June 1, 2007
'Don Papa' Sentenced for Death of 19-year-old
"Don Papa" Blake, a leader of the infamous California Bloods gang, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison Thursday after a jury found him guilty in the April 2006 murder of 19-year-old Terrance Randolph.
Randolph was found tied, beaten, and stabbed in the neck with a sword in the basement of a West Baltimore house. After his murder, he was then burned, as Leader of California Bloods Gang Gets Life reported by the Baltimore Sun.
Two other defendants, Jimile "Smiley" Harvey, 23, and Janet "Lock and Load" Johnson were also found guilty. Harvey was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentence to life in prison. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder; her sentencing is tomorrow, as reported by the Sun.
Judge John N. Prevas, who sentenced Blake, said, according to the Sun: "The murder was so brutal that it probably tops the chart for a generation."
Blake, who denied having anything to do with the death of Randolph, addressed the court and said he was being made a scapegoat for California's rise in gang violence, according to the Sun.
Police believe that Randolph had mishandled some money in a big drug deal and gotten in a fight, which is a direct violation of orders from gang members. Blake initially told the police that he was a member of a gang called the Bounty Hunter Bloods, and that he and other members were sent to Baltimore to impose disciplinary action upon Terrance Randolph and to sell heroin as stated on the court testimony, according the the Sun.
Blake also accused city leaders of using him and his story to justify way of getting bigger budgets to go after such high profile gangs. Blake's fiancee, Lisa Smith, stood behind everything Blake had to say and the reasons behind it. She told the Sun: "He already knew what was going to happen, so he told me in advance. That's why he was calm and cool and I was calm and cool too." She added, according to the Sun: "We know he's the fall guy. He's not the leader. It's somebody up there bigger than him. He's a little fish, and they're trying to get the bigger fish."
According to Wikipedia, the Bloods are one of Los Angeles, California's most high profiled street gangs. To identify them, all you would have to do is notice the word blood spelled out on their hands as well as the red colors the members wear. The Bloods are so popular today, Leader of California Bloods Gang Gets Life that they have branched out throughout the entire United States and have even been so influential that groups as far as Europe youth groups are taking their name.
The Bloods have recently, in the year 2000, become more involved with People Nation affiliation.
Bodies pile up in Staten Island gang war; victims all affiliated with Bloods
By Wil Cruz Androcco Parascandola
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, November 30th 2009, 6:09 AM
A bloody gang war on Staten Island has claimed the lives of four men in just the past month - and investigators are worried that innocent blood could be spilled next.
The victims - all affiliated with the notorious Bloods - were shot as tensions mount between gang members from New Brighton and others from Port Richmond and Mariners Harbor.
Cops are rounding up parolees and fugitives and making more quality-of-life arrests, trying to squeeze criminals for information that could end the violence.
"Right now we're dealing with bad guys, but we still don't want bad guys to get shot," said NYPD Asst. Chief Stephen Paragallo, Staten Island's borough commander.
"And the last thing we want is good people, innocent people, to get shot - especially children," Paragallo said.
The killings started Nov. 7 when a fight over a girl at a party hall set off a chain reaction that ended with Jermaine (Big Den) Dickerson shot dead in an Arlington housing development.
The following week, Earl Mangin - who cops say drove a getaway car in the Dickerson shooting - was shot to death in front of the New Brighton home where he lived with his fiancée and young daughter.
Mangin's mom, Kesserine Fairweather, said she did not think her 23-year-old son's murder was payback. "As far as any retaliation, I'm not aware of that," said Fairweather, an accountant and a real estate associate. "He had nothing to do with that. It was just a coincidence."
Fairweather, 53, said Mangin modeled as a kid and worked in construction.
"We're trying to move forward," added Fairweather, who took in her son's fiancée and 1-year-old girl. "He was my baby."
The bloodshed didn't end with Mangin's death.
Cops believe the murders may be loosely tied to another pair of shootings that happened shortly afterward.
On Nov. 16, Kameek Sears, 24, was found dead in a white Lexus in Arlington, the victim of a drive-by assault.
Sears, who had just served four years in prison for drug possession, appears to have been killed by a former inmate who accused him of "not watching his back" on the inside.
Two days later, Sears' death was settled on the streets, too.
Kyre Henderson, 18, was found shot and killed, his body slumped between two cars in South Beach. He had likely been killed about eight hours before, but residents mistook the sound of gunfire for fireworks.
Cops believe Henderson, who was a passenger in the car that ambushed Sears, was killed as a retaliation for Sears.
Sources say at least two members of the Bloods have skipped town, perhaps fearing they'll be the next victims.
Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan urged witnesses to come forward.
"This violence must and will stop," Donovan said.
"Reporting someone who has an illegal gun is not 'snitching,'" he added. "It just may avoid the tragedies we've seen in other boroughs where innocent victims were struck by stray bullets."