A soldier of the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced Monday to 264 months in prison for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that involved attempted murder and conspiracy to distribute heroin, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Laquan Reed, 28, a/k/a “Drama,” of Montclair, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to Count Two of a 14-count superseding indictment charging him with racketeering conspiracy.
Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence yesterday in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
The Bloods street gang is organized into subgroups, called “sets,” that operate in specific geographic locations.
Sex Money Murder is the set that operates primarily in Essex County, New Jersey.
(Learn More. The city of Trenton, New Jersey was once a boomtown, producing iron, rubber and steel. Today those industries are long gone. Drugs are the business of these mean streets, and one notorious gang calls the shots: Sex Money Murder. Courtesy of Gangland, Samuel Fly and YouTube)
Reed, a ranking member in Sex Money Murder, admitted that from 2007 to 2011 he committed a series of violent crimes to advance the gang’s objectives.
He admitted that he conspired with set members to murder a rival gang member on Aug. 3, 2011, identified in the indictment as “Victim 6.”
Reed admitted he and others engaged in a shootout in an effort to kill the rival gang member in and around Newark.
Reed also admitted conspiring to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin in and around Newark. In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Reed to five years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited the following with the investigation leading to Monday’s sentencing, and for their roles in the investigation.
- Special agents of the FBI and the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark
- The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino
- The Essex County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Armando V. Fontoura, The Newark Department of Public Safety, under the direction of Anthony F. Ambrose
- The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski, and
- Special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John B. Devito
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Toscano, Chief, Organized Crime and Gangs Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division, and Dara Govan of the Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: James Patton Esq., Livingston, New Jersey
