In a separate indictment, Hankton was accused of passing on orders from gang higher-ups in April 1994 to have Williams killed over a narcotics dispute. (CHICAGO) - JUN 21--Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Chicago Police Department officers arrested 29 alleged members of the Mickey Cobras Street Gang who are suspected of trafficking fentanyl-laced heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana in parts of Chicago's Southside. "The Horatio Alger of today is the gang leader," said Knox, referring to the 19th Century author made famous by his stories of rags-to-riches success. The Mickey Cobras back in 1954 until 1960 were known as the Egyptian Cobras. In at least one of those conversations Davis states that he purchased powder cocaine specifically for the purpose of further processing it in order to manufacture and distribute the resulting crack. The rules make it clear that activities normally associated with gangs, like graffiti and fighting, are not acceptable while drugs are being sold, he said. The gang has existed since the late 1960s, boasts an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 members in Chicago and is described by authorities as violent, well-organized and actively involved in selling powder and crack cocaine on the West and North Sides. Federal authorities dealt a blow Thursday to the Mickey Cobras street gang, charging 19 of its leaders and members with narcotics conspiracy and also indicting a top leader on charges he passed along orders to have a woman killed six years ago. Put simply, a district court may not characterize the same conduct in two different ways to arrive at two separate sentence enhancements that result in an upward adjustment of the sentencing range. See United States v. Smith, 3 F.3d 1088, 1099. See United States v. Schmeilski, 408 F.3d 917, 920 (7th Cir.2005). The Cobras also moved into the cluster of three buildings in the Washington Park neighborhood at 53rd and State, these buildings were: 5326, 5323 1:30. Contact us. Finally, the rules make clear that anyone who violates them will be dragged before the gang's "board" and punished. Was Thf Bayzoo Arrested In Chicago? Weapon Charges and Mugshots A.Validity of Davis and Hankton's Sentencing Enhancements. Also, Hankton and Davis were each charged with additional counts; Hankton was charged with knowingly and intentionally distributing over 150 grams of crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. We review the district court's determination of drug quantity and role in the offense, in the same manner as before Booker, for clear error. United States v. Sutton, 406 F.3d 472, 474 (7th Cir.2005) (citing United States v. Parra, 402 F.3d 752, 762 (7th Cir.2005)). A seller must turn over the proceeds from one pack before he can get another to sell, the rules state. Among the co-defendants were Woodrow Green, Jammah Olden, Rasuah Brunner, Ngaya Brunner, Timeka Murdock and Mekeba Gates, many of whom were also members of the MCs and all of whom also entered into plea agreements with the government. Stay up-to-date with how the law affects your life. Not only do they give a vivid glimpse into the world of gangs but also, law enforcement authorities say, underline how central the drug business has become in some Chicago gangs. Staff writer George Papajohn contributed to this article. If you would ike to contact us via email please click . Introduced were the plea agreements of Davis, Woodrow Green, Jammah Olden, Rasuah Brunner, Ngaya Brunner, Timeka Murdock and Mekeba Gates. 3B1.1 n. 1 (In distinguishing a leadership role from one of mere management or supervision, titles such as kingpin or boss are not controlling.). UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Clarence HANKTON and Gregory Davis,1 Defendants-Appellants. U.s. Accuses 19 Gang Members of Narcotics Conspiracy In the Illinois prison system, they are a part of the People Nation. See United States v. Torres-Ramirez, 213 F.3d 978, 980-81 (7th Cir.2000) Under circumstances such as these we are unwilling to find fault with the sentencing judge's decision to credit Darin's statement in determining the drug quantity attributable to Hankton. There, he said, teenage gang members are more interested in their own pocketbook than gang loyalty. See United States v. Sutton, 406 F.3d 472, 474 (7th Cir.2005) (citing United States v. Benitez, 92 F.3d 528, 538 (7th Cir.1996)). See U.S.S.G. 