2 S. Florida Men Sentenced for NY Terror Plot

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Going back to 2012, the Qazi brothers’ case involved material support to terrorists and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. They are naturalized citizens from Pakistan and additionally pledged loyalty to al Qaeda and participated in online forums discussing jihad and the Inspire magazine, the media publication by Anwar al Awlaki.

Qazi Brothers Sentenced on Terrorism Violations and Assault on Two Deputy U.S. Marshals

Younger Sibling Plotted to Attack New York City with a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Brothers Raees Alam Qazi, 22, and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 32, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Pakistan, were sentenced today to 35 years and 20 years in prison for terrorism violations and assaulting two Deputy U.S. Marshals while in custody, announced Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Director Stacia A. Hylton of the U.S. Marshals Service and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Division.

Raees Qazi and Sheheryar Qazi were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida, and their prison term will be followed by a term of 10 years and five years of supervised release, respectively.

“With the sentences handed down today, Raees Qazi and his brother Sheheryar Qazi are being held accountable for their roles in a plot to conduct a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction in New York City and their assault on two federal officers during their pretrial detention,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “This case highlights our commitment to pursue any individuals who would seek to conduct an attack on U.S. soil or to injure law enforcement officials who risk their lives to protect us. I want to thank the U.S. Marshals, agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this successful result.”

“Protecting the homeland and our national security remains our number one priority,” said U.S. Attorney Ferrer. “Today’s sentences demonstrate this Office’s unwavering commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to combat all forms of terrorism by proactively finding and prosecuting those who actively seek to kill or harm innocent citizens in the name of violent extremism.”

“Today’s sentencing of the Qazi brothers represents the final chapter for two men who wished to bring harm and mass destruction to Americans on U.S. soil,” said Director Hylton. “Their sentences demonstrate that justice prevailed. I am proud of our brave men and women who participated in this process, and thank the prosecutors who worked tirelessly for this successful conclusion.”

“The threat of a terrorist attack against innocent Americans is real as demonstrated by the actions of these two brothers,” said Special Agent in Charge Piro. “The fact that their terrorist aspirations were cut short didn’t stop Raees and Sheheryar Qazi from attempting to use potentially lethal force against two U.S. Marshals while they were in custody. This case highlights outstanding work and team effort of our South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

On March 12, 2015, Raees Alam Qazi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists in preparation for the use of a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of conspiring to assault a federal employee. Sherheyar Alam Qazi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists in preparation for the use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of conspiring to assault a federal employee.

The brothers acknowledged during the plea hearing that Raees Alam Qazi was going to initiate an attack using a weapon of mass destruction in New York City and that he had been financially and emotionally supported by his older brother, Sheheryar Alam Qazi, who encouraged him to launch the attack. Among other things, the brothers acknowledged that Sheheryar Alam Qazi had encouraged his younger brother to travel from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2011, and that when Raees Alam Qazi had been unsuccessful in his attempt to enter Afghanistan, he returned to his older brother. The brothers acknowledged that Raees Alam Qazi had been trying to reach the “guys from Yemen” aka Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on the internet and that they told him not to come to Afghanistan because there were enough people, but instead suggested they do something in the United States. Raees Alam Qazi admitted that he had taken “hints” from an AQAP online publication entitled Inspire Magazine, including building an explosive device using Christmas tree light bulbs. Raees Alam Qazi also conceded that he had used information in Inspire to communicate with AQAP, and that his communications with Al Qaeda dealt with his desires to launch an attack in the United States.

The brothers acknowledged that Raees Alam Qazi travelled to New York in November 2012 to conduct an attack with a weapon of mass destruction while Sheheryar Alam Qazi actively misled friends and family members about Raees Alam Qazi’s true whereabouts and activities. The brothers acknowledged that Raees Alam Qazi called Sheheryar Alam Qazi from New York to notify him that he had not been successful in his task. Sheheryar Alam Qazi encouraged Raees Alam Qazi to return to “practice over here [Florida] then you may return [to New York] you know…. I will give you complete freedom.”

