Bloods Gang Member Sentenced to 10 Years for Murder Plot

NEWARK, NJ—A member of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiring to murder a rival gang member in April 2009 and illegally possessing firearms, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Thomas Haskins, 26, of Jersey City, N.J., previously pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering and one count of possession of two firearms by a convicted felon. Haskins entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, who also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Haskins admitted that he conspired with other Fruit Town and Brick City Brims members—including Gerard Jennette, a/k/a “Swizzy,” 27, and Samad McCallum, 24, of Elizabeth, N.J.—to kill a rival gang member, identified in court documents as “M.B.” They believed M.B. was responsible for ordering the murder of two Fruit Town and Brick City Brims members in Jersey City.

On April 27, 2009, Haskins, Jennette, and McCallum were arrested in Jersey City in a van with a loaded Kahr 9-mm handgun, a loaded Intratech Luger 9-mm semi-automatic Tec-9, and three ski masks.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Haskins to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward; law enforcement officers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Frank X. Schillari; the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Samuel Jefferson and Chief Thomas Comey; and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Edward J. De Fazio, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa Jampol, Lisa Colone, and Robert Frazer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.

McCallum pleaded guilty to the same charges on July 22, 2011, and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5, 2012.

As for Jennette, the charges and allegations in the Complaint against him are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel: John Coyle Esq., Jersey City