July 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Before company B of the Texas Rangers executed 15 Mexican men and boys in Porvenir, Texas, they asked each one, “are you Chico Cano?”. But who was Chico Cano? It depends who you ask. If you ask the Texas rangers, he was a deranged Mexican bandit, who led a band of 100 Mexicans and stole cattle and killed indiscriminately along the US-Mexico border. But the truth is more complicated than that. In this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about Chico Cano.
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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
Sources:
https://refusingtoforget.org/chico-cano
https://www.odmp.org/officer/12299-customs-agent-joseph-russell-sitter
https://npshistory.com/publications/bibe/wthss-19-3.pdf
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469670126/borders-of-violence-and-justice
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/
Want ad free episodes? And weekly bonus episodes? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
Follow on social media:
Instagram: https : //www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historiasunknown
Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
Sources:
https://refusingtoforget.org/chico-cano
https://www.odmp.org/officer/12299-customs-agent-joseph-russell-sitter
https://npshistory.com/publications/bibe/wthss-19-3.pdf
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469670126/borders-of-violence-and-justice
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
Estodia's Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history.
Sometimes it's horrible until the tavy topics like critcism, corruption
and genocide, but more than that, it's also by resistance,
power and community. And today Chico Cano. Oh okay, Like
(00:29):
two episodes ago, I was gonna say, do you want
to talk about how you got here? Yes? I am
doing that right now. Two episodes ago, in the Porvened
massacre episode, I mentioned this name, but there was so
much to cover in the episode that I just I
just said his name and I didn't, you know, go
into detail because it was already so heavy. But like
(00:50):
I said, in that episode, before a company B of
the Texas Rangers executed fifteen Mexican men and boys in Borvened,
they asked each one are you Chicocano? And then I'm like,
why did I This needs to be explained. It feels
unfinished if I don't say more about Chico Kano, right.
I think all you said then was that he was
(01:12):
like a bandit, right, and he had just stolen I
don't know what from where, and it was wanted basically
he was wanted. Yes, So who was Chico Kano? That's
what I'm answering today. You tell me, okay, tell me
so it And sorry before I get into that, this
is going to be a shorter episode because there's not
(01:34):
a lot of information out there on him. You know
what short episodes are arcade to mix in. Yeah, they are,
they are and we need them. Yeah. So who was
Chico Kano? It depends what you ask. If you ask
the Texas Rangers Loz rien Chez, los Rinchez, Yeah, the
Texas Rangers, he was a deranged Mexican bandit who led
a band of one hundred Mexican bandits and stole cattle
(01:56):
and killed in discriminately along the US Mexico border. WHOA.
And actually, if you ask most white Texas history enthusiasts today,
they would give you the same answer because they love
the Texas Rangers. They love vigilancy, justice, they love the
stories of white men upholding the law. And I say
that in quotation marks. They love all this. Yeah, they
(02:20):
really do. So if you ask them, they would tell
you the same thing about Chico Kano. But us here
I started as ant known, that's not what we're about right,
we're about the opposite. Yeah, So who was Chicokano? Why
were the Texas Rangers so obsessed? Are you so obsessed
with me? Thank you? I was waiting for that and
(02:40):
I knew you were delivered, like I had no question
of course. Yes. Fanancis Cocano was born in Mexico in
the eighteen eighties and in his very young adulthood, like
I don't know, probably eighteen nineteen. It's hard because there's
no exact years or ages right, any of this. But
at some point in his young adulthood he ran a
(03:01):
ranch with his brothers Manuel, Jose Antonio and Robe Larvo.
And this branch of layers was near San Antonio del Bravo,
across the river from Candelaria, Texas, but in Mexico, right,
But again the border was made up, a line was drawn,
and these places that were once the same place are
(03:23):
no longer the same place now it was split. Yeah,
but that's how close like they were. They could see Gandelaria,
Texas from their ranch, and so the Gano brothers were
very successful cattle ranchers. But like I couldn't stress enough
in the five episodes that we did about mob violence,
(03:43):
toward Mexicans. We know, this was a very tumultuous time period,
especially along the border. And yes there was violence on
both sides, but nothing like the violence Mexicans faced. The
violence and prejudice Mexicans face right from white people during
this time period. It was like not matched at all,
Like one side was defending themselves. Yes, and again, five thousand,
(04:06):
at least five thousand Mexicans died during this time period.
And that's a Texas alone, without counting everywhere else. You know,
so there was a lot of cattle theft and ranch
raids during these years. I don't want to discount that
that did happen, Okay, but one man, Joe Sitter, who
was a Texas Ranger for a while and then at
(04:26):
some point he was a US Customs Person officer or whatever.
But it's hard to tell when he stopped being a
ranger and then became a US Customs person because he
was doing the same thing. He was often riding out
with the Texas Rangers on missions and like literally doing
the same violent shit to Mexicans. Again celebrated by the whites,
(04:49):
by those that love the Texas Rangers, like this is
a very celebrated man me, I don't know. So one man,
Joe Sitter, who owned a ranch near Valentine, Texas, over
one hundred miles away from the Gano brothers ranch in Mexico.
Joe Sitter, this man blamed Chico Gano for every single
(05:11):
raid in the region. And I cannot find anywhere why
Joe Sitter was doing this. I don't know. I don't
know why or where their past first cross, Like, I
couldn't tell you. I searched and searched, and I just
I don't know. At some point in his life, Chico
did have several run ins with the Texas Rangers. There's
(05:33):
even a very famous picture of him with two Texas Rangers,
but they're just standing there. They're just like chatting with him.
They're not arresting him. He was a very well known
person during this time period. He had legendary marksmanship skills,
like people would go up to him and tell him, like, hey,
can you shoot this from this far away? And he
would do it. And also he was very well known
(05:54):
for his ranch and his like you know, raising animal
cattle whatever, Right, So he was a very well known Mexican.
I just don't know when he and Joe Sitter crossed paths,
but he did have several run ins with the Texas Rangers.
They knew who he was even before his official indictment. Again,
(06:15):
he was never charged with anything. He was never arrested
at all during the time period that Joe Setter was
out here accusing him of every single raid in the region.
Maybe he was just jealous, right, That's what it seems like,
because he was not yet supposedly leading a band of
one hundred bandits like that wasn't a thing yet, but
(06:35):
he was still out here accusing of every single rat
that was happening. And Juan Sanchez, nephew of Chico, stated
in an interview published in the book Bandilo, The Story
of Chico Kano, the Last Western Bandit Side not that
book is very expensive. I could not get it for
this episode. How much was it? Oh my god, like
one hundred dollars. I guess it's very limited. I don't know.
(06:58):
But in that book, his nephew says that Chico had
it in for Joe Sitter because Joe Sitter had beaten
him with the lasso even as he sat captured a
top of Joe Sitter's horse. Okay, but this where I'm
talking about right now. This has not happened yet. Joe
Sitter was already accusing Chico of banditry. Okay, so he
(07:21):
hated him before that. Yeah, he already hated him before this, Okay,
So again I can't figure out what the cause was. Again,
I just think he was jealous, honestly. So during this time,
Chico had not yet done any actual banditry. And I
say that in quotations always because I don't believe it.
(07:42):
But he was very well known. Like again, him and
his brothers were so successful. He was legendary and his
shooting skills, and there was one incident before. Actually, I
can't figure out when this incident happened because again it's
very hard to find dates of when anything happened. So
I don't know if this happened before or after Joe
Sitter was officially after him. But at some point Chiko
(08:05):
Kano did accidentally kill another man, and some people, the
way they tell it make him out to be some vicious, crazy,
deranged Mexican. It doesn't seem that that's the case from
like anecdotal accounts of this incident. But someone said, okay,
we'll shoot the bottle off this guy's head from some
(08:25):
distance away, and he missed and the guy died, damn.
