A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., has indicted 26 members and associates of the violent gang known as the Bloods, for various charges, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to use and carry firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence, and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, cocaine, hydromorphone and marijuana. The indictment was announced today by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Jerry E. Martin and Deputy Director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The indictment was returned under seal last week and unsealed Wednesday upon the arrests of the defendants.
Bloods Gang Pictures
According to the indictment, the defendants were members and associates of the Bloods, a violent street gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1970s, and ultimately migrated to cities throughout the United States, including Nashville. The Bloods gang has a hierarchal structure and a long-term and often lethal rivalry with the Crips gang.
For example, the indictment alleges that on March 30, 2010, Bloods gang members attempted to murder Kenny Ellis, a rival gang member. Specifically, Lonnie Newsome, who was in a vehicle with other Bloods gang members, allegedly told Alonzo McLaurine, who was in a vehicle with Aaron Gooch to shoot Ellis. Shortly thereafter, Bloods gang member Aaron Gooch exited the vehicle and shot Kenny Ellis with a firearm.
Gang members also allegedly committed numerous other shootings. The indictment also alleges that Lonnie Newsome, Jermaine Coward, Alexander McDonald, Torey Cohen Boseman, Jeffrey Albea and Anthony Brooks conspired to murder any and all suspected Crips gang members in and around Nashville.
Additionally, the indictment charges Brandon Prince, age 21, and Shawn Howell, age 23, with misprision of a felony, for their failure to notify law enforcement officials of the March 30, 2010, attempted murder of a rival gang member.
Members of the UBN are expected to conduct themselves and their illegal activity according to rules and regulations set by their leaders. Prominent among these is a requirement to pay monthly dues to the organization, often in the amounts of $31 or $93. UBN gang dues are derived from illegal activity performed by subordinate UBN members including narcotics trafficking, robberies, and wire fraud, among other forms of illegal racketeering activity.
In May 2017, 83 UBN gang members were indicted in the Western District of North Carolina for RICO conspiracy and other crimes. In all, 82 defendants have now been sentenced as a result of this investigation, with one defendant awaiting resentencing and one fugitive believed to be living overseas remaining. In May 2018, a jury convicted three top leaders of the UBN of racketeering conspiracy. In July 2019, Beauchamp was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy at a bench trial. And in October 2019, a jury convicted Huskey, Lewis, Wray, and Smith of racketeering conspiracy and other charges as described above. All other defendants pleaded guilty to their crimes before trial.
While street gangs share some common behaviors, customs and practices, a gang in a particular community may also have some unique characteristics specific to that gang. There is no universal way to determine gang membership or affiliation. Some gang members have many classical gang membership signs, others may only have one or two gang characteristics and others may not display any.
Ultimately, gang membership is determined by the behavior and attitude of the individual. The signs of gang membership can be an extension of that state of mind. Today, because of prosecutorial efforts and law enforcement pressure many gang members attempt to conceal their membership by shying away from displaying popular forms of gang indicia. The determination of gang membership or affiliation should be made on a case-by-case basis. Following are some commonly found signs of gang membership and affiliation:
Many gang members wear distinct clothing styles. Clothing is like a street uniform. It helps identify peer and rival gang members. Stylized gang clothing is a non-verbal way of indicating gang membership.
Not all gang members are obvious in their dress or manner, so some are not immediately recognizable by their attire. Anyone can wear gang-style clothing. For that reason, wearing gang-style clothing itself should not be used as the only evidence to support gang membership.
The graffiti may be disguised or hidden from parents. Graffiti is sort of the newspaper of the gang culture. The color of the graffiti might also be an indicator of what type of gang is present. A red color may show that a Blood or Norteno gang is present in the area. Most gang graffiti is written with black-colored paint, but commonly, gang members who write graffiti use whatever color of paint is available. In the gang culture no insult ever goes unanswered. One way of insulting or disrespecting a gang is to cross out its graffiti. Graffiti can also be used for other reasons. If certain kinds ofsymbols or words are used by Skinhead gangs, graffiti can be evidence of a hate crime. The presence of hate graffiti is intended to cause fear and intimidation among an entire minority group, even though a single victim may be the target of the graffiti attack.
