Federal officials move to bring down Mexican Mafia

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 15, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

Federal Law enforcement officials unsealed indictments Friday against 36 members of the Mexican Mafia. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The Mexican Mafia is the closest thing to Sopranos -style organized crime in San Diego.

Thirty two of the 36 indicted are already in State prison. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam says these are the men who give the orders and control drug deals both inside and outside the prison system.

Lam: "Controlling the activities of Hispanic street gangs through out southern California, expanding the power and scope of the Mexican mafia through intimidation, violence threats assaults and murders."

Law enforcement officials say the new federal racketeering charges will cripple the Mexican Mafia by transferring the bosses and their associates from state to federal prisons, where they won't have the same power to initiate criminal activities.

Operation "In The Hat" as the investigation was called, refers to a Mexican Mafia term, meaning "targeted for elimination."

Alison, St John KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.