Federal Jury Convicts Three More Members of Pueblo Bishops Bloods in L.A.’s First Racketeering Prosecution Targeting a Bloods Gang

LOS ANGELES—Three more members of the Pueblo Bishops Bloods, a long-entrenched criminal street gang that used violence and intimidation in an attempt to control the Pueblo del Rio housing projects in South Los Angeles, have been found guilty of federal racketeering, narcotics, and gun charges.

Yesterday’s convictions come in the first federal criminal RICO action brought against a Bloods street gang in Southern California.

Following a four-week trial in United States District Court, a jury yesterday afternoon convicted the three defendants of being members of a criminal enterprise that engaged in narcotics and firearms trafficking, murder, witness intimidation, and armed robbery as part of the gang’s efforts to terrorize the housing projects.

The three defendants found guilty yesterday of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act are:

■Kevin Eleby, also known as “L,” 48, of Los Angeles;

■Jason Davis, also known as “Lil’ G-Red,” 26, of Los Angeles; and

■Rashaad Laws, also known as “Big Time,” 35, who resided in Los Angeles and Culver City.

In addition to the RICO charge, Eleby was convicted of being responsible for a gun possession related to a shooting that occurred inside the projects on September 11, 2009. This shooting, committed by several other Pueblo Bishop gang members, targeted the residence of a rival gang member but, at the time of the shooting, only the rival gang member’s mother and 11-year-old brother were inside.

In addition to the RICO charge, Davis was convicted of a possessing a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle in furtherance of the RICO conspiracy. During this offense, Davis led police on a high-speed chase through the projects, almost hitting a child, and ultimately crashing into a minivan as he unsuccessfully sought to elude capture.

In addition to the above charges, Eleby, Davis, and Laws were convicted of conspiracy to distribute significant quantities cocaine and crack cocaine. Eleby was also convicted of possession with intent to sell cocaine. Davis was also convicted of drug trafficking within a public housing project, and near schools and playgrounds.

As a result of their convictions, Eleby and Davis face a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, and they could be sentenced to life without parole. Laws faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, and he faces a potential life sentence. All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge S. James Otero on February 4, 2013.

The jury that returned the guilty verdicts deadlocked on whether Eleby possessed a second firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking.

The federal racketeering case targeting the Pueblo Bishops Blood criminal enterprise is a result of a long-standing partnership between the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department, a relationship that is maintained through the FBI’s Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs. This task force is one of dozens of such partnerships throughout the United States, known as Safe Streets Task Forces, funded for the purpose of assisting local police in identifying and addressing violent crime in America.

A total of 46 defendants were charged as a result of the investigation targeting the Pueblo Bishops Bloods (see initial announcement in this case at: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/pr2010/122.html). With yesterday’s guilty verdicts, 42 of those defendants have now been convicted (see, for example: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/2012/046.html). One federal defendant is currently is state custody facing a murder charge, two are fugitives suspected to be in Mexico, and prosecutors dismissed charges against one defendant.

On July 16, 2012, three other Pueblo Bishop Blood defendants were convicted by a separate jury of federal racketeering and drug charges, with one defendant also being convicted for conspiring to murder a man who was killed after being shot in the back by Pueblo Bishops in front of his 2-year-old son (see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/2012/094.html).

Out of the 42 defendants now convicted in this case, about half have been sentenced, receiving prison terms as long as 211 months.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Las Cruces Man Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Killing a Federal Witness

LAS CRUCES—Earlier today a federal judge in Las Cruces, New Mexico, sentenced Paul Othello Smalls, 44, of Las Cruces, to life imprisonment for killing a man who was aiding a federal investigation and four other related offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales.

Smalls and two co-defendants, Glenn Dell Cook, 36, of Rialto, California, and Walter Melgar-Diaz, 29, a Mexican national, were indicted on November 6, 2006, and charged with (1) conspiracy to retaliate against a witness or informant; (2) retaliation against a witnesses or informant; (3) conspiracy to tamper with a witness or informant; (4) tampering with a witness or informant; and (5) killing a person aiding a federal investigation.

