A Gangster Disciples gang member was sentenced to 360 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for participating in a racketeering conspiracy and for using, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
U. S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee, Special Agent in Charge M.A. Myers of the FBI’s Memphis Division and Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Memphis Field Division, made the announcement.
Tommy Earl Champion, Jr., aka "Duct Tape," 29, of Jackson Tennessee, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. Champion previously pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said, "Dismantlement of criminal gangs is a top priority of the Department of Justice, and this case represents the collaborative efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement to target and remove a significant violent participant in the Gangster Disciples organization. "Duct Tape" is now stuck with a 30-year sentence for his violent crimes. We are taking the fight to the gangs in West Tennessee, and we are relentless in our resolve."
According to the indictment, the Gangster Disciples is a highly organized national gang active in more than 35 states. The scope of the Gangster Disciples’ crimes is wide-ranging and consistent throughout its national operation. The gang protects its power through threats, intimidation and violence, including murder, attempted murder, assault and obstruction of justice. The Gangster Disciples promotes its enterprise through member-only activities and provides financial and other support to members charged with or incarcerated for gang-related offenses.
According to court documents, Champion was a member of the Gangster Disciples and served on the gang’s "blackout squads" and "security teams." Champion was responsible for carrying out violent acts, including attempted murder, witness and victim intimidation, and assault, at the direction of senior Gangster Disciples leaders. Champion also participated in the other criminal activities of the Gangster Disciples enterprise, including narcotics distribution and weapons possession.
In addition to the racketeering conspiracy count, Champion was sentenced for using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, which, according to the indictment, occurred on June 12, 2014 in Jackson. The indictment states that the crime of violence was attempted murder, and that Champion and other gang members committed the crime for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing their position in the Gangster Disciple enterprise. There were seven victims of this attempted murder noted in the indictment. Champion had previously pleaded guilty on April 2.
Monday, September 24, 2018
Manche Boy #Mafia has 8th Member Sentenced to Prison on Conspiracy Charges
U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced Aeon L. Graham (23, Tampa) to six years and nine months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. Graham pleaded guilty on June 12, 2018.
According to court documents and statements made in open court, between at least 2015 and 2017, Graham and others affiliated with “Manche Boy Mafia” or “MBM” organization conspired to commit credit card fraud and identity theft in the Tampa Bay area. To facilitate the scheme, the conspirators purchased stolen credit and debit card account numbers online from various websites, some of which used bitcoin as their currency. They then purchased or stole reloadable gift cards and used machines to emboss the stolen account numbers and their own names on to the front of these altered gift cards, thereby producing counterfeit credit cards. The conspirators then used these counterfeit credit cards at various retailers around the Tampa Bay area to purchase gift cards and electronics, which they either kept or sold for cash.
Investigators determined that these individuals had engaged in hundreds of successful transactions with counterfeit credit cards, and had possessed and used thousands of stolen account numbers from individuals across the United States. In total, Graham was held responsible for more than $600,000 in intended or attempted purchases with counterfeit credit cards and stolen account information.
According to court documents and statements made in open court, between at least 2015 and 2017, Graham and others affiliated with “Manche Boy Mafia” or “MBM” organization conspired to commit credit card fraud and identity theft in the Tampa Bay area. To facilitate the scheme, the conspirators purchased stolen credit and debit card account numbers online from various websites, some of which used bitcoin as their currency. They then purchased or stole reloadable gift cards and used machines to emboss the stolen account numbers and their own names on to the front of these altered gift cards, thereby producing counterfeit credit cards. The conspirators then used these counterfeit credit cards at various retailers around the Tampa Bay area to purchase gift cards and electronics, which they either kept or sold for cash.
Investigators determined that these individuals had engaged in hundreds of successful transactions with counterfeit credit cards, and had possessed and used thousands of stolen account numbers from individuals across the United States. In total, Graham was held responsible for more than $600,000 in intended or attempted purchases with counterfeit credit cards and stolen account information.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Man Pleads Guilty to Impersonating a Mobster and Extorting Over $4 Million in Wide-ranging Plan
Tony John Evans, 30, formerly of New York, N.Y., pled guilty extortion related to a wide-ranging scheme that caused a Maryland man to embezzle more than $4 million from his employer in Washington, D.C., announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Evans pled guilty before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of interference with interstate commerce by extortion and aiding and abetting and causing an act to be done. Judge Sullivan scheduled sentencing for Jan. 24, 2019. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Evans faces an estimated range of 57 to 71 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.
