Michelle Malkin - The truth about the cop-killing marine

townhall.com ^ | 1/19/05 | Michelle Malkin

[kattracks]

If you watched the evening news a week ago, you may recall the sensational story of a distraught Marine who died in a murderous shootout with police. Anti-war writers and Latino activists have turned the cop-killer, Lance Cpl. Andres Raya, into a martyr. Don't believe the hype.

 Network and cable TV shows repeatedly broadcast video and photo stills of Raya's Jan. 9 bloody gun battle in a Ceres, Calif., liquor store. Mental health experts immediately blamed post-traumatic stress disorder. Ignoring the cold-blooded murder of one of the ambushed police officers who was lured to his death, international headlines instead trumpeted the supposedly traumatized Raya:

 Teenage War Veteran Committed Suicide 'By Cop'

 Marine 'Committed Suicide by Cop to Avoid Iraq Return'

 Kin of Marine Who Shot Policemen Ask if He Is a Casualty of War

 Young Camp Pendleton Marine who shot officers did not want to go back to Iraq.

 A far Left Web site, San Francisco Bay Area Indymedia.org, posted a complaint that the California legislature -- which lowered its flags to honor slain cop Sgt. Howard Stevenson -- was showing "no consideration [for the] young man whose life was ruined by military service."

 La Voz de Aztlan, a radical fringe publication by Mexican nationalists, lionized Raya and demonized police:

 "One can only speculate what horrors Andres Raya experienced in Fallujah. The slaughter by U.S. occupation forces of Iraqi civilians in Fallujah has been compared to the slaughter in Guernica by Nazi forces in 1937. Many U.S. Marines with a conscious (sic) have found it very difficult to reconcile the Iraqi civilian murders in their minds and have committed suicide. U.S. Marine Andres Raya decided to take some cops with him. Most probably he was harassed by them while growing up Mexican in this small northern California town." The paper also lambasted Raya's hometown, Ceres, as "a redneck town notorious for its mistreatment of his people."

 Writing in the anti-war publication CounterPunch, Jack Random lamented Raya's death as "symbolic of the untold story of war. Hundreds of thousands of trained killers survive combat only to come home to a life for which they are no longer prepared. They have seen what men and women should never see. They have engaged in operations that brought them face to face with the death of innocent civilians, women and children."

 The only elements missing in the bleeding-heart coverage of Raya's story were the soundtrack to "Platoon" and a bulk order of Kleenex. There's just one thing wrong with the sympathetic spin about the anti-war Marine. It's all dead wrong.

 This much is true about Raya: The 19-year-old man did in fact serve with the Marines' 1st Intelligence Battalion's motor transport unit as a driver in Iraq.

 But contrary to the impression left by initial media reports, Raya had never seen combat. And he was not headed back to Iraq. He had been transferred to a new unit scheduled for deployment to Okinawa. "During our investigation, we found he wasn't due to go back to Iraq, never faced combat situations and never even fired his gun," Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Woodman said.

 Raya was high on cocaine at the time of the ambush, according to police reports. He was reportedly affiliated with the prison gang Nuestra Familia. Investigators found photos of Raya wearing gang colors and a shopping list in his bedroom safe that included body armor, assault rifles and ammunition. Authorities also discovered a video showing Raya smoking what appears to be marijuana and making gang sign gestures. The tape showed desecrated pieces of the American flag laid on a gymnasium floor to spell out expletives directed at President Bush.

 Family members deny Raya's gang ties and blame the military. Meanwhile, Raya's neighborhood was decorated with anti-cop graffiti such as "Kill the Pigs" in his memory. And militant Hispanic residents celebrate Raya. Ceres resident Hilda Mercado told The New York Times that Raya "died like a true Mexican: He died standing on his feet."

 The question isn't what got into Raya when he entered the military. The question is why and how Raya -- who police say had a propensity for violence well before he joined the Marines -- got into our military in the first place.

 And now you know the rest of the story.

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com

[SAJ]

No dig at ALL at Paul Harvey; merely mentioned him because 1) of Ms. Malkin's tagline in the article, and 2) his decades-long syndicated radio programme ''The Rest of the Story''.

A logical connection, agreed?

[Squantos]

La Voz de Aztlan.....The voice of A$$ Clowns !