And so that seems like the real version. But again
if you look at these I don't know, I'm making
website names up, but like Texas History or Border History
Texas and it's like ran by someone white. That's not
the way they would tell the story. But from what
I can find, that's how it happened. So maybe that's
(08:47):
that was another reason why he was out for him,
like Joe Sitter so against Chico. But I don't know
because I can't tell when this happened. I can't find dates. Weird,
but well not weird because how long ago, right, So yeah,
I'm not sure when this happened. But in nineteen thirteen,
Joe Sitter, along with customs inspector Jack Howard and cattleman
(09:11):
Ja Harvest, set out on a journey to apprehend Chico
for his supposed crimes that again he was not committing.
He was not charged with like at all. But they
were like, we need to apprehend this bandit even though
again at this point, no official crimes, no, no known crimes, right,
no evidence of anything. But they set out to catch
(09:32):
him and they found Chico at the wake of a
family friend. Oh wow, what kind of shit is that?
It feels rude, right, And the way they tell this story,
and I'm just like, I can never trust anything these
people say, right, But the way they tell the story
is that Chico asked them to let the women at
the funeral go because they're innocent. They're women, right, And
(09:56):
the very kind Texas rangers agreed. Wow generous. Again, I'm
not sure Joe Sitter was a ranger at this point,
or if he was already to go there. Yeah, but
he was there doing the work of a Texas ranger anyway,
even in this incident of him trying to apprehend Chico
for no reason. It was something that a ranger should
have been doing. But I don't know if he was
(10:17):
or was not one at this point. So the very
kind white men agreed and they let the women leave,
But among them were Mexican bandits dressed as women to escape,
and all of them, every single one, got away, except
for Chico because he was unusually tall for a Mexican
in this time period, and so he stood out in
(10:37):
a dress. They were like, that's not a woman, that's
a man. Yes, yes, So that's the story they tell.
So they detained him, put him on one of the
horses they had to transport him. And now this is
where the incident that I mentioned earlier, this is where
that takes place, where Chico was beaten with a lasso
by Joe Sitter while tied up on Jositer's horse. And
(11:02):
so someone that knew Chico and his brothers saw this
from across the river, and they went out to tell
Chico's or and they rode out to tell Chico's brothers
what was happening that some men had Chico, and they
his brothers fearing that it's not an unfounded fear of
theirs that that Chico wasn't going to make it to
(11:24):
any jail like that that they killed. Yes, because this
was so common, like discussed in all those episodes about
mob violence towards Mexicans. So yeah, very very valid fear
of theirs that that they were just going to harm Chico.
And so they made a plan to rescue him, Yeah,
(11:44):
fearing he wasn't going to make the jail, and so
Roberlarvo and Manuel Gano rode out and ambushed Joe Sitter
and the two other men and Jositter received a bullet
to his head and somehow s arrived which is that
time period. Yeah, the Harvest guy Ja Harvest was shot
(12:05):
in the leg and he lived too. Howard that one
he died several days later from a bullet wound from
a stomach. And so the brothers and Chiko they escape together.
And so this is the event that made Chico an
official bandit. They officially declared him a bandit widely like
(12:26):
they would put out newspapers that said Kano's Bunch is
believed to be part of a gang of one hundred
Mexicans or so formally followers of General Orosco in the
Mexican Revolution, who are now engaged wholly in the outlawry
and attached to neither the Granta or the Via factions.
They steal cattle on the Mexican side and then smuggle
(12:48):
them into Texas or vice versa. They steal horses on
the Texas side and smuggle them into Mexico. They have
had a number of clashes with the state and government officers,
and only two weeks ago two of the Mexicans were
killed like that that was titled one hundred men in gang.
Another one Chiko Kano's band of one hundred outlaws terrorized
(13:10):
border like, so they were putting things out like this.
But he at this point hadn't hadn't up until them, right,
he hadn't done anything like this. But so when they
pulled up at the wake, and that's when he tried
to get away by dressing it was a woman, and
he was caught, right, and then the brothers took him
(13:33):
from basically detainment with the rangers. Right, what was the
reason they went to the wake? And no reason? No?
Okay again for no and I so he at this
point he was wanted for no reason because he had
been detained for no reason. Right, Joe Sitter kept blaming
him for every single raid, but but tying him to
(13:55):
that there was really no reason to suspect that at all. Yes,
Joe Redders were or setter my band SI, Yes, sorry, Yeah,
I don't care. I said it for you. Yeah. At
that point of them going to apprehend him, he hadn't
done anything, okay, except that Joe Sitter kept accusing him
of these raids. But yeah, so I mean to me,
(14:20):
they're just rescuing their brother from yeah, probable death. Yeah,
and if that's a crime then I don't know, but
that's when they declared him a bandit officially. They would
put out newspaper articles like this that I just read.
And so after that is when he joins the Mexican Revolution.
(14:41):
But he had like no ties to anyone but his family.
Even as part of the Mexican Revolution, he switched sides
a lot. He was with uh Garanza and then later
with Pancho VI. Yeah, like you know, he was switching
sides a lot. And during this time he had a
alleged second run in with Joe Sitter. So Joe Sitter, like,
(15:05):
I don't know, he spent his life trying to find Chicocano.
And I feel like Chico Kano was just like who
is this? He was just a hater hating her free.
I really cannot find what caused this. But so Joe
Sitter made it his life mission to cunt Chicocano down.
And so Sitter, Joe Sitter and arranger Eugene Holand heard
(15:27):
about where Chico Kano might be after torturing a friend
of Chico Kano's. Wow, So then they traveled to where
he allegedly was. When they arrived to this location, they
came under fire during this alleged trying to hunt like
(15:49):
a day, allegedly Chico Kano was there, they came under fire,
they died. Authorities later found Joe Sitter and Eugene Holand
badly disfigured, which then amplified the hate for Chico Gano.
But there was zero evidence proof at all that Chicogano
was even in this area, So it could have been anyone.
(16:11):
It could have been anyone whoever fired at Joe Sitter
and this other Texas ranger did it from one hundred
and twenty feet away. But even then, even then, that
is what Chico Kano's official indictment is for Chico Kano
is not here for an old charge. Federal court here
holds several in diamonds for resistance to revenue officers. Chico Kano,
(16:35):
the famous Mexican bandit, now considerably in the public eye
due to the fact he was supposed to have been
the leader of bandit gang who demanded fifteen thousand for
the release of Oh Sorry. At some point two pilots
landed New Mexico and they were kidnapped by by hid
Its revolutionaries. No, just I don't know if it was him.
(16:59):
Officially or not, it's unclear, but they were freed, you know.
But before that he was charged with the killing and
Sard's there Gocano, most of which is connected to the
ruthless killing of United States Revenue officers Jack Howard and
Joe Sitter in nineteen fifteen and Rangel Holand one of
(17:22):
the one of the best Texas has known, was also
slain by Mexican bandits about the time Joe Sitter met
his death. They were together, so like this he died
at the same time us they're trying to meet. There
were their work count Jesus. So yeah, he was indicted.
(17:43):
That was the like you know, newspaper or whatever from
that when he was indicted. But again they were shot
at from one hundred and twenty feet away. There was
never any clear hard evidence that this was even Chico Kano.
And the way you read it even like in the
what website is this hold on? If you go to
the Customs oh Officer down memorial page, you know this
(18:07):
is going to be like so stupid, like full of
propaganda this website officer down memorial page, but it says
Customs agents Joseph Russell Sitter and if you hear it here. Okay,
So it looks like in nineteen twelve, Sitter had arrested
Chico for horse and meal stealing again though that was
(18:30):
his job, he could he easily could have been transporting
his own Yeah, and then decided to just target him
because he was Mexican and they were doing that back then,
just like now. And so yeah, it looks like that's
the first time they arrested him. He was arrested again later. Oh,
this is when he they took him. Okay, So yeah,
says I look at the way they tell that their version.
(18:50):
On February tenth, nineteen thirteen, Agent Sitter, Inspector Jack Howard,
and a Brand inspector again arrested Chico Kano as they
transferred him to the Rugged Mountains and Pilattice Canyon, the
man's brothers and friends and Bush the three lawmen. Inspector
Howard was killed while Agent Sitter and the Brand inspector
were wounded. They again went to arrest him for no reason.
