Man killed in car crash is identified

Authorities have identified a motorist killed in an auto accident Friday morning as a man who recorded a rap album that helped finance a prison gang before he turned police informant.

Robert Lee Gratton, 44, of Palmdale -- who authorities suspect was driving while intoxicated -- was backing his Chevrolet Cavalier down Highway 14 north of Agua Dulce Road about 1:15 a.m. Friday, when it was struck by another vehicle, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Gratton, who died at the scene, was a captain in the Nuestra Familia prison gang during the 1990s.

While on parole, Gratton gained notoriety by producing a rap album known as G.U.N. -- Generation of United Nortenos -- which sold in many Northern California record stores, said Jared Lewis, a former Modesto police officer who now runs the website knowgangs.com. Lewis also published a book about Gratton and the Nuestra Familia.

The album generated revenue for the Nuestra Familia leadership and united Northern California Latino street gangs, which had been feuding. Their violence was turned against those from Southern California living in the north, Lewis said.

Gratton later began working for police as part of a massive prosecution of Nuestra Familia leaders, known as “Black Widow.”

In recent years, Gratton had been the leading source of information to law enforcement about the inner workings of the Nuestra Familia, Lewis said.

“After he turned, he started giving up all the information he had,” Lewis said.

-- Sam Quinones