NEWARK, N.J. – Torien Brooks, a leader
in the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang, was
sentenced today to 362 months in prison for murdering an innocent teenager in a
case of mistaken identity, kidnapping a rival gang member and conspiring to
distribute narcotics as part of a racketeering conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Paul
J. Fishman announced.
Brooks, 31, a/k/a “B.G.,” a/k/a
“T-Bird,” a/k/a “Reek Boy” of Paterson, N.J., previously pleaded guilty to one
count of a second superseding Indictment filed against him in January 2011,
which charged him with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act. Brooks 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: Brooks admitted that he was responsible for
a July 19, 2004, murder that occurred in Jersey City. Brooks stated that along
with co-defendant Emmanuel Jones, 28, of Jersey City, N.J., a/k/a “Killer,”
a/k/a “Killer E,” a/k/a “Emo,” he shot and killed a person they believed was
responsible for an earlier shooting of a fellow gang member, but was actually
an innocent teenager identified in court documents as “M.T.” Three other
bystanders were hit by stray bullets during the incident.
Brooks also admitted that he conspired
with fellow gang members Larry Mayo, 30, John Benning, 29, and Haleek State,
27, all of Paterson, to kidnap a rival gang member, identified in court
documents as “M.M.” Brooks said the plan arose out of a disagreement he had
with M.M. after M.M. changed Bloods sets without receiving permission. On April
11, 2005, the four gang members kidnapped and pistol-whipped M.M., eventually
taking him to the Paterson Falls to murder him. As the gang members exited the
car, M.M. was able to escape and run down the street, saving his life.
Brooks also admitted that he conspired
with other individuals from April 2007 through March 2008 to smuggle heroin
into Northern State Prison in Newark, where he was incarcerated and to sell
heroin on the streets of Paterson, the proceeds of which were sent back to his
prison commissary account.
Brooks was previously indicted by the
Hudson County Prosecutor's Office for the July 2004 murder.
In addition to the prison term, Judge
Chesler sentenced Brooks to five years of supervised release and ordered him to
pay $11,815 in restitution.
Jones, Mayo and Benning have pleaded
guilty to related offenses and await sentencing. U.S. Attorney Fishman credited
special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge
Michael B. Ward; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under
the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew W. Horace; law enforcement
officers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of
Sheriff Frank X. Schillari; the Paterson Police Department, under the direction
of Chief James F. Wittig; and the Jersey City Police Department, under the
direction of Director Samuel Jefferson and Chief Thomas J. Comey, with the
investigation leading to today's sentence.
He also thanked the Hudson County
Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Edward J. De Fazio; the
Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia
M. Valdes; the Special Operations Division’s National Gang Targeting,
Enforcement and Coordination Center, under the direction of Director John
Sieder; the New Jersey Department of Corrections, under the direction of Commissioner
Gary M. Lanigan; and the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of
Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent, for their important roles.
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.
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