Nikko Jenkins is charged with killing four people in Omaha this year, but criminal activity in his family began decades ago. An investigation into the family’s history revealed patterns of violence, child neglect and drug and alcohol abuse. The behavior has escalated from generation to generation, making the Leverings one of the city’s most notorious crime families.
Nikko Jenkins
The two most notorious members of the Levering family are off the streets of Omaha.
Jimmy Levering is dead.
Nikko Jenkins is in jail, charged with killing four people in August.
But the two men have left behind a troublesome combination of fear in the community and loyalty — even reverence — in and around the extended Levering family.
Such loyalty and fear are a double frustration for law enforcement and for community anti-violence efforts, creating a domino effect of retaliatory violence and the silencing of witnesses. That, in turn, makes arrests and successful prosecutions more difficult.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, because of his role as chief prosecutor, spoke about the issue in general, declining to comment specifically on the Levering family or Jenkins.
“Gang members think they have some power or ability to keep people from testifying,” he said. “We need to stand together to not let intimidation happen.”
Jenkins and Levering are part of a larger family that has committed at least 633 crimes in Omaha since 1979, according to a World-Herald investigation.
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