The indictment alleged that, in late December 2004, Smalls and his co-defendants conspired to kill Phillip Thomas Gantz, 32, of Roswell, New Mexico, to retaliate against Gantz for providing information to federal law enforcement about drug trafficking in the Roswell area. It further alleged that all four men were housed in a four-person cell in the medical unit of the Dona Ana County Detention Center (“jail”) at the time of the offenses charged, and that, in or about the early morning hours of on December 30, 2004, Smalls and his co-defendants killed Gantz for assisting in a federal investigation.

Although trial of the case was delayed by protracted motions hearings and appellate proceedings, on November 17, 2011, a jury convicted Smalls of all charges in the indictment. The evidence at trial established, among other things, that on December 30, 2004, Smalls and his co-defendants killed Gantz at the jail by strangling him because he was a “snitch.” Smalls, who had been employed as a guard at the jail in 2002 and 2003, devised a scheme to quietly suffocate Gantz so that it would appear as if he had died of natural causes—an asthma attack—so that no one would suspect that he had been murdered and then enlisted his co-defendants to assist him in carrying out his scheme. The responding medical investigator and jail officials initially believed that Gantz had died of natural causes. The autopsy revealed the cause of death as strangulation. A federal investigation into Gantz’s death was initiated after Cook told another inmate about the murder and admitted that he, Smalls, and Melgar-Diaz killed Gantz because he was a “snitch.” The trial evidence included the results of substantial investigative efforts by the FBI and pertinent video surveillance from the jail.

Cook and Melgar-Diaz remain in federal custody pending their sentencing hearings, which have yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Roswell Resident Agency of the FBI and the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard C. Williams and Luis A. Martinez.

Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Associate Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

WASHINGTON—Louis Barretta, 48, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty today to participating in a racketeering conspiracy involving loan sharking and illegal gambling, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and George C. Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

At the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Barretta pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family through a pattern of racketeering activity. He admitted to the court that he made usurious loans and collected payments on these loans by using extortionate means, and he conducted a sports bookmaking business in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy. His sentencing is scheduled for November 26, 2012.

Barretta was among 14 members and associates of the Philadelphia LCN family charged with crimes involving racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, and theft from an employee benefit plan in a third superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on July 25, 2012. The other defendants charged in the 52-count third superseding indictment included Philadelphia LCN family boss Joseph Ligambi, Philadelphia LCN Family underboss Joseph Massimino, George Borgesi, Martin Angelina, Anthony Staino, Jr., Gaeton Lucibello, Damion Canalichio, Gary Battaglini, Robert Verrecchia, Eric Esposito, Robert Ranieri, Joseph Licata, and Louis Fazzini.

Lucibello pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges on August 2, 2012, and is awaiting sentencing on September 14, 2012. Angelina also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges on August 8, 2012, and is awaiting sentencing on September 17, 2012.

The trial for Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Staino, Canalichio, Battaglini, Licata, and Fazzini is scheduled for October 9, 2012. The trial for Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri has not yet been scheduled. Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Canalichio, Licata, and Fazzini are detained while awaiting trial. Staino, Battaglini, Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri are free on bond while awaiting trial.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor, III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Capo Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

WASHINGTON—Martin Angelina, 50, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty today to participating in a racketeering conspiracy involving loan sharking and illegal gambling, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and George C. Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

At the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Angelina pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family through a pattern of racketeering activity. He admitted to the court that he attempted to collect payments related to usurious loans by using extortionate means and operated an illegal video poker machine business in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy. His sentencing is scheduled for December 3, 2012.

