Violent street gang member sentenced to 15 years

By Julia Cheever

June 13, 2007

A member of a violent San Francisco street gang who admitted to aiding in a 2004 murder was sentenced in federal court today to 15 years in prison.

Rickey Rollins, 21, is the last to be sentenced among eight members of the so-called Down Below Gang who pleaded guilty to various charges before U.S. District Judge William Alsup in December.

Four other gang members, including two who may face a possible death penalty if convicted, are awaiting a not-yet-scheduled trial.

Prosecutors have said the gang operated in the Sunnydale housing project in the city's Visitacion Valley District and that it sold crack cocaine and used violence and intimidation to enforce its territory.

Rollins pleaded guilty before Alsup on Dec. 4 to a charge of conspiring to participate in a racketeering organization.

As part of the guilty plea, he admitted that his racketeering acts included aiding in the murder of Beverly Robinson, a non-gang member who lived in the Sunnydale project and was believed by gang members to have a "hot" gun used in a recent homicide.

Rollins said in the agreement that while he was not among those who shot at Robinson on April 15, 2004, he assisted other gang members in chasing Robinson outside his apartment and Robinson's death was a "foreseeable result."

Rollins also admitted to racketeering acts of robbery, possessing crack cocaine and marijuana with the intent to sell them, and conspiring to murder members of a rival gang known as "Up the Hill."

The 15-year sentence, which was handed down by Alsup, was agreed to in Rollins's plea bargain with prosecutors.

The 12 gang members were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2005. Of the four who are awaiting trial, Emile Fort, 26, and Edgar Diaz, 22, may face a possible federal death penalty if convicted of charges of racketeering-related murders.

Prosecutors told Alsup at a hearing May 15 that the U.S. Department of Justice has not yet decided whether to authorize them to seek a death penalty for those two defendants.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

####