Alpha Guard by William Hankins

[silentwssj]

Order book: https://amzn.to/2SycMH1

I just got done reading Alpha Guard by William Hankins. This book is the story of the nations first Prison Gang investigator. It starts off by saying that there was a secret set of files stored under the captains office at San Quentin State Prison. In these files were stored all of the records from the early years. This of course got my blood pumping because it implies that all of that secret and lost information will be revealed in this book. Instead, what is revealed is the name of Sargent William Hankins. The Author then goes on to contact his family and discovers that he is deceased but had written an unpublished book. The rest of the story is what he had written. There are definitely some bombs dropped in this book! He reveals a head scratcher me. He claims that NF started off in San Quentin in 1968! According to him, the original leaders tried to go to staff first because the EME was preying upon their own race. Because staff did not do anything about it NF was created. This does not make sense to me because I always heard that 1965 was the date of creation, and that it was in Soledad? He states it was 1968 at San Quentin and that it spread to Soledad afterward! Another bomb was his story of his interrogation of "Death Row Joe". He says that he brought him in for interrogation, tightened up his cuffs and poured a bottle of citrate of magnesia down his throat! After this he claims that he told him everything that he wanted to know! The story of EME member Richard Ruiz is another Bomb. He claims that he got him to admit to being an EME member "A punishable by death offense" just to get him to change up the program so they could get shower and rec time! I will say this both of these individuals went on to become informants so it could be true! Basically this book is about the early history of the formation the Prison Gang task force. Very little of it deals with early prison gang members. What it does talk about extensively though is how the CDC was basically run by a bunch of people who were blind to everything that was going on. Sargent Hankins entire story of how he got them to believe him that these prison gangs were real is documented! It is very revealing in its description of how Law Enforcement gets bogged down by political gridlock, petty bickering, and personal agendas! To be honest I was shocked at their ineptitude! He basically lays the blame of the formation of these groups at Law enforcements feet! I personally liked the book! It is a good read if you are interested in a description of the history of the CDC and how they deal with prison gangs!

[razorman55]

Greetings Silent ……………. Just read your review. Quite a journey into early years at San Quentin. Sgt. Hankins was indeed a one-man crusade with ALL upper staff in total denial. In their arrogance, they 1) did not care there was a prison gang preying on everyone, including their own (their attitude seemed to be, “let them kill themselves.”) and 2) rather than sully their good name they dismissed Sgt. Hankins’ reports. Hankins’ first introduction/revelation about the Nuestra Familia was at San Quentin (even though it was secretly formed at Soledad in 1965).

Speaking of one glaring omission in your review is that you weren’t scratching your head about the biggest bomb of the book to prison gang aficionados. His 3 main informants were 2 of the Nuestra Familia’s co-founders (“Chalo” Hernandez from Bakersfield and Freddie Gonzales from San Diego) along with another OG - Jessie “Black Jess” Valenzuela from Chiques! These guys were feeding him information (according to Hankins) BEFORE he discovered they were members of a gang called Nuestra Familia, which he found out from his yard snitches. On Page 83 he specifically asks Freddie about this “new” gang (new to Hankins because, as you accurately reflect, it had already started in 1965 only Hankins didn't know this). He tried going to upper staff to report his new findings and again they laughed at him. He had many documented encounters with Freddie (alone) and with all three at different times!

(((The story of EME member Richard Ruiz is another Bomb. He claims that he got him to admit to being an EME member "A punishable by death offense" just to get him to change up the program so they could get shower and rec time!)))

As for Richie Ruiz complaining about not getting any showers and threatening to tear the place down, Hankins and Richie’s confrontation continues on page 60 where Richie states, “Okay, if you say there’s such a thing as the Mexican Mafia and you want me to agree with you, I will if it gets us a shower. I know the administration doesn’t believe you so if it makes you happy I’ll agree with you, now what?” Hankins said, “I told him I’d return that afternoon, hopefully with a solution. Sounds like a typical cat-and-mouse convict vs. c/o exchange to me and hardly a “gotcha” admission. Actually, Richie was making fun of Hankins. If this constitutes an admission in your eyes, Silent, then God bless ALL inmates for any off the cuff remarks. I suppose they’re all snitches then. (smile) Contrast that with the intel Hankins was receiving from Chalo, Black Jess and Freddy and there’s no comparison hands down. I just read the then-confidential CI (confidential informant) reports and each encounter is documented and detailed. Hankins never authored a CI report on Inmate Richard Ruiz on what you describe as "a punishable by death offense" because Hankins knew Richie was yanking his chain.

