Paterson Bloods Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

NEWARK, NJ—A member of the Paterson, N.J., Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang admitted today to conspiring to murder and kidnap a rival gang member and to distribute narcotics as part of a racketeering conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Haleek State, 26, of Paterson, pleaded guilty to one count of the second superseding indictment filed against him in January 2011, which charged him with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. State entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

State, a member of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods, admitted that he conspired with fellow gang members Larry Mayo, John Benning, and Torien Brooks to murder a rival gang member, identified in court documents as “M.M.” State said the plan arose out of a disagreement between Brooks and M.M. On April 11, 2005, the four gang members kidnapped and pistol whipped M.M., eventually taking him to the Paterson Falls to murder him. As the gang members exited the car, M.M. was able to escape and run down the street, saving his life.

State also admitted that he conspired with other individuals from in or about January 2005 through in or about January 2007 to sell cocaine in an apartment building on 16th Avenue in Paterson controlled by a Fruit Town Brims member.

The racketeering conspiracy count to which State pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. State is currently scheduled to be sentenced on December 8, 2011.

Mayo and Benning have pleaded guilty to related offenses and await sentencing. The charges against Brooks remain pending.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward—which includes members from the Newark Police Department, East Orange Police Department, Essex County Department of Corrections, Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, Jersey City Police Department, the New Jersey Division of Parole, and the Paterson Police Department—along with the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Special Investigations Division, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

He also thanked the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes; and the Special Operations Division’s National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center, under the direction of Director John Sieder, for their important roles.

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

The charges and allegations against Brooks contained in the second superseding indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel: Alexander Booth Esq., Union City, N.J.