541 Synicate Part 3 Final Chapter

Written by Adán Germán for Borderland Beat

 Siskiyou Mountains

Dangerous Alliances

By the middle of the last decade, the Díaz family had ramped up production of high-grade marijuana to the point that it was moved around the country by the ton, and they had over a dozen runners supplying Chicago's Lower West Side, a group of Outfit connected old Jewish guys on the North side, and a group of Mexicans in North Jersey who had connections to remnants of the Gambino family.

However, they began to experience hit after hit. First their drivers or runners, as they were called, began to be pulled over and searched, one after another. It became well known from the Rocky Mountains, east, that vehicles with plates from Western states were prime targets. Interstate 80 and, the northern route, Interstate 90, became like gauntlets, with runners caught like deer in the headlights of State Highway Patrols in places like Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota, and all the way east to New York.

At the same time, the DEA and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division were having a field day, raiding farm after farm, based on nothing more than aerial photos proving the production of marijuana. The feds had pledged, as a rule, to leave alone those growers who followed state guidelines, but we all know about rules: They're made to be broken.

Finally, their main connection in Chicago had to be cut off, after a South Side gang refused to pay a large debt that had been piling up for over a year. They continually promised to catch up, they just needed ONE MORE front. Then one more, then another one. At the end, they just said we're not going to pay, and there's nothing you can do about it. At the same time, their New Jersey connection experienced nearly the same problem with a group of Italians.

With production disrupted, transportation and distribution a losing proposition, and the feds crawling so far up their asses they needed Vaseline, someone had to come up with a new plan.

Their first mistake was bringing in some local good 'ol boys to manage and work the farms. Now the Díaz's were no stranger to Okies, because an uncle had married into a family of loggers named Nelson, who came from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, and they were a rowdy bunch of thieving, hard drinking, meth users.

There was a joke that the Nelsons didn't grow weed, they stole weed, so when a couple of Nelson cousins were arrested for growing marijuana, the family was surprised. It happened when Adán Díaz was away at college, and he was surprised his cousin's were growing marijuana, since they were known for being untrustworthy, and a few beers short of a six-pack. Well, as it turns out, they were arrested while stealing a garden that just happened to be under police surveillance.

So, the Díaz family found some hardworking cow hands on one of their ranches, and some guys that knew the woods from their days planting trees. These fellows were trustworthy, hardworking, and reliable. The problem was, they weren't family, and they didn't come from the old ethic, that was tradition in the Díaz family: You do the crime, you do the time, because snitches are a dying breed. These new fellows lacked the blood alliance that had kept most of the Díaz family from ever facing a judge, even after losing dozens of loads or gardens. It didn't take long for the feds to develop cooperating witnesses, working from the inside.

The next mistake they made was getting tight with an old hippie organized crime group called The Family. This group is not to be confused with the weirdo international sex cult that you may have read about elsewhere. This is a group that sprung out of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, and devoted their activities to the production and distribution of psychedelic drugs, primarily LSD and psilocybin mushrooms.

 

The Díaz's came into contact with members of The Family, after two Díaz family members were questioned at length by US Marshal's Service agents, who were wearing blue jeans and flannel shirts. The Díaz family members were bidding on a farm which had been seized by the IRS, as part of an investigation into The Family. The US Marshal's Service agents believed there was a large quantity of LSD that they had never located, and they wanted to know where it was buried. The Díaz family had no idea.

However, after the interrogation, Adán Díaz befriended several other people who received the same treatment, and learned about The Family, which was under investigation in no fewer than 17 states. Years later, members of The Family informed the Díaz's that they had a huge market for high-grade marijuana in several states, primarily Florida, through a group of Cubans, and they knew how to transport it there undetected.

 

They would use the same system that had been used to move their psilocybin mushrooms, which occupied roughly the same volume per dollar amount of product. Ironically, Gene Díaz had been involved with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love in Southern California in the 1960's, but the relationship ended badly after several BEL members were sent to federal prison, and the group blamed Gene Díaz for the arrests and convictions.

The Family had a fleet of small motor homes, all of them built on a Toyota chassis'. These motor homes were discreet, were difficult to search without a warrant, because they were technically a "home", and if kept well maintained, they never broke down. In 5 years, with about a dozen motor homes, making hundreds of runs, The Family had never lost a load.

The first few runs went well, although only about 50 pounds was sent in each run, because that much would be difficult to find, even if a motor home were to be searched by an inexperienced highway patrol officer. After about a half-dozen loads, managers from The Family convinced Adán Díaz that the Cubans in South Florida were ready for a 500 pound load, which could be easily moved in 3-4 motor homes, with each runner paid $25,000. The Family would receive $4,000 a pound in Florida, and pay the Díaz's $2,500 per pound, or $1.25 million for the load.

Well, I'm sure everyone can see where this is leading. The Cubans did the same thing as the Italians in New Jersey did, and the South Side gangsters in Chicago did: They said "We're not paying, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it". The Family was supposed to be a sort of hippie mafia, but in reality they were a bungling group of aging baby-boomers with dreadlocks, and they didn't have any solution to the problem, except to say, "sorry, dude".

What was Adán Díaz going to do, fly down to Florida and drive around with a carload of OG's, looking for the Cubans that ripped him off? He didn't even know who they were, and he had no resources to go cross-country, in search of an unpaid debt from people he didn't even know.

POSTSCRIPT: Gene Díaz got out of the business years ago, and wholesales ethnic handicrafts manufactured in Asia to chain stores. He lives quietly on a tree farm in Oregon.

Adán Díaz and his father invested well in real estate. They own a small strip mall and residential rentals, and he lives a quiet life with his wife and kids in the mountains of the Emerald Triangle. His small grass fed organic beef brand is marketed to a few local grocery stores, but most of it goes to friends and family. Rumor has it that he has rekindled old contacts, and may even open a legal marijuana dispensary in Washington State.

I ran into Adán Díaz at a local hardware store last week, and I asked him about the old days. He's happy to be off the fed's radar and living quietly. In a simple twist, he owns the building where the hardware store is located.

 

Asked about regrets, he said "I never killed anyone, and I never hurt an innocent person. I put smiles on the faces of my customers, and they were still smiling when their bag ran out. I contributed more to world peace than Barack Obama will in an entire lifetime."

On Saturday night [October 12], two men dumped their friend at the local hospital, and drove off. The friend, 19 year-old Clyde McDonald, had two nonfatal gunshot wounds. It is believed the three were caught in the act of trying to steal from a local marijuana grower, but the victim has refused to give his statement to police.

 

Part one link here
Part two link here