Salvador Nicola Colabella, a high-ranking member of the Mexican Mafia, was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that involved extortion and drug trafficking in the San Diego area. Colabella, who has been in custody since his arrest on January 25, 2012, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy charges in August 2012.
According to court documents, Colabella’s role in the RICO conspiracy related to his participation in the Mexican Mafia, a violent prison-based gang that controls the criminal conduct of thousands of Hispanic street-gang members in Southern California. As revealed in his plea, Colabella controlled a significant portion of the criminal activity of Hispanic street-gang members in the San Diego area.
Court records noted that while the Mexican Mafia has thousands of associates, membership is rare; in fact, law enforcement estimates that there are only about 150-200 Mexican Mafia members in the United States.
In his guilty plea, Colabella admitted to personally engaging in drug trafficking and extortion, as well as profiting from the criminal activity of those gang members who worked under his command. The extortion payments, or ‘taxes’ in Mexican Mafia parlance, are collected by associates at the behest of members through violence and/or the threat of violence.
Drug dealers who paid Colabella taxes were responsible for distributing hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and other drugs worth millions of dollars on the streets of San Diego. In all, Colabella collected tens of thousands of dollars in ‘taxes,’ through the extortion of cash, cars, and other items of value.
The case was the result of ‘Operation Carnalismo,’ a long-term investigation conducted by the Violent Crime Task Force – Gang Group (VCTF-GG), a group of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In total, Operation Carnalismo resulted in charges against 36 individuals across five indictments.
United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy praised the work of the VCTF-GG in marshaling the evidence related to Colabella’s activities. ‘Today’s sentencing marks another significant step toward our office’s effort to combat the dangerous criminal activity of gangs and, in particular, the Mexican Mafia,’ Duffy said. ‘Gang members should take note: their organized criminal activity will not be tolerated, and we will continue to use the full resources of our office and our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute organized gang crime.’
FBI Special Agent in Charge, Daphne Hearn stated, ‘Today’s sentencing should send a message to all gang members that the FBI and our law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue you and hold you accountable for your criminal activities.’
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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