Black Guerilla Family Leader Sentenced To Prison For OKing Murder

BALTIMORE, MD — A leader in a North Baltimore gang was sentenced March 12 to 35 years in federal prison for participating in a racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors say Shawn Thomas, also known as Bucky, 38, of Baltimore, was a leader in the Black Guerilla Family gang and ordered the killing of a rival gang member.

“All too often, guns and drugs go hand in hand — and both are killers," said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur in a news release. "Shawn Thomas’ sentencing today ensures that he will not be able to bring either to the Greenmount Avenue community he once controlled for a very long time. We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to get guns and drugs off of our streets and to reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods.”

According to his plea agreement, from prior to 2010 through February 22, 2018, Thomas was employed by and associated with the BGF gang. The nationwide gang operates in prisons and in cities throughout the United States, including in Baltimore. Gang members have been tied to the crimes of murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, and witness intimidation, federal officials said.

BGF organizes its members into “regimes” or “bubbles” corresponding to particular regions or neighborhoods in Baltimore City and other Maryland communities. Thomas admitted that he was a high-ranking member of BGF, controlling a regime in the 2700 block of Greenmount Avenue in North Baltimore. During the course of the conspiracy, Thomas obtained narcotics, including crack cocaine, which he distributed through BGF-controlled open-air drug shops. He also collected gang dues for BGF, prosecutors said.

As detailed in Thomas’ plea agreement, on December 9, 2016, Thomas ordered another BGF member to murder Keith Ramsey, a Bloods gang member, as part of an ongoing dispute between the two gangs.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a news release. The program focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and re-entry programs for lasting reductions in crime.