Sweeping Racketeering Indictment Charges 15 Members of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims Bloods Set
Gang Leadership from Multiple New Jersey Cities Charged in Conspiracy Involving Drugs, Guns, and Deadly Violence

NEWARK, NJ—Fifteen alleged members and associates of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang are charged with racketeering conspiracy in a sweeping indictment unsealed today. The second superseding indictment outlines, among other things, murder and murder conspiracies, numerous aggravated assaults, a kidnapping, firearms offenses, and various controlled substance distribution conspiracies, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Those charged in the indictment represent senior leadership who ran the gang’s activities in Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson, N.J., among other locations.

The 20-count indictment charges all of the defendants with racketeering conspiracy, and includes 63 overt acts that the defendants allegedly committed in furtherance of that conspiracy. Individuals are also charged with various offenses related to gang activities.

Law enforcement arrested Richard Fields, 27, a/k/a “P.O.,” in Paterson, N.J.; and Michael McCloud, 26, a/k/a “Ike Brim,” in Passaic, N.J. this morning. The remaining charged defendants are already in state or federal custody or on house arrest, where they have been since their arrests on related charges. Those defendants previously had been charged at the state or federal level with various crimes, but now face federal prosecution as a group under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”).

Fields and McCloud are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon—along with Torien Brooks, 29, a/k/a “B.G.,” a/k/a “T-Bird,” a/k/a “Reek Boy;” and Emmanuel Jones, 26, a/k/a “Killer E,” a/k/a “Killer,” a/k/a “Emo”— before United States District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court. The remaining defendants will be arraigned over the course of the next three weeks.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman stated: “The presence of this gang is unacceptable, whether its leaders are on the streets or behind bars. Prison sentences must mean more than a change of a gang’s base of operations. We are working to dismantle gangs wherever they are to keep the people of New Jersey safe from the violence they bring to our communities.”

According to the second superseding indictment unsealed today in Newark federal court:

Vincent Young, 41, a/k/a “No Good,” a/k/a “Good,” a/k/a “Big Head,” was a member of the Los Angeles-based Fruit Town Brims Set of the Bloods street gang. In 1993, Young traveled from California to New Jersey, where he killed a person he believed had threatened members of the gang. While in the New Jersey state prison system, Young founded and became the leader of the New Jersey-based set of the Fruit Town Brims. He currently holds the position of “Triple Original Gangster,” or “OOOG,” which is the highest ranking position of the gang in New Jersey.

Young met Altariq Gumbs, 33, a/k/a “Killer Reek,” a/k/a “Killer,” a/k/a “Reek,” a/k/a “Jersey,” a/k/a “Sankofa” while they were both incarcerated in the New Jersey state prison system, and recruited Gumbs to join the gang. Young promoted Gumbs to lead a Newark-based subset of the gang, known as the Brick City Brims. Gumbs currently holds the position of “Double Original Gangster,” or “OOG,” which is the gang’s second-highest ranking position in New Jersey.

Mary Holmes, 42, a/k/a “Mary Brim,” a/k/a “Ma,” has held “First Lady” status in the gang, meaning that she is the gang’s highest-ranking woman in New Jersey. She also has functioned as the de facto “minister of information,” passing along gang-related information from incarcerated members and associates of the set to other incarcerated members and associates of the set, as well as to and from those members and associates who are not incarcerated.

Also named in the indictment are: Antwon Breedlove, 32, a/k/a “Haywire;” Saleen Neal, 30, a/k/a “S Bang;” Haleek State, 26, a/k/a “H.O.;” Larry Mayo, 28, a/k/a “Little Dark Angel,” a/k/a “D.A.;” John Benning, 28, a/k/a “Hood;” Tequan Ryals, 33, a/k/a “T Brim;” Ricky Coleman, 38, a/k/a “Pool Stick,” a/k/a “Sticks;” and Marckese Stewart, 33, a/k/a “Shark.” The defendants and charges in the indictment are outlined in an below chart, along with the maximum potential penalty per count if convicted.

According to the second superseding indictment:

The Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set has been a highly organized group with rules governing members’ conduct. For example, entry into the set requires most potential members to commit acts of violence or to be beaten or “jumped in” by one or more fellow Bloods members. In addition, set members are required to attend regular meetings and pay “dues.” Members earn dues money through their criminal activities, including drug distribution, robbery, and extortion. The dues money that is collected at meetings is used to bail out fellow gang members who have been arrested, purchase minute cards for incarcerated members of the gang who have access to unauthorized cell phones, and deposit funds into the commissary accounts of incarcerated members, including Young, Gumbs, Brooks, and Jones. In addition to collecting dues, set members report on business related to the gang, including their commission of acts of violence and narcotics trafficking, as well as identifying persons believed to be cooperating with law enforcement and responding to law enforcement activity.

Among the crimes charged in the indictment are those relating to a July 19, 2004, murder that occurred in Jersey City. Specifically, defendants Brooks and Jones shot and killed a person they believed was responsible for an earlier shooting of a fellow gang member, but was actually an innocent teenager identified in court documents as “M.T.” Three other bystanders were hit by stray bullets during the incident.

Also charged are crimes relating to an April 11, 2005, conspiracy to murder and kidnap an individual identified in court documents as “M.M.” in Paterson. Specifically, defendants Brooks, State, Mayo, and Benning kidnapped and agreed to kill “M.M.,” an individual who had been involved in a dispute with members of the gang.

Although many of the gang’s members were incarcerated in recent years on different state and federal offenses, the gang continued to expand and commit violent activity, both in and out of prison. Even while in prison, the gang’s leaders, including Young and Gumbs, continued to run the set by communicating with fellow gang members via cell phones smuggled into prison.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew W. Horace; law enforcement officers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Frank X. Schillari; and the Paterson Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief James F. Wittig with the investigation leading to the charges.

He also thanked the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Samuel Jefferson; the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Edward J. De Fazio; the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes; the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Garry F. McCarthy; the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino; the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk; the National Gang Targeting Enforcement & Coordination Center (“GangTECC”), under the direction of Director Adam W. Cohen; the New Jersey Department of Corrections, under the direction of Commissioner Gary M. Lanigan; and the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Colonel Rick Fuentes, for their important roles in the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa Jampol, Lisa Colone, and Robert Frazer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.

The charges and allegations in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.