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. On the high end, Hankton may have supplied Olden with as much as 1071 grams of crack (which is equal to 1 oz. Through the use of the cooperating witness, the FBI was able to conduct a number of controlled purchases of crack cocaine. Days later in another conversation, Hankton asks Davis-who was apparently having problems cooking up some crack-whether he was cooking it on a stove or not, and Davis responds: No. The record reflects that most of the large wholesale purchases involved powder, as opposed to crack, cocaine. Rule No. 16. "The loyalty is to the dollar," said Sgt. Online Menu of Cobras & Matadors, Los Angeles, CA The Spanish Cobras is a primarily, but not exclusively, . Knox's textbook, "An Introduction to Gangs," lists several gang constitutions, which are filled with rules, pseudo-religious ramblings and the expected problems with spelling. In order to assist the court in understanding Hankton's role in the drug trade, Agent Darin-based on his training and four years of experience with drug investigations-testified as to his interpretations of the conversations extracted from the FBI's wiretap recordings, which were replete with code language.14 Specifically, Darin provided background for a number of controlled drug purchases (from Hankton) conducted by the FBI15 and described admissions by the co-defendants that they purchased varying amounts of crack cocaine from Hankton. During the investigation, the FBI temporarily used a member of the MCs to serve as a cooperating witness. We disagree. Both Hankton and Davis challenge the district court's enhancement of their sentences based on drug quantity. As part of the plea agreement, Hankton admitted that on three separate occasions in Cook County, Illinois, between February and April 2000, he distributed a total of approximately 156 grams of crack to an individual who, unbeknownst to him, was a confidential informant recruited by the FBI. See Parra, 402 F.3d at 762. As this court has stated numerous times [t]he law is very clear that a sentencing judge may appropriately conduct an inquiry broad in scope, largely unlimited either as to the kind of information he may consider, or the source from which it may come. A corollary to this general principle is the rule that a sentencing judge may consider relevant information without regard to the rules of evidence provided that the information has [a] sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy. United States v. Lemmons, 230 F.3d 263, 267 (7th Cir.2000) (quoting U.S.S.G. 841(a)(1). 5. PDF People v Lauderdale 2021 IL App (1st) 200109-U - Microsoft See, e.g., United States v. Morales, 994 F.2d 386, 388 (7th Cir.1993) (holding that [i]t is enough that more than one person was involved in the criminal activity and that the defendant played a leadership as distinct from a followership role) (citing United States v. Herrera, 878 F.2d 997 (7th Cir.1989)). Like the Cobras in Cabrini (the castle) were King Cobras and Mickey's. Then in the 90s to make it even worse Prince Money ( Mickey's son) flipped GD and allot of cobras went with him. While in the gang, he achieved the rank of a 'prince.' He identified defendant in court as someone he had known for 20 years. Nonetheless, testimony from Chicago Police Detective Charles, as well as Agent Darin and Jammah Olden illustrated the power over the drug trade and gang activities that the title afforded Hankton. 7-8, when stating that Hankton exercised authority over persons, certainly well more than five or ten. However, Hankton claims that rather than directing its remarks to Mr. Hankton's conduct as it related to the actual offence, i.e., drug distribution, the court dwelled on Mr. Hankton's gang activities. This statement is nothing more than a self-serving red herring. Specifically, Agent Darin testified as to the meaning and context of a number of intercepted phone conversations Davis had with Hankton and other individuals in which Davis discussed cooking large amounts of powder cocaine in order to produce crack cocaine. See supra p. 7-9. 26. 28. 45 warns, though it doesn't specify the punishment. 1820, 40 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974). Three Mickey Cobras members, including Lindsey Bell, the gang's chief enforcer, were convicted in Cook County Criminal Court of beating Williams to death with baseball bats in a hallway outside her apartment in the Cabrini-Green public housing development. 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.). 841 and 846. The rules state that one gang member on "security" patrols the front door of the building, while the other mans the back door. Following the arrests, on July 3, 2001, Hankton and Davis, along with six9 other individuals, were indicted inter alia on drug conspiracy and drug possession charges.10 As discussed infra, Hankton and Davis entered into separate plea agreements with the government and each of them admitted facts sufficient to establish criminal liability beyond a reasonable doubt. At FindLaw.com, we pride ourselves on being the number one source of free legal information and resources on the web. TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. 