OAKLAND — Two of the most powerful people within the secretive and violent Nuestra Familia prison gang have been sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in federal prison after admitting to involvement in conspiracies to kill subordinate gang members across California, court records show.
Samuel Luna, 48, and Antonio Guillen, 58, were both sentenced by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to 175 months in federal prison. Both men pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy involving murder plots that authorities say were only thwarted because federal investigators were secretly listening as the two talked on their contraband prison cellphones.
Both men are already serving life in state prison for violent crimes, but federal prosecutors hope the federal prison sentence will isolate them and inhibit their influence over the Nuestra Familia, a prison gang that runs the massive network of Norteño gangs in Northern and Central California.
Guillen, according to authorities, is one of three Nuestra Familia “generals” who control the gang, along with David “DC” Cervantes, and James “Conejo” Perez, the alleged General of Prisons. Luna is described in court records as Guillen’s “liaison” who has been placed in charge of gang “regiments” in Contra Costa, Santa Clara County, and New Folsom prison.
Guillen, Luna, Cervantes, and Perez were all indicted in 2021, along with dozens of other Nuestra Familia and Norteño members, as part of a federal investigation into both gangs.
The attempted murder charges stem from alleged murder conspiracies that were intercepted through the wiretap investigation. In all cases, the victims were incarcerated in jails or prisons when they were targeted and moved to a secure housing unit before they could be stabbed, authorities say. One typical example of an incriminating conversation is Guillen allegedly telling a co-conspirator in 2019, “make sure you have two f—ing seasoned soldados on him that know how to f—ing kill motherf—ers,” referring to an intended murder victim.
All the victims were targeted for violating gang rules — anything from dealing drugs with rival gang members to someone who was targeted for allegedly killing a fellow Norteño without authorization, according to court records.
Underscoring the danger, prosecutors say, was a 2019 stabbing that occurred after the wiretap was finished. The victim, a well-respected Norteño in Pleasant Valley State Prison, was stabbed multiple times with a shank, allegedly on the orders of gang leaders. The man survived, and the stabbing caused a prison riot between Nuestra Familia associates, leading to the gang’s leadership to distribute literature justifying the stabbing and calling the victim treasonous, according to court records.
In addition to the murder plots, authorities found evidence of gang members paying tens of thousands in monthly dues — mostly drug trafficking proceeds — to a Nuestra Familia “bank,” according to court records. The remaining Nuestra Familia leaders who have not pleaded guilty, including Cervantes and Perez, are set for trial in early 2024.
But not every defendant is a gang member. Back in July a woman named Anaelisa Cuevas avoided jail time altogether despite involvement gang business. She allegedly collected dues from Norteños for placement in Nuestra Familia’s bank and delivered pounds of methamphetamine to people. It was all arranged by her incarcerated husband, Edgardo Rodriguez aka Big Evil, a Nuestra Familia member who was sentenced to 74 months in federal prison last year.
“I had a desire to fix him and help him succeed and move forward,” Cuevas wrote in an apology letter to the court. “I now see it was a codependent system where I sacrificed my own needs and became preoccupied with him.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com