the organization began to hold monthly meetings (universals) at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem. At this time, the membership of the Latin Kings is believed to have swelled to 3,000 incarcerated and 4,000 free. The monthly universals drew attendance of 500–600 regularly. Internal changes to the organization began to take place as Fernandez amended the ALKQN manifesto to include parliamentary elections and new procedures for handling inter-organizational grievances and remove death as a possible punishment, replacing it with "vanishing", the act of being banished from the movement. For the ALKQN, 1997 began with Felipe being sentenced to 250 years in prison, with the first 45 to be spent in solitary confinement. The other 39 members were sentenced to an average of 20 years in prison for their roles in the crimes. The year would bring further legal troubles as Fernandez and 31 others were arrested in a raid in the Lower East Side and charged with disorderly conduct. The Special Commissioner of Investigation for Schools soon charged the ALKQN with infiltrating the school system; a school security guard with five years of service was dismissed on charges of unprofessional conduct for his association with the Latin Kings. The year came to a close with Fernandez being arrested in December by the FBI for domestic abuse. The pending charges against Fernandez were dropped in early 1998. Following the release of Fernandez, a joint operation of the FBI, New York City Police Department (NYPD), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), New York State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) came to a close with the arrests of 92 suspected ALKQN members, half of whom the Latin Kings leadership insisted were not members. The operation, dubbed Operation Crown, cost the city over one million dollars and took 19 months to complete. Fernandez was released after four days on $350,000 bail, which was paid for by the mandatory dues that the Bloodline treasurer had collected from the community every week. Over half of the arrested were charged with misdemeanors; other were charged with weapons possession and drug trafficking. Fernandez was eventually permitted, though under house arrest, to attend monthly universal meetings. It was during his time under house arrest that the Latin Queens underwent a shake up in leadership, dismissing many of the leaders in order to bring in more politically focused members. During this period, the Latin Kings began to gain