Nashville Gang Member Sentenced To Federal Prison

Crimes Included Drug Trafficking, Torture & Witness Tampering

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – July 21, 2020 - Shamain Johnson, 42, of Madison, Tennessee, was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison for operating a multi-state drug trafficking operation, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee.  Johnson was indicted in June 2017 and convicted in August 2019, after a four-day jury trial.

According to evidence presented at trial and at the sentencing hearing, Johnson repeatedly transported kilograms of cocaine and prescription pills from Texas and Arizona to Middle Tennessee. Once the drugs arrived, Johnson packaged them and sold them to drug users in and around the Madison, Tennessee area. Johnson also directed others to sell drugs for him as well. During the summer and fall of 2016, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers repeatedly arrested Johnson for numerous drug crimes. On one occasion, he was arrested for selling heroin and cocaine, but released from custody shortly thereafter.  Five days later, Johnson sold heroin to a female who died moments later, and her decomposed body was later found in a ditch in Madison.  

In the spring of 2017, Johnson kidnapped, bound, and repeatedly assaulted a drug trafficking business associate at an apartment in Hendersonville, Tennessee.   Johnson believed that the associate stole $250,000 in cash that was intended to pay members of a Mexican cartel. When the associate refused to tell Johnson were the money was, Johnson boiled cooking grease, which he intended to pour on the man’s genitals. The associate was able to use a lighter and burn the zip tie binding his ankles, and escaped from the residence. After Johnson was arrested for this offense, he paid a witness to try to have her recant her prior statements to police that related to Johnson’s drug trafficking. This witness refused to identify Johnson at trial but the jury convicted him of one drug trafficking offense and acquitted him on another count. 

Additional evidence and testimony introduced established that Johnson is a member in the Rolling 40’s Crips Street Gang.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Homeland Security and Investigations; the Metropolitan-Nashville Police Department; the Tennessee Highway Patrol; the Goodlettsville Police Department; and the Hendersonville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ahmed Safeeullah and Josh Kurtzman prosecuted the case.