Evans and several members of his family were indicted in April 2018.
In his plea agreement, Evans admitted that from November 2016 through April 2017, he worked with several individuals to extort and defraud others out of money, precious metals, and luxury merchandise. As part of the scheme, he pretended to be a mobster in order to get a Maryland man to provide him and his fellow conspirators with money, luxury goods, and gold. Evans threatened to harm the man and his family if payments were not made.
As a result of Evans and other conspirators’ actions, the man embezzled more than $4 million from his employer in the District of Columbia over a three-month period for the purpose of providing it to Evans and the other conspirators. Towards the end of the conspiracy, the man delivered more than $1 million in gold—which he had purchased with embezzled funds—to a hotel in New York. Evans admitted that he retrieved the gold bars, delivered them to other individuals, and sold several of the bars to a gold dealer in New York in exchange for cash.
In October 2017, the FBI executed a search warrant on Evans’s safe deposit box at a bank in New York. The safe deposit box contained gold and expensive jewelry, including luxury watches and diamonds. As part of his plea agreement, Evans agreed to forfeit his rights to all of the items recovered from the safe deposit box. He also surrendered two additional one-kilogram gold bars to the FBI, along with a Rolex watch, which he purchased with criminal proceeds.
Charges against five co-defendants remain pending.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Assistant Director in Charge McNamara commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Lucas, who is assisting with forfeiture issues, Paralegal Specialists Brittany Phillips and Joshua Fein, former Paralegal Specialists Jessica Mundi and Kristy Penny, and Forensic Accountant Bryan Snitselaar.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Kent and Kondi Kleinman, who investigated and are prosecuting the case.
Evans pled guilty before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of interference with interstate commerce by extortion and aiding and abetting and causing an act to be done. Judge Sullivan scheduled sentencing for Jan. 24, 2019. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Evans faces an estimated range of 57 to 71 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.
Evans and several members of his family were indicted in April 2018.
In his plea agreement, Evans admitted that from November 2016 through April 2017, he worked with several individuals to extort and defraud others out of money, precious metals, and luxury merchandise. As part of the scheme, he pretended to be a mobster in order to get a Maryland man to provide him and his fellow conspirators with money, luxury goods, and gold. Evans threatened to harm the man and his family if payments were not made.
As a result of Evans and other conspirators’ actions, the man embezzled more than $4 million from his employer in the District of Columbia over a three-month period for the purpose of providing it to Evans and the other conspirators. Towards the end of the conspiracy, the man delivered more than $1 million in gold—which he had purchased with embezzled funds—to a hotel in New York. Evans admitted that he retrieved the gold bars, delivered them to other individuals, and sold several of the bars to a gold dealer in New York in exchange for cash.
In October 2017, the FBI executed a search warrant on Evans’s safe deposit box at a bank in New York. The safe deposit box contained gold and expensive jewelry, including luxury watches and diamonds. As part of his plea agreement, Evans agreed to forfeit his rights to all of the items recovered from the safe deposit box. He also surrendered two additional one-kilogram gold bars to the FBI, along with a Rolex watch, which he purchased with criminal proceeds.
Charges against five co-defendants remain pending.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Assistant Director in Charge McNamara commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Lucas, who is assisting with forfeiture issues, Paralegal Specialists Brittany Phillips and Joshua Fein, former Paralegal Specialists Jessica Mundi and Kristy Penny, and Forensic Accountant Bryan Snitselaar.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Kent and Kondi Kleinman, who investigated and are prosecuting the case.
The Origins of the Cornbread Mafia: A Memoir of Sorts
On a September night in 1978
, Muhammad Ali would attempt to reclaim his title from Leon Spinks in one of the greatest heavyweight matches of all-time. That same night, a crew of over twenty-five country boys from in and around central Kentucky, known as “The Cornbread Mafia” would pull off one of their many outrageous exploits by attempting to reclaim a huge marijuana field that had been seized by local law enforcement.
Although “The Cornbread Mafia” is legendary in Central Kentucky, most people do not know the true origins of the iconic group. Now comes the author’s first-hand account of how this term was coined and the many escapades they encountered along the way. This author was actually there, living the events, and tells his unbelievable true story of how a group of small-town country boys began a pot growing operation in the early 1970s which would become the biggest home grown marijuana operation in U.S. history.
