Bricktown Gang Member Sentenced To 89 Months In Prison

RICHARD S. HARTUNIAN, United States Attorney, Northern District of New York, announces that AMADIS HUNTER, age 25, of Syracuse, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Syracuse to 89 months imprisonment for his role in conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity through his membership in the Bricktown Gang, a violent street gang operating on the streets of Syracuse.

As part of his plea, HUNTER admitted that the Bricktown Gang operated within the City of Syracuse from at least 2000 through the present and that members of the Bricktown Gang: (1) maintain a specific geographic territory within the City of Syracuse in which only gang members can sell crack cocaine, cocaine and marijuana; (2) protect that exclusive crack distribution territory with violence if necessary; (3) obtain drugs from suppliers in New York City and elsewhere; (4) project a very violent attitude and respond to violence with violence in order to preserve their stature in the gang community; (5) on occasion use hand signs, wear blue colored bandanas and have tattoos, all of which are intended to signify their gang membership; (6) use criteria such as willingness to use violence, ability to sell drugs, and familial connections to determine membership; and (7) routinely carry and use firearms in connection with their gang activity.

This case involved multiple acts of violence and drug distribution carried out by various gang members on a regular basis, as alleged in the Indictment, including but nor limited to 2 instances of knife violence, 2 murders, 8 other shootings, 7 other acts of gun possession, 12 acts of crack distribution and/or possession with intent to distribute crack, and a major gang assault that occurred within a Denny’s restaurant on Erie Boulevard in Dewitt, New York.

With respect to the two murders, the Indictment includes allegations that gang members killed innocent victims on two separate occasions as gang members sought retaliation against rival gang members. One such allegation involves the November 2010 murder by Bricktown gang member SAQUAN EVANS of a 20 month old child named Rashad Walker, Jr., as Walker sat in a car seat with his mother by his side in the 300 block of Coolidge Avenue. The other murder allegation involves the September 2007 fatal shooting by Bricktown gang members JARRELL WILLIAMS and ERNEST HESTER of Anthony Ford in the 1600 block of East Fayette Street, Syracuse. A female who was with Ford at the time was shot in the head but survived. EVANS, WILLIAMS and HESTER have not pled guilty and are expected to go to trial on this federal RICO charge later this summer. The 11 other defendants 1 in this case have all pled guilty and many of them have already been sentenced to varying lengths of imprisonment.

This prosecution resulted from a long-term investigation conducted by the Syracuse Gang Violence Task Force, which is comprised of agents and detectives from the following agencies: United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (Syracuse Office), the Syracuse Police Department, the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, the New York State Troopers, and the United States Marshals Service. The Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.

Further questions or inquiries may be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney, John M. Katko, who is handling the case, at (315) 448-0672.