", "They look at the buildings as their retail drugstore," said George Knox, a criminal justice professor at Chicago State University who has studied Chicago street gangs. On the high end, Hankton may have supplied Olden with as much as 1071 grams of crack (which is equal to 1 oz. Agent Darin, a member of the FBI's joint gang task force and a trained drug traffic investigation agent, testified concerning Hankton's coordination of the drug trade for the MCs as well as his role as King or leader of the gang throughout the city in 2000 and 2001. 2. Take this excerpt from the Vice Lord constitution: "Every member of the Amalgamated Order of Lordism will at all times maintain him or herself within the Code of Conduct Chain of Command, and the principals of law in the highest manor.". The district court sentenced Davis at the low end of the sentencing range and ordered that he be imprisoned for 210 months. Indeed, the district court's imposition of a sentence in the middle of the range for Hankton, see supra p. 13, and at the lower-end of the range for Davis, see supra p. 16, may be an indication that, having been vested with greater discretion, the judge may well have imposed a sentence lighter than that required by the guidelines. 24. Indeed, the plea agreements were more than sufficiently corroborated at Hankton's sentencing hearing by the credible testimony of the live witnesses, i.e., Agent Darin and Detective Charles. Thus, because Hankton was a leader of the MCs, and because the gang was primarily concerned with dealing illegal drugs, it was entirely reasonable and logical for the sentencing judge to infer that Hankton's role as leader of the gang was related to his distribution of crack cocaine.28. See supra p. 9.Hankton argues that the testimony of Detective Charles and Agent Darin as to his role in the MCs should not have been considered because they were [not] qualified as experts in anything. This is misleading, for the district court made an express finding that Detective Charles was indeed an expert on the MCs, see supra p. 7, as well as expressly finding him to be a credible witness. Likewise, Agent Darin was also expressly found by the judge to be a credible and reliable witness. In particular, Ngaya Brunner admits to purchasing approximately 10 and one-half grams of crack from Davis. See Salinas, 62 F.3d at 859 (stating that [e]ach member of a conspiracy is accountable for the amount of drugs with which he was directly involved, and for amounts involved in transactions that were reasonably foreseeable.). This is a highly deferential standard of review and we refuse to second-guess the sentencing judge. United States v. Cleggett, 179 F.3d 1051, 1059 (7th Cir.1999) (citing United States v. Garcia, 66 F.3d 851, 856 (7th Cir.1995)). See United States v. Barnes, 117 F.3d 328, 337 (7th Cir.1997). As such, gang members are forbidden from parking in the basketball court or playground from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. to leave room from customers. Notes [ edit] In this case the jury was confronted with conversations which contained code words that, when considered in isolation, might seem unclear, veiled and almost nonsensical, but when analyzed properly, in the context of the totality of the evidence, can clearly be seen to be code words for drugs It is true that, advisedly, no explicit mention was ever made of cocaine or other drugs in any of Vega's conversations with the Zambranas. Sellers are allowed to have "a 60-sack on the line," meaning 60 small bags of cocaine in one pack, Guthrie said. The fact that Davis called no witnesses at sentencing and failed to successfully discredit Agent Darin on cross-examination, however, evinces nothing more than a shortcoming in the presentation of his case and falls far short of establishing error on the part of the trial judge. Although not dispositive as to his role as a leader in the organization, Hankton is referred to in the record first as don (during the late 1990s) and then as king (beginning in 1999). Improper and impermissible double counting only occurs when a district court imposes two or more upward adjustments within the guideline range, when both are premised on the same conduct. U.S. v. Haines, 32 F.3d 290, 293 (7th Cir.1994) (emphasis in original). Mickey Cobras - Wikipedia 841(a)(1), and Davis was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, also in violation of 21 U.S.C. Davis also challenges the enhancement of his sentence under 3B1.1(b) for being a manager or supervisor (but not an organizer or leader) in the criminal activity on identical grounds. Made public recently by police sources, the sheets outline how gang members should behave while peddling drugs in the Robert Taylor Homes. Around 1993-94 the various gangs in the Maniac Familia, led by the Manic Latin Disciples (MLD's) began having violent conflicts with . The memo begins by reminding "all brothers of the struggle" about the story of the duck: "If any of you have ever had the opportunity to go on a hunting trip (in the free world) before being locked up, then you know full well that if the duck had kept his mouth shut, instead of quacking, he wouldn't have given his position away and, naturally, wouldn't have been our dinner.". Select a Rating! 