ dot gov: Gang Member registration
Note: it seems this was started in 2008 but it does not appear to have taken hold as late as 09/01/2019; it is
included here as information only because it was likely a good idea; did the site migrate elsewhere?
This measure will give law enforcement the tools they need to fight the scourge of gang violence by
defining criminal gang membership and prohibiting it in the City of Albuquerque. The strategy also
requires the Albuquerque Police Department maintain a registry of convicted known gang members and
make that registry accessible on this website. The City of Albuquerque's decision to post gang members on
this website is based on the fact that the gang member was convicted under the Anti-Gang Ordinance.
https://www.cabq.gov/police/online-services/gang-member-registration
Farmington
Farmington Gang Unit
Farmington Police Department Gang Unit. The Farmington Police Department Gang Unit is a specialized unit of
officers that is assigned to investigate organized crimes committed by known gang members and associates.
Farmington officers work side by side with Homeland Security, the Office of the United States Attorney-District of
New Mexico, and the Region II Narcotics Task Force.
http://www.fmtn.org/523/Gang-Unit
Southern New Mexico
Article linked to Southern NM - Las Cruces:
Justice dot gov:
(2019/08/22)Felon from Las Cruces Charged with Violating Federal Firearms Laws
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/felon-las-cruces-charged-violating-federal-firearms-laws
FBI
FBI dot gov
Violent Gang Task Forces
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/gangs/violent-gang-task-forces
Excerpt: The Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force is the vehicle through which all of the federal,
state, and local law enforcement agencies collaboratively address the violent crime plaguing
communities. The FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit administers 160 Violent Gang Safe Streets Task
Forces nationwide.
These task forces pursue violent gangs through sustained, proactive, coordinated investigations to
obtain prosecutions on violations such as racketeering, drug conspiracy, and firearms violations. The
Safe Streets Task Force concept expands cooperation and communication among federal, state, and
local law enforcement agencies, increasing productivity and avoiding duplication of investigative
efforts.
One of the key facets of a Safe Streets Task Force is the Enterprise Theory of Investigation (ETI).
Combining short term, street level enforcement activity with such sophisticated techniques as
consensual monitoring, financial analysis, and Title III wire intercepts investigations using ETI aim to
root out and prosecute the entire gang. The ETI has proven how effective federal racketeering, drug
conspiracy, and firearms investigations can be, whether it is providing the incentive for witnesses to
cooperate or imprisoning the gang’s leaders for decades. The following lists the Violent Gang Safe
Streets Task Forces by state nationwide: (go to website to see the list of states on it)
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/gangs/violent-gang-task-forces
KRQE
2019/09/19 Feds target New Mexico prison gang after years-long investigation. By Brittany Bade.
https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/feds-target-new-mexico-prison-gang-after-years-long-
investigation/
TOPICS AND GROUPS RELATED TO GANGS NEW MEXICO
KVIA Source: KVIA ABC 7 News
2019/08/26 'Arizona Boys' drug gang members convicted in 2011 Otero County slaying (Alamogordo, NM):
Two members of a notorious drug-dealing gang known as the 'Arizona Boys' have been convicted in a 2011
New Mexico murder case, prosecutors announced late Monday afternoon.
https://www.kvia.com/...
Abq Jrnl
Anti-gang tactic sweeps up wrong man (Albuquerque, NM):When 15 young people were indicted on a
swath of racketeering and other charges in spring 2017, District Attorney Raúl Torrez held a news
conference calling the defendants “members of one of Albuquerque’s more notorious street gangs.”
Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: August 17, 2019
https://www.abqjournal.com/...
California gang member arrested near Lordsburg, New Mexico, charged with human trafficking (Lordsburg,
NM):A member of the Sureños Street Gang from California and his cousin were arrested in New Mexico earlier this
month, on suspicion of trying to smuggle people into the country.
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News Date: July 29, 2019
https://www.lcsun-news.com/...
