Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Operation Crimson Tide is what the Northern California Law Enforcement agencies are calling their investigation into the Nuestra Familia. The Nuestra family is a prison gang and the street gang they control, or that is an extension of the prison gang is called Nortenos. Their colors are crimson.

It appears, from what I've read, as though the Federal Government was not involved and that all the arrests were all made by California law enforcement agencies. If the federal government were involved the guidelines regarding prison time are very complicated to calculate and they are generally much more severe. Federal prison time as it relates to drug trafficking is very high and the prisoners will generally serve at least 85% of the time. Again this is unlike State Prison where good time credits can be as high as 2 days to 1 day served. It always varies depending on situations but that is a general time credit.

According to the news reports, there were drugs and guns confiscated. It was a large amount of methamphetamine, approximately 20 pounds, and at least 26 guns. However, the news reports and what the real facts are, can be two entirely different things. It is also impossible to know what final charges the various county DA's will file. It appears as though the arrests encompassed 6 or more counties and over 300 law enforcement officers. I would take a guess and say a lot of additional charges will be filed before things go very far. The news report also suggested a connection between 4 murder cases involving an rival gang and the current arrests so some suspects might possibly be involved in that situation. It also depends on the prior records of the people arrested. If they have been arrested before this incident and the prior arrests were serious or involved drugs and drug trafficking that will significantly increase the possible penalties. So at this stage it any guess would be just that a total guess as to how much time any of the suspects might be facing. You must also remember they are all supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty and since there are never any guarantees when it comes to the law, anything is possible.

Good luck,

Brian D. McGinity