The Origins of the Cornbread Mafia: A Memoir of Sorts.
, Muhammad Ali would attempt to reclaim his title from Leon Spinks in one of the greatest heavyweight matches of all-time. That same night, a crew of over twenty-five country boys from in and around central Kentucky, known as “The Cornbread Mafia” would pull off one of their many outrageous exploits by attempting to reclaim a huge marijuana field that had been seized by local law enforcement.Although “The Cornbread Mafia” is legendary in Central Kentucky, most people do not know the true origins of the iconic group. Now comes the author’s first-hand account of how this term was coined and the many escapades they encountered along the way. This author was actually there, living the events, and tells his unbelievable true story of how a group of small-town country boys began a pot growing operation in the early 1970s which would become the biggest home grown marijuana operation in U.S. history.
The Origins of the Cornbread Mafia: A Memoir of Sorts.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
6 Members of Canta Ranas, Linked to Mexican Mafia, Convicted by Operation Frog Legs
Six people who authorities say are linked to the violent, Mexican Mafia-linked street gang known as the Canta Ranas Organization have been convicted of racketeering and drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
The criminal convictions were handed down in two jury trials. The Cantas Ranas primarily operate in Santa Fe Springs and Whittier, and those convicted range from ages 56 to 25.
“This dangerous organization caused misery in several communities by regularly engaging in acts of violence, drug trafficking and other criminal acts,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement from the DOJ.
Four of the defendants were convicted in a trial that ended on Aug. 27 and the other two were convicted this week. They all face maximum possible sentences of life in federal prison, with four facing minimum prison terms of 10 years and one facing a minimum of five years.
A senior member of the Canta Ranas gang known as “Boxer,” 56-year-old Enrique Holguin, is already currently serving a life sentence for murder. He was convicted in the August trial.
According to federal prosecutors, Holguin was in direct communication with the gang’s leader, David Gavaldon, who is also a member of the Mexican Mafia. Holguin played a key role in carrying out the gang’s activities by setting up a group of Mexican Mafia-affiliated inmates for controlling illegal activities — called a “mesa” — at the California Institute for Men in Chino, prosecutors said.
He was also convicted in the attempted assault of a fellow inmate at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. The inmate being targeted was believed to be an informant for law enforcement, prosecutors said. For that crime, Holguin was found guilty of committing a violent act in aid of racketeering.
The other three gang members convicted in the August trial are 31-year-old Donald Goulet, also known as “Wacky,” 33-year-old Emanuel Higuera, who’s also known as “Blanco” and 25-year-old Juan Nila.
Goulet was described by federal prosecutors as a “foot soldier” who committed violent crimes, trafficked drugs and collected extortionate “taxes” on behalf of the Canta Ranas and Gavaldon himself. He was also involved with helping Gavaldon spread the gang’s territory into the Riverside area, prosecutors said.
During one home invasion robbery committed with a co-conspirator, Goulet tied up the victims with duct tape at gun point as the pair ransacked the home, according to federal prosecutors. For all the crimes, Goulet was found guilty of conspiracy racketeering charges, along with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Meanwhile, Higuera was actually part of another gang called the Brown Brotherhood, which was also controlled by Gavaldon, according to prosecutors. But he was convicted of trafficking drugs on behalf of the Canta Ranas. Along with racketeering charges, he was found guilty of methamphetamine-related offenses — including one that involved him attempting to assault law enforcement officers, prosecutors said.
Nila pleaded guilty to racketeering and drug trafficking conspiracy charges on the second day of the August trial. That trial ended after three weeks of testimony.
The trial that ended this week delivered convictions against 40-year-old Monica Rodriguez, also known as “Smiley,” and Alexis Jaimez, 30, who is also known as “Lex,” according to prosecutors.
Acting as the “eyes and ears on the street” for Cantas Ranas gang leader Gavaldon, Rodriguez was a so-called secretary for him, federal prosecutors said in a news release. She was seen asking Gavaldon to order the death of another gang member in video that was shown to the jury, prosecutors said. At the time, she was meeting with Gavaldon while he was housed at Pelican Bay State Prison, the only supermax prison in California.
Jaimez was described as a “foot soldier” by federal prosecutors, who said she was involved in a gang-related assault that left the victim with permanent, severe injuries. Evidence of her involvement in that assault was presented at trial. Prosecutors also said she was also part of a “failed scheme to smuggle drugs into a California state prison.”