This is gonna be a really warm summer !

Stay Safe Ya'll

[moehoward]

Gotta love her. Smart and easy on the eyes.

[beaversmom]

Alternative media is so great. Thanks Michelle.

[RaceBannon]

Another Marine Bump!

[kcvl]

Lt. Bill Heyne says a safe owned by Andres Raya hid gang items, including this book by an imprisoned Nuestra Familia member.

But he said an investigation into Raya's background showed that he harbored violent tendencies and an anti-government attitude long before he went to war.

Raya bragged to Marine buddies that he had bought an SKS rifle in Modesto and left it with one of his "boys." It was capable of carrying 30 rounds of high-powered ammunition. When they asked Raya why he needed the weapon, he replied that a 7.62-caliber round could penetrate a cop's armor, Heyne said.

Several of Raya's friends and family insisted the 2003 graduate of Ceres High School did not belong to a gang, though he may have hung out with gang members.

Heyne suggested it was probable that Raya's parents did not know their son was heavily involved in the Norteño gang.

The teen kept his bedroom clean, Heyne said, and kept most of his gang paraphernalia in a safe. The contents included photos of Raya flashing gang signs and posing next to Norteño graffiti, and book written by a prison inmate and Nuestra Familia gang member known as Sir Dyno.

Raya had "hate" for the United States, Heyne said. During a Dec. 28 burglary at the Ceres High gymnasium, he cut up a U.S. flag, and used the scraps to spell out "F--- Bush" on the gym floor, according to authorities. The burglars videotaped the break-in — during which they stole $5,700 worth of computer equipment and smashed monitors — and left the camera behind, Heyne said.

Later, school officials heard through the grapevine that Raya had visited the school to see about recovering the camera. But police had it. This week, when they looked at the tape, they identified Raya.

Police said they found a CD player in the poncho that Raya wore that night, and said the player held a gangster rap album titled "Season of Da Siccness." The album is dominated by lyrics about killing, Heyne said, in songs such as "Dead Man" and "Return of Da Baby Killa."

Some of Raya's friends downplayed the theory that the music and Sir Dyno book signaled a proclivity to violence.

Everardo Padilla Jr., a 30-year-old warehouse worker who grew up with Raya, said none of Raya's tattoos were gang-related. He had an Aztec sun on one shoulder, an Aztec moon on the other, and this inscription on his neck: "Only God will judge me."

"It doesn't matter what people read, or if they listen to gangster rap. Nobody really knows what went on inside Andy's mind," he said. "But the war had a big influence on whatever he did after he came back. Whether or not he fought, he was talking about things. Basically he saw dead people and civilians blown up."

Padilla denied that Raya had a gang affiliation: "Honestly, in my heart I just know Andy was a lot smarter than that, and his parents did a good job raising him."

Police said their investigation points to a likelihood that others may have helped Raya carry out Sunday's attack.

Police said they are still trying to learn how Raya got from Camp Pendleton to Modesto on Sunday. After partying Saturday night with Marine buddies and returning to the barracks, Raya told them he was going back out.

More...

[kcvl]

This photo of Andres Raya was found in a safe in his bedroom and released by officials Friday.

[OXENinFLA]

PING...

[kcvl]

The investigation also uncovered ties to the Norteño gang, Woodman said, including a videotape and a safe in Raya's room containing a book by a member of the prison gang Nuestra Familia and numerous pictures of Raya wearing the gang's signature color red and making gang signs with his hands.

The safe also contained a "shopping list" for items including black clothing, body armor, assault rifles and ammunition.

"Based on the shopping list and the statements he made, it certainly seems like he had the intention and the desire to injure or kill police officers," Woodman said.

The video is of a Dec. 28 break-in of Ceres High School in which vandals including Raya smashed computers and other equipment, ripped up an American flag and spelled out "F -- Bush," Woodman said. The camera had been left behind at the school, but it wasn't until after the shooting that investigators got a tip to view the tape.

It also shows Raya and friends smoking marijuana, making gang signs and showing off gang graffiti. Raya refers to his gang involvement starting when he was a freshman, and pictures in the safe from 2000 show him using gang signs, Woodman said.

"It's very evident his gang affiliation started long before he joined the military," he said.

