10-14-04 -- Thompson, Tommy Terrell -- Indictment -- News Release

Leader of Jersey City Bloods Gang Charged with Running RICO Enterprise

NEWARK - The jailed leader of the Bloods "Sex, Money, Murder - 252" street gang was indicted today and charged with running a racketeering enterprise that controlled parts of Jersey City through drug trafficking and violence, including armed robbery, murder conspiracy and attempted murder, assault and witness intimidation, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The 18-count RICO Indictment names Tommy Terrell Thompson, 31, who went by various street names including "Rel," "Omega Red," and "Big Homey," and was the so-called "Five Star General" or leader of the Jersey City Bloods set.

The Indictment charges Thompson with one count of racketeering conspiracy (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization); one count of racketeering, encompassing specific and non-specific, ongoing acts of murder conspiracy, robbery and robbery conspiracy, heroin and cocaine conspiracy and distribution. The Indictment also charges Thompson with nine counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering, including specific attempted murders, murder conspiracy, robberies and shootings; four counts of possession, use and carrying of a firearm for violent crime; one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin, and one count of heroin distribution. (See below for potential criminal penalties.)

Thompson, who will be arraigned on the Indictment sometime in the next two weeks, has been in federal custody in the Passaic County Jail since his arrest in February on an FBI fugitive warrant. By that time he had already been charged in a Hudson County racketeering complaint, and was arrested on a federal drug complaint. Today's Indictment supersedes the federal criminal complaint. Hudson County has dismissed its indictment in favor of federal prosecution and has assisted greatly in the case.

Thirteen other members of the same Bloods set were charged between October 2003 and March with various offenses, including attempted murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and drug conspiracy charges. All of those gang members remain in federal custody. Several have pleaded guilty.

"Gangs are a crime wave in and of themselves," said Christie. "They take over neighborhoods and wreak havoc with intimidation, drugs and violence."

The U.S. Attorney's Office Violent Crimes Unit, the FBI and Hudson County Prosecutor's Office have succeeded in targeting and dismantling the Sex, Money, Murder gang and will use all available federal statutes, including RICO, to prosecute its members, Christie said.

The Sex, Money, Murder set of the west coast Bloods gang first established itself in the Bronx, New York in the mid-1990s in the area of the Soundview Housing projects, according to the Indictment. They spread elsewhere, and in about the summer of 2002, Thompson and others established the set in Jersey City by recruiting existing Bloods and new members.

The Indictment describes the Sex, Money, Murder set in Jersey City as an organized, hierarchal enterprise. Thompson and members of his set - with their traditional gang colors, hand and verbal codes and other established protocol - intimidated and assaulted non-obedient set members and rivals to instill fear and consolidate power and territory for drug trafficking. Sex, Money, Murder, and Bloods gangs generally and by tradition, are in constant rivalry with Crips gang members and single them out for assault, robbery and murder.

Thompson and members of his Sex, Money, Murder set maintained an area of drug trafficking territory by shooting or threatening to shoot non-members who sold drugs in the area without permission, according to the Indictment. This allowed Sex, Money, Murder members to have unfettered access to lucrative drug locations in which to sell heroin and cocaine, according to the Indictment.

Counts One and Two, the RICO conspiracy and substantive RICO charge, each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Three through Five, Eight, Eleven and Twelve - the assaults with dangerous weapons in aid of racketeering charges - each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Six, Seven, Nine and Ten - the charged murder conspiracies and attempted murders in aid of racketeering - each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Counts Thirteen Through Sixteen - the charges relating to possession, use, carrying and discharge of a firearm in connection with a crime of violence - each carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Finally, Counts Seventeen and Eighteen, the drug conspiracy and distribution charges, each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Christie credited Special Agent Jeffrey Ochs, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy Jr. of the FBI, Sheriff Joseph Cassidy and Detective John Luzzi of the Hudson County Sherriff's Department, Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino and investigators with the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, with the Thompson prosecution, as well as those of the other Bloods members.

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Defense Counsel: David Glazer, Esq.