{"id":61826,"date":"2026-09-22T13:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:14:34","slug":"tucson-gang-member-gets-nearly-28-years-in-rivals-murder-racketeering-case-co-defendants-also-sentenced-to-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826","title":{"rendered":"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case,  Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014<\/strong> A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival gang member and trafficked drugs for the Tucson gang, federal officials announced this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">David Kapone Williams, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in a pattern of racketeering activity. U.S. District Judge James A. Soto sentenced him to 335 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tucson gang member gets nearly 28 years for racketeering case\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o72Jr-fYnNA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">According to court documents, Williams and other gang members killed a rival in the parking lot of a La Quinta hotel near Tucson International Airport on May 15, 2015. Members of the gang also took part in a separate killing near Fremont Street in October 2014. The Justice Department did not identify Williams as a participant in that earlier homicide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Prosecutors said the Western Hills Bloods engaged in drug trafficking, firearms offenses, witness intimidation and violence. Williams admitted trafficking drugs for the gang in Tucson and elsewhere in the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Seven co-defendants had previously been sentenced:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Marcell Demetrius Gray:<\/strong> 27 years, 11 months.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Shawmaine Eustace Ardell Moore:<\/strong> 20 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Samuel Lee Berrelle Rakestraw III:<\/strong> 20 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Jermaine Lamar Maxwell:<\/strong> 20 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Michael Anthony Williams:<\/strong> 21 years, 10 months.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Cliffton Martinez:<\/strong> 6 years, 6 months on a firearms charge.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\"><strong>Labarr Martinez:<\/strong> 4 years, 2 months on a cocaine distribution charge.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Tucson police investigated the case.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">Quick facts<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u2611 <strong>Defendant:<\/strong> David Kapone Williams, 36, of Tucson.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u2611 <strong>Sentence:<\/strong> 335 months in prison \u2014 27 years and 11 months \u2014 plus five years of supervised release.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u2611 <strong>Conviction:<\/strong> Conspiracy to participate in a pattern of racketeering activity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u2611 <strong>2015 killing:<\/strong> Williams admitted helping kill a rival gang member near Tucson International Airport.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 22px;\">\u2611 <strong>Separate 2014 killing:<\/strong> Prosecutors attributed it to gang members, but did not say Williams participated.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival gang member and trafficked&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"664\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826\"},\"wordCount\":308,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826\",\"name\":\"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=61826#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":664,\"caption\":\"Justice sign\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison","description":"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison","og_description":"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":664,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison","datePublished":"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826"},"wordCount":308,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg","articleSection":["American Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826","name":"Tucson Gang Member Gets Nearly 28 Years in Rival\u2019s Murder, Racketeering Case, Co-Defendants also Sentenced to Prison","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-22T20:14:34+00:00","description":"TUCSON, Ariz. \u2014 A member of the Western Hills Bloods was sentenced Sept. 16 to nearly 28 years in federal prison after admitting he helped murder a rival","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=61826#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/justice-sign-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg","width":1000,"height":664,"caption":"Justice sign"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61827,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61826\/revisions\/61827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}