20 Newburgh 'Southside' Gang Members Indicted For Racketeering, Drugs, Firearms Charges

NEWBURGH, NY — Twenty members of the street gang known as “Southside” were indicted Wednesday on racketeering, narcotics and firearms charges. Joon H. Kim, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the unsealing of the indictment, saying the defendants allegedly pumped dangerous drugs into their community and controlled their Newburgh neighborhoods with violence.

“Some of the defendants allegedly protected their drug territory with shooting,” he said. “Today’s arrests stand as a testament to cooperation among our federal, state and local partners an dour shared commitment to stamping out gang violence and the drug trade in Newburgh.”

Eighteen defendants were taken into federal custody Wednesday morning and presented in White Plains federal court. Two of the defendants — Michael Simmons and Dwight McArdle — remain at large.

From the indictment:

From at least 2014 through June 2017, SKYLAR DAVIS, a/k/a “S-Dot,” ARDAE HINES, a/k/a “Young Money,” a/k/a “YM,” DAVONTE HAWKINS, a/k/a “Dirty D,” MICHAEL SIMMONS, a/k/a “LoSo,” DEMETRICE MCLEAN, a/k/a “Blocks,” a/k/a “Demit,” CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, a/k/a “Whitebread” DIAMANTE FRAZIER, a/k/a “Bro God,” DITAVIOUS WILLIAMS, a/k/a “Glock Doc,” DONTE NUGENT, a/k/a “Wildman,” CALVIN LEMBHARD, a/k/a “Forty,” and PARADISE BRANCH, a/k/a “Bigga,” a/k/a “Petey,” were all members of the Southside gang, whose territory centered around the intersection of South Street and Chambers Street in an area of Newburgh known as the “Southside.” In order to fund the gang, protect its territory, and promote its standing, members of Southside engaged in, among other things, narcotics trafficking, robbery, and acts involving murder. Southside members sold heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana in the gang’s territory, promoted their gang affiliation on social media sites such as Facebook, possessed firearms, and engaged in shootings as part of their gang membership.

One of those shootings took place on or about December 11, 2015, when SKYLAR DAVIS, a/k/a “S-Dot,” shot at a car in which members of a rival Newburgh gang, known as the Yellow Tape Money Gang, or “YTMG,” were driving. Those shots caused the car to crash, which injured those YTMG members in the vicinity of South Street and Liberty Street in the City of Newburgh, New York.

Several members of the Southside gang also participated in conspiracies to distribute narcotics in and around Newburgh. In particular, HINES, FRAZIER, WILLIAMS, DONTE NUGENT, and BRANCH participated in a conspiracy with WILLIAM FENELL, a/k/a “Mills,” DAVANTE NUGENT, a/k/a “Trap God,” a/k/a “Tay Tay,” WILFREDO RUIZ, a/k/a “Pop,” and ROBERT ZUCHOWSKI to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin and/or more than 280 grams of crack cocaine from at least in or about 2012 up to and including in or about June 2017. TEVON ADAMS, a/k/a “Cooj,” DWIGHT McCARDLE a/k/a “Ike,” TRISTAN HILGERS, SETH BLAIN, and KYLE BLAIN participated in the same conspiracy, agreeing to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin and/or more than 28 grams of crack cocaine. Meanwhile, HINES and CHRISTOPHER DAVIS participated in separate a conspiracy to distribute more than 280 grams of crack cocaine from at least in or about 2014 up to and including in or about June 2017.

Between in or about 2015 and in or about May 2017, MCLEAN, FRAZIER, and LEMBHARD also possessed firearms in furtherance of the Southside racketeering conspiracy in which they all participated and the narcotics conspiracy in which FRAZIER participated.

For all charges and maximum penalties, go here.

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