A 12-count indictment was unsealed in the Northern District of Georgia charging 23 defendants – all alleged Sex Money Murder (SMM) gang members and associates – with crimes including racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, and firearms violations.
According to court documents, SMM is a subset of The Bloods gang, which originated in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.
The SMM subset has spread from the Bronx and New York to areas across the East Coast, including Georgia, where it operates inside and outside prisons and jails.
The indictment alleges an extensive criminal enterprise in which SMM members, including inmates within the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC), orchestrated numerous crimes, including murders, attempted murders, attempted arson, drug trafficking within and outside of GDOC facilities, and wire and bank fraud.
Eleven of the defendants were in prison when they allegedly committed or ordered the charged crimes.
“The defendants and their criminal associates are alleged to have committed murder, engaged in stabbings and attempted murder, and distributed thousands of dollars’ worth of illicit drugs inside and outside the Georgia prison system, all to enhance the power and prestige of their gang, the Sex Money Murder set of The Bloods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M.
Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“With this RICO indictment, the Criminal Division, along with our federal, state, and local partners, again shows its commitment to hold accountable and bring to justice violent gang members who terrorize our communities and attempt to control our country’s prison systems.
”
“Gang activity poses a grave risk of harm to our communities as well as to many of our institutions,” said U.
S.
Attorney Ryan K.
Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia.
“The defendants charged in this case allegedly perpetrated numerous violent and other criminal offenses, including multiple murders, brutal assaults, and drug trafficking crimes, on behalf of the gang Sex Money Murder.
For more than a decade, these gang members and their associates allegedly orchestrated a criminal enterprise within and outside of multiple prisons to earn money for, boost their status in, and impose discipline required by the gang.
This indictment is the culmination of a lengthy and carefully coordinated federal and state law enforcement investigation aimed at dismantling this violent group.
”
“The FBI and its partners will not stand by as members of an elaborate criminal enterprise engage in acts that endanger our communities,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
“There are consequences for partaking in illegal activity, and this does not change when some of the bad actors are already behind bars.
We will continue to ensure that members of the Sex Money Murder gang face justice for their alleged misconduct, which includes drug trafficking, firearms violations, and egregious violence.
”
“It’s alarming to think that these criminals were brazen enough to distribute dangerous drugs and commit heinous crimes while behind bars,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert J.
Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Division.
“They must now face the consequences.
”
The indictment alleges that the defendants or other SMM members committed multiple acts of violence in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy, including storming a home and shooting multiple rounds of ammunition into a bathroom, killing a 9-month-old boy; on multiple occasions, incarcerated SMM members murdering, stabbing, or beating other inmates for disrespecting SMM leadership or violating SMM rules; and shooting and killing another SMM member on belief that the member had cooperated with law enforcement.
The following defendants have been charged in the indictment for conduct related to their alleged roles in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) conspiracy and related crimes:
Ryan Brandt, aka Street Life and Robert Kraft, 44, of Hays State Prison in Trion, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy, conspiring, aiding, and abetting, and possessing a controlled substance and a controlled substance analogue with the intent to distribute;
Kyle Oree, aka Nasty Nu, 52, of Washington State Prison in Davisboro, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy, conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute and a controlled substance analogue with the intent to distribute;
Chase Pinckney, aka Chase Pickney, Three Shots, Noriega, and Sinatra, 38, of Ware State Prison in Waycross, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Elton Jackson, aka 2gz and John Madden, 41, of Telfair State Prison in Helena, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Sean Carr, aka Nut and Nutkase, 51, of FCI Talladega in Talladega, Alabama, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Lavorsia Jones, aka Shitbag, 23, of Dacula, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring, attempting, and possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possessing a controlled substance analogue with the intent to distribute;
Danielle Ford, 49, of Ellenwood, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy, conspiring to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and possessing a controlled substance analogue with the intent to distribute;
Charlton King, aka Hell’s Militant Camp, 23, of Valdosta, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
Demarco Draughn, aka Shoota B, 28, of Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
Richard Smith, aka Alleyway and Brett Favre, 36, of Ware State Prison in Waycross, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Rontavious Fowler, aka Lil Hot, 26, of Hancock State Prison in Sparta, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
Shavon Thomas, aka Shavon Edwards, 55, of Decatur, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Lionel Edwards, aka Tony, Tyson, and Python, 41, of USP Florence in Florence, Colorado, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
Anthony Jernigan, aka Hell Raiser, 36, of Hays State Prison in Trion, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
Cedric Pierre, aka Flip, 23, of Robert A.
Deyton Correctional Facility in Lovejoy, Georgia, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Ricardo Sanchez, 40, of Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, is charged with conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Troy McCraine, 57, of Tennessee, is charged with conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Qawwee Mitchell, 36, of Gainesville, Georgia, is charged with conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime;
Sherri Gandy-Torres, 56, of Lakeland, Florida, is charged with conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Nyla Blacknell, 43, of Duluth, Georgia, is charged with conspiring to possess and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime;
Tracey Wise, 46, of Milledgeville, Georgia, is charged with conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute;
Shounnette Wooten, 50, of Gray, Georgia, is charged with conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute; and
Kierra Williams, 31, of Milledgeville, Georgia, is charged with conspiring to possess a controlled substance and possessing a controlled substance analogue with the intent to distribute.
If convicted, the defendants face penalties including up to life in prison for the racketeering conspiracy, 10 years to life in prison for the narcotics conspiracy and drug trafficking charges, and five years to life in prison for the firearms offenses.
The FBI, the Atlanta-Carolinas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, the DEA, and the Georgia Department of Corrections are investigating the case, with valuable assistance from the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.
S.
Marshals Service, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, the Georgia State Patrol, the Brookhaven Police Department, the Butts County Sheriff’s Office, the DeKalb County Police Department, the Douglasville Police Department, the East Point Police Department, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, the Gwinnett County Police Department, the Marietta Police Department, the Riverdale Police Department, the Sandy Springs Police Department, and the South Fulton Police Department.
Trial Attorney Lisa M.
Thelwell of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VICAR) and Assistant U.
S.
Attorney Theodore S.
Hertzberg for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case, and former VICAR Trial Attorney Rebecca R.
Dunnan previously prosecuted the case.
The indictment is a result of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigations.
The OCDETF mission is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States, using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency task force approach.
OCDETF synchronizes and incentivizes prosecutors and agents to lead smart, creative investigations targeting the command-and-control networks of organized criminal groups and the illicit financiers that support them.
Additional information about the OCDETF Program may be found at www.
justice.
gov/OCDETF.
An indictment is merely an allegation.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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