(19:12):
At the wake of a of a I don't remember
you saying earlier that the some of the rangers had
died during that one man died Howard. I could just
say it, oh, I don't remember, and I said, I
know you do. You are falling asleep, not just kidding, damn.
Oh yeah, okay, so the night, no, I said, I'm
trying to make you sound better, but yeah, you don't
(19:32):
deserve it. No, I said, he Sitter was shot in
the head, the other guy in the leg, and then
the other guy died. Do you remember that? Oh oh,
and then he somehow survived. Yeah, okay, I remember the
guy that was shot in the head and the leg,
but not the guy that died. So the way this
website tells the talks about the death of Agent Sitter
is okay, I'm going to read that. On May twenty four,
(19:54):
nineteen fifteen, Agent Sitter gathered a posse that included a
fellow State's Custom Service inspector along with three Texas Rangers
to capture Kano on his gang. When the posse arrived
Dappilattis Canyon, they could see some stolen horses in the canyon.
A disagreement arose amongst the lawmen as to whether it
was in ambush. Agent Sitter decided to split the group
(20:16):
and enter the canyon. One of the groups started up
one side of the canyon, where they came under heavy
fire and retreated. They could see Agent Sitter and Private
hole In pinned down across the canyon and tried five
times unsuccessfully to reach them. The three officers walked four
miles to a ranch and sum had help. The next
day a posse arrived and found Agent Center and Private
(20:37):
Holen stripped naked, shot scores of times, and their faces
unrecognizable from having been beaten with large stones. Which, yeah,
that is that is horrible mm hmm. But there was
zero against zero evidence that this was Chico Kano at all.
(20:58):
It could have been one of the many other people
that he anchored and did horrible things too during his
career as a Texas ranger. Like, we don't know, nobody
knows who it was. But Chico Kano was indicted for
the murder of Agentsitter Joe Sitter. But that's the way
that that website tells will happen, which is very different
(21:18):
from this this other like they you know, were fired
from that many feet away, and like nobody knows who
it was, right, Yeah, And it was around the same
time that Chico Kano became a leader in the Mexican Revolution. Again,
he switched signs a lot and then he eventually had
his own militia, and so it's hard to say what
(21:39):
he was doing was part of the Mexican revolution or
was just like do just stealing things because he was
a bandit and doing raids as a bandit instead of
a revolutionary because two people, certain people don't differentiate the two,
right while they are different. So it's hard to say
what he was doing. But he was, you know, doing raids.
And so the Bright Ranch raid happened around this time
(22:03):
and there that was December nineteen seventeen, right, And like
I said in the Porvinied episode, the Bright Ranch being
raided is what led rangers to bor we need in
the first place. The Rangers blamed Chico Kano, who theyre
had already been after. It's like this person that keeps
eluding them, keeps escaping them. He's already supposedly allegedly killed
(22:27):
two of their own again not ever proven, but to them,
he's done the worst thing you could do, kill an officer. Yes, yes,
and so you could see why they were like so
hell bent on getting revenge on this port town that
had nothing to do with it. So they blamed Chico
Kano for this raid and the ranch owner himself didn't
(22:50):
think Chiko Kano was involved. That's interesting. He swore his innocence.
He really didn't think Chiko Kano had anything to do
with it. And if that doesn't like that, that alone
should be enough. But no, And throughout his life, Chico
Kano had several encounters with the Texas Rangers, and in
(23:12):
nineteen nineteen after Portvenide, after the alleged indictment of him
killing Joe Sitter, there's a famous picture of Chicocano. If
you look at Chicogano right now, you like you'll find
this is probably the first picture that will pump up.
It's Chicocano just like you know, standing in a post
(23:34):
for like hip to the side, smoking with a sombretto on,
and he's with US military officials. He's the one in
the biggest sombreto in the middle. Like you'll see him
right away if you look this up to his left
is both Major John Arthur Constantine and then Captain Leonard Mattock,
and then the three men on next to him are
(23:55):
his brothers in that picture. So they had already like
so like they squash your beef? Is that what you're saying?
Or what. Yeah, like this meeting apparently was to try
and like settle tensions that were happening along the border,
so they didn't arrest him in this picture, you know,
like that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, so he was supposedly wanted
(24:17):
at this time, and they he met with rangers and
they look, I think this is not I think this
is military. I don't think there's rangers. I couldn't be
this a military didn't care about who the rangers wanted. True,
could be, could be. But yeah, they met with him,
and yeah, that's what this picture comes from. And doesn't
he just look so cool? Did you look it up? No?
(24:37):
Oh my god, it that you looked at him was
soon acrossword. Oh okay, well I'll I'll send you the
picture so you had the whole time you could just
fucking send it to me. Okay, hold on, all right,
I just sent it to you. Does he not look
so cool? He's the one with the big high he said, Yeah,
he's in the middle of big high. He stands out
right away. You can you see him, and immediately you're like,
(24:58):
that's that's one cool pers There's no denying that. It's
a bandit right there now. That's a that's a bandit
right there. It's a bandit for every seen one. We
will post it on Instagram as well. And so the
whole point of that is that he had these meetings
run ins with US military and rangers all throughout his life,
(25:19):
and although for a lot of his life the Rangers
were after him, they never like actually brought him able
to get him. Yeah, okay, over the course of his life,
he'd been shopped fourteen times, wow, mostly by the rangers,
and they never killed him. They never captured him other
than the one time that his brother's freedom and you
(25:40):
know he that that nineteen nineteen and diamond of the
murder of Joe Sitter was still on him. But he
was never tried for it, like even you know, way
later when he maybe was not as strong and he
couldn't run away as fast. Right, Like, It's like if
they wanted, they could have brought him in, right, they
could have. I would I would think something so too,
(26:01):
But no, he was never tried for it, and he
outlives like what you could say or his enemies were,
he lived, all of them, like especially Joe Sitter. And
what I wanted to talk about him is mainly because
like talking about him, it left like one question in
my head the whole time, like was he actually abandon
(26:26):
or he only became a bandit because the law enforcement
kept coming after him and Joe Sitter had already decided
he was abandoned, like a self fulfilling prophecy, one would say,
or kind of like kind of like someone fitting a
stereotype that already exists, because it's a stereotype. I don't know, yeah,
(26:48):
like I mean, it reminds me so much of like
even you know, the law enforcement system now where it's
like you, I mean, how many times did we see
it where it would be just like a group of
middle schoolers that look could look suspicious to someone else,
but they're just walking and then they get stopped and
stopped and stopped so much that eventually they it's like
(27:09):
normalized and at some point they become criminals, right right, right,
It's like the school to prison pipeline where yes, certain
populations are like marginalized and basically set up for prison,
they're criminalized, yes, And that's what his story makes me
(27:31):
think of. And it's like he's one Mexican who was forced,
essentially forced to become an actual bandit when law enforcement
declared that they were. How many did this happen to? Yeah?
Chiko Kano died at his ranch in nineteen forty three,
(27:52):
and when he was asked if he feared meeting his maker,
Chico responded, quote, my father was my maker, already was
my maker. Distress was my maker. I have met them
all my life. End quote. That was so badass. But
so what's another for poignance? Because I can't say that
fucking word. What does it do mean? That was so
(28:14):
on point. Yes, that's what it means, Like, yeah, you
know what I mean? Yeah, I get it now. And
this information, most of it I found on Refusing to
Forget on Org, coupled with other websites, but that's the
main one, and they most of their information came from
Orders of Violence and Justice by Brian Beckhen and he
(28:37):
is the main cover. The picture, the picture that's so
cool that I went on a little too long about.
That's the picture the cover of this book. Oh okay,
And this book I think is a little easier to
obtain than the other one that was like one hundred
dollars oh twenty nine five? Yeah, not bad, not it
(28:57):
could be worse. But yeah, Borders of violence and justice Mexicans,
Mexican Americans and law enforcement in the Southwest eighteen thirty
five to nineteen thirty five. And that's probably the most
like unbiased source if you're not looking at what's it
called like Texan websites Officer down memorial page or yeah,
those Textan websites that often leave out things like how
(29:19):
he had not been charged with anything prior to this,
but Joe Sner was still out to get him, And yeah,
that's that's why I want to talk about this one
because it felt incomplete mentioning him at the port in
the Portviinate massacre episode, and it leaves you wondering like
why were the Texas Rangers like asking every single Mexican
are you Chicocano? Who is this Chico Cano? But also
(29:42):
because it touches on we can always compare things to today,
right with how you mentioned that pipeline, you know what?