8. On the record before us, we cannot ascertain with any exacting degree of certainty whether the sentencing judge would have imposed identical sentences for Hankton and Davis had he known that the sentencing guidelines were not mandatory at the time. 2D1.1 and 3B1.1 to his sentence constituted improper double counting. According to metric-conversions.org, .375 ounces equates to approximately 10.63107 grams. As a result of information provided by Gatlin, Arthur Hurd In a nine count superseding indictment issued on May 15, 2002, the grand jury charged both Hankton and Davis with participating in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine and in excess of 50 grams of [crack cocaine] (Count I) and using communication devices in committing the conspiracy (Count VII) in violation of 21 U.S.C. Gang investigators over the years also have confiscated edicts from imprisoned gang leader Larry Hoover, the "chairman" of the state's largest street gang, the Gangster Disciples, Knox said. What's more, Hankton's role as leader and organizer is rather persuasively illustrated by the fact that he had the power within the MCs organization to order the brutal beating and murder of one of the gang's members, Annette Williams. The Mickey Cobras now have their written constitution and by-laws, which, like the modern-day BPSN, have a strong Islamic influence. The trial judge concluded that Davis' base offense level was 32 along with five criminal history points, meaning that the appropriate sentencing range to be applied was 210 to 262 months. U.s. Accuses 19 Gang Members of Narcotics Conspiracy Although they very well could have been considered. Juwan Gatlin was a member of a street gang known as the Mickey Cobras. The fact that Williams' murder appeared to involve a dispute over drug money, as opposed to drugs, would not preclude the sentencing judge from inferring that the incident was related to the MCs drug activities or from concluding that Hankton exerted the same authority over the gang's drug activities as he did over ordering beatings or murder. Which would make his base offense level 32. The initial intercept ran from June 15 to July 14, 2000, when the warrant expired. The following day, Davis also agreed to plead guilty to possessing, with the intent to distribute, approximately 250 grams of cocaine, also in violation of 21 U.S.C. See id. The statements did suggest that the original order to issue Williams a beating may have emanated from, or been approved by, a higher authority in the gang; however, A and B agree that the order to beat Williams came to them directly from Hankton. 14 for the Mickey Cobras is "There will be no more paying brothers and sisters to do your security." Rule No. 3E1.1, the government recommended that Hankton's requisite offense level should be 37 and that, due to the fact his criminal history category was at level III, the appropriate sentencing range was 262 to 327 months. Officials said the Mickey Cobras include as many as 1,500 members and control the area around the Cabrini-Green public-housing complex. a. 2. The wiretaps also provided the FBI with further insight into Hankton and Davis' respective leadership roles in the MCs as well as more specific information on the hierarchal structure of the organization. Gatlin was murdered because he provided information to the police about the murder of Tony Dawson, a previously unsolved homicide in Minneapolis. The Mickey Cobras are a large street gang affiliated with the nationwide gang alliance known as "People" and based in Chicago. ", Rule No. As part of the plea agreement, the government agreed to recommend that Davis be granted a 3 level reduction for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). Based in Chicago an consistin lairgely o African-American memmership, the gang is considered vera mobile, wear the colour reid, an factions o the gang are bein established throughoot the Mid-wastren Unitit States. One memo from "the chairman and the board of directors" and dated July 23, 1983, addresses an important gang edict: Don't talk to law enforcement interrogators. Los Angeles, California Employment Laws Overview - The National Law Review Instead, all of the evidence presented-as well as commonsense-suggest that, in fact, Hankton's gang activities were intimately, related to and intertwined with, his drug distribution activities. We simply cannot be sure. June 16, 1993)). Like many of Chicago street gangs, the Mickey Cobras have a long history. A pen register is usually installed at a central telephone facility [and] records on a paper tape all numbers dialed from [the] line to which it is attached. It even cites the court case-Miranda vs. Arizona. Dodge city is not active anymore but they were notorious back in the day. "If anyone break these laws or house rules more than three time, the penalty will increase," rule No. Scott Lassar said the pursuit of street gangs remained a top priority because of their control of narcotics in Chicago and the resulting violence. In addition, it was the government's position that the plea agreements received in evidence demonstrated Davis' authority position in the MCs, citing references to him as Sultan Supreme or lieutenant in the gang and leader of the MCs at the Lathrop Homes.