By Carol Robinson
al.com
TALLADEGA, Ala. — An inmate at a federal prison in Alabama is among 23 people alleged to be members of the violent Sex Money Murder (SMM) gang operating inside and outside of prisons and jails across the country.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a 12-count indictment in the Northern District of Georgia charging the defendants with numerous crimes including racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking and gun violations.
Sean Carr, 51, is among the defendants. He is incarcerated at the federal prison in Talladega.
Carr, aka Nut and Nutkase, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.
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 states that when SMM was predominantly active in the Soundview section of the Bronx, Carr rose to prominence in the gang.
Carr is already serving 40-year sentence on a Rico conviction out of New York for SMM-related charges from two decades ago.
The indictment alleges an extensive criminal enterprise in which SMM members, including inmates within the Georgia Department of Corrections, orchestrated numerous crimes, including murders, attempted murders, attempted arson, drug trafficking within and outside of GDOC facilities, and wire and bank fraud.
Federal authorities say 11 of the defendants were in prison when they allegedly committed or ordered the charged crimes.
SMM members, according to the indictment, 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 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.
For more than a decade, the 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, authorities said.
“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.”
“It’s alarming to think that these criminals were brazen enough to distribute dangerous drugs and commit heinous crimes while behind bars,” said DEA Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Robert J. “They must now face the consequences.”
Those charged are:
• 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 , Georgia , 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.
• 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.
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