Four members of the LSP street gang, including leaders Derrick Johnson Jr. and Daquann Hackett, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy that used violence to control territory and sell heroin, cocaine, and other drugs in Ohio.
According to the Department of Justice, Johnson, 22, was sentenced to 65 years in prison, while Hackett, also 22, received a 37-year sentence. Terrance Machen Jr., 21, was sentenced to 110 months in prison, and Edward Campbell, also 21, received a 90-month sentence.
The sentencing comes after the four defendants were convicted by a jury in the Northern District of Ohio in June 2012 of conspiring to form and operate a racketeering enterprise, the LSP street gang. Eighteen other individuals previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to form and operate the same racketeering enterprise following an indictment in March 2011.
The LSP conspiracy, which lasted at least eight years, involved crimes including several attempted murders, conspiracy to commit murder, witness tampering, retaliation, firearms trafficking, and drug trafficking. Witnesses testified that LSP members used violence to guard their drug distribution territory, intimidate rival gangs and others, and retaliate against those who cooperated with law enforcement.
During the trial, witnesses testified that LSP gang members committed a drive-by shooting against an individual rival in March 2009, in which several firearms, including two shotguns, were used to fire into the rival’s home. One victim was shot in the head, and another was shot in the foot. Johnson was convicted of attempted murder in aid of a racketeering enterprise related to this act.
The four defendants were also convicted of operating houses in LSP territory where enterprise members were permitted to sell crack cocaine. Witnesses testified that Hackett and Johnson pistol-whipped a confidential informant and attempted to drag him out of a house to murder him during a drug transaction. Hackett was convicted of 19 counts, including violent crimes in aid of racketeering, while Johnson was convicted of seven counts, including violent crimes in aid of racketeering.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Riedl and Robert Corts, and Trial Attorney Kevin Rosenberg of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section. The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with assistance from the Youngstown Police Department and the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.
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