Norteño gangster gets 8 years for racketeering conspiracy, violence in prison on behalf of Nuestra Familia

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

A Norteño gang member was sentenced Tuesday to 8 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy. 30-year-old Michael “Lil Rhino” Cazares participated in a conspiracy to commit violent attacks on other inmates in the Monterey County Jail.

He pleaded guilty on June 10, 2021, to various racketeering charges, which included assault and murder. Cazares admitted to being a member of the Nuestra Familia/Salinas Norteños enterprise. This enterprise consists of members and associates of the Nuestra Familia prison gang as well as Norteño street gangs in Salinas and the surrounding areas.

Loyalty

Norteño gang members pledge their allegiance and loyalty to the prison gang Nuestra Familia and are instructed on its rules, rituals, and obligations. Members agree to commit crimes to carry out the gang’s criminal activity, including murder, drug trafficking, and other acts of violence.

Gang rules and discipline are enforced by threatening and attacking those individuals who violate the rules or pose a threat to the organization. Inside prisons and local jails, members and associates of Nuestra Familia and the Norteños work together to maintain the structure and rules of their enterprise.

“Removal” by “hitters” and “bombers”

Cazares admitted that while in jail he conspired with other gang members to enforce the most important rules by conducting “removals” of inmates. A “removal” is a pre-planned vicious attack designed to inflict maximum physical injury on a fellow inmate gang member who committed a serious infraction of the gang’s rules and to remove that gang member from both the gang’s custodial housing unit and the gang itself.

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A removal is carried out by one or more “hitters” who stab the victim with a jail-made weapon and are followed by at least two “bombers” who beat the victim. The purpose of the subsequent beating by bombers, who carry no weapons, is to inflict injury while providing time for the hitters to wash blood off of themselves and to get rid of the weapons.

Drug trafficking inside jail is a significant source of revenue for Nuestra Familia and Norteños. Cazares also admitted that he and other gang members took part in the distribution of narcotics within Monterey County Jail.

Cazares and 14 other Norteño gang members were indicted by a federal grand jury on September 27, 2018. To date, 13 of them have pleaded guilty and 12 have been sentenced, while two defendants remain scheduled for a trial set to commence on October 25, 2021.

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