The brothers additionally admitted their participation in a conspiracy to assault federal officers. They conceded that on April 8, 2014, while being moved within the U.S. Courthouse complex in Miami, they simultaneously punched two Deputy U.S. Marshals in the face and struggled with them and attempted to use potentially lethal force on them. Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi acknowledged that while struggling with the Deputy U.S. Marshals, the defendants simultaneously exclaimed “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic exhortation meaning “God is Great.”

The case was investigated by the FBI’s South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen E. Gilbert and Adam S. Fels of the Southern District of Florida, and Trial Attorney Jennifer E. Levy of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Mr. Weinstein is Dead, Hostages Could Have Been Saved

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Warren Weinstein is shown in a still from video released anonymously to reporters in Pakistan, Dec. 26, 2013.

Additional details and video of testimony is here.

Amerine received the Bronze Star with “V” for “Valor” device for his service in Afghanistan, where he led the Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha team that protected Hamid Karzai after 9/11 as the future Afghan president drummed up Pashtun tribal support to lead the country.
Now he joins critics of the failed U.S. hostage policy — currently under review by a former Army Delta Force commander at the National Counterterrorism Center — such as Diane and John Foley, whose son James Foley was a journalist beheaded by ISIS in Syria in a grisly video last August.
Amerine claims he led a highly-secret Pentagon team tasked with finding ways to recover Americans held captive in Pakistan’s tribal areas — until a “dysfunctional” bureaucracy bungled the mission on the verge of success.
“In early 2013, my office was asked to help get Sgt. Bergdahl home. We informally audited the recovery effort and determined that the reason the effort failed for four years was because our nation lacks an organization that can synchronize the efforts of all our government agencies to get our hostages home. We also realized that there were civilian hostages in Pakistan that nobody was trying to free so they were added to our mission,” Amerine said in his testimony.
“To get the hostages home, my team worked three lines of effort: Fix the coordination of the recovery, develop a viable trade and get the Taliban back to the negotiating table. My team was equipped to address the latter two of those tasks but fixing the government’s interagency process was beyond our capability,” Amerine said.

Bergdahl was freed in 2014 after five years of captivity in a highly controversial swap for five Taliban leaders held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bergdahl now faces charges by the Army for deserting his post in Afghanistan and could wind up in prison for the rest of his life, if convicted.
Amerine said that he and his colleagues had designed a plan to trade an Afghan drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, for the American and Canadian hostages. Noorzai was lured to the U.S., Amerine said, where he was arrested and eventually sentenced to two life sentences on drug charges.
Amerine said his group got as far as working with Noorzai’s tribe and bringing the Taliban to the table about a deal for the drug lord, but then the State Department intervened and killed that deal in favor of the one that eventually freed Bergdahl for five Taliban fighters. Noorzai remains in a high-security prison in California.

The veteran Special Forces field-grade officer told the Senate committee that he, Amerine, also fell under criminal investigation by the Army because the FBI was irked over his criticism of how the Bureau and other agencies mismanaged the hostage crisis and for sharing his frustrations with Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He helped Hunter craft legislation to reform and streamline how government agencies should work jointly to handle hostage cases.
“The FBI formally complained to the Army that information I was sharing with Rep. Hunter was classified. It was not,” Amerine said in his testimony, noting that federal law protects military whistleblowers. “The FBI made serious allegations of misconduct to the Army in order to put me in my place and readily admitted that to a U.S. congressman.”
The Army deleted his retirement paperwork and cut off his pay temporarily recently, Amerine recounted.
“It’s utterly ridiculous in my mind,” Amerine said.
U.S. officials at the Department of Justice and the FBI did not immediately offer comment today regarding Amerine and his claims.
Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith said that while the service’s policy dictates that they cannot confirm the names of anyone who “may or may not be under investigation,” Smith noted that “both the law and Army policy would prohibit initiating an investigation based solely on a Soldier’s protected communications with Congress.”
A spokesperson for Hunter, in turn, said that the Army had confirmed to Hunter their investigation into Amerine for “potential unauthorized disclosures” to Congress.


