0
0
Four people were charged with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act and related crimes involving their membership in the United Blood Nations a national prison and street gang.
The defendants were members of the Nine Trey Gangsters, a UBN “set” with territory in Shelby, North Carolina.
The United Blood Nations sets are hierarchical, with a lineup (or whip) led by, in descending order, a Godfather, High OG (original gangster), and Low OG.
Star generals are under each Low OG, from the highest ranking five-star general to the lowest ranking one-star.
Gang members go by “tags,” or gang names.
United Blood Nations members follow a code requiring them, among other things, to follow the chain of command, defend the gang’s reputation, and pay dues.
Members can pay dues by selling drugs, robbing, and stealing. They are also expected to “put in work” for the gang that is, engage in “criminal activity” like assaults, robberies, shootings, or murder, and generally “do what they’re told”-as part of their membership and to elevate in rank.
Dricko Huskey was a Low OG who “oversaw the Shelby area.” Huskey dealt drugs from at least 2013 through his arrest in 2016, including regularly supplying a higher ranking UBN member. After a public dispute in 2016, Huskey shot and killed Donnell Murray.
Renaire Lewis was a one-star general. Lewis dealt drugs and participated in a robbery at the direction of higher ranking UBN members. During that robbery, Lewis fired gunshots that wounded Tanner Cobb and killed Malik Brown.
Alandus Smith was a high-ranking Nine Trey member, described variously as a Low OG, a five-star general, and a four-star general. A 2014 search of Smith’s bedroom turned up a drug ledger revealing Smith’s regular deals with other UBN members. When police searched Smith’s home during a 2015 arrest, they found $400 in cash.
Jonathan Wray was a Nine Trey member of unknown rank. Wray dealt drugs from at least 2011 to 2015. Wray admitted shooting and killing Christopher Odoms, a member of the Crips, a rival gang.
All defendants insist there was no evidence to establish the third element – that their criminal activities related to the UBN’s affairs. Per this argument, each defendant’s drug trafficking, robberies, and murders were personal pursuits by people who happened to be affiliated with the United Blood Nations. And because this criminal activity was personal, not gang related, the defendants say the government failed to prove they “knowingly and willfully agreed that” they, or someone else in the conspiracy, “would commit at least two racketeering acts.”
The jury heard evidence that United Blood Nations members regularly trafficked drugs to pay dues to United Blood Nations, that United Blood Nations members are expected to respond to public displays of disrespect (at issue with Huskey’s murder of Murray and Wray’s murder of Odom) with violence, and that United Blood Nations members are expected to “put in work” including committing violent crimes as part of gang membership.
Along with the other evidence in the record, this evidence made it reasonable for the jury to find that defendants’ drug trafficking, robberies, and murders were committed in relation to the United Blood Nations enterprise 15 methamphetamine tablets, nine baggies of marijuana, digital scales, and a gun with an obliterated serial number.
US v. Huskey. Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Argued: October 25, 2023. Decided: January 8, 2023
Average Rating