2 Gang Members Get Long Sentences For RICO, Sex Trafficking Charges

DETROIT, MI — A Latin Counts gang leader who ordered the 2014 assault and resulting murder of a man at a southwest Detroit and a Vice Lords member who used violence to force a minor into the sex trade were sentenced to lengthy prison terms this week in federal court, the Justice Department said.

The Latin Counts leader, Victor “Vic” Vasquez, 26, of Detroit, was sentenced on May 31 to 30 years in federal prison on his conviction for racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) conspiracy. As part of his plea to RICO conspiracy, Vasquez took responsibility for causing the death of Mustafa Al-Yasiry at the Big Apple Market in southwest Detroit on April 18, 2014.

According to the indictment, several Latin Counts assaulted Al-Yasiry, at Vasquez’s direction, while another Latin Count came up from behind and shot and killed Al-Yasiry. Four other gang members have also pleaded guilty for their roles in Al-Yasiry’s murder.

The Latin Counts gang operates in southwest Detroit and the downriver communities of Lincoln Park and Ecorse, according to the indictment, in which 11 defendants were accused of assaults, murder, selling illegal narcotics and stolen firearms, breaking and entering homes and businesses and robbery. The gang uses violence to stake out its turf and intimidate both rival gang members and the citizens of southwest Detroit, the indictment said.

Michael “Sosa” Gardner, 21, who has addresses in both Detroit and Radcliff, Kentucky, was sentenced on June 1 to 20 years in federal prison for convictions for forcing a minor into sex trafficking and production of child pornography.

During his October 2016 trial, the evidence showed Gardner used his status as a Vice Lords gang to force the minor to perform commercial sex acts, and also published explicit photographs of the minor in prostitution advertisements that he created. He also intimidated the minor to continue her involvement in prostitution and put her in fear of reporting the activity, the government said.

Gardner’s conviction and sentencing is one component of the federal government’s prosecution of the Vice Lords street gang, which has led to the arrests and convictions of over two dozen Vice Lords leaders and members over the last few years.

The arrests of both men came as a result of investigation by the Detroit One initiative, a combined effort between law enforcement and the community created in 2013 to reduce homicide and other violent crime in Detroit.

Photo by Ken Lund via Flickr Commons