“It’s a sad day for the Army, in its struggle to be truthful,” said Joe Kasper, Hunter’s spokesperson.
Amerine plans to tell the Committee today, “You, the Congress, were my last resort to recover the hostages. But now I am a whistleblower, a term that has become radioactive and derogatory.
“And let us not forget: Warren Weinstein is dead while Colin Rutherford, Josh Boyle, Caitlin Coleman, and her child remain prisoners. Who is fighting for them?”

DHS Holds Employee as a Hostage

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Visa Program for Wealthy Foreigners Has Serious Security Challenges, Homeland Whistleblower Says

 

A senior federal agent became the first insider Wednesday to publicly expose what she said were serious national security concerns surrounding a controversial immigration program that has been providing Green Cards to wealthy foreigners.

Senior Special Agent Taylor Johnson said her Homeland Security investigation uncovered visa applicants from China, Russia, Pakistan and Malaysia who had been approved in as little as 16 days, even though their applications “lacked basic necessary law enforcement” screening.

“During the course of my investigation it became very clear that the EB-5 program has serious security challenges,” she said.

Her findings echo those reported in a series of stories this year by ABC News about the controversial program that gives wealthy foreigners the chance to turn a $500,000 investment into a U.S. Green Card – reports that were based on extensive interviews with five other whistleblowers.

The ABC News investigation uncovered records showing foreign applicants had successfully obtained EB-5 visas despite allegations of fraud, money laundering, forgery, and other crimes against them. In one case, an Iranian business man was able to gain recertification to participate in the program even as he was under active investigation for smuggling.

The program, known by the visa designation EB-5, is designed to create thousands of jobs by offering temporary residency and eventually Green Cards to foreigners who agree to invest more than $500,000 in approved American ventures. The two-part ABC News investigation found, however, that the program had become a magnet for those seeking to sidestep the scrutiny of the traditional immigration process.

Johnson came forward Wednesday as part of a U.S. Senate Hearing that was convened to bring attention to the plight of federal officials who have tried to report wrongdoing in their agencies, only to face retaliation for stepping forward. Johnson said she was sent an unmistakable message by senior Homeland Security officials when she began to report them up the chain of command – back off.

“After disclosing gross mismanagement, waste and fraud that threatened the general public’s safety, National Security Risks and public corruption surrounding an EB-5 project, I was subjected to a significant amount of harassment and retaliation,” Johnson said.

“I was removed from the investigation, a shoddy follow-up review was conducted and then in 2013, ultimately, the investigation was shut down,” she told senators.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. But in earlier statements to ABC News, senior officials said they had already begun work on improving the EB-5 program to better insulate it from exploitation by foreign agents and criminals. They said they were hampered in their efforts by a lack of legal authority to crack down on the so-called “regional centers” — largely unregulated businesses that have sprung up to pair foreign investors with U.S. based projects that have the potential to create jobs.

Following the ABC News investigation, an internal investigation by the Inspector General was published which revealed evidence of political meddling in the program, also relying heavily on whistleblowers from inside Homeland Security. Senior members of the U.S. Senate last week proposed legislation aimed at better protecting the EB-5 program from abuse.

As all of the internal problems with the little-known immigration program have surfaced, however, none of the whistleblowers had stepped forward to talk in public. Those interviewed by ABC News expressed strong concerns that they would face retaliation if they spoke out. Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth expressed a similar concern when he testified on the issue before the House Homeland Security Committee in March.

“Being a whistleblower is seen to be hazardous,” Roth said.

WH Ignoring Iran’s $6Billion for Syria Iraq Terror

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John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Tony Blinken, Tom Donilon, Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett and Barack Obama are but part of the team that knew and ignored the billions for years that Iran used to support Bashir al Assad’s terror in Syria and later Iraq. The Obama regime has been gifting Iran money by lifting sanctions for the sake of humanitarian purposes in Iran when the money was not used for that but rather to support the Assad tyrannical power in Syria. Sanction waivers under the Obama regime regarding Iran have been common since the Iranian nuclear talks began.

Now the question is will this White House and State Department come clean and walk away from the P5+1 Iranian nuclear talks? This betrayal is historic.

