Powered by Blogger.

rss

Friday 30 January 2009

12 suspected members of the Top-6 gang who prosecutors said terrorized Palm Beach County residents




Jessee Thomas, 22, and Ernst Exavier, 25, were convicted by a jury in December on criminal racketeering charges brought by Attorney General Bill McCollum's office as part of a regional law enforcement effort last year to crack down on gangs. Thomas also was convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering, possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of forged notes.Thomas and Exavier, both of Lake Worth, were among 12 suspected members of the Top-6 gang who prosecutors said terrorized Palm Beach County residents. Prosecutors said the gang is connected to several murders and drug crimes. Two members of the Top 6 gang in Lake Worth were sentenced today to a quarter century in prison each - the first significant victory in Palm Beach County for statewide prosecutors now applying racketeering laws to dismantle criminal gangs.Defense attorneys for Ernst Exavier, 25, and Jessee Thomas, 22, argued at their sentencing that the case was one of guilt by association, that the men never had admitted to being members of the gang, and if they were involved at all, it was as lesser players. Exavier testified his only intention was to make music with Top 6.Circuit Judge Karen Miller, who presided over their racketeering trials earlier this year, clearly disagreed, finding that the men were members of the gang and handing down lengthy prison terms.Exavier and Thomas are among 12 Top-6 gang members arrested within the past year during a coordinated operation by the attorney general's office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the Lantana and Boynton Beach police departments.
Jurors convicted Exavier of racketeering, yet acquitted him of conspiracy to commit racketeering. Jurors convicted Thomas of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, along with various lesser charges.Attorney Gerald Salerno, who represented Exavier, said in 17 years of practicing criminal law he had never seen a case like this one with a huge investigative effort but thin evidence. Salerno offered the example of Exavier's song lyrics about pushing kilos of cocaine being prominently emphasized at trial. "Despite that we never saw one shred of evidence" of any drugs, he said.Attorney Mark Koenig represented Jessee Thomas. Thomas' brother, Tommy, is also charged and awaiting trial. Koenig argued Jessee Thomas had no gang tattoos and was never photographed making Top 6's distinct hand sign. "Just because it's your brother doesn't mean you are part of this conspiracy and this organization," Koenig told the judge."This is guilt by association. When it comes to racketeering and conspiracy," Koenig said, taking a long pause. "I don't see it. I don't see it."

2 comments:

Samson on 21 October 2009 at 05:30 said...

These judge don't get the picture police just looking to get more black people off the streets! An willing to do anything so that it happen! Some of these guys are completely innocent I my self consider a Top6 member only bcuz I'm a haitian black male could of been a man behind bar 4 no reason. So I believe innocent people shouldn't be charged but that's up 2 karen miller that if she not wrkn wit da polic!!!

tommy on 7 December 2009 at 05:21 said...

It's about time, I think anyone associated with a gang like this should be locked up no matter the color of skin. They wouldn't last a week in my town, we don't put up with punks that need a group like this to feel big or think they are somebody. This is the land of the free, it;s bad that we have american's going to these countries and laying their lives on the line to help them, so they can come here and put more innocent peoples live's in danger. Why would any american want to associate with that. Line them up I say

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

van

Pageviews from the past week

van

Drug Enforcement automatically monitors news articles and blog posts tracking breaking news of arrests and drug incidents as they happen worldwide .These inter-active News Reports are followed as they develop. Giving you the chance to comment on breaking stories as they happen. Drug Enforcement alerts you to topics that are frequently linked to and commented upon in the world press. Someone is arrested every 20 seconds for a drug related offense !Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the Blogspots terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of the Drug Enforcement site. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

Popular Posts

Latest Templates

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Map

Friend's Link

Blog Archive

 

Privacy Policy (site specific)

Privacy Policy (site specific)
Privacy Policy :This blog may from time to time collect names and/or details of website visitors. This may include the mailing list, blog comments sections and in various sections of the Connected Internet site.These details will not be passed onto any other third party or other organisation unless we are required to by government or other law enforcement authority.If you contribute content, such as discussion comments, to the site, your contribution may be publicly displayed including personally identifiable information.Subscribers to the mailing list can unsubscribe at any time by writing to info (at) copsandbloggers@googlemail.com. This site links to independently run web sites outside of this domain. We take no responsibility for the privacy practices or content of such web sites.This site uses cookies to save login details and to collect statistical information about the numbers of visitors to the site.We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and would like to know your options in relation to·not having this information used by these companies, click hereThis site is suitable for all ages, but not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years old.This policy will be updated from time to time. If we make significant changes to this policy after that time a notice will be posted on the main pages of the website.

Latest News

Add to Technorati Favorites
Site Specific Privacy Policy run in accordance with http://www.google.com/privacy.html
We can be reached via e-mail at
copsandbloggers@googlemail.com
For each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes information of your browser, IP address, City/State/Country.
We collect only the domain name, but not the e-mail address of visitors to our Web page, the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail.
The information we collect is used for internal review and is then discarded, used to improve the content of our Web page, used to customize the content and/or layout of our page for each individual visitor.
With respect to cookies: We use cookies to store visitors preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends.
With respect to Ad Servers: To try and bring you offers that are of interest to you, we have relationships with other companies like Google (www.google.com/adsense) that we allow to place ads on our Web pages. As a result of your visit to our site, ad server companies may collect information such as your domain type, your IP address and clickstream information. For further information, consult the privacy policy of:
http://www.google.com/privacy.html
copsandbloggers@googlemail.com
If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us at the above email address.