Detroit — Feds urge life terms in biker case, 1st of 6 Highwaymen faces sentencing next week in conspiracy...

OFF THE WIRE
Robert Snell
 The Detroit News
1st of 6 Highwaymen faces sentencing next week in conspiracy..

Detroit — The leader of the Detroit Highwaymen Motorcycle Club and five members should be sentenced to life in prison this month, federal prosecutors said Friday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the club's violent nature justifies the stiff sentences and would help deter others from engaging in such a criminal lifestyle. The government's recommendation comes seven months after a jury convicted leader Aref "Steve" Nagi and five other Highwaymen members of numerous felonies. Over the eight-week trial, jurors heard allegations of beatings, drug dealing and efforts by the club to locate suspected "snitches" who passed information to the FBI.
The convictions closed the first phase in the government's prosecution of more than 80 alleged Highwaymen members and associates in one of the largest indictments ever brought in the Eastern District of Michigan.
"The (Highwaymen) enterprise terrorized southwest Detroit and the area surrounding it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane L. Marion wrote in a filing.
"Innocent individuals were fired upon, people were followed and beaten and robbed, orders to kill potential snitches were casually given out, and one can only guess at the amount of damage the drug dealing did in a community already ravaged by drug use and sales."
Nagi is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday followed by the five others in coming days and weeks. The other members are: Gary "Junior" Ball Jr.; Leonard "Dad" Moore; Joseph "Little Joe" Whiting; Anthony "Mad Anthony" Clark; and Michael "Cocoa" Cicchetti.
All of the defendants were found guilty of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110108/METRO/101080342/Feds-urge-life-terms-in-biker-case#ixzz1AacEnPD7