The feds have charged four Mainers among more than 40 members and associates of a notorious Jamaica Plain gang in Boston with a number of serious charges following a two-year investigation.
The Heath Street gang, which is also called “Heat” and the “Trottie Gang,” operates mainly out of the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments, which were formerly known as the Bromley Heath Housing Developments, one of the largest public housing developments in Boston.
The feds announced the charges against 41 people at a press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s office at the federal courthouse in Boston’s Seaport district. The charges include racketeering conspiracy (RICO), drug trafficking, illegal firearms, wire fraud as well as a medley of financial frauds, including COVID assistance fraud.
The gang preys on the youth of the projects, “enticing” them, in the words of Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, to join through both violent coercion and through a dedicated public relations campaign where the gang makes themselves seem essential in rap lyrics and associated music videos.
In some of those videos, Levy said, gang members boast of killing rivals and even at one point rapped “I can say the names, but I might make the feds come for us.”
“Well, the Feds have come for you,” Levy said. “And we showed up with our federal, state, and local partners in a highly coordinated effort to root out violence, stop gun and drug trafficking, and bring peace to this public housing development.”
Levy was flanked by Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, as well as the special agents in charge of the local offices for the federal agencies the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — or ATF — and Homeland Security Investigations. Each in turn asserted that this was a joint and massive undertaking by the various agencies involved.
The feds say that the Heath Street Gang started in the 1980s and is now made up of more than 150 members who each partake in violence to spread the gang’s influence, reputation and power.
In that pursuit of street fame, authorities say the Heat members have even “brazenly assaulted local law enforcement officers,” expanded drug trade routes from their base in the pojects outward to the rest of Massachusetts to Maine and even California. And, authorities say, the gang has committed numerous murders and shootings, largely targeting the rival Mission Hill Gang and the H-Block gang.
But it’s not just fellow gangbangers who have borne the weight of such violence as the feds say that others have been caught in the crossfire, including in October 2016 when a 9-year-old girl was shot and severely injured.
Those charged are the following:
1. Jaquori “Y Gizzle” Lyons, 25, of Jamaica Plain, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
2. Joan “Trouble” Avalo-Quezada, 26, of Hyde Park, is charged with RICO conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
3. Trevon “Moula” Bell, 27, of Roslindale, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
4. Keonte “Keko” Campbell, 28, of Hyde Park, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
5. Amos “Cruddy” Carrasquillo, 35, of Mattapan, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
6. Deshawn “Lil D” Cirino, 26, of Boston, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
7. Dominique “Heff” Finch, 34, of Boston, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
8. Zion “Bricks” Ford, 24, of Hyde Park, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
9. Tyrre “Blick” or “Smoov” Herring, 26, of Billerica, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
10. De’vonne “Daedae” Mcdonald-Jones, 27, of Roslindale, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
11. Rickquille “Ricky Mazarati” or “Mozzy” Mckinney, 30, of Arlington, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
12. Amani “Chop” Perkins, 25, of Mattapan, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
13. Michael “Snyda” or “Sneed” Riley, 46, of Malden, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
14. Keyon “Beano” Roberson, 23, of Dorchester, is charged with RICO conspiracy;
15. Randy Diaz-Pizarro, 32, of Central Falls, Rhode Island, is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition;
16. Bryon Palmer, 36, of Charlestown, is charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl;
17. Rolando Coxon, 31, of Hyde Park, is charged with two counts of distribution of fentanyl;
18. Cerone Davis, 30, of Arlington, is charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a public housing facility;
19. Donte Daily, 33, of Jamaica Plain, is charged with being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition;
20. Theodore Gamble-Williams, 39, of Jamaica Plain, is charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances;
21. Jameel Gibbons, 39, of Roslindale, is charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances;
22. Charles Bomman, 33, of Roxbury, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
23. Deondre Blanding, 27, of Roslindale, is charged with possession of firearm in furtherance of violent or drug trafficking crime;
24. Gelson Rodrigues, 33, of Randolph, is charged with possession of firearm in furtherance of violent or drug trafficking crime;
25. Riccara McKinney, 28, of Roxbury, is charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act conspiracy) and wire fraud;
26. Rachel McKinney, 32, of Arlington, is charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act conspiracy) and wire fraud;
27. Teshawnda Knight, 41, of Hyde Park, is charged with wire fraud;
28. Antawn Davis, 39, of Boston, is charged with wire fraud;
29. Taisha Garcia, 27, of Lynn, is charged with wire fraud;
30. Dawan Searcy, 32, of Somerville, is charged with wire fraud;
31. Nathan Bootman, 26, of Randolph, is charged with wire fraud;
32. Jameela Gross, 27, of Jamaica Plain, is charged with wire fraud;
33. Robert Platt, 44, of Brockton, is charged with wire fraud;
34. Donovan Scarlett, 25, of West Roxbury, is charged with wire fraud;
35. David Avalo, 28, of Hyde Park, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
36. Victor Pimentel, 27, of Brockton, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
37. Amanda LaPointe, 39, of Ripley, Maine, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
38. Krystin Mathewson, 38, of Enfield, Connecticut, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
39. Jacob Lyford, 32, of Milo, Maine, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
40. Michael St. Pierre, 54, of Dedham, Maine, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances; and
41. Kayla Tasker, 31, of Dexter, Maine, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Story by Flint McColgan, Boston Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