All of the defendant are expected to be sentenced later this year by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner.
The convictions stem from a federal grand jury indictment that charged 48 defendants in June 2016. There’s still another 38 defendants, and beginning in November, they will all be scheduled to go to trial in groups.
The larger case is the result of Operation “Frog Legs,” a three-year investigation that seized dozens of firearms and pounds of narcotics including methamphetamine. The various agencies involved in assisting that investigation include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the IRS, the Whittier Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Southern California Drug Task Force — which is led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The criminal convictions were handed down in two jury trials. The Cantas Ranas primarily operate in Santa Fe Springs and Whittier, and those convicted range from ages 56 to 25.
“This dangerous organization caused misery in several communities by regularly engaging in acts of violence, drug trafficking and other criminal acts,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement from the DOJ.
Four of the defendants were convicted in a trial that ended on Aug. 27 and the other two were convicted this week. They all face maximum possible sentences of life in federal prison, with four facing minimum prison terms of 10 years and one facing a minimum of five years.
A senior member of the Canta Ranas gang known as “Boxer,” 56-year-old Enrique Holguin, is already currently serving a life sentence for murder. He was convicted in the August trial.
According to federal prosecutors, Holguin was in direct communication with the gang’s leader, David Gavaldon, who is also a member of the Mexican Mafia. Holguin played a key role in carrying out the gang’s activities by setting up a group of Mexican Mafia-affiliated inmates for controlling illegal activities — called a “mesa” — at the California Institute for Men in Chino, prosecutors said.
He was also convicted in the attempted assault of a fellow inmate at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. The inmate being targeted was believed to be an informant for law enforcement, prosecutors said. For that crime, Holguin was found guilty of committing a violent act in aid of racketeering.
The other three gang members convicted in the August trial are 31-year-old Donald Goulet, also known as “Wacky,” 33-year-old Emanuel Higuera, who’s also known as “Blanco” and 25-year-old Juan Nila.
Goulet was described by federal prosecutors as a “foot soldier” who committed violent crimes, trafficked drugs and collected extortionate “taxes” on behalf of the Canta Ranas and Gavaldon himself. He was also involved with helping Gavaldon spread the gang’s territory into the Riverside area, prosecutors said.
During one home invasion robbery committed with a co-conspirator, Goulet tied up the victims with duct tape at gun point as the pair ransacked the home, according to federal prosecutors. For all the crimes, Goulet was found guilty of conspiracy racketeering charges, along with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Meanwhile, Higuera was actually part of another gang called the Brown Brotherhood, which was also controlled by Gavaldon, according to prosecutors. But he was convicted of trafficking drugs on behalf of the Canta Ranas. Along with racketeering charges, he was found guilty of methamphetamine-related offenses — including one that involved him attempting to assault law enforcement officers, prosecutors said.
Nila pleaded guilty to racketeering and drug trafficking conspiracy charges on the second day of the August trial. That trial ended after three weeks of testimony.
The trial that ended this week delivered convictions against 40-year-old Monica Rodriguez, also known as “Smiley,” and Alexis Jaimez, 30, who is also known as “Lex,” according to prosecutors.
Acting as the “eyes and ears on the street” for Cantas Ranas gang leader Gavaldon, Rodriguez was a so-called secretary for him, federal prosecutors said in a news release. She was seen asking Gavaldon to order the death of another gang member in video that was shown to the jury, prosecutors said. At the time, she was meeting with Gavaldon while he was housed at Pelican Bay State Prison, the only supermax prison in California.
Jaimez was described as a “foot soldier” by federal prosecutors, who said she was involved in a gang-related assault that left the victim with permanent, severe injuries. Evidence of her involvement in that assault was presented at trial. Prosecutors also said she was also part of a “failed scheme to smuggle drugs into a California state prison.”
All of the defendant are expected to be sentenced later this year by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner.
The convictions stem from a federal grand jury indictment that charged 48 defendants in June 2016. There’s still another 38 defendants, and beginning in November, they will all be scheduled to go to trial in groups.
The larger case is the result of Operation “Frog Legs,” a three-year investigation that seized dozens of firearms and pounds of narcotics including methamphetamine. The various agencies involved in assisting that investigation include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the IRS, the Whittier Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Southern California Drug Task Force — which is led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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