That actually made me think of Dear America by Juos
Antonio Marquez, who is Filipino. And I know some people
are lying on TikTok they're recommending like, oh, Latino books
on immigration to read in this important time and then
(30:04):
they recommend that book, and I'm like, it's very clear
in the first few pages that he's Filipino. Yeah, so
I'm like, what the hell. But anyway, it's such an important,
vital book. Not only does it talk about his gruel journey,
I guess you could say with immigration, the immigration system,
(30:24):
it also talks about the history of like immigration law
in the United States, colonization of Latin America, and where
he's from the Philippines since we have a common colonizer.
But anyway, he talks about how once he learned he
was undocumented, and I can't imagine the like living your
(30:51):
whole life thinking this isn't an issue, this is in
the forefront of your mind, and then learning once you're
trying to go to college and or trying to get
a live set. Yeah. Yeah, And I want to say,
I think he was trying to get his driver's license.
I don't think it was right. I think by college
he knew when he was When it came time for
him to apply college, if I'm remembering right, he knew
that he was undocumented. I think he was trying to
(31:12):
get his license or get a part time job or
something like that. He in order to survive in under capitalism,
in order to keep living his life, he was forced
to do crimes technically, right, he was forced to. I
don't remember what he details in his book what steps
(31:32):
he took to try to pass I guess he could
say to try to hide his undocumented status. And I
know at one point he like he needs to. He
finds out one of the only states that gives licenses
to undocument people. When he goes there. I don't remember
if he gets like forged, you know, paperwork, like a
lot of undocumented people do because you have to work,
(31:54):
you know. Yeah, and yeah, so he's like these these
they made me, you know, a criminal. Yeah. And then
and I say that in quotation markets. Yeah. Yeah, so
that's what it makes me think of. And such an
important book. I highly recommend it. I need to read it.
But yes, that is also another similarity we can look
(32:17):
to today. Yeah. And god, I was gonna say one
more thing. Oh, also, the show Mo Have you seen it?
It's on Netflix. No, I've heard of it though. Yeah.
He's Palestinian. Yeah, and because of the way they left Palestine,
they're not official refugees. They also don't have their like
immigrants here in the US, he has to work without
(32:38):
a social Security number. He gets fired, like the guy
he's working with lets him work there without a Social
Security number for the longest time. But like under the table,
under the table, what raids are happening, and he has
to let him go before he's caught. So he lets
him go. And so then the main character Mo is
forced to sell bootleg scarred to make a living and
that's a crime because he has to make a living.
(33:01):
That reminds me yet, Sorry, I don't want to cut
you off before. No, no, that was it. That was
my point, okay. On TikTok, I saw and I think
I reposted it. This black woman her I don't think
her mom was. I think her dad was an immigrant
and I cannot remember I saw it. A Haitian immigrant.
Oh Haitian that's right, yes, yeah, yeah, that's right. Her
(33:23):
dad was Haitian. And she just talks about how her
dad was undocumented and basically criminalized, like he he is
a marginalized, you know, criminalized person because he's black and
basically how he ended up committing crimes, but because he
was already being like I don't know what the word is,
(33:44):
targeted maybe like set up for that, yeah, and not
set up like in a sting or like what is
that entrapment type of way, but like he was already
looked at as a criminal and he couldn't find another
way to make a living, and so that's what ended
up doing. And that's such a common story. Yes, and
that all those things I mentioned now is what I
(34:06):
was thinking of as I was looking into this story
of Chicogano who was forced to become a bandit. And
if you were to only hear the popular story of yeah,
then yeah, he sounds like a bandit. But you don't
know what led to this, right, and that's why we're here,
right to make this one less history unknown for you. Wow,
(34:27):
such a great tie in there, right, not tying, but
you concluded it for us. Okay, well, let's not wait
unless there's a conclusion you want to add. No, but
it was a beautiful conclusion. Yeah, I don't think so, Yeah,
I guess we could. Well, we already have a little
ad plugging in our Patreon, right, just do it again. Okay, Well,
(34:52):
I'm plugging our Patreon if you want to support us monetarily,
because it is rather u time consuming. Although we love
it to do the research. That's the main thing. Do
the research and write for our episodes. So if you
(35:12):
want to support us monetarily to keep the podcast going,
you can join the Patreon where we yap about current events.
We wanted it because a long time ago we tried
to start an internet like, I don't know, gossip type
of podcast because we love to yap about that. Yeah,
(35:34):
and so internet trends. Yeah, our episodes were going to
be that, but things have been so serious lately that
it's yeah that way, you were just yapping about current events. Yeah,
so we we've talked about the ice raids that are
going on. We've talked about doctor Phil and how we
hate him, different things anyway, So yeah, if you are
(35:55):
interested in that, then you can check out the patreon
and then we are also donating the patreon money, right, yeah,
twenty percent of that goes to Okay, yeah, I could
remember the percentage. Yeah, and I just chose. I just
chose twenty because more than ten but less than fifteen. Again,
we need we need help. Yeah, but yeah, it lately
(36:18):
I have been using the same one because like I
don't have and it's it's still an excellent organization, but
I said we were going to do different ones, but
I haven't. I've been doing twenty percent to Alotro Lavo
and Alotto Lavo. They help with legal help for migrants
as well as like they have teams that go out
into the desert and leave supplies for anyone there so
(36:40):
that they don't die out there. Yeah, they do important work,
and so that's the one I've been doing. I did
do for a GoFundMe for someone who was ran over
during the No King's protests and then someone who was
detained by ice here in my local city. So those
are other things we've been doing. But the main one
(37:00):
that we always do just because I already know it's
there and it's just easy to do, is Yeah. But
yeah that if you want to help us help as well.
That's another thing we do with Patron and I guess
before we go, if you are feeling overwhelmed during this time,
as many of us are, you know, don't don't let
that overwhelmness drive you to do nothing, but you know,
(37:25):
just mope around at your house. It's very stressful, stressful
for a lot of us that you know, lived in
fear of our own family being deported or are still
living in fear of that. But even if you can
go out on the streets to protest, there's a lot
of ways you can help out and so you can
(37:46):
look into your local organizations that support migrants, or into
the organizations that we talked about, like you can donate.
There's a lot of ways to help, and so putting
those feelings into action is a lot better than just
feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Yes, yes, another thing that if
(38:07):
you can't help, like monetarily. I did see a post
so this is from car washers on Instagram, So it's
car washers, but there's an X between the R and
S that's the handle. But the organization is Clean car
Wash Workers Center, and they shared that since June sixth,
twenty twenty five, over thirty five car washes in La County,
(38:29):
Orange County, and the Inland Empire have been targeted by
ice and at least fifty five car wash workers have
been taken by ice and they're working to identify the others.
But due to this unrest, there's a need for groceries
to be provided to car wash workers who are unable
to leave their homes and they are providing groceries for
(38:52):
two hundred car wash workers over two hundred and so
they on their page put out these call to actions
like this. This has already passed, but one of their
call to actions is like having volunteers come in to
deliver those groceries. Another one is for people to help
package those grocery boxes, so they have people come package them,
(39:13):
then they have people deliver them. They also are taking
donations for like tortillas uros, rice potatoes, things that they
can give, and they have they put out posts on
what they need. And that's another amazing way to help
that if you cannot help financially, you can go help
(39:33):
box these these deliveries. Yes, if you have the time,
you can share this so that someone else that has
the funds can donate. You can you know, if you
don't have money, you might not have extra groceries to give,
but like there are other ways to help. Yeah, and
that's in one excellent way. I have added this to
the more info highlights on our Instagram page. But yeah,
(39:54):
I mean that's one of the many ways to help.
So yeah, okay, now I guess now, yeah, we are
like always like saying goodbye and then adding on extra shit.
