Folk Nation Gang Leader Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

LongIsland.com

Defendant Was Convicted of Racketeering and Firearms Offenses, Including Attempted Murder and Robbery Conspiracy.

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New York, NY - March 13, 2014 - Earlier today, Devon Rodney, also known as “D-Bloc,” a former leader of the violent Brooklyn street gang “Six Tre Outlaw Gangsta Disciples Folk Nation,” also known as the “Folk Nation,” was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. Rodney pled guilty on November 15, 2013 to charges of racketeering, including attempted murder and robbery conspiracy as predicate racketeering acts, and brandishing a firearm.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“The defendant led the Folk Nation gang in committing senseless acts of violence, including shootings and robberies, which terrorized the residents of the Ebbets Field Houses in Brooklyn. The gang shooting of an innocent 10-year-old girl attending a neighborhood block party highlights the moral depravity of the gang life,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Every community, including the Ebbets Field Houses community, deserves the opportunity to raise its children without the specter of gang violence.”

The Folk Nation is a nationwide gang active in numerous cities and prisons across the United States. The Six Tre set of the Folk Nation operated out of the Ebbets Field Houses in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn for years. In order to fund its illegal activities, the defendant and other members of the gang committed violent robberies of individuals and commercial establishments, including the Lee Perla jewelry store at the Riverside Square Mall in Hackensack, New Jersey, where they made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury watches. In his role as the leader of the Folk Nation, Rodney ordered his subordinates in the gang to commit numerous acts of violence, which often missed their intended targets—perceived rivals or enemies of the gang—and severely injured innocent bystanders. In the attempted murder to which the defendant pled guilty, Rodney ordered the killing of a rival Crips member upon learning that the rival had been spotted near the Ebbets Field projects. In the chaos that ensued when gang members rushed to implement the orders of their leader, an innocent 10-year-old girl attending a block party was shot in the neck.

Rodney is one of nine defendants charged in connection with this case by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for crimes they committed as members of the Folk Nation. Ms. Lynch thanked the FBI and the New York City Police Department for their outstanding investigative efforts.

The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zainab Ahmad, Berit Berger, and Kristin Mace.

The Defendant:

DEVON RODNEY, also known as “D-Bloc”
Brooklyn, New York
Age: 26