Subpoenaed Inmates Use System for Reprisals

For years, the Mexican Mafia leaders in a Northern California state prison who have been called as witnesses in Los Angeles criminal trials have enjoyed a side benefit.

They are temporarily held in county jails, where they have recruited new members and carried out violent reprisals against enemies, state and county officials said.

The practice has come under scrutiny after the recent attempted murders of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in downtown Los Angeles and the North County jail in Castaic. The attacks, carried out with homemade shanks, were apparently in response to a crackdown on a visiting Mafia delegation.

“It could happen to any county jail in the state and it has,” said Lt. Pat Hunter, the head of the North County jail. “We’re going to do what we need to do to keep staff and inmates safe.”

Most of the Mexican Mafia’s leadership is imprisoned at Pelican Bay State Prison’s 1,150-inmate security housing unit in Crescent City, near the Oregon border. Their only contact with the outside world is through the mail and during visiting hours--both of which are monitored by corrections officers.

When called to testify, they are housed in the local county jail system. In Los Angeles, they have been generally separated from the general population, but they haven’t always been subjected to the same kinds of restrictions imposed at Pelican Bay, said Capt. Richard Adams, who runs the county’s Men’s Central Jail.

Some inmates, he said, have been allowed to make phone calls, while others have fraternized with their Southern California associates.

In recent weeks, the county jail system has tightened its policies, Adams said. “Whatever privileges they do not get in state prison, they will not get when they come here,” he said.

Two months ago, half a dozen Mexican Mafia leaders were subpoenaed as character witnesses in Los Angeles area trials. After catching wind of the visit, sheriff’s deputies severely restricted the movements of the leaders, and split them among the Men’s Central Jail, the Castaic lockup and a nearby state prison.

As payback for the surprise crackdown, Mafia-affiliated gang members ambushed three sheriff’s deputies on the morning of Nov. 28 with homemade shanks at the Inmate Reception Center downtown, deputies said.

A few weeks later, on Dec. 10, an inmate slashed Deputy Chris Varela’s neck with a razor blade in the North County jail.

The three deputies downtown suffered minor injuries, as did Varela, who was protected from more serious harm by his plastic collar stay, Hunter said. All have returned to work.

Varela’s attacker, 27-year-old Antonio Haro, and three of the downtown assailants were charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, sheriff’s officials said. The other five inmates downtown were charged with conspiracy to commit murder on a peace officer, said Capt. Richard Barrantes of the Inmate Reception Center.

Hunter said the fear of future reprisals remains his top concern at the 3,500-inmate North County jail, 37 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Two less serious assaults on deputies have occurred in the last two weeks, said North County jail Det. (cq) Dennis Salazar, who said they were probably Mafia-related. Like most prison gangs, the Mexican Mafia--also known as “La Eme” for the Spanish letter “M”--relies on street gang members to carry out its illegal activities. It’s also a classic extortion racket that taxes drug proceeds in exchange for protection in prison, said Special Agent Devan Hawkes, a Mexican Mafia expert with the California Department of Corrections.

Los Angeles Superior Court officials would not comment on the use of subpoenas.

And though some law enforcement officials suspect certain defense attorneys know what they’re doing when they call these gang witnesses, they seem resigned to the fact that the courts can’t do much.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Chief Taylor K. Moorehead and other law enforcement officials say there’s little they can do to stop prison gang members from moving about the state through what they allege is an abuse of the subpoena power.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Portillo noted that defense attorneys have broad discretion when it comes to issuing subpoenas.

“A witness just has to be called on a relevant issue,” he said. “And the competency of the character witness to testify isn’t determined until he’s called into court.”

Paul Potter, a Pasadena-based attorney who has represented a number of alleged Mexican Mafia members, said good defense attorneys don’t let their clients abuse the subpoena power. Potter said he sends investigators to all potential witnesses in prison to determine if they will be a legitimate help to the case.

“I’m not a travel agent--I’m a defense lawyer,” Potter said. “My only interest is in who [potential witnesses] can assist me in defending the client from the charges on the table.”

Moorehead said a number of county corrections departments have gotten wise to the scheme. “What [gang members] are now finding,” Moorehead said, “is an inhospitable system.”