Paterson Member of the Bloods Street Gang Sentenced to 66 Months in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy

NEWARK, NJ—A member of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods from Paterson, New Jersey was sentenced today to 66 months in prison for his role in a range of violent crimes and conspiring to distribute narcotics, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Richard Fields, a/k/a “P.O.,” 28, of Paterson, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

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

Fields admitted to selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer on October 16, 2006, together with an associate of the gang, and to selling marijuana to another individual on August 15, 2006. He admitted to participating in two robberies in Paterson in 2006 with other members of the gang, including Michael McCloud, 27, of Paterson, a/k/a “Ike Brim,” and others. Fields was involved in the robbery of a dice game in Paterson, in which a co-conspirator used an AK-47 and gang members took controlled substances, cell phones and money. He also conspired with other Fruit Town Brims members to commit a robbery, also involving a gun, in retaliation for the shooting of an FTB member by a member of a rival gang. McCloud pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge in August 2011 and is awaiting sentencing.

Fields’ sentencing is the result of a larger investigation that has targeted the leadership and members of the Fruit Town Brims/Brick City Brims. Documents filed in this and related cases established FTB/BCB as a violent criminal enterprise throughout New Jersey’s state prison and county jail systems and in Newark, Paterson, and Jersey City. Its members have committed acts such as murder, kidnapping, robbery, bribery, extortion, and trafficking in controlled substances.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Fields to three years of 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, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence. The task force includes members of 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; the Paterson Police Department; and the N.J. Department of Corrections, Special Investigations Division. He also thanked the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, and the Special Operations Division’s National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center, under the direction of Director John Sieder, for their roles.

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

Defense counsel: Ruth Liebesman Esq., Teaneck, N.J.