A 12-count indictment was unsealed in Georgia, charging 23 defendants—all alleged Sex Money Murder (SMM) gang members and associates—with crimes including racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, and firearms violations, officials announced Tuesday.
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 defendants were in prison when they allegedly committed or ordered the charged crimes.
“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.”
Adding, “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 indictment alleges that the defendants or other SMM members committed multiple acts of violence, 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 murdered, stabbed, or beat other inmates for disrespecting SMM leadership or violating SMM rules.
In addition, gang members shot and killed another SMM member on the 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
- 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 of the charges, the defendants face up to life in prison. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The FBI, the Atlanta-Carolinas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, the DEA, and the Georgia Department of Corrections are investigating the case.
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.