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Press Release

Two Leaders In The Black Guerilla Family Gang Plead Guilty To Federal Racketeering Conspiracy Charge, Including Authorizing Murders

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Ricky Evans, a Former East Baltimore Safe Streets Employee, Admitted Using the Safe Streets Office to Hold BGF Meetings, and to Store and Distribute Drugs and Firearms

Baltimore, Maryland – Ricky Evans, a/k/a Dorsey, and Shawn Thomas, a/k/a Bucky, both age 38, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty on November 5, 2018, to the federal charge of participating in a racketeering conspiracy, as leaders in the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) gang.

The guilty pleas were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Rob Cekada of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Interim Commissioner Gary Tuggle of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.

According to their plea agreements, from prior to 2010 through February 22, 2018, Evans and Thomas were employed by and associated with the BGF gang. BGF is a nationwide gang operating in prisons and in cities throughout the United States, including in Baltimore. BGF is involved in criminal activity including murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, and witness intimidation.

BGF organizes its members into “regimes” or “bubbles” corresponding to particular regions or neighborhoods in Baltimore City and other Maryland communities. Each bubble reports to a bush member or bushman, who controls larger swaths of territory on behalf of BGF. Bush members are elder statesman of BGF and maintain inter-bubble discipline and settle disputes among the various bubbles operating in the territory the bush member controls.

Evans and Thomas admitted that they were high-ranking members of BGF, controlling regimes in East Baltimore and the 2700 block of Greenmount Avenue, respectively. During the course of the conspiracy, Evans and Thomas obtained narcotics, including crack cocaine, which they distributed through BGF-controlled open-air drug shops in their territories.

As detailed in Evans’ plea agreement, Evans operated a murder-for-hire scheme during the time of the conspiracy, accepting payments to have violence committed against individuals, then taking other BGF members to commit those acts. In 2010, Evans authorized BGF members to kidnap, extort and/or rob Marcal Walton. During the kidnapping, BGF members shot and killed Walton as he tried to flee from his kidnappers. In that same year, Evans authorized the murder of Darel Alston, a BGF member, for his alleged cooperation with law enforcement regarding the botched kidnapping of Marcal Walton. Evans further admitted that during the period of the conspiracy, he was an employee of Safe Streets, a Baltimore-based anti-violence initiative. Evans worked at the Safe Streets office in the 2300 block of Monument Street in East Baltimore, and used that Safe Streets office to hold BGF meetings, to store and distribute drugs, and to store, and allow to be stored firearms used in other crimes. Evans admitted that he also possessed firearms for his protection and the protection of the enterprise, including a stolen and loaded .223-caliber Bushmaster model which he possessed on March 16, 2016.

As detailed in Thomas’ plea agreement, Thomas collected gang dues for BGF. On December 9, 2016, Thomas ordered another BGF member to murder Keith Ramsey, a Bloods gang member, as part of an ongoing dispute between the two gangs.

Evans and Thomas each face a maximum of life in prison for the racketeering conspiracy. Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar has scheduled sentencing for February 5, 2019 at 10 a.m. for Evans and February 22, 2019 for Thomas.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the ATF, FBI, Baltimore Police Department, and the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys James T. Wallner and Clinton J. Fuchs, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

Contact

Marcia Murphy
(410) 209-4854

Updated November 6, 2018

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Firearms Offenses
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Violent Crime