Founder of Violent Dead Man Incorporated Gang Exiled to Life in Prison on Federal Racketeering Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 27, 2013 |
BALTIMORE—James Sweeney, age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland, was sentenced to life in prison, for conspiracy to participate in a violent racketeering enterprise known as the Dead Man Incorporated (DMI). Sweeney was a founder of DMI and became its “Supreme D.”
The sentence was imposed on February 25, 2013, by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone in the Eastern District of Texas, where Sweeney is currently serving a 30-year Maryland sentence for a 1996 second-degree murder conviction. As part of his Maryland plea agreement, at the conclusion of the sentencing, federal prosecutors in Texas dismissed an indictment charging Sweeney with the murder of an inmate at the federal prison in Beaumont, Texas.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives-Baltimore Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Chief Larry W. Tolliver; Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.
According to his plea agreement, in 2000, Sweeney was a founding member of DMI, created originally as a prison gang in Maryland. By 2006, DMI expanded its membership by recruiting members outside prison, including women.
Sweeney admitted that prior to his transfer to federal custody he was incarcerated in state prison facilities in Maryland and oversaw the activities of DMI. In order to make money for the gang and to enable white prisoners to retaliate against black gangs and cliques, Sweeney announced that DMI was available to do “hits” for hire. Sweeney participated in the smuggling of drugs into prisons by, and on behalf of, DMI members, including heroin, powder and crack cocaine, marijuana, and prescription drugs. During his years in prison in Maryland and in the federal system, Sweeney ordered numerous “hits” in furtherance of DMI, as well as assaults.
Perry Roark, a/k/a Rock, “Pops,” “Slim,” “Saho the Ghost,” age 42, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for the racketeering conspiracy. Roark had been the “Supreme Commander” of DMI since it was originally created as a prison gang in Maryland in 2000.
Mr. Rosenstein praised the FBI; ATF; Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Department; Baltimore City Police Department; the Maryland State Police; Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office; Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas for their assistance and commended Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.