Three members of a Washington-area drug ring were found guilty on Monday of racketeering, gun, and murder charges, including in the killing of a woman who was to testify against the gang.
The violent group operated in Southeast Washington and carried their crimes throughout the larger capital region, law enforcement officials said. Three murders were carried out in the District and Maryland, officials said.
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“Today a jury of ordinary citizens struck back against a violent organization that operated for so many years in Barry Farm and elsewhere,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr.
Convicted were Mark Pray, Alonzo Marlow and Kenneth Benbow, all 31. Pray and Marlow are from Washington. Benbow lived in Capitol Heights.
Pray and Marlow were convicted in the killing of government witness, Crystal Washington, 44. She was gunned down April 10, 2009, a day before the start of a trial in which she was to testify against Pray and three others. Prosecutors said Marlow killed Washington at Pray’s direction to prevent her from taking the witness stand.
The two men were also convicted in the January 2010 murder of Jheryle Hodge, 20. Marlow, the group’s enforcer, shot Hodge several times in broad daylight in the Barry Farm neighborhood, officials said.
Pray and Benbow were convicted in connection to the 2008 murder of 28-year-old Van Johnson Jr. in Prince George’s County. Pray and Benbow ambushed Johnson because they believed he had been speaking badly of Benbow, prosecutors said.