In addition, taggers can use graffiti to gain fame and notoriety. Taggers choose names, slogans and pictorial graphics in an attempt to create an identity and make themselves known. Their principal crime is vandalism and their targets are often highly visible like public transportation vehicles, billboards, benches, walls and freeway signs. Hispanic gang graffiti is often written in blocked or Old English letters and tends to be very stylized. Some Asian gangs, particularly Laotian and Cambodian gangs, use the block style of graffiti. African-American and White gang graffiti tend to be similar to one another using a simple style of writing, although Skinhead graffiti may include racist symbols or other graphically violent language. The color of the graffiti may be an indicator of gang affiliation. Crips use blue and Bloods use red. Graffiti may also take on specific characteristics of a particular gang like a unique symbol or use of numbers or letters.
Gangs purposely vandalize and destroy public and private property in order to enhance their reputation. Of equal concern with property damage is the violence associated with gang graffiti. Some adults believe they do not have to worry as much about graffiti in the neighborhood. They believe the graffiti is from a tagging crew rather than an indication of gang presence. However, the presence of any type of graffiti can be an indicator that a gang is present and can be an important source of information for both law enforcement and community members. Graffiti is gang-related whether it is written by street gang members, taggers or tag bangers.
Weapons used by gangs can include shaved-down baseball bats, sections of pipe taped at the ends, spiked wristbands, Chemical Mace, knives, handguns, sawed-off shotguns and automatic firearms such as Uzi machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, pistols or 9-millimeter semi-automatic handguns. Gang members have also used homemade bombs and Molotov cocktails. In a few instances gang members have been arrested with hand grenades. Some weapons can also be made of nonmetallic substances, like plastic knives. These can easily pass through metal detectors. Weapons can also be concealed, like a knife in a pen or in a lipstick holder or in the air-conditioning duct of a car. Guns have been concealed in video cameras, air tire gauges, pagers and even cellular telephones. Concealing weapons has become a common practice among many gangs.
Other signs of gang membership include fingernails painted a certain color, colored shoelaces in athletic shoes and specific hairstyles, such as a group of females all dyeing their hair the same color. Some gang members subscribe to or buy certain types of magazines that cater to their gang life style, just as a sports fan might subscribe to a sports-related magazine. Today, anyone can access Web sites to sample and purchase all types of gang-related music. Hispanic gangs from northern California and southern California have their own style of Hispanic gangster rap. White supremacists sell all styles of hate music using the Internet. Taggers, Bloods and Crips can all use the Internet to buy their style of music.
Even the advancement of technology has an impact on the gang culture. The use of e-mail has become a common way to communicate. Many gang members use cellular phones, pagers and scanners to socialize, plan criminal activities, sell drugs and warn each other of pending rival gang or police contact. Gang members often ommunicate, recruit, socialize and sell drugs using the computer. The World Wide Web brings people together who are thousands of miles apart. Now, gangs have the opportunity to have a world-wide impact by using the Internet. Some gangs take advantage of this capability and publish their own web page to show off their gang. These web sites feature photographs of gang members holding weapons, displayinghand signs and demonstrating gang graffiti. Often, there are links to other gang web sites.
Blood In Blood Out (also known as Bound by Honor and Blood In Blood Out: Bound By Honor) is a 1993 American epic crime drama film directed by Taylor Hackford that has become a cult-classic film with a cult following among the Mexican-American community, over the decades.[3][4] It follows the intertwining lives of three Chicano relatives from 1972 to 1984. They start out as members of a street gang in East Los Angeles, and as dramatic incidents occur, their lives and friendships are forever changed. Blood In Blood Out was filmed in 1991 throughout the Spanish-speaking areas of Los Angeles and inside California's San Quentin State Prison. 2ff7e9595c
Comments