But yeah, that was a good interesting story that you shared.
Their my apologies for being so tired, but yeah, we
(40:16):
hope this is one study for you. Bye bye. Astoria
as Ann is produced by Carmen and Christina, researched by
Carmen and Christina, edited by Christina. You can find sources
for every episode at known dot com and in our
show notes. Creating the podcast has a lot of work,
so if you want to help us out financially, you
can do so by supporting us on Patreon at Patreon
(40:39):
dot com. Slash She Studio as an own podcast
Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
Estodia's Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history.
Sometimes it's horrible until the tavy topics like critcism, corruption
and genocide, but more than that, it's also by resistance,
power and community. And today Chico Cano. Oh okay, Like
(00:29):
two episodes ago, I was gonna say, do you want
to talk about how you got here? Yes? I am
doing that right now. Two episodes ago, in the Porvened
massacre episode, I mentioned this name, but there was so
much to cover in the episode that I just I
just said his name and I didn't, you know, go
into detail because it was already so heavy. But like
(00:50):
I said, in that episode, before a company B of
the Texas Rangers executed fifteen Mexican men and boys in Borvened,
they asked each one are you Chicocano? And then I'm like,
why did I This needs to be explained. It feels
unfinished if I don't say more about Chico Kano, right.
I think all you said then was that he was
(01:12):
like a bandit, right, and he had just stolen I
don't know what from where, and it was wanted basically
he was wanted. Yes, So who was Chico Kano? That's
what I'm answering today. You tell me, okay, tell me
so it And sorry before I get into that, this
is going to be a shorter episode because there's not
(01:34):
a lot of information out there on him. You know
what short episodes are arcade to mix in. Yeah, they are,
they are and we need them. Yeah. So who was
Chico Kano? It depends what you ask. If you ask
the Texas Rangers Loz rien Chez, los Rinchez, Yeah, the
Texas Rangers, he was a deranged Mexican bandit who led
a band of one hundred Mexican bandits and stole cattle
(01:56):
and killed in discriminately along the US Mexico border. WHOA.
And actually, if you ask most white Texas history enthusiasts today,
they would give you the same answer because they love
the Texas Rangers. They love vigilancy, justice, they love the
stories of white men upholding the law. And I say
that in quotation marks. They love all this. Yeah, they
(02:20):
really do. So if you ask them, they would tell
you the same thing about Chico Kano. But us here
I started as ant known, that's not what we're about right,
we're about the opposite. Yeah, So who was Chicokano? Why
were the Texas Rangers so obsessed? Are you so obsessed
with me? Thank you? I was waiting for that and
(02:40):
I knew you were delivered, like I had no question
of course. Yes. Fanancis Cocano was born in Mexico in
the eighteen eighties and in his very young adulthood, like
I don't know, probably eighteen nineteen. It's hard because there's
no exact years or ages right, any of this. But
at some point in his young adulthood he ran a
(03:01):
ranch with his brothers Manuel, Jose Antonio and Robe Larvo.
And this branch of layers was near San Antonio del Bravo,
across the river from Candelaria, Texas, but in Mexico, right,
But again the border was made up, a line was drawn,
and these places that were once the same place are
(03:23):
no longer the same place now it was split. Yeah,
but that's how close like they were. They could see Gandelaria,
Texas from their ranch, and so the Gano brothers were
very successful cattle ranchers. But like I couldn't stress enough
in the five episodes that we did about mob violence,
(03:43):
toward Mexicans. We know, this was a very tumultuous time period,
especially along the border. And yes there was violence on
both sides, but nothing like the violence Mexicans faced. The
violence and prejudice Mexicans face right from white people during
this time period. It was like not matched at all,
Like one side was defending themselves. Yes, and again, five thousand,
(04:06):
at least five thousand Mexicans died during this time period.
And that's a Texas alone, without counting everywhere else. You know,
so there was a lot of cattle theft and ranch
raids during these years. I don't want to discount that
that did happen, Okay, but one man, Joe Sitter, who
was a Texas Ranger for a while and then at
(04:26):
some point he was a US Customs Person officer or whatever.
But it's hard to tell when he stopped being a
ranger and then became a US Customs person because he
was doing the same thing. He was often riding out
with the Texas Rangers on missions and like literally doing
the same violent shit to Mexicans. Again celebrated by the whites,
(04:49):
by those that love the Texas Rangers, like this is
a very celebrated man me, I don't know. So one man,
Joe Sitter, who owned a ranch near Valentine, Texas, over
one hundred miles away from the Gano brothers ranch in Mexico.
Joe Sitter, this man blamed Chico Gano for every single
(05:11):
raid in the region. And I cannot find anywhere why
Joe Sitter was doing this. I don't know. I don't
know why or where their past first cross, Like, I
couldn't tell you. I searched and searched, and I just
I don't know. At some point in his life, Chico
did have several run ins with the Texas Rangers. There's
(05:33):
even a very famous picture of him with two Texas Rangers,
but they're just standing there. They're just like chatting with him.
They're not arresting him. He was a very well known
person during this time period. He had legendary marksmanship skills,
like people would go up to him and tell him, like, hey,
can you shoot this from this far away? And he
would do it. And also he was very well known
(05:54):
for his ranch and his like you know, raising animal
cattle whatever, Right, So he was a very well known Mexican.
I just don't know when he and Joe Sitter crossed paths,
but he did have several run ins with the Texas Rangers.
They knew who he was even before his official indictment. Again,
(06:15):
he was never charged with anything. He was never arrested
at all during the time period that Joe Setter was
out here accusing him of every single raid in the region.
Maybe he was just jealous, right, That's what it seems like,
because he was not yet supposedly leading a band of
one hundred bandits like that wasn't a thing yet, but
(06:35):
he was still out here accusing of every single rat
that was happening. And Juan Sanchez, nephew of Chico, stated
in an interview published in the book Bandilo, The Story
of Chico Kano, the Last Western Bandit Side not that
book is very expensive. I could not get it for
this episode. How much was it? Oh my god, like
one hundred dollars. I guess it's very limited. I don't know.
(06:58):
But in that book, his nephew says that Chico had
it in for Joe Sitter because Joe Sitter had beaten
him with the lasso even as he sat captured a
top of Joe Sitter's horse. Okay, but this where I'm
talking about right now. This has not happened yet. Joe
Sitter was already accusing Chico of banditry. Okay, so he
(07:21):
hated him before that. Yeah, he already hated him before this, Okay,
So again I can't figure out what the cause was. Again,
I just think he was jealous, honestly. So during this time,
Chico had not yet done any actual banditry. And I
say that in quotations always because I don't believe it.
(07:42):
But he was very well known. Like again, him and
his brothers were so successful. He was legendary and his
shooting skills, and there was one incident before. Actually, I
can't figure out when this incident happened because again it's
very hard to find dates of when anything happened. So
I don't know if this happened before or after Joe
Sitter was officially after him. But at some point Chiko
(08:05):
Kano did accidentally kill another man, and some people, the
way they tell it make him out to be some vicious, crazy,
deranged Mexican. It doesn't seem that that's the case from
like anecdotal accounts of this incident. But someone said, okay,
we'll shoot the bottle off this guy's head from some
(08:25):
distance away, and he missed and the guy died, damn.
And so that seems like the real version. But again
if you look at these I don't know, I'm making
website names up, but like Texas History or Border History
Texas and it's like ran by someone white. That's not
the way they would tell the story. But from what
I can find, that's how it happened. So maybe that's
(08:47):
that was another reason why he was out for him,
like Joe Sitter so against Chico. But I don't know
because I can't tell when this happened. I can't find dates. Weird,
but well not weird because how long ago, right, So yeah,
I'm not sure when this happened. But in nineteen thirteen,
Joe Sitter, along with customs inspector Jack Howard and cattleman
(09:11):
Ja Harvest, set out on a journey to apprehend Chico
for his supposed crimes that again he was not committing.
He was not charged with like at all. But they
were like, we need to apprehend this bandit even though
again at this point, no official crimes, no, no known crimes, right,
no evidence of anything. But they set out to catch
(09:32):
him and they found Chico at the wake of a
family friend. Oh wow, what kind of shit is that?
