Bloods Gang Leader Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy

NEWARK—The leader of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced today to 188 months in prison for conspiring to distribute narcotics in Paterson and Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Vincent Young, 42, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to a second superseding indictment charging him and other members of the gang with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

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

Young is the Triple Original Gangster, or “OOOG,” of the Fruit Town Brims set of the Bloods and its subset, the Brick City Brims, and the highest member of the set in the state of New Jersey. Young was a member of the Los Angeles-based Fruit Town Brims established during the early 1970s and was responsible for founding the gang in New Jersey.

The rules governing the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set require members to learn and be quizzed about the history of the West Coast Bloods (known as the “69”), including Young’s life history—which details his childhood, the crimes he committed, and his violent acts against the Crips street gang. Failure to recite this history to the satisfaction of a ranking member could result in a junior member being physically disciplined.

Young admitted that he used several different unauthorized cell phones while in Northern State Prison in Newark to maintain and increase his position in the gang and conspire with fellow gang members in narcotics trafficking in Newark and Paterson from 1999 to 2008. He also admitted that he directed members of the gang to sell heroin and crack cocaine and then wire him the proceeds of the transactions, as well as to purchase phone cards for the unauthorized cell phones he used while in prison. Gang members would contribute profits from narcotics sales as dues required by the gang’s leadership.

As the leader of the gang in New Jersey, Young was responsible for directing other members and associates of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims Set, both in and out of prison, in carrying out unlawful activities in furtherance of the enterprise’s affairs—including acts involving murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, bribery, extortion, threats of violence, trafficking in controlled substances, and intimidation of witnesses.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Young to three years’ supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, which includes members from the Newark Police Department, East Orange Police Department, Essex County Department of Corrections, Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, Jersey City Police Department, the New Jersey Division of Parole, and the Paterson Police Department; along with the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Special Investigations Division with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

He also thanked the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn Murray; and the Special Operations Division’s National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center, under the direction of Director John Sieder, for their important roles.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa L. Jampol, Lisa Colone, and Robert Frazer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.