NEW ORLEANS – Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced
that DEDRICK KEELEN, a/k/a “Roy,” age 24, of New Orleans, was sentenced today
after having previously been found guilty of violating the Racketeer Influenced
Corrupt Organization Act “RICO” as well as drug conspiracy, firearms
conspiracy, and murder charges. U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt
sentenced KEELEN to serve life plus 10 years.
In June of 2017, KEELEN, LIONEL ALLEN, JAWAN FORTIA, BRYAN
SCOTT and DELWIN MCLAREN were convicted following a 7-day trial. According to
evidence presented at trial, KEELEN was a member of the “Young Melph Mafia”
gang, also referred to as “YMM.” The YMM gang was initially formed in or about
2005 and continued to exist through 2014. During the course of the federal
investigation into the gang, agents learned that the defendants controlled an
area of Central City New Orleans along Martin Luther King Boulevard near the
former Melpomene Housing Development. The gang, which started when the members
were in their early teens, participated in a wide ranging conspiracy to
distribute street level quantities of crack cocaine in Central City and
participated in several acts of violence against rival gangs, such as the
110ers. The members of the YMM were associates of the members of the Allen
family, who were also indicted and convicted in federal court in 2014. Three
members of the 110ers gang were convicted on January 29, 2015, in Orleans
Parish Criminal Court for the Briana Allen shooting.
The jury found KEELEN guilty of conspiracy to commit RICO
violations, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more
than 280 grams of crack cocaine and a quantity of marijuana, conspiracy to
possess firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence and drug trafficking
crimes, assault with a dangerous weapon and two murders. Specifically, KEELEN
was convicted of participating in the shooting deaths of Lawrence Burt and
Vivian Snyder that occurred on December 16, 2012 on St. Andrew Street.
KEELEN was one of eleven defendants originally charged in
August of 2014 in a superseding indictment involving gun and drug conspiracies.
Five YMM defendants pled guilty to the conspiracy charges and were sentenced.
JACOBI “CO” BOYD was sentenced to 480 months of incarceration; ALFRED “AL”
COBBINS was sentenced to 252 months of incarceration; SHAWN “GUNNER” GRACIN was
sentenced to 270 months of incarceration; RUBEN “RUE” GEIGER was sentenced to
220 months of incarceration; DARIUS “D-MAN” WILLIAMS was sentenced to 156
months of incarceration; and DEONTRE “SOULJA” HILLS was sentenced to 96 months
of incarceration. In August of 2015, federal RICO and murder charges were added
against the remaining defendants in a second superseding indictment. JEFFREY
WILSON pled guilty to only drug charges and was sentenced to 180 months of
incarceration. LIONEL ALLEN, JAWAN FORTIA, BRYAN SCOTT, and DELWIN MCLAREN, who
went to trial with KEELEN, are awaiting sentencing.
“It is very important that we, in the law enforcement
community, send a very strong message to these gangs that are wreaking havoc on
our community,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Dana Nichols. “If you continue
to deal drugs, engage in violent crime, and devalue human life, you will go to
prison for a very long time. With today’s sentence, Mr. Keelen will be spending
the remainder of his life in federal prison.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of the metro area’s
Multi-Agency Gang Unit (MAG) in investigating this matter. As an integral
component of NOLA FOR LIFE’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, the MAG Unit
consists of a partnership with New Orleans Police Department (NOPD); Orleans
Parish District Attorney’s Office (DA); Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO);
Louisiana State Police (LSP); Parole Board of the Louisiana Department of
Corrections; United States Attorney’s Office (USAO); Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); United States
Marshal’s Service (USMS); and the United States Probation & Parole Office
for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Assistant United States Attorneys Edward
Rivera, Nolan Paige, and Nicholas Moses were in charge of the prosecution.