|
TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that two members of the Nine Trey
Headbustas set of the Bloods street gang
have pleaded guilty to racketeering for
their roles in a gang-related murder in
New Brunswick in 2008.
According
to Director Taylor, Syree Hakins, 38, of
West Orange, and Tyrane Mathis, 34, of Newark,
pleaded guilty late yesterday to first-degree
racketeering before Superior Court Judge
Joseph Paone in Middlesex County. A third
co-defendant, Davon Parker, 22, of Edison,
pleaded guilty on Nov. 19 to first-degree
racketeering.
In
pleading guilty, Hakins admitted that he
ordered the murder of fellow gang member
Devin Thompson, 19, who was fatally shot
on Nichol Avenue in New Brunswick on June
2, 2008. Mathis admitted that, acting on
behalf of the gang, he participated in Thompson’s
murder.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Hakins be sentenced to 16 years in
state prison and that Mathis be sentenced
to 12 years in state prison. Each must serve
85 percent of the sentence imposed without
possibility of parole under the No Early
Release Act. Sentencing for Hakins, Mathis
and Parker have been scheduled for Feb.
11. Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Lauren Scarpa Yfantis took the guilty pleas
for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau. Deputy Attorneys
General Philip Mogavero and Veronica Allende
assisted in the prosecution of this case.
Hakins,
Mathis and Parker were charged in a Nov.
4, 2010 state grand jury indictment obtained
by the Division of Criminal Justice, which
charged the alleged leader of the Nine Trey
Headbustas, Michael Anderson, and 18 other
members and associates of the gang with
first-degree racketeering. Anderson, 38,
allegedly led the gang from New Jersey State
Prison in Trenton. The crime of racketeering
carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in
state prison.
The
indictment charging Anderson and the 18
other members and associates of the gang
is merely an accusation and the defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The
indictment stems from “Operation Hardhat,”
an investigation that began in 2007 and
was conducted by the New Jersey Department
of Corrections Special Investigation Division,
the State Police Street Gang North Unit,
the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs &
Organized Crime Bureau, the Middlesex County
Prosecutor’s Office and the New Brunswick
Police Department. They were assisted by
the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office,
Essex County Prosecutor’s Office,
Jersey City Police Department, Newark Police
Department, Paterson Police Department and
other law enforcement agencies.
### |
