LOS ANGELES
Three defendants in a large racketeering case involving the Five Deuce Broadway Gangster Crips plead guilty to federal charges including murder conspiracy, officials announced Friday.
Tyrine Martinez, also known as “Lil’ C-Bone,” 36, of Los Angeles, plead guilty Wednesday to racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit murder, conspiring to traffic crack cocaine, illegally possessing a firearm and selling crack cocaine near schools.
Martinez is facing up to life in prison.
Martinez was among 72 charged in a RICO indictment that targeted the Gangster Crips, a street gang that claims territory in South Los Angeles and controls drug sales in an area just west of the “Skid Row” district of Los Angeles.
The indictment outlined two decades of criminal conduct, including murders, robberies, extortion, illegal firearms possession, witness intimidation and narcotics trafficking.
Over the past several weeks, two other key defendants named in a 213-page RICO indictment have plead guilty.
Tracy Harris, aka “Woody,” 51, of Inglewood, plead guilty on Aug. 5 to racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to sell methamphetamine after having been convicted of a prior drug felony, and selling methamphetamine near schools.
On July 27, Roosevelt Sumpter, aka “TuTu,” 43, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to distribute crack cocaine, illegally possessing a firearm, and selling crack cocaine near schools. Harris and Sumpter are also facing up to life in prison.
In plea agreements filed in federal court, these defendants specifically admitted the following:
· Martinez and Harris were two of the gang’s supervisors, and Sumpter was a veteran “OG” member
· Martinez was a leader of the “Gremlin Riderz,” which served as the gang’s “hit squad” and whose members bore tattoos from the 1984 movie “Gremlins”
· Martinez conspired with other BGC members to murder a fellow gang member who had provided law enforcement information regarding a 2012 BGC gang shooting that killed an unarmed teenager with no gang affiliation and wounded three others, including a 10-year-old girl
· Martinez directed the group assault of another BGC member who had also provided information to law enforcement regarding a BGC murder (that fellow gang member was also later murdered in a case that remains under investigation)
· Martinez “direct[ed] the killing of rivals” and discussed the stabbing of a man by a BGC member in front of the victim’s baby because the man was in BGC territory without permission
· Harris presided over large gang meetings in which he called for enhancing the operations of the gang and increasing punishments for those who violated gang rules
· Martinez and Sumpter were two of the gang’s “central drug suppliers.”
Martinez and Harris are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19. Sumpter is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 7.
“These defendants have now pled guilty to orchestrating a campaign of violence and drug trafficking, bringing danger to the local community and to schools,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “In addition to committing many acts of violence, this gang preyed upon the marginalized residents of Skid Row with illegal drug sales. Cases like this one targeting the leadership and membership of criminal street gangs show my office’s dedication to ridding neighborhoods of gang activity through partnerships with federal and local law enforcement agencies.”
Seventy-one of the defendants named in the indictment have now appeared in federal court to face charges in the indictment (the final defendant is in state custody), which include conspiracy to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), violent crimes in aid of racketeering, a series of robberies that targeted bank customers, weapons offenses, and various drug trafficking charges.
Six other top defendants in the case are scheduled to go on trial Jan. 3.
Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.