Tim Jackson, RICO Conspiracy and Heroin Distribution, Louisiana 2026

NEW ORLEANS – A notorious leader of the Byrd Gang has been sentenced to 360 months in prison for his role in a racketeering conspiracy, heroin distribution, and firearms possession.

Tim Jackson, 37, of New Orleans, was sentenced on February 25, 2026, by United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo. As part of a plea agreement, Jackson was sentenced to 360 months imprisonment, 5 years of supervised release, and a $300.00 mandatory special assessment fee, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

Jackson was a leader of the Byrd Gang, also known as M3RE, MagFischer, 315, and Piff Gang, which operated primarily out of the former Magnolia Housing Development, but also had ties to the Westbank. Daily, its members distributed drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, and marijuana, and always possessed a multitude of firearms.

Jackson participated in numerous drug trafficking activities and violent crimes for the Byrd Gang. Members of the enterprise, including Jackson, participated in acts of violence, to include, but not limited to the July 18, 2016, murder of Kent Franklin; the September 3, 2016, murder of Javon Johnigan; the October 29, 2016, shooting of rival M.A.; the November 25, 2016, shooting of Ghost Gang member, D.A.; the December 20, 2016, shooting of rival M.A.; the December 30, 2016, shooting of Ghost Gang member, D.A.; the January 31, 2017, double murder of Ghost Gang member, Wynston Jackson, and Lawrence Williams, IV; the May 3, 2017, shooting at M.I.; and the August 25, 2017, shooting of Ghost Gang member T.H., that happened in a busy shopping corridor of Magazine Street.

In both trials, the government's evidence regarding the existence and nature of the enterprise came from the testimony of witnesses and cooperating informants, cooperating defendants, police searches and seizures, Title III wiretaps, historical arrests of members of the enterprise, including Jackson, among other sources.

Jackson, led the Byrd Gang and was the principal supplier of controlled substances for the enterprise, specifically heroin, while also acting as a gunman for the enterprise. Jackson unlawfully and knowingly conspired with Byrd Gang members to conduct and participate, in the operation of the enterprise through committing racketeering activities including murders, in violation of Title 14, Louisiana Revised Statutes Sections 24 (Principals), 26 (Criminal Conspiracy), 27 (Attempt) and 30.1 (Second Degree Murder); as well as heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, and marijuana trafficking, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 846.

Jackson was arrested on federal charges in 2017, for which he is still serving a sentence. During the investigation, dozens of firearms, most with large-capacity magazines, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition, were seized.

Jackson's co-defendants, Terran Williams, Tyrone Bovia, and Javonta Doleman, went to trial in the Spring of 2025, and all three were found guilty of various charges, including two counts of Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (Murder), for which each faces a mandatory life sentence.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/byrd-gang-leader-sentenced-360-months-rico-conspiracy-heroin-fentanyl-distribution