Witness against violent New Mexico prison gang gunned down outside home (Albuquerque, NM):A former
member of a violent New Mexico prison gang who testified against some of its members last year was shot and
killed outside his home earlier this week, authorities said.
Source: OzarksFirst.com Date: July 27, 2019
https://www.ozarksfirst.com/...
Gangs driving much of the drug and gun violence crime in city, APD says (Albuquerque, NM):A student found at
school with a loaded laser-mounted pistol and high-capacity magazines in his backpack. A family that allegedly
pistol-whipped and robbed two others.
Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: May 29, 2019
https://www.abqjournal.com/...
Bernalillo Co. District Attorney to ramp up data program to fight gun violence (Albuquerque, NM):The first several
months of 2019 have been violent: 114 people were shot in Bernalillo County in 112 days and 17 people were killed
by gun violence in the same time frame.
Source: KOB Eyewitness News 4 Date: April 29, 2019
https://www.kob.com/...
Felon in violent crime spree in Taos gets ‘second chance’ (Taos, NM):A Ranchos de Taos man who pleaded guilty
in January to stabbing a man while attempting to steal his vehicle outside Smith’s grocery store in Taos was
sentenced to five years probation on Monday (April 8), time that he will spend at one of the state’s top long-term
drug treatment facilities, instead of in prison.
Source: The Taos News Date: April 15, 2019
https://www.taosnews.com/...
Teen violence on the rise (Albuquerque, NM):Mayor Tim Keller admits that there is a problem with gun violence in
Albuquerque. Many cases involve teenagers. Ahmed Lateef, Collin Romero, and Evyn Scott were teenagers when
they were brutally murdered.
Source: KOB Eyewitness News 4 Date: April 8, 2019
https://www.kob.com/...
Last suspect indicted in prison gang plot arrested (Albquerque, NM):Angel Deleon, 41, was the last suspect still on
the loose after being charged in 2015 for his involvement in the notorious prison gang, Syndicato de Nuevo
Mexico.
Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: March 4, 2019
https://www.abqjournal.com/...
Deputies tracked down, arrested multiple criminals throughout Albuquerque (Albuquerque, NM):If you saw
Bernalillo County deputies in your neighborhood Thursday, they were tracking down wanted criminals and gang
members. Deputies saturated southeast Albuquerque neighborhoods. They arrested eight people on felonies and
three for misdemeanors.
Source: KRQE News 13 Date: March 1, 2019
https://www.krqe.com/...
The AZ Boys: A legacy of meth and murder in Alamogordo (Alamogordo, NM):The AZ Boys blew into Alamogordo
from Arizona more than a decade ago, wreaking havoc and violence with their meth-dealing operation. Among
the crimes that put key members behind bars: murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, arson and attempted
bribery of a cop.
Source: Alamogordo Daily News Date: February 4, 2019
https://www.alamogordonews.com/...
APD blames string of shootings on gang rivalry (Albuquerque, NM):Three members of an Albuquerque gang — a
man and two teenage boys — lured alleged rivals into drug deals before gunning them down, taking one man’s
life and irrevocably changing three others, police say.
Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: November 21, 2018
https://www.abqjournal.com/...
City Officials Clutch Pearls over Perceived Gang Violence (Española, NM):Española officials are pointing to the
killing of Cameron Martinez as one of the main reasons they have agreed to allow the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to deputize one of their police officers, which would open the door for city police to file federal gang
indictments.
Source: Rio Grande Sun Date: November 17, 2018
http://www.riograndesun.com/...
Santa Fe police say gang presence being driven by social media (Santa Fe, NM):Drugs, cash and guns. Santa Fe
Police Department Criminal Intelligence Officer Christopher Abbo, said police are seeing more of each on social
media lately, posted by local youth “emulating criminal behavior that has been traditionally associated with
‘street gangs.’”
Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican Date: November 1, 2018
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/...
Fabian Gonzales' tattoo could solve gang-tie debate (Albuquerque, NM):Whether Fabian Gonzales was in a gang
that led to the horrible killing of 10-year-old Victoria Martens has been debated by prosecutors, defense attorneys,
detectives and his brother.
