Hoover Five-Deuce Crip Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Newark Assault of FBI Special Agent

TRENTON, NJ—A member of the Hoover-Five Deuce Crips criminal street gang was sentenced today to 360 months in prison for offenses related to his involvement in a 2010 assault on an FBI special agent and task force officer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Durrell Smith, 27, of Irvington, N.J., was convicted by a jury in June 2011 following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper. Smith was convicted of all three counts charged in the second superseding indictment on which he was tried: forcibly assaulting a federal officer; brandishing a firearm in furtherance of that forcible assault; and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Judge Cooper also imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case, the evidence at trial and statements made in court: on September 1, 2010, an FBI special agent, an FBI task force officer, and two Newark police officers had been engaged in narcotics surveillance in an undercover FBI vehicle parked on the corner of Parkhurst and Brunswick in Newark, N.J. Shortly after they set up surveillance, Smith approached the vehicle, brandishing a Hi-Point .380 caliber pistol with an obliterated serial number.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cooper sentenced the defendant to serve five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, for the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodney Villazor and Ronnell Wilson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Kevin Carlucci Esq., Newark