'Southside' Gang Leader Accused Of Ordering A Killing

NEWBURGH, NY — The leader of the "Southside" Newburgh street gang, who is in federal prison, was accused of ordering one of his gang members to kill someone.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Wednesday that Ardae Hines, aka "Young Money," was charged in the August 2016 murder of Deandric Little.

Hines, 33, is currently serving a 2019 sentence for racketeering and narcotics conspiracy.

"Ardae Hines, a leader of the violent street gang, 'Southside,' is alleged to have engaged in and promoted violence in furtherance of Southside's activities, including directing a fellow gang member to commit murder," Williams said.

Prosecutors said, from 2014 through June 2017, the Southside Gang was a criminal enterprise centered in and around the intersection of South and Chambers streets in an area of Newburgh known as the "Southside."

In order to get money for the gang, protect the gang's territory and promote the gang's standing, members of Southside engaged in, among other things, narcotics trafficking, robbery and acts involving murder, according to authorities.

They sold heroin, crack cocaine and marijuana in their territory, promoted their gang affiliation on social media such as Facebook, possessed firearms and engaged in shootings as part of their gang membership, police said.

The indictment said, on or about Aug. 1, 2016, Hines argued with Little in Newburgh and then ordered one of his gang members to shoot and kill him, which the gang member did, prosecutors said.

Hines was charged with murder in the aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory life sentence, murder in connection with a drug crime, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and murder through use of a firearm, which carries a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum life sentence.