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e ‘MEXICAN MAFIA’ VS. ‘NUESTRA FAMILIA’ May Spark Gang .¢ a er re re a ee rr 2 ata. ae + = me etna eet a: aha Heim cee: “ ee er em re reece nee Attar, a Organized gangs in Cati——oxercise.” For the past three { . fornia’s prisons are locked in - @ death struggle for control of the prisons and crime in the street. So pervasive has their influence become that one veteran prison official commented, “We have about as much control over the | place as the cons allow us to Copyright, 1975 } The San Jose Mercury 4 Two prison-spawned stre yangs are turning Californip into a battlefield in an all-o war, state law enforcement offi- cials warn. Part of the spoils is a flourish- ing $8 million-a-month narcotics trade that supplies the San Jose area’s-4,700 heroin addicts. Lawmen are concerned by re- ports that “Mexican Mafia” | “soldiers” have been moving # into the San Jose area in recent months, apparently preparing for a power grab. The Mafia members — most- ly ex-convicts from the East Los Angeles area — pian to chal- lenge their gang's chief rival, “Nuestra Familia” (“Our Fami- ly” in Spanish) for control of San Jose's street crime, an ex- -pert on prison gangs revealed. ‘ he 350-member ‘‘Nuestra | Familia” (NF) controls much of y the street crime in San Jose and Northern California. And, a document obtained by rear rr Sanc L TTCA S mouths, Mercury reporters |. Armando Acuna, Bill Ro- " mano and Bob Weaver have probed deep into this under- world and the threat it em- bedies for San Jose and oth- er major Calffornia cities. This series of articles is the result of their investigation. ee a a team of Mercury reporteds outlines the gang's plans to e}-' pand its operations into a sta \ crime-network. The document, written in pris- on: by the top brass of the NF, outlines the gang’s secret plans to set up regiments in California cities, complete with their own The gang’s “soldiers” wodid ‘ be expected to raise money for the banks by holdups, burgija- ries, sales of narcotics and criminal action. The NF blueprint also calis for money to be pumped into le- gitimate businesses to provide “soldiers” with a “semi-retire- ment” program. The Mercury newsmen also Saw 4 copy of the “Nuestra Familia’s” execution list. It calls for the deaths of 89 gang defectors in and out of prison. But the NF’s purge of its own warriors may be slowed a bit Vy the ‘‘Mexican Mafia’s” activi- “A heavy number of (mets. ean) Mafia members have bean L5s Control OF S.J. Crime War -.- puge, name of : newspaper, city and state.) San Jose Mercury» Sen Jose, Calif. Pod a ‘Tl pater RAS” Edition: Morning Author: Editor: title: Control of San Jo; qrine May Spark Gan; ar Character: or Classification: 92—= Submitting Office: GF [] Being investigated ee