It feels rude, right, And the way they tell this story,
and I'm just like, I can never trust anything these
people say, right, But the way they tell the story
is that Chico asked them to let the women at
the funeral go because they're innocent. They're women, right, And
(09:56):
the very kind Texas rangers agreed. Wow generous. Again, I'm
not sure Joe Sitter was a ranger at this point,
or if he was already to go there. Yeah, but
he was there doing the work of a Texas ranger anyway,
even in this incident of him trying to apprehend Chico
for no reason. It was something that a ranger should
have been doing. But I don't know if he was
(10:17):
or was not one at this point. So the very
kind white men agreed and they let the women leave,
But among them were Mexican bandits dressed as women to escape,
and all of them, every single one, got away, except
for Chico because he was unusually tall for a Mexican
in this time period, and so he stood out in
(10:37):
a dress. They were like, that's not a woman, that's
a man. Yes, yes, So that's the story they tell.
So they detained him, put him on one of the
horses they had to transport him. And now this is
where the incident that I mentioned earlier, this is where
that takes place, where Chico was beaten with a lasso
by Joe Sitter while tied up on Jositer's horse. And
(11:02):
so someone that knew Chico and his brothers saw this
from across the river, and they went out to tell
Chico's or and they rode out to tell Chico's brothers
what was happening that some men had Chico, and they
his brothers fearing that it's not an unfounded fear of
theirs that that Chico wasn't going to make it to
(11:24):
any jail like that that they killed. Yes, because this
was so common, like discussed in all those episodes about
mob violence towards Mexicans. So yeah, very very valid fear
of theirs that that they were just going to harm Chico.
And so they made a plan to rescue him, Yeah,
(11:44):
fearing he wasn't going to make the jail, and so
Roberlarvo and Manuel Gano rode out and ambushed Joe Sitter
and the two other men and Jositter received a bullet
to his head and somehow s arrived which is that
time period. Yeah, the Harvest guy Ja Harvest was shot
(12:05):
in the leg and he lived too. Howard that one
he died several days later from a bullet wound from
a stomach. And so the brothers and Chiko they escape together.
And so this is the event that made Chico an
official bandit. They officially declared him a bandit widely like
(12:26):
they would put out newspapers that said Kano's Bunch is
believed to be part of a gang of one hundred
Mexicans or so formally followers of General Orosco in the
Mexican Revolution, who are now engaged wholly in the outlawry
and attached to neither the Granta or the Via factions.
They steal cattle on the Mexican side and then smuggle
(12:48):
them into Texas or vice versa. They steal horses on
the Texas side and smuggle them into Mexico. They have
had a number of clashes with the state and government officers,
and only two weeks ago two of the Mexicans were
killed like that that was titled one hundred men in gang.
Another one Chiko Kano's band of one hundred outlaws terrorized
(13:10):
border like, so they were putting things out like this.
But he at this point hadn't hadn't up until them, right,
he hadn't done anything like this. But so when they
pulled up at the wake, and that's when he tried
to get away by dressing it was a woman, and
he was caught, right, and then the brothers took him
(13:33):
from basically detainment with the rangers. Right, what was the
reason they went to the wake? And no reason? No?
Okay again for no and I so he at this
point he was wanted for no reason because he had
been detained for no reason. Right, Joe Sitter kept blaming
him for every single raid, but but tying him to
(13:55):
that there was really no reason to suspect that at all. Yes,
Joe Redders were or setter my band SI, Yes, sorry, Yeah,
I don't care. I said it for you. Yeah. At
that point of them going to apprehend him, he hadn't
done anything, okay, except that Joe Sitter kept accusing him
of these raids. But yeah, so I mean to me,
(14:20):
they're just rescuing their brother from yeah, probable death. Yeah,
and if that's a crime then I don't know, but
that's when they declared him a bandit officially. They would
put out newspaper articles like this that I just read.
And so after that is when he joins the Mexican Revolution.
(14:41):
But he had like no ties to anyone but his family.
Even as part of the Mexican Revolution, he switched sides
a lot. He was with uh Garanza and then later
with Pancho VI. Yeah, like you know, he was switching
sides a lot. And during this time he had a
alleged second run in with Joe Sitter. So Joe Sitter, like,
(15:05):
I don't know, he spent his life trying to find Chicocano.
And I feel like Chico Kano was just like who
is this? He was just a hater hating her free.
I really cannot find what caused this. But so Joe
Sitter made it his life mission to cunt Chicocano down.
And so Sitter, Joe Sitter and arranger Eugene Holand heard
(15:27):
about where Chico Kano might be after torturing a friend
of Chico Kano's. Wow, So then they traveled to where
he allegedly was. When they arrived to this location, they
came under fire during this alleged trying to hunt like
(15:49):
a day, allegedly Chico Kano was there, they came under fire,
they died. Authorities later found Joe Sitter and Eugene Holand
badly disfigured, which then amplified the hate for Chico Gano.
But there was zero evidence proof at all that Chicogano
was even in this area, So it could have been anyone.
(16:11):
It could have been anyone whoever fired at Joe Sitter
and this other Texas ranger did it from one hundred
and twenty feet away. But even then, even then, that
is what Chico Kano's official indictment is for Chico Kano
is not here for an old charge. Federal court here
holds several in diamonds for resistance to revenue officers. Chico Kano,
(16:35):
the famous Mexican bandit, now considerably in the public eye
due to the fact he was supposed to have been
the leader of bandit gang who demanded fifteen thousand for
the release of Oh Sorry. At some point two pilots
landed New Mexico and they were kidnapped by by hid
Its revolutionaries. No, just I don't know if it was him.
(16:59):
Officially or not, it's unclear, but they were freed, you know.
But before that he was charged with the killing and
Sard's there Gocano, most of which is connected to the
ruthless killing of United States Revenue officers Jack Howard and
Joe Sitter in nineteen fifteen and Rangel Holand one of
(17:22):
the one of the best Texas has known, was also
slain by Mexican bandits about the time Joe Sitter met
his death. They were together, so like this he died
at the same time us they're trying to meet. There
were their work count Jesus. So yeah, he was indicted.
(17:43):
That was the like you know, newspaper or whatever from
that when he was indicted. But again they were shot
at from one hundred and twenty feet away. There was
never any clear hard evidence that this was even Chico Kano.
And the way you read it even like in the
what website is this hold on? If you go to
the Customs oh Officer down memorial page, you know this
(18:07):
is going to be like so stupid, like full of
propaganda this website officer down memorial page, but it says
Customs agents Joseph Russell Sitter and if you hear it here. Okay,
So it looks like in nineteen twelve, Sitter had arrested
Chico for horse and meal stealing again though that was
(18:30):
his job, he could he easily could have been transporting
his own Yeah, and then decided to just target him
because he was Mexican and they were doing that back then,
just like now. And so yeah, it looks like that's
the first time they arrested him. He was arrested again later. Oh,
this is when he they took him. Okay, So yeah,
says I look at the way they tell that their version.
(18:50):
On February tenth, nineteen thirteen, Agent Sitter, Inspector Jack Howard,
and a Brand inspector again arrested Chico Kano as they
transferred him to the Rugged Mountains and Pilattice Canyon, the
man's brothers and friends and Bush the three lawmen. Inspector
Howard was killed while Agent Sitter and the Brand inspector
were wounded. They again went to arrest him for no reason.
(19:12):
At the wake of a of a I don't remember
you saying earlier that the some of the rangers had
died during that one man died Howard. I could just
say it, oh, I don't remember, and I said, I
know you do. You are falling asleep, not just kidding, damn.
Oh yeah, okay, so the night, no, I said, I'm
trying to make you sound better, but yeah, you don't
(19:32):
deserve it. No, I said, he Sitter was shot in
the head, the other guy in the leg, and then
the other guy died. Do you remember that? Oh oh,
and then he somehow survived. Yeah, okay, I remember the
guy that was shot in the head and the leg,
but not the guy that died. So the way this
website tells the talks about the death of Agent Sitter
is okay, I'm going to read that. On May twenty four,
(19:54):
nineteen fifteen, Agent Sitter gathered a posse that included a
fellow State's Custom Service inspector along with three Texas Rangers
to capture Kano on his gang. When the posse arrived
Dappilattis Canyon, they could see some stolen horses in the canyon.
