For example, although the judge recognized that Hankton was not the sole and only leader of the organization, he did exercise control [and] power [t]he telephone calls clearly establish that [t]hey show his concern for the organization itself, its image. In addition, the court referenced evidence presented by the government which illustrated Hankton's role in the murder of Annette Williams, see supra pp. Cocaine base, better known as crack cocaine, is produced by cooking or mixing powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) with sodium bicarbonate and boiling the mixture until left with a rocklike formation of pure crack cocaine (cocaine minus the hydrochloride). 24. Specifically, Hankton argues that: (a) statements made by government witnesses at sentencing constituted unreliable hearsay and should not have been considered; and Hankton and Davis argue that (b) the introduction of plea agreements signed by co-defendants in the case also qualified as unreliable hearsay evidence and likewise should not have been considered. In a number of those plea agreements, the defendants admit purchasing crack cocaine from Davis. Knox's textbook, "An Introduction to Gangs," lists several gang constitutions, which are filled with rules, pseudo-religious ramblings and the expected problems with spelling. As such, the defendant must have exercised some degree of control over others involved in the commission of the offense or he must have been responsible for organizing others for the purpose of carrying out the crime. Id. We disagree. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. See Salinas, 62 F.3d at 859. In 2006, multiple people died from overdose when a strengthened variant of heroin made its way into the houses. United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 549 n. 1, 94 S.Ct. In addition, Hankton also claims that the district court erroneously double counted by relying on his leadership role in the offense to enhance his sentence under 3B1.1 and 2D1.1. What's more, Detective Charles testified that he personally witnessed Hankton standing with several other men in the parking lot of Williams' building at 1150-60 North Sedgwick Street, from 8:00-10:00 p.m. the evening of her murder. Also, although premising multiple enhancements on identical facts' constitutes impermissible double counting the presence of some overlap in the factual basis for two or more upward adjustments does not automatically qualify as double counting. Id. As a result of information provided by Gatlin, Arthur Hurd A pen register is a mechanical device that records the numbers dialed on a telephone by monitoring the electrical impulses caused when the dial on the phone is released. United States v. New York Tel. The government also introduced the signed plea agreements of other members of the MCs in which they admitted that they had purchased crack cocaine from Hankton. (quoting United States v. Carson, 9 F.3d 576, 584 (7th Cir.1993)); see United States v. Reneslacis, 349 F.3d 412, 417 (7th Cir.2003). The five-point star banner's collective name for joined gangs. On appeal, both men challenge the district court's application of the guidelines to their sentences and claim that they are entitled to be re-sentenced in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. On the high end, Hankton may have supplied Olden with as much as 1071 grams of crack (which is equal to 1 oz. Agent Darin, a member of the FBI's joint gang task force and a trained drug traffic investigation agent, testified concerning Hankton's coordination of the drug trade for the MCs as well as his role as King or leader of the gang throughout the city in 2000 and 2001. at 980. As this court has previously noted [i]t is well known that drug dealers commonly use code language out of fear that their conversations will be intercepted. United States v. Harris, 271 F.3d 690, 702 (7th Cir.2001). In fact, 2D1.1 and 3B1.1(a) are premised on entirely different conduct; for while an individual may be found to have distributed a certain quantity of drugs making him eligible for a sentence enhancement under 2D1.1, he need not be a leader or organizer of a criminal activity, as described by 3B1.1, to do so. 841 and 846. The rationale for this is clear: The sentencing stage of a trial is one of the most important parts of the criminal process. See United States v. Sutton, 406 F.3d 472, 474 (7th Cir.2005) (citing United States v. Benitez, 92 F.3d 528, 538 (7th Cir.1996)). For example, in her plea agreement, Ngaya Brunner admits purchasing three eight-balls of crack cocaine from Davis, which translates into approximately 10 and one-half grams.25 The prosecution concluded that, when the plea-agreements were considered in relation to Agent Darin's testimony that Davis was a seasoned cook of cocaine, the reasonable inference was that Davis was responsible for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 to 150 grams of cocaine. