The Five Joaquins were an outlaw gang which the State of California said was led by: Between 1850 and 1853, the gang, joined by Murrieta's right-hand man, Three Fingered Jack, were reported to have been responsible for most of the horse theft, robberies, and murders committed in the Mother Lode area of the Sierra Nevadas. They are credited with stealing more than $100,000 in gold and over 100 horses, killing at least 19 people, and having outrun three posses and killed three lawmen. The gang is believed to have killed up to 28 Chinese and 13 Whites. On May 11, 1853, Governor of CaliforniaJohn Bigler signed a legislative act creating the "California State Rangers," led by Captain Harry Love. Their mission was to capture the "Five Joaquins," named above. The California Rangers were paid $150 a month and stood a chance to share a $5000 reward for the capture of Joaquin Murrieta. On July 25, 1853, a group of Rangers, led by Captain Love, encountered a band of armed Mexican men near Panoche Pass in San Benito County, 50 miles from Monterey. A confrontation took place, and two of the Mexicans were killed. One was claimed to be Murrieta, and the other was thought to be Three-Fingered Jack. A plaque near the intersection of State Routes 33 and 198 now marks the approximate site of Murrieta's headquarters in Arroyo de Cantua, where he was presumably and officially ruled by the State of California to have been killed. However that claim was soon disputed and has continued to be. However the result of that skirmish was that the gang was broken up, and its activities ended. Some of the members returned to Sonora, although many of the gang's members remained in California, some continuing their criminal carriers, many others became vaqueros on California ranches or followed other walks of life.
The Five Joaquins of the Five Joaquins Gang
Of the Joaquins named by the bill of the California state legislature, three were actual leaders in the gang, two others were only members.
Joaquin Murrieta, a Sonoran, born in Pueblo de Murrieta, Sonora, was the head of this group of bandit bands.
Joaquin Ocomorenia, the alias used by Jesus Valenzuela, born in Pueblo de Murrieta, he was the brother of Joaquin and Teodoro Valenzuela and was like them a cousin of Joaquin Murrieta and his brothers and other Murrieta cousins. Jesus Valenzuela was member of the gang not a leader. After he killed a fellow Mexican in a gold camp he promised his brothers he would return to Sonora but he spent the money they gave him for the trip and stayed in California, running with the band of Tres Dedos. A garbled form of his alias, Joaquin Ocomorenia became known to the State Legislature and was put on the list of the Five Joaquins.
Joaquin Valenzuela, born in Pueblo de Murrieta, cousin of Joaquin Murrieta and his brothers, stepbrothers and cousins. Leader his own gang, in charge of gathering and organizing the droves of the gang's horses. Additionally he drove them south for the trade in horses from California to Sonora, along with his brother Teodoro Valenzuela whose own band took the droves from Joaquin near the Rancho Cucamonga then drove them over the Sonoran Desertfor sale in Sonora.
Joaquin Carrillo, born in Spain, as Joaquin Manuel Carrillo before his father moved to Ures, Sonora from Spain. He was the younger brother of Jesus Carrillo. At age five, he along with his older brother would acquire the Murrieta name after his widowed mother remarried the Sonoran Joaquin Murrieta of Pueblo de Murrieta, soon to be the father of the famous Joaquin. Both were older Carrillo stepbrothers of Joaquin Murrieta and his younger brothers. Joaquin Carrillo Murrieta came to California before 1848 and wrote his stepbrother, Joaquin to bring members of the family to California when gold was discovered. He rode with Joaquin Murrieta to avenge his brother Jesus' lynching by a mob at Murphy's New Diggins and occasionally at other times. He operated the Murrieta rancho in Cañada Molina Vallejo with Joaquin Murrieta's brother-in-law Vincente Jesus Féliz and both watched over Rosa Féliz, Murrieta's wife who lived there following the attack on her and her husband Joaquin by Americanclaim jumpers in their gold claim.
Representations in media
The Mask of Zorro The film features a fictionalised representation of the confrontation between the gang and Captain Love. Joaquin Murrieta, an American version Three-Fingered Jack and Murrieta's fictional brother Alejandro are three bandits who are confronted by Captain Harrison Love and his posse. Joaquin and Jack are killed whilst Alejandro escapes to assume the role of Zorro and kills Love in revenge. Victor Rivers played Joaquin.
Behind The Mask of Zorro a History Channel documentary about Murrieta and his gang, and how he inspired the character of Zorro.
