“They’re starting to look at RICO cases more and more,” Dunn said of federal prosecutors. “It’s like the big hammer of the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
A federal jury has handed down verdicts in a massive racketeering case, pronouncing five of the six men on trial guilty of being part of a deadly south Flint street gang.
Jurors began deliberations Monday and delivered the verdicts on Tuesday, July 22, against the men accused of being part of the Howard Boys gang. Prosecutors accused the men of using violence and intimidation to control the drug and gun trade on Flint’s south side.
The trial ended after more than a month of testimony in the case that began June 2, in Flint U.S. District Court.
One of the six men on trial, Jamil Cureton, was found not guilty on a racketeering charge, and a charge of selling crack cocaine was dismissed. Cureton’s attorney, Mark Gatesman, said his client is happy the trial and ordeal are over.
“He’s grateful after battling for two years to clear his name and that the jury found what the government said about him wasn’t true,” Gatesman said. “He’s grateful to get back to his family.”
[…]