Source: KOAT 7 News Date: October 15, 2018
https://www.koat.com/...
Defense on suspect's gang affiliation: 'They were into tagging not murder' (Albuquerque, NM):Was Fabian
Gonzales in a violent street gang, or one with a similar name that was into graffiti, but not murder? Prosecutors
maintain the death of Victoria Martens was gang retaliation for threats Gonzales made to rival gang members in
the days before Victoria's death.
*Cartels/Gangs-4 New Mexico
Some Gangs or Cartels in New Mexico
Juarez (also found on Cartels-1
SNM (Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico)
California Gangs in New Mexico: Surenos/CA in NM
200 Gangs Statewide as of 2015
Intro/Commentary: Codes/Stereotyping New Mexico Gang Task Force
National Gang Center NM Listings Miscellaneous
See also: How to stop gangs/cartels
Source: KOAT 7 News Date: October 4, 2018
https://www.koat.com/...
Gang ties doubted in Martens case (Albuquerque, NM):While the core of the state’s case against Fabian Gonzales
rests on his ties to a local street gang and retaliation for threats prosecutors say he made toward rival gang
members, Gonzales’ defense attorney has filed motions recently that cast doubt on that narrative.
Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: October 2, 2018
https://www.abqjournal.com/...
Fabian Gonzales had ties to notorious Albuquerque gang (Albuquerque, NM):Prosecutors are claiming that one of
the suspects accused in the brutal death of 10-year-old Victoria Martens was tied to a gang that at one point,
retired detectives say, was one of the most violent in Albuquerque.
Source: KOAT 7 News Date: October 1, 2018
https://www.koat.com/...
Gang ties take center stage during latest hearing in Victoria Martens case (Albuquerque, NM):One of the suspects
implicated in the murder of young Victoria Martens was in court Friday afternoon, a week after prosecutors
released documents detailing a new timeline of the days leading up to the night she was killed.
Source: KOB Eyewitness News 4 Date: September 21, 2018
https://www.kob.com/...
(End National Gang NM List - above partial list Accessed from National Gang dot gov, 2019/08/31)
https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Gang-Related-News?st=NM
Miscellaneous
2018
Daily Times
Former CA gang member speaks at Farmington police event
https://www.daily-times.com/story/news/local/farmington/2018/01/20/former-california-gang-member-speaks-
farmington-police-event/1050020001/
2018/07/08 Navajo town still uneasy after arrest of gang membersBY FELICIA FONSECA / ASSOCIATED PRESS
https://www.abqjournal.com/1193972/navajo-town-still-uneasy-after-arrest-of-gang-members.html
2017
Hobbs News
2017/09/12 Ex-Gang Members helping dismantle NM prison gang. Info seems to be from Albuquerque Journal
https://www.hobbsnews.com/2017/09/12/ex-gang-members-helping-dismantle-new-mexico-prison-gang/
Excerpt: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Nearly 114 suspected members and associates of an infamous New Mexico
prison gang have been arrested over the past two years with the help of over 30 former members and leaders,
who have been secretly working with authorities, according to an FBI document.
The group cooperating in the massive federal racketeering investigation into the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico
gang includes more than 20 members inside the gang who are considered “confidential human sources,” FBI
Special Agent Bryan Acee wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit filed Aug. 31.
The gang has been around since the 1980 deadly riot at the state Penitentiary in Santa Fe and has about 500
members, the Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2wSMYg7 ).