Iran Spends Billions to Prop Up Assad

By Eli Lake
Iran is spending billions of dollars a year to prop up the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to the U.N.’s envoy to Syria and other outside experts. These estimates are far higher than what the Barack Obama administration, busy negotiating a nuclear deal with the Tehran government, has implied Iran spends on its policy to destabilize the Middle East.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told me that the envoy estimates Iran spends $6 billion annually on Assad’s government. Other experts I spoke to put the number even higher. Nadim Shehadi, the director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, said his research shows that Iran spent between $14 and $15 billion in military and economic aid to the Damascus regime in 2012 and 2013, even though Iran’s banks and businesses were cut off from the international financial system.

Such figures undermine recent claims from Obama and his top officials suggesting that Iran spends a relative pittance to challenge U.S. interests and allies in the region. While the administration has never disclosed its own estimates on how much Iran spends to back Syria and other allies in the Middle East, Obama himself has played down the financial dimension of the regime’s support.

“The great danger that the region has faced from Iran is not because they have so much money. Their budget — their military budget is $15 billion compared to $150 billion for the Gulf States,” he said in an interview last week with Israel’s Channel 2.

But experts see it another way. The Christian Science Monitor last month reported that de Mistura told a think tank in Washington that Iran was spending three times its official military budget–$35 billion annually–to support Assad in Syria. When asked about that earlier event, Jessy Chahine, the spokeswoman for de Mistura, e-mailed me: “The Special Envoy has estimated Iran spends $6 billion annually on supporting the Assad regime in Syria. So it’s $6 billion not $35 billion.”

Either way, that figure is significant. Many members of Congress and close U.S. regional allies have raised concerns that Iran will see a windfall of cash as a condition of any nuclear deal it signs this summer. Obama himself has said there is at least $150 billion worth of Iranian money being held in overseas banks as part of the crippling sanctions. If Iran spends billions of its limited resources today to support its proxies in the Middle East, it would follow that it will spend even more once sanctions are lifted.

The Obama administration disagrees. It says the amount Iran spends on mischief in the region is so low that any future sanctions relief will not make a difference in its behavior. Speaking at a conference this weekend sponsored by the Jerusalem Post, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that even as Iran’s economy has suffered from sanctions in recent years, it has been able to maintain its “small” level of assistance to terrorists and other proxies. “The unfortunate truth remains that the cost of this support is sufficiently small, that we will need to remain vigilant with or without a nuclear deal to use our other tools to deter the funding of terror and regional destabilization,” he said.

Shehadi and other experts acknowledged that their figures were estimates, because the Tehran regime does not publicize budgets for its Revolutionary Guard Corps or the full subsidies it provides to allies. Nonetheless, Shehadi says, Iranian support to Syria today is substantial, especially when factoring in the line of credit, oil subsidies and other kinds of economic assistance Iran provides the Syrian regime.

Steven Heydemann, who was the vice president for applied research on conflict at the U.S. Institute of Peace until last month, told me earlier this year that the value of Iranian oil transfers, lines of credit, military personnel costs and subsidies for weapons for the Syrian government was likely between $3.5 and $4 billion annually. He said that did not factor in how much Iran spent on supporting Hezbollah and other militias fighting Assad’s opponents in Syria. Heydamann said he estimated the total support from Iran for Assad would be between $15 and $20 billion annually.

A Pentagon report released last week was quite clear about what Iran hopes to achieve with its spending: “Iran has not substantively changed its national security and military strategies over the past year. However, Tehran has adjusted its approach to achieve its enduring objectives, by increasing its diplomatic outreach and decreasing its bellicose rhetoric.” The report says Iran’s strategy is intended to preserve its Islamic system of governance, protect it from outside threats, attain economic prosperity and “establish Iran as the dominant regional power.”

If Iran ends up accepting a deal on its nuclear program, it will see an infusion of cash to pursue that regional agenda. Shehadi said this fits a pattern for dictatorships in the Middle East: they preoccupy the international community with proliferation issues while, behind the scene, they continue to commit atrocities.

“In the early 1990s, Saddam Hussein was massacring his people and we were worried about the weapons inspectors,” Shehadi said. “Bashar al-Assad did that too. He kept us busy with chemical weapons when he massacred his people. Iran is keeping us busy with a nuclear deal and we are giving them carte blanche in Syria and the region.”

