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Operation Valley Star
Gang sweep nets 22 arrests
Nuestra Familia probe includes Monterey County
Monterey
County Herald | June 29, 2007 Friday
Copyright 2008 Monterey County Herald. All Rights Reserved. Posted with
permission.
By
JULIA REYNOLDS Herald Salinas Bureau
Several Salinas-area Nuestra Familia gang associates whom federal agents have been watching for years were among the nearly two dozen people arrested during statewide sweeps Wednesday, said the FBI.
Court and law enforcement documents show that several of those arrested have been under the lens of federal investigators for years, some stretching back to the late 1990s.
But officials provided few details Thursday regarding 22 arrests of alleged Nuestra Familia associates in raids that spanned 15 cities, five counties and three states.
The roundup was part of "Operation Valley Star," a federally funded, multiyear, multijurisdictional investigation targeting the Nuestra Familia gang's street operations.
Among those arrested who have long been under the watch of federal agents and local police were former Salinas residents Larry "Paqui" Amaro, 40, who recently moved to Hanford in Fresno County, and Ernest Paul Killinger, 29, of Orangevale, whom Salinas police believe had ties to Nuestra Familia drug dealers in the city in 2001.
According to internal FBI documents obtained by The Herald, Amaro has been watched by the FBI since the days of the bureau's massive Operation Black Widow, an investigation that spanned from 1997 to 2004. That effort resulted in guilty pleas from nearly two dozen of the gang's top-echelon leaders by 2004.
In an August 1999 FBI internal report, federal agents said "Amaro had orders to kill" a Salinas gang member, who was later attacked several times but survived. The order allegedly came from a top Nuestra Familia leader, Gerald Rubalcaba.
The FBI report also said Amaro had passed along orders to kill a Salinas anti-gang counselor whose name appeared on a hit list.
In addition, FBI agents reported that in February of the same year, Amaro himself had fallen into the gang's bad graces.
Death order rescinded|
The report said high-level Nuestra Familia members had orders to "hit" Amaro while he was in Pelican Bay State Prison because of a leadership dispute, but those orders were apparently later rescinded.
Recently, Amaro was being watched because he was a documented Nuestra Familia associate who allegedly kept close ties to major Nuestra Familia players in the Salinas area, said gang investigators and FBI reports.
Salinas police detectives have also kept a close eye on Amaro, a longtime resident of the city, before he moved to Hanford this year.
Officers believed Amaro was keeping a low profile while still serving as a channel between the gang's street regiment and leaders in Pelican Bay State Prison, where the Nuestra Familia keeps its headquarters.
FBI agents and local law enforcement officers released names of those arrested but provided few other details Thursday morning about the raids that took place the day before.
Four people were picked up in Monterey County: Salinas' Manuel Samora Cadena, 54, and Gerardo Lopez Mora, 30, and Castroville's Oscar Padilla, 26, and Richard Mendoza Jr., 23.
They were all taken into federal custody on drug-related charges, although authorities did not supply details of their alleged crimes.
Still being sought on arrest warrants are Robert Javier Farias Portela, 24, of Salinas, and Faustino Gonzales Jr., 29, of Greenfield.
All six are known Norteño gang members or associates connected to the Nuestra Familia, asaid law enforcement officials.
Three more arrests were made in the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Petaluma and Fremont. The FBI also pursued related warrants out of its St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn. offices, said Special Agent Joseph Schadler.
Coordinated effort|
More than 200 law enforcement officers from the FBI, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, Salinas and Marina police, and other local law enforcement agencies participated in the Monterey County portion of the raid.
Sheriff Mike Kanalakis said the massive coordination of federal and local law enforcement officers in the investigation and the raid was the key to the success of the operation.
"A lot of times, it seems there is no end in sight to the gang problem and that law enforcement is just sitting around, but an investigation like this takes a long time to develop," Kanalakis said.
"In the end, a lot of people were put away. The investigation resulted in the arrests of a lot of people who will hopefully do a lot of time. Time will tell how effective this action was."
FBI assistant special agent David Johnson said additional charges could be forthcoming. Johnson said the operation "highlights the need for interagency cooperation" on investigations involving sophisticated criminal gangs.
Authorities declined to offer further details about the arrests and investigation, which is ongoing, citing confidentiality concerns.
~ ~ ~
Suspects identified
Names of those arrested during this week's statewide sweep targeting the Nuestra Familia gang's street operations:
Oscar Campos Padilla, 26, Castroville
Manuel Cadena, 54, Salinas
Richard Mendoza, 23, Castroville
Gerardo Mora, 30, Salinas
Larry Amaro, 40, Hanford
Andrea Cadena, 29
Valdemar Cambunga, 49, Los Banos
Jesse Corral, 35, Stockton
Edward Fuentes, 35, Merced
Jesus Garcia, 34, Stockton
Alvaro Gomez, 35, Los Banos
Marco Gomez, 28
Jason Stewart-Hanson, 33, Los Banos
Ernest Paul Killinger, 29, Orangevale
Bismark Martin Ocampo, 37, Petaluma
David Ramirez, 27, Manteca
Benjamin Santoscastro, 31, San Francisco
Ernesto Salcedo, 36, Stockton
Rebeca Salcedo, 41, Stockton
Leo Torres, 35, Dos Palos
Fernando Villalpando, 37, Moreno Valley
Jose Villasenor, 32, Fremont
Apprehended later:
Robert Javier Farias Portela, 24, Salinas
Faustino Gonzales Jr., 29, Greenfield
Gabriel Caracheo, 33, Salinas
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sacramento office
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