TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that an Atlantic City man was sentenced
to prison today after pleading guilty to
racketeering as a member of the Nine Trey
Gangsters set of the Bloods street gang.
The charges stem from an investigation led
by the New Jersey State Police and the Division
of Criminal Justice.
Edward
Watkins, 22, of Atlantic City, was sentenced
to six years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge Charles A. Delehey in Mercer
County. Watkins pleaded guilty to second-degree
racketeering on July 31. In pleading guilty,
he admitted that he was a member of the
Nine Trey Gangsters and sold drugs for the
gang.
Watkins
was named in a 74-count state grand jury
indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal
Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau
on June 8, 2007, which charged 48 defendants.
Deputy
Attorney General Andrew Butchko prosecuted
Watkins. The investigation was presented
to the state grand jury by Deputy Attorneys
General Butchko, John Corson Jr., Lauren
Scarpa Yfantis, James Ruberton and Brent
Hopkins.
Attorney
General Milgram credited the detectives
with the State Police and Division of Criminal
Justice who carried out the investigation.
She also thanked the agencies that assisted
in the investigation and resulting arrests,
including the FBI, Newark Police Department,
Trenton Police Department, Atlantic City
Police Department, Pleasantville Police
Department, Washington Township Police Department
(Mercer County), Atlantic County Prosecutor’s
Office, Cape May County Prosecutor’s
Office, Cumberland County Prosecutor’s
Office, Essex County Prosecutor’s
Office, Mercer County Prosecutor’s
Office, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s
Office, Tinton Falls Police Department,
Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, Bordentown
City Police Department, New Jersey Department
of Corrections, and State Parole Officers.
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