 

Baltimore Infected With Gang Members, BGF

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14 alleged gang members indicted on racketeering charges

BALTIMORE (AP) — Local and federal authorities announced indictments against 14 men they say are members of a notoriously vicious gang known for violence, drug trafficking and witness intimidation both on Baltimore’s streets and in its jails.

U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday announced indictments against more the men they say are members of the Black Guerilla Family, a gang so brutal it is considered “the FBI’s number one violent gang target in the city of Baltimore,” said Stephen Vogt, FBI special agent in charge in Baltimore, on Thursday.

In the indictment, the alleged gang members are charged with conspiracy and racketeering. The indictment says those charged are responsible for drug trafficking, intimidating witnesses, drug overdoses that resulted in three deaths, two attempted murders and two murders, including one in which a teenage gang member was fatally shot.

The document describes the Black Guerilla Family as a meticulously organized criminal enterprise with a code of conduct so strict violating it is punishable by essay assignments, fines, beatings, stabbings and sometimes murder.

The gang garnered international media attention in 2013 after a sweeping federal indictment charged 44 inmates and prison guards at the Baltimore City Detention Center with participating in a widespread drug and cellphone smuggling operation.

Timothy Michael Gray, who federal officials say was the gang’s citywide commander until 2013, collected cash from members who oversaw the gang’s operations in Baltimore. Under his watch, the indictment alleges, Marshall Spence murdered a teenage gang member, then threatened a juvenile who had witnessed the crime. In a subsequent phone conversation with other gang members, the indictment says, Spence then discussed murdering witnesses.

“That’s what we’re facing on the street,” Rosenstein said at a news conference on Wednesday. “It’s important for us to intervene in these gang disputes and take the perpetrators off the streets and eliminate the opportunity for retaliation that we’ve seen fuel some of the violence we’ve seen over the last six weeks.”

The indictments are the result of an 18-month investigation, Vogt said, that demanded a strong partnership between local, state and federal law enforcement. On Wednesday Vogt praised Police Commissioner Anthony Batts for his patience and willingness to dedicate resources to such a “slow-moving” probe.

But over the past six weeks the bloodiest period in Baltimore in decades, with 42 murders in the month of May and 13 so far in June_the city’s arrest rate has plummeted, leaving Batts to defend a police force critics say have abandoned their posts in the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods following unrest and rioting prompted by the death of Freddie Gray.

“These police officers have gone through trauma,” Batts said, adding that he has taken a group of officers from the Western District, where Gray was arrested and the majority of violence erupted during the April 27 riots, off the streets this week so they could participate in team-building exercises, retraining and education. “My guys are going out there, getting into officer-involved shootings and taking guns of the streets.

“My officers have an ethical obligation to the babies, to the kids, to the mothers, to the weak ones out there to protect this city as a whole and keep their jobs going in that direction,” Batts said. “We are providing them with insight, we are providing them with counseling, we are providing them with opportunities to share what they need to do, but at the end of the day we get paid to get the job done.” ***

From the FBI in 2013:

BALTIMORE—A federal grand jury returned a racketeering indictment charging 25 individuals, including 13 correctional officers with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, for conspiring to run operations of the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) gang inside correctional facilities. All 25 defendants also are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute drugs, and 20 of the defendants are charged with money laundering conspiracy.

The indictment and a detailed affidavit were unsealed today upon the arrests of the defendants and the execution of 15 search warrants. Approximately 170 agents and officers assisted in today’s arrests and search warrants. The indictment was returned on April 2, 2013. One defendant was killed in a robbery several hours before the indictment was filed. The defendants are identified at the conclusion of this press release.

The indictment arose from the efforts of the Maryland Prison Task Force, a group of local, state, and federal stakeholders that met regularly for more than two years and generated recommendations to reform prison procedures.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts; Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

U.S. Attorney Rosenstein also recognized the efforts of the other members of the Maryland Prison Task Force in this investigation and prosecution, including: Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; United States Marshal Johnny Hughes; Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration-Washington Field Division; Tom Carr, Director of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; and Dave Engel, Executive Director of the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center.

