A grand federal jury issued 147 counts against forty defendants in what prosecutors are calling “the biggest federal extortion conspiracy in South Carolina history”.
According to a press release accompanying the announcement, the mass seizure revealed “an expanding criminal company” operating within the walls of the SC Department of Corrections (SCDC). This network allegedly “orchestrated murder, kidnapping, distribution of firearms and an international drug operation” using … you guessed it … smuggling cell phones.
Seventeen defendants were charged with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, which aims to “eliminate organized crime and prosecute the extortion activities of these organizations”.
According to the Public Ministry, the organized crime entity involved in the drug operation is known as Insane Gangster Disciples – a branch of Folk Nation gang.
In addition to running a “prison drug empire”, several members of the Insane Gangster Disciples allegedly “ordered violent retaliatory measures against those they believed to be providing information to law enforcement officials”.
Among these “violent measures?” Murder … and kidnapping.
In addition, prosecutors claimed that “to perpetuate the company and maintain and extend its power, gang members and associates have committed, tried to commit and conspired to commit additional acts, such as armed robbery, extortion, arson, assault and battery, drug trafficking, money laundering and obstruction of justice ”.
The top federal prosecutor for the state of Palmetto spoke harshly to other organized crime networks when he announced the charges alongside prison officials.
“For anyone who tries to harm the people of South Carolina with violence, intimidation or extortion, we are going after you wherever you are,” US Attorney Peter M. McCoy Jr. said. “Neither the pandemic nor the prison walls will provide refuge from the full strength of the federal government.”
The investigation that led to these charges began in 2017, according to prosecutors, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Lexington County Multidisciplinary Drug Enforcement Team and the tenth office first lawyer of the SC circuit initiating the investigation.
(Click to view)
(Via: US Attorney’s Office)
Since then, several county sheriff offices (including Anderson, Cherokee, Laurens, Lexington, Pickens and Richland) and additional law firms (including the fifth, eighth and thirteenth circuits) have assisted in the investigation.
Support was also provided by the SC State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Attorney General’s Office.
The mass seizure represents the latest round of criminal charges related to the use of cell phones smuggled behind bars.
Last week, we reported on a spate of state-level accusations related to a deadly prison riot that was precipitated by the use of contraband cell phones.
In announcing these accusations, the Attorney General of SC Alan Wilson and SCDC director Bryan Stirling both reiterated their longstanding support for blocking cell phone signals inside prisons.
“Illegal cell phones in our prisons continue to boost and facilitate the smuggling trade within the walls, and this smuggling trade drives much of the violence within institutions,” said Wilson.
In response to the latest federal charges, Stirling asked the United States Congress to take action on the matter.
“Illegal cell phones have allowed these prisoners to operate a sophisticated international drug trafficking network within the prison walls,” he said. “We cannot guarantee that the public is protected from criminals until states are allowed to block cell phone signals. We need Congress to take action on this urgent public security issue and schedule a hearing on the Cellphone Jamming Reform Act. “
Is he correct in that count? Yes.
(Click to view)
(Via: SCDC)
Cell phones are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, as we noted in a story last fall, prepaid phones and prepaid phone minutes constitute a billion dollar annual industry – covering virtually all usage extra-legal arrest.
Wireless companies are not willing to give up on this market – and the profits that flow from it – without a fight.
Wilson and Stirling are not the only ones who made this issue a priority.
Two years ago, a former US attorney (and current federal judge) Sherri Lydon announced charges linked to a “sextortion” scheme in the prison – in which SCDC inmates and their accomplices targeted about 450 military personnel, deceiving them in more than $ 560,000.
This criminal company was also run by smuggled cell phones.
Not long after these charges were made, Lydon wrote a column for Wall Street Newspaper in which she argued that as long as prisoners had “access to cell phones, (they) will continue to run drug networks, stealing and threatening innocent Americans”.
“The only way to prevent the threat to public security from smuggled phones is to disable cell phone signals and render devices completely useless,” wrote Lydon. “Prisoners should not be able to increase their drug distribution circles by switching to providers with more reliable services within the prison. They should not receive any signal. “
We agree …
After some initial reservations, we endorse the blocking of cell phone signals as part of our broad vision for the prison reform in November 2017.
“Smuggled cell phones are not the cause of violence in South Carolina prisons … but its ubiquity is clearly facilitating violence, and the only argument we hear against blocking cell phone signals can prevent wireless service in neighboring areas, ”we wrote at the time.
Based on the clear and current threat posed to public security by these prison-based criminal companies, frankly, this is not a compelling reason to maintain the “interference ban”.
Processing the case for the US attorney’s office will be Justin Holloway and Brandi Hinton. US Special Prosecutor Casey Rankin from the eleventh lawyer’s office will also assist, along with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Lisa Man and main deputy Kim Dammers with the DOJ’s organized crime division.
ATF, special agent Vince Pallozzi helped to conduct the survey with the support of Susan Ferensic, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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IGD-RICO_VICAR-DSC-indictment
(Via: US Attorney’s Office)
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