OAKLAND — From as far back as his teen years, Matthew Rocha always wanted to be a gangster — until he reached the near pinnacle of the notorious Nuestra Familia.
Now, Rocha, 60, is someone that his former prison gang would likely murder at the first chance. He dropped out, told authorities what he knew, then became the star witness at a trial that saw prosecutors obtain racketeering convictions against four Nuestra Familia leaders.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Rocha reflected on all of this, stating that while he no longer wakes up each day looking to further the gang’s cause, he still deals with the residual effects of his former lifestyle. Namely, the guilt, shame, and wish to undo it all that he feels on a daily basis as an inmate in Pelican Bay State Prison.
“I made some really bad choices with terrible results. I am truly sorry for all the pain and suffering I inflicted on others. All the turmoil and harm that I caused as well as the ripple effect created by my actions,” Rocha wrote. “This all stemmed from mindset and a belief system that was just wrong, and utter lack of responsiblity for my actions and a flawed rationalization as to how I saw things.”
It appears his words may have struck a chord with Gonzalez Rogers, who gave Rocha a sentence of time already served in jail. In a deal with federal prosecutors, Rocha pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge and agreed to testify against Nuestra Familia leaders. But prosecutors still asked for a four-year federal prison term, court records show.
Rocha’s time served sentence doesn’t affect his state prison sentence, though. He is still serving a 26 years to life sentence for murder and manslaughter convictions out of Monterey County, where Rocha grew up with the goal of climbing the ladder of the Nuestra Familia, only to grow disillusioned after achieving it.
It is an ambition shared by many young men across Northern California, where Nuestra Familia street regiments — mostly Norteño gang subsets — proliferate neighborhoods of small towns and big cities alike. The Nuestra Familia is the brain trust that runs these street gangs, with its leaders virtually guaranteed to die in prison cells, yet feared or respected enough that their orders are obeyed.
In recent years, federal prosecutors in California have attempted to break up these prison gangs, with racketeering cases in Los Angeles, San Jose, and Sacramento/Fresno aimed at taking down the Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia, and Aryan Brotherhood, respectively. The theory is that by moving the gang’s leaders out of state prison cells into the federal system, gang leaders will lose influence and have a harder time acquiring smuggled cellphones that allow them a better grip.
For most of his life, Rocha seemed destined for this life trajectory. He grew up in Salinas, joined a street gang as a youngster and spent time in the California Youth Authority, before moving onto adult prison. He was recruited into the Nuestra Familia’s circle as a young adult, but had to show the gang’s leaders he was a worthy candidate. This involved learning secret codes, contraband smuggling, how to make and use weapons in prison, how to stay in shape through a workout regiment based on the number 14 — a gang symbol due to the letter N being 14th in the alphabet — and how to kill, if necessary,
Eventually, Rocha became involved in a power struggle with another Nuestra Famila member, whereby both men allegedly attempted to have the other killed. This led to Rocha being stabbed in prison and later agreeing to dropout and aid the Department of Justice in taking down the gang.
He testified last summer against Nuestra Familia leaders David Cervantes, 76, James Perez, 70, Guillermo Solorio, 45, and George Franco, 59, who were all convicted of racketeering and conspiracy. While this improved Rocha’s standing with police and prosecutors, it had the opposite effect with his gang. He now has a “green light” to be assaulted or killed on sight.
Rocha said he’s thought a lot about all the time he missed with family members and loved ones while he was in prison, and how he hopes to spend his remaining years as a force for good. His most recent parole hearing in 2014, resulted in a seven-year denial. But a lot has changed since then, and Rocha is eligible to go back before the parole board, though no new date has yet been set.
“I know I am a different person today. I am not that same individual that ran the streets, that ran the prisons. That is a life I have put behind me,” Rocha wrote. “I have found a new purpose.”
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