Angelina was among 14 members and associates of the Philadelphia LCN family charged with crimes involving racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, and theft from an employee benefit plan in a third superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on July 25, 2012. The other defendants charged in the 52-count third superseding indictment included Philadelphia LCN family boss Joseph Ligambi, Philadelphia LCN family underboss Joseph Massimino, George Borgesi, Gaeton Lucibello, Anthony Staino, Jr., Damion Canalichio, Louis Barretta, Gary Battaglini, Robert Verrecchia, Eric Esposito, Robert Ranieri, Joseph Licata, and Louis Fazzini.

Gaeton Lucibello pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges on August 2, 2012, and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, 2012.

The trial for Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Staino, Canalichio, Barretta, Battaglini, Licata, and Fazzini is scheduled for October 9, 2012. The trial for Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri has not yet been scheduled. Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Canalichio, Licata, and Fazzini are detained while awaiting trial. Staino, Barretta, Battaglini, Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri are free on bond while awaiting trial.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor, III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

The case is being investigated by the FBI; the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division; the Pennsylvania State Police; the New Jersey State Police; the Philadelphia Police Department; and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

Former State Trooper Sentenced for Fraud, Witness Tampering

COLUMBUS—Benjamin W. Richardson, 47, of Powell, and a former Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to a total of 50 months in prison for participating in a mortgage fraud conspiracy, committing bankruptcy fraud, and tampering with a witness in a federal investigation. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $617,600 to lenders he deceived through the mortgage fraud.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Robert Corso, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost.

“Richardson had sworn to uphold the law,” U.S. Attorney Stewart said. “Instead, he broke the law.”

Richardson was part of a conspiracy to defraud lending institutions by misleading mortgage lenders in the buying and selling of investment properties and the refinancing of his own home. Richardson and other co-conspirators used false statements to conceal from lenders that Richardson intended to receive large sums of money from the loan proceeds after closing. Richardson also admitted to falsely under-reporting his income when he filed for bankruptcy in 2007 by not disclosing income he received from a nightclub he owned with a narcotics trafficker.

Richardson pleaded guilty on February 13, 2012 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements and false oaths in bankruptcy, and one count of witness tampering for a scheme to prevent a narcotics trafficker from talking with law enforcement during the investigation. He was sentenced to 50 months and three years of supervised release on each of the eight counts. Judge Frost ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

“Not only did Richardson participate in multiple fraudulent schemes involving his property and the property of others, he also, as a seasoned law enforcement officer, tampered with a witness involved in a federal investigation,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Squires wrote in a memorandum filed with the court prior to sentencing. Richardson provided a known drug trafficker his cell phone number in case he got into trouble, and as result of this exchange, Richardson encouraged a fellow state trooper to show the drug trafficker leniency during a traffic stop.

FBI agents arrested Richardson on September 6, 2011. He has been in custody since his arrest. Richardson was a trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol when he was charged and resigned when the charges were returned.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation of this case by FBI and DEA agents and by Assistant U.S. Attorney Squires and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Fulton, who prosecuted the case.

Bullhead Woman Sentenced on Tampering with Witness Charge

U.S. Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Bullhead woman has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in custody and two years of supervised release.

Lucille Little Eagle, age 23, was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 11, 2011. Little Eagle was charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and one count of tampering with a witness. She pled guilty to tampering with a witness on August 31, 2011.

The conviction was the result of an incident that occurred between April 24 and June 22, 2010 at Bullhead. At that time and place, Lucille Little Eagle did knowingly corruptly persuade or attempt to corruptly persuade several witnesses who were present for an April 24 street fight in Bullhead and their supporters to tell law enforcement officers false accounts of the events of the street fight. Lucille Little Eagle did this by writing a false scenario of the real events and showing it to the witnesses and advising them to tell law enforcement officers this false scenario. Lucille Little Eagle did this with the intent to hinder, delay, and prevent those witnesses from communicating to a law enforcement officer information relating to the possible commission of federal crimes on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Standing Rock Agency. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikal Hanson.

The defendant is being allowed to self report to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Pierre on June 5, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.