Feds indict 14 alleged members of Black Guerrilla Family
Indictment alleges two murders, two attempted murders and three fatal drug overdoses caused by the gang
A federal grand jury has indicted 14 men, all but one from Baltimore, for their alleged involvement in violent racketeering and drug trafficking as part of the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF).
Two of the men were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and four were indicted on various gun charges in a superseding indictment announced this afternoon by Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
Rosenstein said the indictment brings to 118 the number of alleged BGF members and associates indicted in federal court since 2009.
The men indicted today were:
• Timothy Michael Gray (a.k.a “Mike Gray,” “Uncle Mike,” “MG” and “M”), age 47
• Robert Nedd (a.k.a “Pizza,” and “P”), 44
• Mark Bazemore (a.k.a. “Uncle Mark”), 30
• Marshall Spence (a.k.a “Uncle M”), 33
• Irvin Vincent (a.k.a “O” and “O-dog”), 26
• Glendrict Frazier (a.k.a. “Glen” and “Uncle Glen”), 51
• Timothy Hurtt (a.k.a. “Uncle Tim,” and “Tim”), 44
• William Harrington (a.k.a. “Boosie” and “Boosey), 34
• Tyrone Franklin (a.k.a “Bones”), 35
• Troy Kellam (a.k.a. “G”), 29
• Calvin Palmer (a.k.a. “C”), 21
• Davon Robinson (a.k.a. “Veeto”), 26
• Michael Smith, Jr. (a.k.a. “Mikey,” “Lil Mike,” and “Mik’), 29
• Daquan Burman (a.k.a. “Day-Day”), 20
Heroin in Howard County
According to the nine-count indictment, the defendants are members and associates of the BGF, or “Jamaa,” the Swahili word for family, a nationwide gang founded in California as a revolutionary Maoist organization in the 1960s.
Rosenstein said the gang appeared in the Maryland correctional system in the 1990s. And while still a prison gang, BGF has expanded into criminal activity throughout Maryland.
The 14 defendants charged in today’s superseding indictment ran BGF through a pattern of criminal activity from at least 2012 to the present. All 14 are charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, crack and oxycodone.
The defendants are alleged to have distributed drugs to customers chiefly in West Baltimore, including at “drug shops” in the vicinity of Pratt and Payson Streets, Catherine and Baltimore Streets and on Lemmon Street.
Vincent is also alleged to have distributed wholesale quantities of heroin to a co-conspirator, who then sold the heroin to customers in Howard County.
Gray is characterized in the indictment as the commander of BGF on the streets of Baltimore since 2013. He and Hurtt collected money from gang members and subcommanders who controlled the drug shops, according to prosecutors.
Early symbol of Black Guerrilla Family. (policemag.com)
In 2013, Gray allegedly sanctioned the murder of a BGF gang member, then watched as another BGF gang member fired several shots at the victim, attempting to kill him.
Gray also sanctioned the murder of second BGF member (a.k.a. “Newbie”), authorized the shooting of a third victim and last June ordered the murder of “‘Gutter,’ an unknown person.”
Vincent’s drug operation allegedly caused the death of three customers who died from heroin, oxycdone, and morphine and fentanyl intoxication in 2013 and 2014.
The indictment describes a number of assaults, shootings and murders by other members of the family.
The 14 defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison on the racketeering and drug conspiracies.
Rosenstein today credited local officials, including Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and Howard County Chief of Police Gary Gardner, with helping federal law enforcement officials in obtaining evidence against the defendants.