Operation Devil Horns by Michael Santini & Ray Bolger

Author:Michael Santini & Ray Bolger [Santini, Michael & Bolger, Ray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Success

It was 6 a.m., just moments before “go” time.

On the way to the raid, Santini loaded up the CD player with one of the thrash metal disks that he always kept stashed in his government car. Listening to some amped-up music before an operation—cranked up loud—had become a ritual for him. It helped get him into the right frame of mind. Today, he opted for Megadeth.

Days like this were why Santini had gotten into law enforcement in the first place—to avoid a desk job and pursue something that involved some adrenaline. He and his team of around ten HSI agents, along with their partners from the Richmond Police Department Swat Team, were prepared to raid a small, two-story, wood frame house painted yellow, with a peaked roof and small portico at the front.

Although the sun had just begun its ascent over the low hills to the east, the blue-collar neighborhood had not yet stirred awake. The target property was on a residential road that ran through a quarter-mile-wide strip of land between Interstate 80 to the east and Interstate 580 to the west, with the waters of the Richmond Inner Harbor just beyond.

A six-foot-high, solid-picket fence surrounded the yard and a busted-up, concrete driveway led from the paved street to the front of the house, with three disabled cars parked to one side. Opposite the driveway from the junk cars sat an obviously lived-in camping trailer.

Inside the residence, based on information provided by Casper, Santini expected to find the 12-guage, pump-action shotgun that Pelon had purchased from Negro a few weeks prior in Reno. According to Casper, the clique intended to use the shotgun against the Norteños in the Mission.

A federal warrant was issued to search for Pelon on the property, based on violations of Re-entry after Deportation and Alien in Possession of a Firearm statutes. Both Pelon and another homie named Cholito who lived in the trailer were already on ICE’s “fugitive alien” list, even prior to the revelation about their recent illegal gun purchases from Negro.

With a little digging, Santini discovered that after trying for a short time the previous year to obtain legal residency status in the United States, Pelon had just given up on the whole process and failed to appear for hearings. That led to a judge ordering Pelon’s deportation. Cholito, for his part, had been deported three times already and was a convicted aggravated felon. He faced a minimum five years in federal lockup.

In drawing up plans for the raid, Santini, who was still a little pissed about what he considered the FBI’s condescending attitude toward his investigation, purposely positioned an accompanying pair of Bureau agents at the far outside perimeter. There they would basically be relegated to the position of observers, just watching the real action unfold. In the world of macho cops, it was akin to sitting on the bench for the Bureau boys, while the “first-stringers” hogged all the glory. Santini had only invited the two FBI agents to appease his upper management, anyway.

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