St. Louis, MO - Carlos Wesley Rose, Sr., a/k/a "PitBull" was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for Racketeering Conspiracy charges in United States District Court in St. Louis.

Rose was associated with the Wheels of Soul Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, a nationwide motorcycle organization claiming chapters in more than 20 states. At the time of his July 2011 arrest, Rose was the President of the Kentucky Chapter of the Wheels of Soul. He was also employed as a Correctional Officer at the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange, KY. In connection with his plea, Rose admitted to conspiring, on two separate occasions, with another member of the Wheels of Soul to commit Arson. More specifically, Rose admitted that he agreed to manufacture pipe bombs, which he knew would be used against rival motorcycle clubs in the Chicago area. On one of these occasions, investigators requested the assistance of the Oldham County (KY) Sheriff’s Department, which stopped the vehicle in which Rose was traveling. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives located a highly explosive mixture in the vehicle, along with a handgun. Rose admitted that he was on his way to Chicago to deliver the items.

Rose appeared today for sentencing before Chief United States District Judge Catherine D. Perry.

The investigation into the Wheels of Soul began in 2009. Shortly thereafter, an armed robbery and a murder occurred in St. Louis, allegedly committed by members of that organization’s St. Louis Chapter. Investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in St. Louis later teamed with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago, and the investigation expanded to include targets not only in those cities, but in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Louisville and Denver. In all, 22 defendants were charged in a multi-count indictment in which it is alleged that these members of the Wheels of Soul are responsible for multiple murders, attempted murders, conspiracies to commit murder, kidnapping and trafficking in firearms.