FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
October 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWO MEMBERS OF VIOLENT BALTIMORE DRUG GANG “SPECIAL” PLEAD GUILTY
Brothers Admit to Killing James Wise, Who Robbed Drug Shop
Baltimore, Maryland - Tamall Parker, age 21,and Tracy Love, age 23, both of of Essex, Maryland have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and use of a of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime resulting in death announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Parker entered his plea this afternoon and Love entered his plea yesterday.
According to their guilty pleas, Parker and Love were members of a drug distribution organization known as “Special” that sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana on the streets of Baltimore. Parker and Love distributed narcotics to customers, collected drug proceeds, re-supplied and guarded the street inventory, operated as lookouts, and banded together against threats from drug traffickers from other neighborhoods. The defendants used locations in Baltimore City to package and store the drugs, including residences on Cokesbury Avenue, Bartlett Avenue, Loch Raven Road, Greenmount Avenue and Homewood Avenue. The organization was also responsible for a series of violent acts committed in furtherance of that operation between October 2004 and November 2006, including a shooting and murders committed to silence witnesses and to help protect the reputation and dominant position of the organization.
Specifically, on October 13, 2004, Parker shot James Wise multiple times in an effort to retaliate against Wise who minutes earlier had robbed a dealer working for the “Special Heroin” organization. Love had pointed Wise out to Parker. After the shooting Parker and Love fled the scene in a white Lexus. Parker shot Wise in broad daylight and there were several witnesses in the area of the shooting.
Parker and Love face a maximum penalty of life in prison on the murder charge and a minimum mandatory sentence of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison on the drug conspiracy charge. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz did not set a date for their sentencing.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and Assistant State’s Attorneys Antonio Gioia and Lisa Goldberg, the Baltimore Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Debra Dwyer and Kwame J. Manley, who are prosecuting the case.