Gang membership offers youth a sense of belonging and protection.
Black souls gang tagging trial#
All but the six defendants on trial this fall ended up pleading guilty.Īrmed with the state anti-racketeering law, prosecutors urged jurors to consider the Black Souls as a criminal enterprise and hold the six defendants accountable for the actions of the gang as a whole.ĭefense attorneys, in turn, cautioned jurors to consider their clients on an individual basis and called the evidence of a sophisticated criminal conspiracy weak. Bloods recruit heavily among school-age youth in predominantly poor black communities. Many of the recordings, played for jurors, captured the defendants discussing day-to-day drug-dealing matters and bragging about their violent exploits, prosecutors alleged.īut defense attorneys raised concerns about the recordings’ often poor quality and what they considered unreliable interpretations by prosecution witnesses on the meaning of what was said.Ībout 20 people were charged under the state RICO statute in 2013 after a predawn raid. Six leaders of the Black Souls street gang were convicted on racketeering and drug charges Saturday afternoon, according to CBS 2's Audrina.
Black souls gang tagging series#
The case centered in large part on a series of recordings made by drug dealer Alex Williams, who cooperated extensively with police in their investigation of the Black Souls. Religious leaders, once mostly spared Haiti’s violence, are now targets.
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