Two Memphis Gang Members Sentenced to 50 Years Each for Fellow Member's Murder

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two members of the Unknown Vice Lords street gang each received 50-year federal prison sentences on May 13 after a jury convicted them of murdering a fellow gang member.

The sentences apply to both defendants convicted Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court in Memphis. The Department of Justice identified the gang as a violent Memphis street gang and the killing as gang-related. The case produced convictions on federal murder charges tied to the gang's activities.

The sentences remove the two convicted members from street operations for the next five decades. Federal prison terms of this length eliminate the possibility of release on parole. The Unknown Vice Lords, like other documented Memphis gangs, engage in drug trafficking, shootings and territorial violence that produce measurable homicide counts in the city each year.

The convictions and sentences mark the completion of one federal prosecution. Local and federal law enforcement must now allocate resources to the next open gang-related homicide cases in Memphis. The long sentences create a documented federal penalty benchmark that prosecutors can cite in ongoing gang cases in the Western District of Tennessee.

Sentencing records will also feed into the Department of Justice's statistical tracking of gang prosecutions nationwide.

This sentencing follows a series of federal cases targeting Memphis street gangs. The Department of Justice has pursued similar murder and racketeering charges against members of the Vice Lords and rival groups in the Western District of Tennessee for more than a decade. The Feb. 13 verdict and May 13 sentencing conclude the judicial phase of this specific homicide prosecution.

Primary sources: U.S. Department of Justice