A disagreement arose amongst the lawmen as to whether it
was in ambush. Agent Sitter decided to split the group
(20:16):
and enter the canyon. One of the groups started up
one side of the canyon, where they came under heavy
fire and retreated. They could see Agent Sitter and Private
hole In pinned down across the canyon and tried five
times unsuccessfully to reach them. The three officers walked four
miles to a ranch and sum had help. The next
day a posse arrived and found Agent Center and Private
(20:37):
Holen stripped naked, shot scores of times, and their faces
unrecognizable from having been beaten with large stones. Which, yeah,
that is that is horrible mm hmm. But there was
zero against zero evidence that this was Chico Kano at all.
(20:58):
It could have been one of the many other people
that he anchored and did horrible things too during his
career as a Texas ranger. Like, we don't know, nobody
knows who it was. But Chico Kano was indicted for
the murder of Agentsitter Joe Sitter. But that's the way
that that website tells will happen, which is very different
(21:18):
from this this other like they you know, were fired
from that many feet away, and like nobody knows who
it was, right, Yeah, And it was around the same
time that Chico Kano became a leader in the Mexican Revolution. Again,
he switched signs a lot and then he eventually had
his own militia, and so it's hard to say what
(21:39):
he was doing was part of the Mexican revolution or
was just like do just stealing things because he was
a bandit and doing raids as a bandit instead of
a revolutionary because two people, certain people don't differentiate the two,
right while they are different. So it's hard to say
what he was doing. But he was, you know, doing raids.
And so the Bright Ranch raid happened around this time
(22:03):
and there that was December nineteen seventeen, right, And like
I said in the Porvinied episode, the Bright Ranch being
raided is what led rangers to bor we need in
the first place. The Rangers blamed Chico Kano, who theyre
had already been after. It's like this person that keeps
eluding them, keeps escaping them. He's already supposedly allegedly killed
(22:27):
two of their own again not ever proven, but to them,
he's done the worst thing you could do, kill an officer. Yes, yes,
and so you could see why they were like so
hell bent on getting revenge on this port town that
had nothing to do with it. So they blamed Chico
Kano for this raid and the ranch owner himself didn't
(22:50):
think Chiko Kano was involved. That's interesting. He swore his innocence.
He really didn't think Chiko Kano had anything to do
with it. And if that doesn't like that, that alone
should be enough. But no, And throughout his life, Chico
Kano had several encounters with the Texas Rangers, and in
(23:12):
nineteen nineteen after Portvenide, after the alleged indictment of him
killing Joe Sitter, there's a famous picture of Chicocano. If
you look at Chicogano right now, you like you'll find
this is probably the first picture that will pump up.
It's Chicocano just like you know, standing in a post
(23:34):
for like hip to the side, smoking with a sombretto on,
and he's with US military officials. He's the one in
the biggest sombreto in the middle. Like you'll see him
right away if you look this up to his left
is both Major John Arthur Constantine and then Captain Leonard Mattock,
and then the three men on next to him are
(23:55):
his brothers in that picture. So they had already like
so like they squash your beef? Is that what you're saying?
Or what. Yeah, like this meeting apparently was to try
and like settle tensions that were happening along the border,
so they didn't arrest him in this picture, you know,
like that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, so he was supposedly wanted
(24:17):
at this time, and they he met with rangers and
they look, I think this is not I think this
is military. I don't think there's rangers. I couldn't be
this a military didn't care about who the rangers wanted. True,
could be, could be. But yeah, they met with him,
and yeah, that's what this picture comes from. And doesn't
he just look so cool? Did you look it up? No?
(24:37):
Oh my god, it that you looked at him was
soon acrossword. Oh okay, well I'll I'll send you the
picture so you had the whole time you could just
fucking send it to me. Okay, hold on, all right,
I just sent it to you. Does he not look
so cool? He's the one with the big high he said, Yeah,
he's in the middle of big high. He stands out
right away. You can you see him, and immediately you're like,
(24:58):
that's that's one cool pers There's no denying that. It's
a bandit right there now. That's a that's a bandit
right there. It's a bandit for every seen one. We
will post it on Instagram as well. And so the
whole point of that is that he had these meetings
run ins with US military and rangers all throughout his life,
(25:19):
and although for a lot of his life the Rangers
were after him, they never like actually brought him able
to get him. Yeah, okay, over the course of his life,
he'd been shopped fourteen times, wow, mostly by the rangers,
and they never killed him. They never captured him other
than the one time that his brother's freedom and you
(25:40):
know he that that nineteen nineteen and diamond of the
murder of Joe Sitter was still on him. But he
was never tried for it, like even you know, way
later when he maybe was not as strong and he
couldn't run away as fast. Right, Like, It's like if
they wanted, they could have brought him in, right, they
could have. I would I would think something so too,
(26:01):
But no, he was never tried for it, and he
outlives like what you could say or his enemies were,
he lived, all of them, like especially Joe Sitter. And
what I wanted to talk about him is mainly because
like talking about him, it left like one question in
my head the whole time, like was he actually abandon
(26:26):
or he only became a bandit because the law enforcement
kept coming after him and Joe Sitter had already decided
he was abandoned, like a self fulfilling prophecy, one would say,
or kind of like kind of like someone fitting a
stereotype that already exists, because it's a stereotype. I don't know, yeah,
(26:48):
like I mean, it reminds me so much of like
even you know, the law enforcement system now where it's
like you, I mean, how many times did we see
it where it would be just like a group of
middle schoolers that look could look suspicious to someone else,
but they're just walking and then they get stopped and
stopped and stopped so much that eventually they it's like
(27:09):
normalized and at some point they become criminals, right right, right,
It's like the school to prison pipeline where yes, certain
populations are like marginalized and basically set up for prison,
they're criminalized, yes, And that's what his story makes me
(27:31):
think of. And it's like he's one Mexican who was forced,
essentially forced to become an actual bandit when law enforcement
declared that they were. How many did this happen to? Yeah?
Chiko Kano died at his ranch in nineteen forty three,
(27:52):
and when he was asked if he feared meeting his maker,
Chico responded, quote, my father was my maker, already was
my maker. Distress was my maker. I have met them
all my life. End quote. That was so badass. But
so what's another for poignance? Because I can't say that
fucking word. What does it do mean? That was so
(28:14):
on point. Yes, that's what it means, Like, yeah, you
know what I mean? Yeah, I get it now. And
this information, most of it I found on Refusing to
Forget on Org, coupled with other websites, but that's the
main one, and they most of their information came from
Orders of Violence and Justice by Brian Beckhen and he
(28:37):
is the main cover. The picture, the picture that's so
cool that I went on a little too long about.
That's the picture the cover of this book. Oh okay,
And this book I think is a little easier to
obtain than the other one that was like one hundred
dollars oh twenty nine five? Yeah, not bad, not it
(28:57):
could be worse. But yeah, Borders of violence and justice Mexicans,
Mexican Americans and law enforcement in the Southwest eighteen thirty
five to nineteen thirty five. And that's probably the most
like unbiased source if you're not looking at what's it
called like Texan websites Officer down memorial page or yeah,
those Textan websites that often leave out things like how
(29:19):
he had not been charged with anything prior to this,
but Joe Sner was still out to get him, And yeah,
that's that's why I want to talk about this one
because it felt incomplete mentioning him at the port in
the Portviinate massacre episode, and it leaves you wondering like
why were the Texas Rangers like asking every single Mexican
are you Chicocano? Who is this Chico Cano? But also
(29:42):
because it touches on we can always compare things to today,
right with how you mentioned that pipeline, you know what?
