Gang Member Sentenced to 15+ Years for Firearm Crimes

A Dallas gang member who sold multiple firearms to an undercover ATF agent was sentenced today to more than 15 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Vinson Lee Willis, Jr., aka “Man Man,” pleaded guilty in September 2021 to three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced Tuesday to 188 months in federal prison.

In plea papers, Mr. Willis, a convicted felon, admitted to unlawful possession of at least 17 firearms, including one with an obliterated serial number.

According to court documents, an undercover agent made contact with Mr. Willis through a drug dealer and fugitive, Derek Orban, who told a confidential informant that Mr. Willis sold firearms.

On Aug. 8, 2019, the agent accompanied the drug dealer and the confidential informant to a residence on Life Avenue, where the undercover purchased three firearms from Mr. Willis. Over the next two weeks, the agent purchased eight additional firearms from Mr. Willis.

During a transaction on Aug. 13, a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter conducting aerial surveillance recorded Mr. Willis retrieving an assault rifle from a vehicle parked on Life Avenue, then delivering it to the undercover agent and confidential informant.

At Mr. Willis’ sentencing hearing, an agent testified that one of the firearms Mr. Willis sold the undercover was submitted to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and determined to have been the murder weapon used in a homicide that occurred only months earlier.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Irving Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abe McGlothin and Cara Pierce (fmr.) prosecuted the case.