Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.

May 17, 2007

JURY FINDS VALLEJO GANG MEMBER GUILTY OF RACKETEERING CHARGES, INCLUDING MURDER, ATTEMPTED MURDER AND DRUG TRAFFICKING

SACRAMENTO -- United States Attorney McGregor W..Scott announced today that a federal jury today convicted CHARLES LEE WHITE, 35, of Vallejo, of conducting the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, conspiring to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, and the commission of a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. The jury further found that WHITE was part of a conspiracy, the object of which was murder, attempted murder and the distribution of cocaine over a six year period. The jury also found WHITE personally responsible for a murder committed in 1998. This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Sacramento and San Francisco Divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Vallejo Police Department.
According to Assistant United States Attorneys R. Steven Lapham and Kenneth Melikian, who prosecuted the case, the evidence introduced at trial established that WHITE was a member of the Vallejo street gang, Pitch Dark Family. Witnesses established that Pitch Dark Family was a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in acts of violence and in drug trafficking. Evidence at trial further established that between 1994 and 2000, the defendant and his associates committed four murders, one attempted murder, and trafficked in rock cocaine.

United States Attorney Scott stated, “Senseless gang violence, like that perpetrated by Charles White and the Pitch Dark Family in Vallejo, endangers the lives of all who live in the community. The FBI and the Vallejo Police Department are to be commended for their extraordinary dedication in bringing White, and co-defendants Shango Greer and Jason Keith Walker to justice.” WHITE is scheduled to be sentenced on August 13, 2007, by United States District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell.

The defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release. However, the actual sentence will be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed at the discretion of the court.
Last year, co-defendants SHANGO JAJA GREER and JASON KEITH WALKER were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release, after a jury found them guilty for related racketeering offenses.

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.