(((Basically this book is about the early history of the formation the Prison Gang task force. Very little of it deals with early prison gang members))) With all due respect to your personal opinion and review, Silent one, I don’t know what you would consider “early history.” I counted over 49 prison gang members that this book touched upon including:
(EME – 25 members) Richard “Richie” Ruiz, Louis “Huero” Flores, Rudy “Cheyenne” Cadena, Mike “Acha” Ison, Alejandro “Hondo” Lechuga, Robert “Crow” Juarez, Benjamin “Topo” Peters, Robert “Robot” Salas, Carlos “Pieface” Ortega, Manuel “Joker” Rodriguez, Joseph “Peg Leg” Morgan, Alfonso “Pache” Alvarez, Steven “Calote” Amador, Gilbert “Manitas” Sandoval, Ralph “Pata” Garcia, Mike “Poor Slim” Mulhern, Ralph “Vito” Rodriguez, Louis Talamantes, Manuel “Mapa” Lopez, Jimmy “Rube” Soto, Daniel “Spider” Arriaga, Gilbert “Gil” Santistevan, Alfred “Alfie” Sosa, Vincent “Tripas” Inigo (San Jose), Jerry “Wino” Pena,
(NF – 14 members) Fred “Freddie” Gonzales, Jessie “Black Jess” Valenzuela, Gonzalo “Chalo” Hernandez, Joe “Death Row Joe” Gonzales, Hector “Mad Dog” Padilla, Manuel “Menito” Romero, Juan ”Manzana” Colon, Ramon “Tiny” Contreras, Frank “Joker” Mendoza, Ernie Aranda, Santos Aranda, John “Raton” Lucero (from San Jose), “Crazy John” Ortiz, Art “The Rock” Beltran,
(BGF – 9+ members) George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, Hugo Pinell, Johnny Spain, David Johnson, Willie Tate, James “Doc” Holiday, James “Khatari” Gaulden, and Chapter 24 talks about several BGF prison gang members who were involved in a foiled assassination attempt of a staff member.

He also wrote chapters about the EME, NF and BGF. I counted 13 total chapters which dealt extensively with these 3 prison gangs. My one big disappontment is that he did not get into the Aryan Brotherhood????? But, hey, it's his book, not mine. Maybe, being ex-law enforcement, I am biased to thiis book. I thought he spend TOO MUCH space on prison gangs, if you ask me and you say he spends "very little." Interesting.

Be good, Silent.

Razorman55

[silentwssj]

Hey there! I just wanted to clear up a couple of things! Yes this book definitely mentions a lot of early convicts. The thing is unless you are familiar with who you are reading about, you probably wont know how they fit into the puzzle of the bigger picture! I thought that it could have done a better job of explaining all of that! It is definitely written with the assumption that you are familiar already with all of the characters. The Chalo, Freddie, and Black Jess thing was definitely a bomb! Probably the biggest bomb of all! The thing is that he does not lay it out like that in the book. He makes it seem like they formed NF after the administration failed to stop the EME from preying upon its own race! That is actually why I stated that I was confused by him placing their formation in 1968! You have to remember that this book was written after his career ended, so he certainly would have known by then when they really formed! He did not do that, so I did not mention it in my review because I was honestly wondering if I was learning something new here. Basically, I figured why say it if they were not NF yet at that time. Now that you have confirmed them already being in existence, I would concur with you in saying wow! I definitely was wondering why he did not mention the Aryan Brotherhood at all as well? This book is really about the history of early corrections. I definitely recommend it for those who are interested in that angle of history. Anyhow, good book over all! Peace out, Silent!

[Rickestrella]

Does anyone have a used copy for sale? It goes for about 30 dollars? I wonder how it all started?

[alexalonso]

Does anyone have a used copy for sale? It goes for about 30 dollars? I wonder how it all started?

https://amzn.to/2SycMH1