By Roger Lanse
An alleged member of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico Prison Gang, Allen Patterson, 45, of Silver City, was arrested in Grant County Thursday morning, Dec. 3, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. Another Silver City man, Mario Rodriguez, 31, who was already in state custody, was also arrested at the facility where he was incarcerated.
According to the release, Patterson was charged with the March 26, 2001 murders of two victims identified only as F.C. and R. G.
Rodriguez is charged with the March 7, 2014 murder of a person identified as J.M., and with conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.
The Grant County Beat was informed by a local citizen that a law enforcement operation involving the U.S. Marshal’s Service took place on Western Drive early Thursday morning. GCB learned that the incident was actually a Federal Bureau of Investigation operation assisted by the Marshal’s Service. Information whether Patterson was taken into custody on Western Drive or elsewhere was not immediately available.
In all, 23 members of the Gang were taken into custody Thursday, Dec. 3, while two defendants remain at large and are considered fugitives. Thirteen of the 23 were already in state custody.
More than 500 officers from the Albuquerque Division of the FBI, New Mexico Corrections Department, New Mexico State Police, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Metropolitan Corrections Center, Albuquerque Police Department, U.S. Marshal’s Service, and the El Paso, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and Knoxville, TN FBI divisions took part in the law enforcement operation.
According to the press release, “(T)he SNM Prison Gang was formed in the early 1980s at the Penitentiary of New Mexico after the prison riot in 1980, and expanded throughout the New Mexico penal system. Gang members and associates allegedly are expected to remain loyal to the Gang and work to further its objectives after they have completed their prison sentences and those who do not are allegedly subject to violent forms of discipline.
“The racketeering indictments allege that significant goals of the SNM Prison Gang include controlling and profiting from drug trafficking both within and without the penal system; intimidating and influencing other gangs for the purpose of expanding the network for its illegal activities; and engaging in violence to assert its gang identity and protect its territory.”
“Nothing is more important to the FBI than protecting the American people. That’s why we teamed up with our partners and set our sights on a large, violent prison gang that for more than 30 years used murder, kidnapping and assault to intimidate their fellow inmates as well as our communities,” said Albuquerque FBI Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Bryan Finnegan. “The FBI will continue to strengthen our partnerships, share intelligence, and look for ways to pool our resources to get violent criminals off our streets – and keep them from operating in our prisons when we put them there.”