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. Last summer, Hilbring recalled, officers seized an instruction list that a West Side gang was passing out to its drug customers. However, a case was made, which was more than strong enough to convince the jury, that Vega used terms like chickens, roosters and it as code words for drugs. The indictment also alleged that the defendants participated in various other drug-related crimes arising out of their membership in, and affiliation with, the Mickey Cobras (MCs) street gang, which operated on the north-side of Chicago, Illinois during the 1980s and 1990s.2. Although there was some ambiguity in Olden's testimony as to his interpretation of the terminology used by the MCs to refer to crack cocaine, he eventually testified that he purchased a hard form of cocaine from Hankton. Allowing an illegal sentence to stand would constitute a miscarriage of justice, see White, 406 F.3d at 835-36. The members of the gang used phrases such as a 16th or a teenager to refer to 1/16th of an ounce of crack cocaine, eight-ball, ball or Michael Jordan to refer to 1/8 of an ounce of crack cocaine, quarter, quaker or quake to refer to 1/4 of an ounce of crack cocaine and onion, zone or piece to refer to a whole ounce of crack cocaine. Sellers are allowed to have "a 60-sack on the line," meaning 60 small bags of cocaine in one pack, Guthrie said. 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. ", Rule No. 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. In one conversation with a MCs associate, for example, Hankton is asked whether he got that butter?. Said differently, Hankton takes issue with the sentencing judge's focus on his leadership conduct which he claims is unrelated to the underlying crime of distribution of a controlled substance. Please try again. of crack every four or five days over a period of five months). Also a member of the MCs, Olden recounted that the main source of revenue for the gang was the sale of illegal drugs. This evidence was fully corroborated by the testimony of Agent Darin, which the sentencing judge expressly found to be credible. After a nine month undercover narcotics investigation, in January 1998 the Chicago Police Department arrested 31 Spanish Cobras in "Operation: Mongoose", including some gang leaders. 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. As the King, Hankton was responsible for everything from the direction of the conversion of powder cocaine into crack to the organization of the gang's basketball games. Cocaine base, better known as crack cocaine, is produced by cooking or mixing powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) with sodium bicarbonate and boiling the mixture until left with a rocklike formation of pure crack cocaine (cocaine minus the hydrochloride). In order for a judge to be well advised of the facts surrounding the defendant's background, and particularly in view of the judge's obligation to the general public, as well as to the defendant, to be fair, reasonable, and just, it is imperative that he be allowed to draw upon a wealth of information concerning the defendant's background, from his date of birth up to and including the moment of sentencing In order to render justice to all the judge must be able to impress upon a defendant through the expansive contents of an all encompassing sentencing report that we are a country of laws and not men. The LA Eme is a Hispanic Organized crime. Where different aspects or components of the defendant's behavior are addressed by different enhancements, improper double counting has not occurred. (T. 1981, 1993). 841(a)(1) (Counts II, III, IV, and V) and Davis was charged with knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute approximately 250 grams of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. 8. 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.". (T. 1993, 2223, 3194). Maniac Latin Disciples - Wikipedia See id. http://www. United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. Three Mickey Cobras members, including Lindsey Bell, the gang's chief enforcer, were convicted in Cook County Criminal Court of beating Williams to death with baseball bats in a hallway outside . 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. "They don't want any trouble . 30 gang members would then be taken into custody. He's got the Mercedes, and he's got a BMW too. See United States v. Martinez, 289 F.3d 1023, 1028-29 (7th Cir.2002) (holding that reliability may be established by corroborating evidence).