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge concluded that based on the plea agreements and testimony given at sentencing, Hankton could have reasonably foreseen that the amount of [crack cocaine] he was dealing was well in excess of 500 grams, and could reach even beyond 1.5 kilograms. Indeed, the District Judge determined that the recorded [Title III] calls alone take the amount well beyond the 500-gram minimum.20 Moreover, citing the live testimony and the physical evidence confiscated from Hankton's residence (such as correspondence identifying Hankton as King), the court found that [Hankton] [was] one of several organizers and one of several leaders within [the] structured criminal organization and that he exercised control and power over other members of the gang and felt a four level leadership enhancement to Hankton's sentence was warranted pursuant to U.S.S.G. Nonetheless, Hankton argues that the sentencing judge's mention of his leadership role in the organization while finding that he was also eligible for a sentence enhancement for distributing more than 500 grams of cocaine under 2D1.1 constituted impermissible double counting. As recounted above, Olden testified that for a period of five months (between June and October of 2000) Hankton personally supplied him with individual distribution amounts of crack cocaine-ranging in quantity from one eighth of an ounce to one ounce-every three to four days. 841(a)(1). On appeal, both Hankton and Davis argue that their respective sentences should be vacated as unconstitutional under the Sixth Amendment citing the district judge's belief that application of the guidelines was mandatory as well as the judge's subsequent enhancement of their sentences on facts which were neither proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt nor admitted by the appellants. Co., 434 U.S. 159, 161 n. 1, 98 S.Ct. Hankton's role as King was also supported through Agent Darin's description of physical evidence that was confiscated from Hankton's residence upon a search warrant-such as letters calling Hankton the King, statues of cobras wearing crowns and jewelry of crowns-all referring to Hankton's leadership position in the gang as the King of Kings.. It was allot of Cobra Stones but once Mickey died some stayed Stones,some became Mickey Cobras and some were King Cobras. Take this excerpt from the Vice Lord constitution: "Every member of the Amalgamated Order of Lordism will at all times maintain him or herself within the Code of Conduct Chain of Command, and the principals of law in the highest manor.". In one conversation with a MCs associate, for example, Hankton is asked whether he got that butter?. An FBI-led task force and Chicago police arrested Hankton and 12 of the other suspects Thursday. The district court sentenced Davis at the low end of the sentencing range and ordered that he be imprisoned for 210 months. 2. Also, the reliability of the plea agreements-as well as Agent Darin's testimony for that matter-was bolstered by the fact that, at sentencing, Hankton took advantage of a reasonable opportunity to rebut the hearsay evidence used against him. United States v. Barnes, 117 F.3d 328, 338 (7th Cir.1997) (quoting United States v. Francis, 39 F.3d 803, 810 (7th Cir.1994)). See United States v. Torres-Ramirez, 213 F.3d 978, 980-81 (7th Cir.2000) Under circumstances such as these we are unwilling to find fault with the sentencing judge's decision to credit Darin's statement in determining the drug quantity attributable to Hankton. Thf 44 is also very deep and they also rep cobra heavily. Specifically, Hankton and Davis claim that the district court erroneously calculated the quantity of drugs attributable to them and that evidence (e.g., wiretap evidence) concerning their respective leadership roles in the drug offenses was inadmissible and unreliable and should not have been considered by the sentencing judge. Juwan Gatlin was a member of a street gang known as the Mickey Cobras. 12. The fact that Williams' murder appeared to involve a dispute over drug money, as opposed to drugs, would not preclude the sentencing judge from inferring that the incident was related to the MCs drug activities or from concluding that Hankton exerted the same authority over the gang's drug activities as he did over ordering beatings or murder. 3B1.1(a) of the Guidelines.21 The district judge, after hearing and weighing the totality of the evidence, sentenced Hankton to 300 months imprisonment, which fell in the middle of the applicable guidelines range of 262 to 327 months. The founder of the Egyptian Cobras was James Cogwell. 