NORFOLK, Va. — Antonio Lee Simmons, aka “Murdock,” 41, of Norfolk, was sentenced today to three consecutive life terms plus 40 years in federal prison for orchestrating a wave of terror across South Hampton Roads as the top leader of the Nine Trey Gangsters Bloods. Simmons was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of Murder in Aid of Racketeering, four counts of Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering, multiple drug and firearm charges, and the use of a firearm resulting in death — crimes committed during a bloody December 2015 spree that left five dead and nine others wounded in seven separate shootings.
According to court documents, Simmons directed a core crew of gang members — including Anthony Foye, aka “Ace,” Nathaniel Mitchell, aka “Savage,” Alvaughn Davis, aka “LB,” Malek Lassiter, aka “Leeko,” and Donte Brehon — to carry out targeted assassinations, robberies, and acts of random violence to strengthen the gang’s grip and reputation. Their rampage crossed city lines from Norfolk to Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Suffolk — leaving behind shattered families and traumatized neighborhoods. Five victims were unaffiliated with any gang, including two mothers and a grandmother gunned down because the gang suspected her of cooperating with police.
Simmons was directly responsible for two murders committed during robberies he ordered. But the carnage escalated when Foye and Mitchell launched a grotesque body count competition — each trying to outshoot the other for status within the gang. Four days before Christmas, Mitchell shot and killed a woman walking home from her shift at Norfolk International Airport, a killing Simmons later bragged about. The trial revealed chilling audio and witness testimony showing Simmons celebrated the violence as proof of the gang’s dominance.
In another attack, Simmons ordered hits on rival Nine Trey Gangsters leaders. When Foye, Mitchell, Davis, and Lassiter couldn’t find two targets, they ambushed a third man’s home. A woman who answered the door — unrelated to the target — was shot six times but survived due to rapid intervention by Portsmouth Police and EMTs. As the gunmen fled, they opened fire on bystanders watching from nearby homes. That same night, Foye and Mitchell were arrested after robbing a gas station.
After a seven-week trial, Simmons, Mitchell, and Lassiter were convicted on all counts. Foye and Davis pleaded guilty before trial; Brehon pleaded guilty in a separate case. Simmons was the last to be sentenced. The Eastern District of Virginia’s U.S. Attorney, G. Zachary Terwilliger, condemned the gang’s actions: “Their actions shattered five families and took parents away from their children. That they did these acts for money and reputation speaks volumes about what gangs really are.”
Where gangs go, said Terwilliger, “depravity and senseless violence follows.” He credited the coordinated efforts of every South Hampton Roads police department in dismantling the cell. The sentence ensures Antonio ‘Murdock’ Simmons will never again set foot outside a prison cell — a final end to one of the region’s most violent crime sprees in modern history.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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