The FBI began the investigation in 2015 after it received word that gang leaders were plotting to kill then-state
Correction Secretary Gregg Marcantel and another top corrections officials. The investigation later revealed that
incarcerated gang leaders “directed members on the street to acquire firearms and kill the NMCD officials.”
https://www.hobbsnews.com/2017/09/12/ex-gang-members-helping-dismantle-new-mexico-prison-gang/
2015
KOAT
2015/04/09 Dangerous violent gangs flocking to New Mexico. By Megan Cruz.
https://www.koat.com/article/officials-dangerous-violent-gangs-flocking-to-new-mexico/5063259
2013
KRQE: Youtube
(2013/11/18) Gang Crime a Serious Situation in New Mexico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDFb_KLKDec
Albuquerque Journal [also in Turfing]
2013/08/10 Turf at center of biker gang conflict in N.M.. By Jeff Proctor
https://www.abqjournal.com/245116/turf-at-center-of-biker-gang-conflict-in-nm.html
New Mexico has pretty much always been Bandidos country. But now there’s a challenge to the outlaw
motorcycle gang’s decades-long stranglehold on supremacy here – something of a line in the sand – and law
enforcement is watching closely to see whether it gets crossed.
2012
CNS
(2012/07/12) Effort combat drug cartels operating NM spurs racial profiling complaints
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/effort-combat-drug-cartels-operating-new-mexico-spurs-racial-profiling-
complaints
2008
Gang tensions on the rise in Farmington
https://www.abqjournal.com/21640/810am-gang-tensions-on-the-rise-in-farmington.html
Taken from NM Corruption page:
Gangs New Mexico
New York Times: Black Panther Founder to Teach Courses at U. New Mexico.By CHRISTOPHER SANCHEZ, Daily
LoboAugust 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/uwire/uwire_NBPD082120062854028.html?pagewanted=all&mcubz=0
KRQE:
http://krqe.com/2014/05/01/black-beret-president-in-court-for-threatening-woman/
ABQ Journal
https://www.abqjournal.com/lifestyles/03214712lifestyles01-03-10.htm
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/118576034958775/
FNS News: The Black Berets Live On
https://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-black-berets-live-on/
Ahora
http://ahorasecreto.blogspot.com/
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwD4LeEqlZk
COMMENTARY - OPINION
Note from PF: This is not written by a professional social worker, counselor or policing/gangs expert
Cultural Issues
We need to address cultural issues in such a way that it helps us to overcome the racial and religious divides that
split us in New Mexico and beyond. Gang and cartel behavior often start from within the groups themselves, with
multi-generational tendencies spanning decades. There are things inside group membership which keep
members doing the same old thing for a long time. Some of this has to do with hidden abuses that, because of
group culture, do receive proper outside intervention. However, there are also stresses and strains from outside
the group which can make things worse. Part of this is the sense of feeling separate from the rest of the country,
often because of racial or religious differences. So being part of a gang can also be about skin color and can be
mixed in with religion or not.
To accomplish getting people to work together across the gang world divide will require people from different
groups to find new footing together. This means coming up with new ways of talking and looking at things.
We need to start by understanding coded language and stereotypes.
Codes
Coded language is a big one, because people inside the group might not realize their language is coded. They
think it’s other people’s language that sounds so funny. On the other hand, the group might deliberately talk a
certain way to keep things among the family, so to speak. They use certain for words for things. They use certain
hand signals, maybe nuanced gestures. It can be about colors of clothing, tattoos, icons, dragging baggy pants,
wearing certain kinds of crosses and much more. But language can also be about cussing, saying certain things
and not other things, getting whopped for tripping over wrong subjects, and that sort of thing. Language can be
bad but seen as good, and the other way around. Being too good might seem bad. Sweet talk might sound like
something else. You have to hear it right, say it right, or you don’t fit in. Being cool means different things to
different people. Language is actually a big deal, but not all communication is about the spoken word. Being
able to bring a gang’s way of communicating to the forefront of your awareness might be the first step to pulling
out. If you can understand what you do and why, where it came from, and how it fits into group dynamics, you
start calling in your own destiny. You are no longer just a player or follower, or a misguided leader. You become
more the master of your own life when you realize you have choices and that life doesn’t have to just be one way.
Codes are actually a big deal and to deal with gangs, so we have to talk about them. But let’s go onto the next
thing, stereotypes.
Stereotypes
To address stereotypes, we need to understand there also can be stereotypes about stereotypes.