“Correctional officers were in bed with BGF inmates, in violation of the first principle of prison management,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Preventing prison corruption requires intensive screening at prison entrances and punishment for employees who consort with inmates or bring cell phones and drugs into correctional facilities.”

“This investigation revealed the pervasive nature of prison corruption in Baltimore City’s Detention Centers,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt. “Such corruption causes the FBI to divert crucial investigative resources away from addressing violence on the streets of Baltimore. In this case, the inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for the BGF. Such a situation cannot be tolerated. Law enforcement should not have to concern itself with criminal subjects who have already been arrested and relegated to detention centers.”

“Ninety-nine percent of our correctional officers do their jobs with integrity, honesty, and respect,” said Secretary Gary Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. “Today’s indictment, along with those in the past, show that our department will not stand idly by and let a few bad actors affect the security of our institutions. Nor will we allow them to impugn the reputation of the men and women who come to work every day and go about their jobs honorably. Those who would break the law should know we will always work tirelessly with our federal, state, and local partners to root out corruption.”

“Today’s multi-jurisdictional takedown of suspected BGF gang members and orchestrators who infiltrated the criminal justice system is another example of the Baltimore Police Department’s relentless focus on targeting the malignant gang organizations that plague our communities,” said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. “Thanks to the hard working detectives, federal agents, and prosecutors who worked behind the scenes to build these cases. Our continued pledge to the people of Baltimore is that we will leverage the full capacity of our state and federal partnerships to identify those responsible for violence and bring them to justice.”

The 10 men and 15 women charged in the indictment are alleged to be members or associates of the BGF, a gang active in prisons throughout the United States. According to the indictment, BGF has been the dominant gang at the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC) and in several connected facilities, especially the Baltimore Central Booking Intake Center, the Women’s Detention Center (which houses many men), and in the Jail Industries Building. The indictment alleges that since at least 2009, BGF members and associates in BCDC and related prison facilities engaged in criminal activities, including drug trafficking, robbery, assault, extortion, bribery, witness retaliation, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

BGF members and associates allegedly bribed correctional officers at BCDC and related prison facilities to smuggle drugs, cell phones, and other contraband. Correctional officers arranged favored treatment and privileges for imprisoned BGF gang members, and officers thwarted interdiction and law enforcement efforts against BGF inmates. BGF members and associates allegedly had long-term sexual relationships with several correctional officers and impregnated them.

BGF leaders allegedly used contraband cell phones to order contraband. Co-conspirators delivered contraband to corrupt correctional officers who smuggled the items into the prisons. Correctional officers often arranged payment for the contraband. Some gang dues and drug profits were used to support activities of BGF street organizations outside the prisons.

The charging documents allege that correctional officers were able to bring contraband directly into the prisons through the main entrances. Inside the prisons, BGF was able to control contraband smuggling because BGF gang members were designated as “working men.” Working men are inmates who are paid to assist management and are free to move about the facility.

Green Dot cash debit cards were allegedly used by inmates to pay BGF for smuggled contraband and used by BGF to transfer criminal proceeds. Luxury automobiles were among the purchases made by BGF with Green Dot cards.

According to the indictment, members, and associates followed directions from the ranking BGF members in BCDC, especially inmate Tavon White. On January, 5, 2013, White explained in a phone call:

“This is my jail. You understand that? I’m dead serious….I make every final call in this jail…and nothing go past me, everything come to me….Any of my brothers that deal with anybody, it’s gonna come to me. You see what I am saying? Everything come to me. Everything. Before a mother-f—— hit a n—— in the mouth, guess what they do, they gotta run it through me. I tell them whether it’s a go ahead, and they can do it or whether they hold back. Before a mother-f—— stab somebody, they gotta run it through me….Anything that get done must go through me. ”

Tavon White summarized his position in a conversation with correctional officer Adrena Rice on February 11, 2013:

“I told them worker men that they had to step down off the worker men spots or they was getting hit….I hold the highest seat you can get….My word is law…so if I told any mother-f—— body they had to do this, hit a police, do this, kill a mother-f——, do anything, it got to get done. Period.”

