Lance Green, Murder, Racketeering, Ohio 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The last of 20 defendants in a gang-related racketeering and murder case has received his sentence in U.S. District Court.

Lance Green, 37, formerly of Columbus, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in June before his slated trial in July to one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of murder in aid of racketeering.

The 20 individuals, associated with the Short North Posse’s “Cut Throat Committee,” were indicted in October 2014 in a racketeering case, with charges that include 14 previously unsolved murders, attempted murders, drug trafficking, weapons offenses, extortion and robbery.

Of the 20 total defendants, six were convicted at trial, 13 pleaded guilty and one has died.

Their sentences range from seven years in prison to multiple life terms with no chance of parole. One of the group’s “bosses,” Robert Ledbetter, was sentenced to several consecutive life sentences last week.

“Let this serve as a clear message that if you terrorize our streets with violence you will spend significant time in federal prison, and for the six men in this case who were convicted at trial, they’ll be spending the rest of their lives there,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman said.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the two-year investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, Columbus Police, Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin’s Office, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien’s Office, Fairfield County Prosecutor Gregg Marx, Licking County Prosecutor Kenneth Oswalt, Muskingum County Prosecutor D. Michael Haddox, Ross County Prosecutor Matthew S. Schmidt, law enforcement leaders from those counties, and officials of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David DeVillers, Kevin Kelley and Brian Martinez and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Lowe with Franklin County Prosecutor O’Brien’s Office represented the United States in these cases.

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