Three Cleveland Gang Members Convicted of RICO Murder, Kidnapping and Drug Trafficking
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 5 that, following a three-week trial, a federal jury in Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, convicted three members of the Fully Blooded Felons, a violent Cleveland street gang, of crimes including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act murder, RICO conspiracy, RICO kidnapping, drug trafficking and gun crimes.
The defendants are Raven Mullins, 37, Malik Brooks, 28, and Jayon Florence, 23, all of Cleveland. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said the gang rained violence on Ohio communities. U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio said the verdicts send a clear message to gang members who hurt people and terrorize communities, and FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Joshua DelManzo said the Fully Blooded Felons had been identified as Cleveland's most significant gang threat.
According to evidence presented at trial, the gang has existed in Ohio since approximately 2012, operating primarily out of the east side of Cleveland, as well as Akron, Youngstown and elsewhere, and is also entrenched in the Ohio prison system. Mullins oversaw the Commission, the gang's governing body, which maintained the structure of the criminal enterprise through physical discipline and determined punishments for violations, ranging from a fine to death.
Evidence proved that on or about July 28, 2022, gang members held a victim in an apartment, where Mullins ordered members including Brooks and Florence to repeatedly punch and choke her, after the gang suspected she was romantically involved with and sharing information with a rival gang member. The next day, upon Mullins's approval, Brooks and Florence and other members drove her to an area on the west side of Cleveland, where they fatally shot her 19 times, leaving her body in the front seat of a stolen Kia Optima. From June 30 to July 5, 2022, Mullins and other members kidnapped and assaulted a 22-year-old woman who had previously given a statement to police implicating a gang member in a robbery; she was eventually released. On September 12, 2023, Mullins and two other members robbed and murdered a second victim on the west side of Cleveland, and a knife sheath carrying Mullins's DNA was found at the scene.
The prosecution also introduced evidence that Brooks shot two rival gang members on the west side of Cleveland on July 18 and 20, 2022, and that during two search warrants at stash houses, law enforcement recovered over 300 grams of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as seven firearms.
The defendants face maximum penalties of life in prison, and their sentencing date has not yet been set. As of today, 25 Fully Blooded Felon members have been charged and convicted in relation to this indictment. The case resulted from a yearslong investigation conducted by the FBI, with assistance from the Cleveland Division of Police, ATF, DEA and numerous other agencies.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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