White allegedly used contraband cell phones to discuss BGF activities inside BCDC, such as the collection of fees and taxes, to request information about inmates, to hear grievances from other BGF inmates, and to coordinate his contraband smuggling operation. White and other gang members developed sexual relationships with officers in order to gain influence over them.

White allegedly had long-term sexual relationships inside BCDC with four correctional officers—Jennifer Owens, Katera Stevenson, Chania Brooks, and Tiffany Linder—impregnating each of the four officers at least once. Owens had “Tavon” tattooed on her neck and Stevenson had “Tavon” tattooed on her wrist. All four officers allegedly help smuggle contraband into BCDC and related facilities. White allegedly gave Owens a diamond ring and provided luxury automobiles to Owens, Stevenson, and Brooks. The indictment includes many overt acts in furtherance of the racketeering enterprise. For example, in November 2012, correctional officer Jasmin Jones allegedly stood guard outside a closet in BCDC so that correctional officer Kimberly Dennis and inmate Derius Duncan could have sex. Corrupt officers also warned BGF inmates about law enforcement operations. For example, Brooks and Linder allegedly notified White when they learned about upcoming canine scans and jail cell searches. The affidavit specifies two occasions in which warning calls to White were intercepted: December 21, 2012 (from Brooks) and January 6, 2013 (from Linder). White then used his cell phone to spread the word to other inmates.

On January 6, 2013, White allegedly said:

“I just got a message (from Officer Tiffany Linder) saying that they was going to pull a shake down (prison search) tonight. Let me call all these dudes in my phone and let them know.”

The U.S. Attorney expressed appreciation to Secretary Maynard and select members of his senior staff who confidentially arranged for 30 trusted correctional officers from outside Baltimore to join with federal agents and conduct surprise searches of BGF members and their jail cells on February 14, 2013, resulting in the discovery of important evidence.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $500,000 and other proceeds of the enterprise, including luxury automobiles.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the racketeering and drug conspiracies, as well as for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Stevenson, Yarborough, and Pinder each also face five years in prison for possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

The defendants are expected to have initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Baltimore this afternoon.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Baltimore Police Department, the Prince George’s County Police Department and Maryland Prison Task Force, Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorneys Kevin Wilson, and Katie O’Hara for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Ayn B. Ducao, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

The following defendants are charged in the indictment unsealed today:

Inmates:

  • Tavon White, a/k/a Bulldog and Tay, age 36, of Baltimore
  • Jamar Anderson, a/k/a Hammer and Hamma Head, age 26, of Baltimore
  • Derius Duncan, age 26, of Baltimore
  • Steven Loney, a/k/a Stevie, age 24, of Baltimore
  • Jermaine McFadden, a/k/a Maine, age 24, of Baltimore
  • Kenneth Parham, age 23, of Baltimore
  • Joseph Young, a/k/a Monster, age 30, of Baltimore

Correctional officers:

  • Antonia Allison, age 27, of Baltimore
  • Ebonee Braswell, age 26, of Baltimore
  • Chania Brooks, age 27, of Baltimore
  • Kimberly Dennis, age 26, of Baltimore
  • Jasmin Jones, a/k/a J.J., age 24, of Baltimore
  • Taryn Kirkland, age 23, of Baltimore
  • Katrina LaPrade, a/k/a Katrina Lyons, age 31, of Baltimore
  • Tiffany Linder, age 27, of Baltimore
  • Vivian Matthews, age 25, of Essex, Maryland
  • Jennifer Owens, a/k/a O and J.O., age 31, of Randallstown
  • Adrena Rice, age 25, of Baltimore
  • Katera Stevenson, a/k/a KK, age 24, of Baltimore
  • Jasmine Thornton, a/k/a J.T., age 26, of Glen Burnie

Outside suppliers:

  • Tyesha Mayo, age 29, of Baltimore
  • Teshawn Pinder, age 24, of Baltimore
  • Tyrone Thompson, a/k/a Henry, age 36, of Baltimore
  • Ralph Timmons, Jr., a/k/a Boosa, age 34, of Baltimore (deceased)

James Yarborough, a/k/a J.Y., age 26, of Baltimore.