While Raya had a minor criminal record as a juvenile, police had not identified him as a gang member.

snip

An autopsy showed Raya had a "significant amount" of cocaine in his system, Woodman said. In the pocket of Raya's poncho, police also found the CD "Season of Da Siccness," containing numerous references to death including the songs "Dead Man" and "Welcome to Your Own Death."

[Peach]

I'd read (on FR naturally) that he was high and a gang member.

[kcvl]

It was in this world, they said, where he associated with Norteño gang members and became a criminal.

It was this life that he often bragged about to his Marine friends, authorities said, but that his commanders — and apparently his family — knew nothing about.

snip

He said authorities searched Raya's bedroom at his parents' home, and found a safe that contained:

Photographs of Raya and known gang members, and of Raya flashing gang hand signs.

Gang paraphernalia, such as a rag in Norteño red.

A "shopping list" that included AR-15 assault rifles with extra clips, and at least one with a scope; three bulletproof vests; black clothing; and several other items.

A book titled "Midst of My Confusion" written by a prison inmate named Sir Dyno, a Nuestra Familia gang member.

Also in Raya's room, Heyne said, an electrical outlet had been marked "XIV" — the sign of the Norteño gang.

snip

Heyne said Raya served seven months as a driver of trucks and Humvees in Iraq. His unit was stationed at the Blue Diamond camp in Ramadi.

Raya's parents said he told them he served in Fallujah. Heyne said Raya was never in Fallujah, probably never fired a weapon and no one close to him was killed fighting there.

The medals and ribbons he received were the kind that were given to everyone who served in Iraq, Heyne said.

Marine Lt. Col T.V. Johnson said: "As a Marine, he did his job and he did a good job."

What his commanders did not know was that he bragged to his Marine friends that he was a member of the Norteños gang. He also often bragged to his Marine buddies that he owned an SKS assault rifle. He used that type of high-powered weapon during his shooting spree Sunday, they said.

Police said Raya told his friends that he purchased the assault rifle from a friend in Modesto. He said he bought it because bullets fired from it could penetrate a police officer's body armor.

Raya also told people that he had a magazine that could hold 30 rounds of ammunition.

And, while family members and some friends said he told them that he did not want to return to Iraq, Heyne said the investigation turned up friends who reported that Raya had said the opposite, and hopefully wanted a combat role.

snip

In November and December, Raya came home to Modesto on several four-day passes. When he returned to Camp Pendleton, he always was wearing red clothes, his fellow Marines said.

When other Marines asked him about the red clothing, he would tell them he was a member of the Norteños. He would say, "You don't know what we do up there."

Raya showed other Marines a picture of himself and several other young men — also dressed in red — whom he identified as his "boys," investigators said.

As a juvenile, Raya was arrested for possession of an explosive device and drug paraphernalia, Heyne said. He said Raya had modified a Piccolo Pete firework and used it to blow up a mailbox.

Raya received a waiver so he could join the Marine Corps, Heyne said.

Johnson said recruits with minor infractions can join the military. He said the rigors of boot camp usually weed out troubled recruits.

Raya gave his commanders no reason to suspect that he was involved in gang activity, Johnson said.

"He would have been bounced out of the Marine Corps in a heartbeat" if that were known, he said.

[Jet Jaguar]

I would tend to agree.

[kcvl]

Norteño (gang) Information


The Norteños (Spanish for "northerners"), also called Nuestra Familia (Our Family), are a coalition of Hispanic gangs in North America, based in northern California. A member of these gangs is a norteño (male), norteña (female), or simply "northerner"; based on Spanish usage, these names are usually not capitalized when referring to individual members.

History

In the late 1960s, Mexican-American inmates of the California state prison system began to separate into two rival groups, Norteños (north) and Sureños (south), according to the locations of their home towns; the north-south dividing line was near Bakersfield. Part of the motivation for the split was the desire of the Norteños to be independent of "La Eme", the Mexican Mafia, which tended to treat Mexican-American inmates from the north worse than those closer to the border. Norteños continue to have violent territorial rivalries with Mexican gangs, while the Sureños are still affiliated with La Eme.

The group developed a formal structure in 1968, with a written constitution, under the leadership of Folsom State Prison inmate Robert Rios "Babo" Sosa. Its current hierarchy is based in Pelican Bay State Prison. It has developed offshoots throughout the United States and in Europe.