That actually made me think of Dear America by Juos
Antonio Marquez, who is Filipino. And I know some people
are lying on TikTok they're recommending like, oh, Latino books
on immigration to read in this important time and then
(30:04):
they recommend that book, and I'm like, it's very clear
in the first few pages that he's Filipino. Yeah, so
I'm like, what the hell. But anyway, it's such an important,
vital book. Not only does it talk about his gruel journey,
I guess you could say with immigration, the immigration system,
(30:24):
it also talks about the history of like immigration law
in the United States, colonization of Latin America, and where
he's from the Philippines since we have a common colonizer.
But anyway, he talks about how once he learned he
was undocumented, and I can't imagine the like living your
(30:51):
whole life thinking this isn't an issue, this is in
the forefront of your mind, and then learning once you're
trying to go to college and or trying to get
a live set. Yeah. Yeah, And I want to say,
I think he was trying to get his driver's license.
I don't think it was right. I think by college
he knew when he was When it came time for
him to apply college, if I'm remembering right, he knew
that he was undocumented. I think he was trying to
(31:12):
get his license or get a part time job or
something like that. He in order to survive in under capitalism,
in order to keep living his life, he was forced
to do crimes technically, right, he was forced to. I
don't remember what he details in his book what steps
(31:32):
he took to try to pass I guess he could
say to try to hide his undocumented status. And I
know at one point he like he needs to. He
finds out one of the only states that gives licenses
to undocument people. When he goes there. I don't remember
if he gets like forged, you know, paperwork, like a
lot of undocumented people do because you have to work,
(31:54):
you know. Yeah, and yeah, so he's like these these
they made me, you know, a criminal. Yeah. And then
and I say that in quotation markets. Yeah. Yeah, so
that's what it makes me think of. And such an
important book. I highly recommend it. I need to read it.
But yes, that is also another similarity we can look
(32:17):
to today. Yeah. And god, I was gonna say one
more thing. Oh, also, the show Mo Have you seen it?
It's on Netflix. No, I've heard of it though. Yeah.
He's Palestinian. Yeah, and because of the way they left Palestine,
they're not official refugees. They also don't have their like
immigrants here in the US, he has to work without
(32:38):
a social Security number. He gets fired, like the guy
he's working with lets him work there without a Social
Security number for the longest time. But like under the table,
under the table, what raids are happening, and he has
to let him go before he's caught. So he lets
him go. And so then the main character Mo is
forced to sell bootleg scarred to make a living and
that's a crime because he has to make a living.
(33:01):
That reminds me yet, Sorry, I don't want to cut
you off before. No, no, that was it. That was
my point, okay. On TikTok, I saw and I think
I reposted it. This black woman her I don't think
her mom was. I think her dad was an immigrant
and I cannot remember I saw it. A Haitian immigrant.
Oh Haitian that's right, yes, yeah, yeah, that's right. Her
(33:23):
dad was Haitian. And she just talks about how her
dad was undocumented and basically criminalized, like he he is
a marginalized, you know, criminalized person because he's black and
basically how he ended up committing crimes, but because he
was already being like I don't know what the word is,
(33:44):
targeted maybe like set up for that, yeah, and not
set up like in a sting or like what is
that entrapment type of way, but like he was already
looked at as a criminal and he couldn't find another
way to make a living, and so that's what ended
up doing. And that's such a common story. Yes, and
that all those things I mentioned now is what I
(34:06):
was thinking of as I was looking into this story
of Chicogano who was forced to become a bandit. And
if you were to only hear the popular story of yeah,
then yeah, he sounds like a bandit. But you don't
know what led to this, right, and that's why we're here,
right to make this one less history unknown for you. Wow,
(34:27):
such a great tie in there, right, not tying, but
you concluded it for us. Okay, well, let's not wait
unless there's a conclusion you want to add. No, but
it was a beautiful conclusion. Yeah, I don't think so, Yeah,
I guess we could. Well, we already have a little
ad plugging in our Patreon, right, just do it again. Okay, Well,
(34:52):
I'm plugging our Patreon if you want to support us monetarily,
because it is rather u time consuming. Although we love
it to do the research. That's the main thing. Do
the research and write for our episodes. So if you
(35:12):
want to support us monetarily to keep the podcast going,
you can join the Patreon where we yap about current events.
We wanted it because a long time ago we tried
to start an internet like, I don't know, gossip type
of podcast because we love to yap about that. Yeah,
(35:34):
and so internet trends. Yeah, our episodes were going to
be that, but things have been so serious lately that
it's yeah that way, you were just yapping about current events. Yeah,
so we we've talked about the ice raids that are
going on. We've talked about doctor Phil and how we
hate him, different things anyway, So yeah, if you are
(35:55):
interested in that, then you can check out the patreon
and then we are also donating the patreon money, right, yeah,
twenty percent of that goes to Okay, yeah, I could
remember the percentage. Yeah, and I just chose. I just
chose twenty because more than ten but less than fifteen. Again,
we need we need help. Yeah, but yeah, it lately
(36:18):
I have been using the same one because like I
don't have and it's it's still an excellent organization, but
I said we were going to do different ones, but
I haven't. I've been doing twenty percent to Alotro Lavo
and Alotto Lavo. They help with legal help for migrants
as well as like they have teams that go out
into the desert and leave supplies for anyone there so
(36:40):
that they don't die out there. Yeah, they do important work,
and so that's the one I've been doing. I did
do for a GoFundMe for someone who was ran over
during the No King's protests and then someone who was
detained by ice here in my local city. So those
are other things we've been doing. But the main one
(37:00):
that we always do just because I already know it's
there and it's just easy to do, is Yeah. But
yeah that if you want to help us help as well.
That's another thing we do with Patron and I guess
before we go, if you are feeling overwhelmed during this time,
as many of us are, you know, don't don't let
that overwhelmness drive you to do nothing, but you know,
(37:25):
just mope around at your house. It's very stressful, stressful
for a lot of us that you know, lived in
fear of our own family being deported or are still
living in fear of that. But even if you can
go out on the streets to protest, there's a lot
of ways you can help out and so you can
(37:46):
look into your local organizations that support migrants, or into
the organizations that we talked about, like you can donate.
There's a lot of ways to help, and so putting
those feelings into action is a lot better than just
feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Yes, yes, another thing that if
(38:07):
you can't help, like monetarily. I did see a post
so this is from car washers on Instagram, So it's
car washers, but there's an X between the R and
S that's the handle. But the organization is Clean car
Wash Workers Center, and they shared that since June sixth,
twenty twenty five, over thirty five car washes in La County,
(38:29):
Orange County, and the Inland Empire have been targeted by
ice and at least fifty five car wash workers have
been taken by ice and they're working to identify the others.
But due to this unrest, there's a need for groceries
to be provided to car wash workers who are unable
to leave their homes and they are providing groceries for
(38:52):
two hundred car wash workers over two hundred and so
they on their page put out these call to actions
like this. This has already passed, but one of their
call to actions is like having volunteers come in to
deliver those groceries. Another one is for people to help
package those grocery boxes, so they have people come package them,
(39:13):
then they have people deliver them. They also are taking
donations for like tortillas uros, rice potatoes, things that they
can give, and they have they put out posts on
what they need. And that's another amazing way to help
that if you cannot help financially, you can go help
(39:33):
box these these deliveries. Yes, if you have the time,
you can share this so that someone else that has
the funds can donate. You can you know, if you
don't have money, you might not have extra groceries to give,
but like there are other ways to help. Yeah, and
that's in one excellent way. I have added this to
the more info highlights on our Instagram page. But yeah,
(39:54):
I mean that's one of the many ways to help.
So yeah, okay, now I guess now, yeah, we are
like always like saying goodbye and then adding on extra shit.
But yeah, that was a good interesting story that you shared.
Their my apologies for being so tired, but yeah, we
(40:16):
hope this is one study for you. Bye bye. Astoria
as Ann is produced by Carmen and Christina, researched by
Carmen and Christina, edited by Christina. You can find sources
for every episode at known dot com and in our
show notes. Creating the podcast has a lot of work,
so if you want to help us out financially, you
can do so by supporting us on Patreon at Patreon
(40:39):
dot com. Slash She Studio as an own podcast
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