A Pittsburgh man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to conduct a racketeering enterprise related to his membership in a Pittsburgh Crips gang, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton of the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Rayshawn Malachi, 26, aka ‘Melly Mel,’ pleaded guilty on April 28, 2011, before Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond to one count of conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise.
According to the guilty plea, Malachi and others participated in a pattern of racketeering activity that included multiple acts involving robberies at gun point; attempted murders; distribution of controlled substances, including cocaine, heroin and crack cocaine; and obstruction of justice and witness intimidation.
Malachi was a member of the Northview Heights/ Fineview Crips, a criminal street gang that operated in the Northview Heights public housing venue on the North Side of Pittsburgh. The Northview Heights Crips gang was formed around 2001-2002, and in 2003, it formed an alliance with the Brighton Place Crips.
The Brighton Place/Northview Heights Crips gang maintains exclusive control over drug trafficking in these neighborhoods through continuous violence and intimidation of rivals and witnesses. Members of the gang support each other through payment of attorneys’ fees and bonds, as well as payments to jail commissary accounts and support payments to incarcerated members’ families.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles A. Eberle and Troy Rive of the Western District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police; the Allegheny County, Penn., Police Department; and the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office.
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Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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