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Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace
By Forum Staff
A superseding indictment was unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn charging 26 defendants, including nine members and associates of the violent NYC-based street gang known as the “Bully Gang” with various offenses, including racketeering, murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms offenses. The superseding indictment includes new charges against the following members and associates of the Bully Gang for three murders and one attempted murder in Brooklyn and Queens committed in2018 and 2020:
- Derrick Ayers, also known as “Dee” is charged with the March 3, 2018 murder of Jonathan Jackson in Brooklyn.
- Franklin Gillespie, also known as “Spazz” and “Frankie Gino,” is charged with the April 11, 2020 murder of Paul Hoilett in Brooklyn.
- Gillespie and Anthony Kennedy, also known as “Biggie,” are charged with the April 15,
2020 murder of Mike Hawley in Queens.
- Demetrius Johnson, also known as “Q,” is charged with the July 18, 2020 attempted murder of a victim in Brooklyn.
The superseding indictment also charged four new defendants, Tiri Brown, also known as “Tyhoe,” Courtney Foster, also known as “Biga,” Avery Goodluck, also known as “Ave,” and Johnson, with narcotics trafficking charges for their role in a scheme to traffic narcotics between New York and Maine.
Ayers, Gillespie, and Kennedy were previously in custody on the underlying indictment. Defendants Brown, Foster, Goodluck, and Johnson were arrested Tuesday.
As set forth in the superseding indictment and other court filings, members and associates of the Bully Gang used force and violence to promote its power, terrorize communities in multiple states and enrich themselves and their members. Their members engaged acts of violence including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and arson. The superseding indictment adds charges stemming from the gang’s years-long use of violence and brutality to target its enemies. As alleged, on August 21, 2017, Bermon Clarke, a leader in one of the charged narcotics conspiracies, set fire to a house in Blaine, Maine with at least two occupants inside. The March 3, 2018 murder of Jonathan Jackson alleged in the indictment was the culmination of an exchange of gunfire that followed a “gender reveal” party in Brooklyn. As alleged, during a foot chase along Kings Highway, Ayers repeatedly fired on Jackson at close range. The murders of Hoilett and Hawley occurred just days apart in April.
- As alleged, Gillespie targeted Hoilett, approaching him from behind and firing at the back of Hoilett’s head at point-blank range. Four days later, Gillespie and Kennedy allegedly lured Hawley to a meeting place in Far Rockaway where he was shot and killed.
As alleged, the Enterprise and its co-conspirators also operated a years-long, sophisticated drug trafficking network responsible for trafficking large quantities of dangerous drugs like crack, heroin and fentanyl through New York to Maine, and elsewhere. The enterprise’s drug proceeds were collected on a regular basis and laundered through financial transactions and the purchase of high-value assets, including jewelry and cars.
During the investigation, law enforcement seized more than $380,000 in cash, more than 15 firearms, 6 kilograms of cocaine, 600 grams of fentanyl, multiple luxury watches, and four vehicles with concealed “trap” compartments installed.
To date, 53 defendants have been charged as part of the prosecution, with 27 pleading guilty.