As with many other gangs, Norteños have been involved in trafficking of drugs and contraband, and armed conflict with other gangs and with police. According to police investigators, a requirement for full membership in Nuestra Familia is committing at least one murder for the gang.

Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate the group, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on racketeering charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. Thirteen of the defendants pled guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. The largest of the federal investigations, Operation Black Widow, caused controversy when it became public that some gang members were serving as FBI informants while still continuing to organize violent crimes.
Symbols and culture

Norteño emblems and clothing are based on the color red; a typical norteño outfit might include red belts, red shoes, and red shoelaces. They also favor brand-name clothing such as Tommy Hilfiger, Polo, Ecko, and Nautica, in red, white, and black. The use of red by Norteños and blue by Sureños supposedly derives from the standard-issue bandanas in California prisons, which were only available in those colors.

Their number, sometimes used in tattoos, is 14 (sometimes written in Roman numerals as "XIV"), since N is the fourteenth letter of the alphabet. The corresponding Sureño number is 13.

Norteños also lay claim to images of Chicano youth culture, such as lowrider cars, and of the Mexican-American labor movement, such as the sombrero, machete, and eagle symbols of the United Farm Workers. At the same time that norteños were first organizing in prisons and calling for liberation from the Mexican mafia, the UFW and its leader César Chávez were folk heroes and symbols of liberation to many Mexican-American youth, including some gang members who had met Chávez when he was imprisoned for his union work.

In 1998, norteño-affiliated music producers released two gangsta rap CDs, Generations of United Norteños—Till Eternity and Cuete, which were said to have been funded by the gang's top leadership as a recruitment tool ("Cuete" is the nickname of Nuestra Familia leader Gerald Rubalcaba). The lead performer, Sir Dyno, who claimed that he was only culturally a norteño and did not know his employers were literally gangsters, was indicted for conspiracy after the Operation Black Widow investigation.

The Mexican-derived music style called norteño is unrelated to norteño gangs.

[Phsstpok]

I have only one complaint about this piece:

La Voz de Aztlan, a radical fringe publication by Mexican nationalists

They are not Mexican nationalists. They are national socialist (race based socialists, you know, NAZIs) imperialists.

They are determined to re-conquer the areas of North America "stolen from them" by the anglos. They call their movement "La Reconquista."

Never mind that the territory that they claim was only ever a continguous entity with central control under the Spanish empire. Never mind that they likewise claim the northern states of Mexico, all in the name of setting up a racially pure latino empire from the Gulf of Mexico to San Francisco bay.

Oh, and whites, blacks, asians and pure blood indians would all have to vacate "their" terrority or die.

Voz de Aztlan has more in common with Mein Kampf than Common Sense.

[kittymyrib]

The Marines should be embarrassed that this thug ever wore the uniform. Whoever did this sloppy job of recruiting should be disciplined publicly as a lesson for others who cut corners to get their numbers up.

[kcvl]

Just an EXAMPLE of the tattoo and the red belt symbolizing his gang.

[kcvl]

As a juvenile, Raya was arrested for possession of an explosive device and drug paraphernalia, Heyne said. He said Raya had modified a Piccolo Pete firework and used it to blow up a mailbox.

Raya received a waiver so he could join the Marine Corps, Heyne said.

Johnson said recruits with minor infractions can join the military. He said the rigors of boot camp usually weed out troubled recruits.

Raya gave his commanders no reason to suspect that he was involved in gang activity, Johnson said.

"He would have been bounced out of the Marine Corps in a heartbeat" if that were known, he said.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Family members deny Raya's gang ties and blame the military.

Clean up on West isle! Oh to be in charge and be able to remove this family from the country. Then, turn to the streets and clean them up...removing gang members, drug dealers and murderers in general. The real war is over here and the authorities are not deciding to win it.

[MissAmericanPie]

Sounds like he was a member of the Mexican Mafia.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Everardo Padilla Jr., a 30-year-old warehouse worker who grew up with Raya,

This individual should be next to leave...watch over the long term and see what kind of trouble is made by those who make excuses for vermin like Raya. This has nothing to do with right and wrong. To some of these folks, it is right to kill whomever disagrees with you and wrong to oppose. Clean up on isle West.