Thread: Swat scene at Houston home ends ; man still at large

May 30, 2008, 8:34PM
SWAT scene at Houston home ends; man still at large


By LINDSAY WISE and JENNIFER LEAHY
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Indictment against alleged gang members An FBI SWAT situation at a southeast Houston home is over and authorities are still looking for an alleged gang member who faces drug trafficking charges.

Authorities believed that 33-year-old Juan Manuel Hernandez, aka Meme, had barricaded himself alone inside the home in the 4100 block of Erie. SWAT members arrived there about 2 p.m planning to arrest him.

Authorities later entered the home and determined Hernandez was not inside. The search was called off about 8:25 p.m. Authorities said no shots were fired, but would not elaborate on how agents entered the home.

Hernandez is considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. He is an alleged member of of the Los Hermanos de Pistoleros (HPL), a gang formed in the mid-1980s in the Texas prison system by Latino inmates.

Twenty-one of 24 members or associates of the gang were arrested early Friday morning in Laredo, Beeville and Houston.

They are charged in a 12-count indictment returned under seal by a Houston grand jury Wednesday that accuses them of receiving cocaine smuggled into the United States from Mexico, storing the contraband in Laredo area stash houses and transporting and distributing the cocaine to Houston beginning in 2001.
The arrests come at the end of a four-year joint investigation conducted by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff's Office and other local and federal agencies.

Nine of the 21 arrested are from Houston. They are Mark Barrera, 28; Marino Duran, 46; Manuel Bernard Harris, 38; Albert Lema, 28; Robert Luis Alvarez, 25; Roberto Navarrete, Jr., 37; Marvyn Ramdeen, 26; Pacino Sanmiguel, 31; and Brian Michael Washington, 21.

lindsay.wise@chron.com





http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5810215.html

Family members and neighbors say Juan Manuel Hernandez is not in Los Hermanos de Pistoleros, or HPL, gang. FBI, police and SWAT team members surrounded a house Friday in the 4100 block of Erie, until it was determined he was not inside.
ERIC KAYNE: CHRONICLE



May 30, 2008, 11:38PM
Family, FBI have differing views of man targeted by SWAT


By JENNIFER LEAHY AND DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


HOUSTONIANS ARRESTED

Nine of 21 arrested Friday are from Houston. They are Mark Barrera, 28; Marino Duran, 46; Manuel Bernard Harris, 38; Albert Lerma, 28; Robert Luis Narvaez, 25; Roberto Navarrete, Jr., 37; Marvyn Ramdeen, 26; Pacino Sanmiguel, 31; and Brian Michael Washington, 21.

Indictment against alleged gang members
Silvia Candanoza considers her uncle a "great guy" who loves his four children and wife. He helped the 18-year-old and her 15-year-old sister host a Mother's Day party for their relatives and neighbors — complete with Slip-n-Slides, plenty of food, and gifts for all mothers.

The federal government, however, says Juan Manuel Hernandez is an active member of prison and street gang Los Hermanos de Pistoleros, or HPL. He is accused of money laundering and conspiracy to transport cocaine.

Federal agents arrived to arrest the 33-year-old construction worker Friday at the family's home in the 4100 block of Erie, part of a multi-agency sweep of alleged gang members in Houston, Laredo and Beeville.

Agents did not find Hernandez, also known as "Meme," at the house.

Earlier Friday, authorities arrested 21 of 24 alleged members or associates of the gang, all charged in a 12-count federal indictment that accuses them of receiving cocaine smuggled into the United States from Mexico, storing the contraband in Laredo-area stash houses and transporting and distributing the cocaine to Houston beginning in 2001. Nine arrested are from Houston.

Agents from the Houston bureau of the FBI, with dozens of armed SWAT team members, surrounded Hernandez's home about 1:30 p.m., and initially believed he had barricaded himself alone inside and was heavily armed. SWAT team members entered the home about 8:25 p.m. and determined he was not inside.

His sister, Belinda Castenada, who owns the property, said he is not in a gang and does not sell drugs.

"This is crazy," echoed Candanoza, her daughter.

"My uncle is a good guy. Just because he has a lot of tattoos doesn't mean he's in a gang. And he doesn't sell drugs. We don't like gangs and we don't like drugs," she said.

The HPL sign is a .45-caliber handgun, and members are known to have life-size dark tattoos of the gun inked along their waistlines as if the weapon was shoved into their pants.

HPL, which translates as Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen, was born in the Texas prison system in the 1980s to unify Latino inmates.

The Department of Justice has repeatedly said the secretive gang helps major Mexican drug cartels reach such Texas cities as Houston, Dallas, Laredo, Grand Prairie and Victoria.

The HPL also has been accused of carrying out death-squad type hits for the Gulf Cartel, which controls much of the territory on the south side of the Texas-Mexico border.

The inner working of HPL appears to be like many major gangs, as members are divided in military-like ranks, from generals to simple soldiers. It also has its own rules, including that membership is for life and members must attend meetings known as high mass.

Friday evening, a neighbor said he was stunned by the allegations.

"You'd see him outside, grilling out and playing with his kids. After I had my accident he told me if I ever needed anything just to let him know," said Miguel DeLeon, who is in a wheelchair as he recovers from a March 31 car accident.

Authorities said no shots were fired in the SWAT incident, but would not elaborate on how agents entered the home.

"Some of these folks are just out of prison and living with different people and it takes a while to round him up," said Villafranca. "But we got 21 of them. And we'll get him."

jennifer.leahy@chron.com

dane.schiller@chron.com




http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5810669.html

....oh, but he's just a "construction worker" ....trying to provide a better life for his family, wife and four anchor babies...as well as having a part-time job as a gang-banger and criminal. Let's hope they get this guy soon and DEPORT him and any of his illegal alien relatives as well.