2D1.1. See supra p. 7-9. The statements did suggest that the original order to issue Williams a beating may have emanated from, or been approved by, a higher authority in the gang; however, A and B agree that the order to beat Williams came to them directly from Hankton. Fraction and eight of the 11 codefendants charged in the complaint are or have been affiliated with the Vice Lords, the Black P Stones, and the Mickey Cobra Stones, all of which are subgroups of the Chicago-based People gang. 841(a)(1). Gatlin was murdered because he provided information to the police about the murder of Tony Dawson, a previously unsolved homicide in Minneapolis. The Mickey Cobras now have their own unique written constitution and by-laws, which show a strong Islamic influence, just like those of the modern-day BPSN. As explained infra, the rules of evidence do not apply at sentencing, thus the judge's decision to consider the code language testimony given by Agent Darin was squarely within his discretion. ", And rule No. In other words, Davis must present this court with more than conclusory allegations that a government witness is unreliable; he must present evidence which would in some way rebut that testimony or demonstrate that it is inaccurate and should not have been relied upon by the sentencing judge. See supra p. 13. We review the district court's determination of drug quantity and role in the offense, in the same manner as before Booker, for clear error. United States v. Sutton, 406 F.3d 472, 474 (7th Cir.2005) (citing United States v. Parra, 402 F.3d 752, 762 (7th Cir.2005)). 31: "There will be no breaking into apartment or vacant apartment in the building.". However, as noted above, the relevant inquiry is not whether the plea agreements submitted at sentencing constituted hearsay, see Smith, 3 F.3d at 1100, but whether the plea agreements included a sufficient indicia of reliability to support [their] probable accuracy, Taylor, 72 F.3d at 543, which we conclude that they did. You must be 16 years old to work "on the line." According to metric-conversions.org, .375 ounces equates to approximately 10.63107 grams. Instead, Davis claims only that the introduction of the co-defendants' plea agreements constituted clear error due to the fact that the agreements were inadmissible hearsay. Three Mickey Cobras members, including Lindsey Bell, the gang's chief enforcer, were convicted in Cook County Criminal Court of beating Williams to death with baseball bats in a hallway outside her apartment in the Cabrini-Green public housing development. Factions of the gang are being established throughout the Midwestern United States. Chicago Police Detective Kenneth Charles, one of the officers charged with investigating Williams' murder and a court recognized expert on the MCs, related information that he uncovered which led him to believe that Hankton had ordered the beating that resulted in Williams' death. "It's a fallacy that they put on paper that you have to be 16 on the line. 14. The list is a detailed explanation of how to act as "security" for drug sales and how to sell "packs" of crack in three buildings of the Robert Taylor Homes that are controlled by the gang. As the King, Hankton was responsible for everything from the direction of the conversion of powder cocaine into crack to the organization of the gang's basketball games. TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. "They don't want any trouble . Primarily, the group known as Mickey Cobras controlled the sale of narcotics and the life of most residents up until the 2000s. "Prentis Smith testified that he was a former member of the Mickey Cobra street gang. The authors have spent decades investigating gangs as well as researching their history and activities, and . Gang members who sell "packs" of cocaine "on the line" must be finished with work by midnight. However, even where a plain error is found to exist, a court of appeals may exercise its discretion to notice a forfeited error only if the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631, 122 S.Ct. Yeah the cobras are deep in the low end. As the district court concluded, given the entirety of the government's submission, [Agent Darin's testimony] is reliable evidence and should be given substantial weight by the court [i]t is corroborated [i]t all ties together. And no sitting down or horsing around while on duty. 8,000 to 10,000 that lives in the United States of America. It even cites the court case-Miranda vs. Arizona. However, even if the judge had taken into account Hankton's leadership role when determining the quantity of drugs attributing attributable to him, this would not have been improper because, as explained above, although there may have been some overlap in the factual predicate for both enhancements, each enhancement addressed distinct aspects of the defendant's conduct. Schmeilski, 408 F.3d at 919. As Charles explained, Hankton held the position of don or foreman of the MCs at the Cabrini-Green housing project where Williams lived, and had the authority to order a violation of this kind. Last summer, Hilbring recalled, officers seized an instruction list that a West Side gang was passing out to its drug customers. What's more, the evidence submitted at sentencing was internally consistent with the totality of the evidence in the record and various aspects of that evidence corroborated other aspects. Further, even if we were to assume, arguendo, that the testimony given by Agent Darin as well as the co-defendants' plea agreements was unreliable, the live testimony of Jammah Olden, without more, supported-or at the least lent great credence to-the conclusion that Hankton distributed in excess of 500 grams of crack cocaine. June 16, 1993)).