Defendants plead the Fifth in federal Nuestra Familia drug crime case - San Jose Mercury News

Defendants plead the Fifth in federal Nuestra Familia drug crime case - San Jose Mercury News: "Tension and tempers flared in a federal courtroom Thursday as Salinas gang members and associates in the Operation Valley Star trial launched a last-minute effort to force informants' statements into the court record.
Court security was heightened and nerves were frayed as the defense prepared to wrap its case in the three-month trial that followed a four-year FBI investigation of the Nuestra Familia's Northern California drug operations.
Operation Valley Star began in Watsonville when police began targeting members of the California prison gang Nuestra Familia. Police joined the FBI in a multi-jurisdictional effort to bring down members of the gang after a crime spree through Watsonville and neighboring cities began in the fall of 2003.
Defying their own attorneys' advice, the defendants attempted to put several government informants and cooperators on the witness stand."