That can sound a little strange, but what that means is this: people can feel they are being stereotyped, which
means they feel they are not seen or heard. It can mean they feel others are suggesting that they are less
important. It can mean feeling downtrodden or otherwise downcast.
Stereotyped situations go further than that. It is about how people might feel they are not getting their due from
history because in another world, another time, they could have won or kept things intact. Also it could have
meant their ways were the ways.
In modern times, because of lost prestige, not feeling honored or valued, it might also be people don’t hear them
about what their culture and gender feels is important. Sometimes it is about manhood, according to the
culture, the other culture does have not the right approach to honoring the man. Some people want to call it
machismo, but there is another way to look at it, it’s about being the man and having that respect. So according
to this view, stereotyping makes these issues go upside down, kind of ridiculing the man who wants to be the
man. It’s a cultural issue which can put a slur on the whole male gender; in this way, a man can feel stereotyped
for believing what he believes, for feeling what he feels. He might want to express there is more to it than that
stereotype.
Some of the feelings can be:
I have brown skin. I get lumped in with other brown skinned people. I feel categorized and lumped in with
everyone else.
I am Hispanic and have a half-white brother. When we go to a store, the clerks look at him and give him special
attention. They are nicer to him, but they treat me like crud, if they even notice me at all.” (this was taken from
a blog section and slightly modified here).
People think all Hispanics are members of gangs or part of the anti-American agendas like the ones which cling
to old Mexico history.
I am a Hispanic male and don’t do the machismo thing but try to treat women fairly.
I am black. But I am more of a white-black than a black-black. That is, I am fully black, but I talk easier with
white folks sometimes than blacks, or otherwise I get along with everyone. I get in trouble for this with other
black people, who think I am high-minded or have an attitude, or whatever.
I am black. I see blacks in Chicago beating up on the general citizens, killing girls and stuff like that, just taking
a gun and shooting without compunction in public areas. I get profiled by the police if I am wearing a backpack
or whatever. I don’t want any part of that gang nonsense. I want to go places where it’s safer from other blacks
who are thugs.
So these comments - and many more - can indicate the deep feelings of frustration, anger and sometimes the
giving up that happens among certain racial groups in the USA who feel unfairly stereotyped.
But, agreeing to the above concerns about stereotyping where applicable, there is another side to all of this.
Sometimes people are not stereotyping and so are getting a bad rap for that. People who feel stereotyped can
also themselves misperceive behavior from others, thinking it is about stereotyping.
That is, sometimes it is not about stereotyping, but about misunderstanding and miscommunication. You might
think someone is profiling you or stereotyping you, when in fact, something else is going on.
How to know the difference is part of the key.
Part of the issue can be an insistence that non-discriminatory behavior must look and feel a certain way. There
also might be a desire to inundate a dominant group with punishments so that group fully knows what the
underlings in history felt like, so that it is no longer an act. That is, the dominant group might be perceived as
people with an attitude until they finally are whipped into submission and “get it” by knowing from the inside
out what it meant to be on the wrong side of history for awhile. This can include making the new dominant
group feel like kings and queens. Making the other guy or gal feel it can take on a lot more than words.
Gang related antics, then, can also be about getting even, standing up for one’s race, culture and/or religion,
showing who is boss, and an overall power orientation. Showing power can have violent ramifications, but it also
can be about mind over matter in certain ways. That is, a game of pre-calculation. There also can be people
playing around with the paranormal or bioenergy.
Some notions might have been spoonfed to you since childhood. There are no easy answers; women need to
stand their ground and realize that.
Updates: 2022/11/23; 2020/04/24 moved gangs nm material from NM corruption page to NM Gangs; will sort, delete duplicates and integrate later; 2020/04/10
several articles added- Hobbs News 2017/09/12; 2019/09/03 excerpt added to masq dot org; page started 2019/08/20-09/01.
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SOME GANG TASK FORCES AND GANG PREVENTION
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Commentary
o
Cultural Issues
▪
Stereotyping
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Codes, Coded Language
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Gang Topics and Groups Related to New Mexico
New Mexico (CARTELS-11b)