A Baltimore, Maryland, man was sentenced today to 138 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for federal charges of conspiring to participate in a violent racketeering enterprise known as Trained To Go (TTG), and for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. 

Roger Taylor, aka Milk, 28, a fugitive since July 2017, was arrested on June 30, 2019, and sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake.  Taylor previously pleaded guilty to racketeering activities including narcotics distribution and robbery of rival drug dealers and gang members in TTG territory.

As detailed in his plea agreement, Taylor was associated with a drug trafficking organization that operated in the Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore.  Taylor was a self-identified member of a group known as the “Young Go Getters” (YGG), which assisted members and associates of the drug trafficking organization in their activities.  As of 2014, the organization became known as TTG.  Taylor, along with other members of YGG, provided support to TTG in the form of money, drugs, and other types of assistance, such as providing a vehicle to TTG members looking for several individuals that had robbed a TTG member of narcotics.  Further, Taylor and his co-conspirators agreed that each of them would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity.  

On Aug. 10, 2015, Postal Inspectors interdicted four packages addressed to a fictitious residence and addressee in Windsor Mill, Maryland.  Because of the false address and name, the packages could not be delivered.  Taylor, in an effort to obtain the packages, contacted the post office and requested the packages be re-delivered to a different address in Windsor Mill.  Additional investigation revealed that the four packages contained 9.9 kilograms of cocaine.

During the course of the conspiracy, the quantity of cocaine within the scope of Taylor’s agreement with his co-conspirators and reasonably foreseeable to Taylor was the equivalent of between 15 and 50 kilograms of cocaine.

The leader of the gang, Montana Barronette, aka Tana, and Tanner, 23, and his brother, Terrell Sivells, aka Rell, 27, both of Baltimore, were each sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 15 and April 26, 2019, respectively.  Co-defendants Brandon Wilson, aka Ali, 24, and Taurus Tillman, aka Tash, age 30, both of Baltimore, were each sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 1 and May 21, 2019, respectively.  Two other co-defendants, John Harrison, aka Binkie, 28, and Linton Broughton, aka Marty, 25, both from Baltimore, were sentenced to life in prison and to 30 years in prison, respectively, on March 15, 2019.  Three other TTG members previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced to between five and 25 years in prison.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Baltimore Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force, which includes FBI special agents and task force officers from the Baltimore, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County Police Departments.  FBI Baltimore Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force is responsible for identifying and targeting the most violent gangs in the Baltimore metropolitan area, to address gang violence and the associated homicides in Baltimore.  The vision of the program is to use federal racketeering statutes to disrupt and dismantle significant violent criminal threats and criminal enterprises affecting the safety and well-being of our citizens and our communities. 

This case was further assisted by investigative leads generated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN).  NIBIN is the only national network that allows for the capture and comparison of ballistic evidence to aid in solving and preventing violent crimes involving firearms.  NIBIN is a proven investigative and intelligence tool that can link firearms from multiple crime scenes, allowing law enforcement to quickly disrupt shooting cycles.  For more information on NIBIN, visit https://www.atf.gov/firearms/national-integrated-ballistic-information-network-nibin. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.             

The Justice Department commended the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the ATF, the DEA, the Anne Arundel County Police Department, and the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City for their work in these investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Romano, Daniel C. Gardner, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Hanley formerly of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.