Holdin' Down The Culture
Two Northern California men, Sergio Rodriguez, 25, and Francisco Garcia, 29, were sentenced, respectively, to 270 years & 191 years to life in prison according to the deputy district attorney with the Monterey County, California DA’s Office Nana Knight. Knight says both Rodriguez and Garcia, both of whom reportedly belong to the Sureños, “went on a mission” to hunt down rival gang Norteños members in August 2018. The two men reportedly started their “mission” by going to a neighborhood heavily populated by Norteños where Rodriguez opened fire at a moving vehicle with three people inside the car. The two Sureños members then failed in their attempt in car jacking a separate vehicle and afterwards proceeded to an apartment building they believed to be occupied with Norteños members and fired more than 11 rounds at two people who were standing outside. They shot a man in his 20s, hitting him multiple times.
Authorities investigating the ordeal relied on video surveillance in order to capture their suspects. Garcia and Rodriguez were observed driving to and away from the crime scenes, as well as ditching the stolen vehicle.
Video surveillance formed a critical part of the investigation — Garcia and Rodriguez were seen driving to and away from the crime scenes, as well as ditching the stolen vehicle. Upon arresting Garcia, police found the semi-automatic gun he’d used.
The jury overseeing the trial found Garcia and Rodriguez guilty of 22 felony counts, such as conspiracy to commit murder, as well as special allegations for weapons violations, Knight said.
Many Sureño gangs (a.k.a Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3 ) have rivalries with one another, and the only time this rivalry is set aside is when they enter the prison system. Thus, fighting is common among different Sureño sets even though they share the same common identity. Sureños have emerged as a national gang in the United States. However, all Sureños pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities and have been known to ally with both the Aryan Brotherhood and Neo-Nazi groups and their main territory is Southern California.
Nuestra Familia (a.k.a. Norteños) is an organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. They have been known to ally in the past with Latin Kings and the Black Guerrilla Family. Salinas, California, which is situated south of the Bay Area, is a generic demarcation line of territory separating the two organizations.
Source: www.thecalifornian.com
