Rodolfo Cadena

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Rodolfo Cadena


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date_of_death = Death date|1972|12|17
place_of_death = Chino, California, U.S.
alias = Cheyenne, CHY
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status = Dead; killed in prison
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Rodolfo Cadena (1940s?-December 17, 1972) was an important figure in the formation of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.

Biography

Rudy "Chy" Cadena was a wayward youth from Bakersfield, California. He was incarcerated at Deuel Vocational Institution after he stabbed a Bakersfield man to death outside of a dancehall in 1958. At the time of his conviction, Rudy was only 15 years old. While incarcerated, he earned the respect and admiration of the members of the Mexican Mafia ("La Eme") which was still in its development stage.

Cadena's displayed violence against others led him to be transferred to the state prison system in December 1959. Cadena and Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, who became his best friend and mentor, led the gang to prominence in the California correctional system terrorizing other unorganized ethnic inmate groups gaining a monopoly over the sale of drugs, pornography, prostitution, extortion and murder for hire.

Cadena continued to run the Mafia's activities and began to look beyond the walls of prison, envisioning a statewide monopoly of crime. He struck an uneasy alliance with George Jackson and the Black Guerilla Family and became active in Latino political organizations like the Brown Berets. Cadena made overtures to unite La Eme with the rival Nuestra Familia, but his peace talks with members of the Familia were frowned upon by other Eme leaders who ordered the murder of two Familia leaders just prior to an important meeting between Cadena and Death Row Joe Gonzales, a Familia leader at Chino Reception center.

Death and afterward

On December 17, 1972, Cadena was set upon by Familia assassins as he left his cell at the Chino Reception center and stabbed an estimated 70 times. His death sparked an era of violence in the California correctional system which over the next year would claim the lives of 31 prisoners. The carnage and animosity from his murder still exist 29 years after his death, as La Eme still has a "kill on sight" order for any member of La Nuestra Familia.

Cadena was immortalized in the 1992 movie "American Me" by Edward James Olmos. When Morgan objected to certain parts of the movie relating to Cadena, two advisors who were also members of La Eme were killed and a plot to extort Olmos was uncovered.

References