WINSTON SALEM — The jury handed down its final verdict in the North Carolina Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation federal racketeering conspiracy case about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, November 21st.

Jorge Cornell, also known as “King J,” was found guilty on three counts of criminal racketeering.

Russell Kilfoil, also known as “King Peaceful,” was found guilty on one count of criminal racketeering.

Ernesto Wilson was found guilty on one count of criminal racketeering.

Randolph Kilfoil, also known as “King Paul;” Irvin Vasquez, also known as “King Dice;” and Samuel Velasquez, also known as “King Hype,” were found not-guilty and acquitted of all charges. Velasquez has been released. Randolph Kilfoil and Irvin Vasquez will be free after serving out the remainder of their terms for alleged crimes for which they were incarcerated before the RICO case began.

In addition to RICO conspiracy, Cornell was convicted of aiding and abetting assault with a dangerous weapon and knowingly carrying a firearm during a violent crime in aid of racketeering. He faces life in prison. Kilfoil and Wilson face up to 30 years in prison each. A sentencing hearing is expected sometime in January.

It remains unclear whether or not prison sentences will be assessed to Charles Moore, Luis Rosa, Richard Robinson, other cooperating witnesses who were arrested during the raid in December 2011, and other informants such as Robert Vasquez Jr., Allen Jordan, Anthony Vasquez, and Jose Lugo.

Jason Yates, also known as “King Squirrel,” awaits a separate trial for the same RICO conspiracy charges.

Cornell plans to appeal the decision. The defense coalition believes the jurors were erroneous in their verdict, and will campaign to bring together facts and resources to aid those who bring their case before an appellate court. The coalition will work to help ensure the justice system avoids another unjust and baseless conviction.

ALKQNSupport.com will remain active with news updates on the status of the falsely convicted kings. We will continue to seek and provide material and emotional support to these men, their families, and those who stand in solidarity with them.

More than half of the kings who pleaded not-guilty to RICO are exonerated. They are now — or will soon be — free. It’s clear that the government brought a weak, frivolous, and insubstantial case. With time, help, rigor, and expertise, it will become clear that each of the three remaining men is innocent. This case is not over. Invincible love to everyone who has supported the kings so far.

In a rather unexpected shortening of trial based on what we were prepared for, the defense rested its case on Thursday and closing arguments began Friday morning. The prosecution began at 9 am and badgered on until around 10:30 or 11 a.m. Lee-Dixon took the entire floor, displaying a power point presentation attempting to connect the dots between the broad span of “evidence” they have brought forth to the jury. Among the graphics displayed over and over again throughout the ugly powerpoint were photos of tattoos and fitted hats, as if to imply that the style choices of the defendants are admissible evidence of criminal activity. Nevertheless, they made their points, elaborating on how these charges should amount to a guilty verdict for RICO, even though their main arguments rested on the idea that the defendants are “latin kings,” which is neither a claim anyone is really arguing against, nor is it illegal to be a member of an organization– formal or informal. In classic between-the-lines prosecution, we are to believe these young men of color should be locked up, some for life, because they are a threat to their “own communities” and “regular citizens” because of their lifestyles and associations.

Lead defense attorney Michael Patrick, representing Jorge Cornell, was allotted longer time than the other defense attorneys at around 50 minutes. This uneven division in closing argument time is due to the fact that Jorge Cornell is facing all three counts of RICO, not just the first conspiracy count, which the other five are charged with. Patrick methodically explained the technicalities of each count of RICO, reminding the jury that their duty is to make a decision “beyond a reasonable doubt” that each and every requirement of the complex charges have been proven by the government should the jury choose to find the defendant guilty. However, more importantly, Patrick deconstructed each of the individual acts the government is proposing took place and explained how they were either entirely unfeasible as conspiracies and as crimes that took place to “futher the latin king enterprise,” rather some of the individual charges were crimes of necessity or spontaneous self-defense moves, not actions taken to further their pride and power as members of a street organization. Patrick ended strongly, discrediting the overwhelming information that was shared in cooperating witnesses testimonies, reminding the jury of how much incentive these cooperators have to embellish their stories or flat out lie for personal time reduction or due to the fact that they were paid thousands of dollars.
Brian Aus, Peaceful’s (Russell Kilfoil) attorney upped the energy in the room with a passionate defense of his client while damning and shaming the cooperators, some of whom were granted immunity due to their testimonies, and will walk free when the verdict hits. Aus excitedly pointed to the door of the courtroom as he detailed how these men literally “walked out the front door” with numerous charges still pending, while their former friends face double-digit sentences in the federal system.

The rest of the counsel continued to drive home the point that even though the Government paraded in front of the jury with 100+ witnesses on this case, that there is almost no evidence that proves any of these charges, nor a conspiracy or pattern of racketeering, save the testimony of cooperating witnesses, some of whom were paid government informants. We hope that the jury will have no doubt in their minds that it is their duty to critically assess the validity of such “evidence,” while these defendants lives are at stake.

The prosecution was allowed a fifteen-twenty minute rebuttal time, although the Judge decided to grant them fifteen extra minutes, despite that there whole argument amounted to the logic that the jury should ignore reason and evidence and make a decision based on whether or not they think these guys should be locked up because regardless they “seem like criminals.” A popular street chant comes to mind, one that we were screaming in our hearts when we heard this bullshit: “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”

After recess, the Judge reconvened with the jury instructions and went over their duties for over an hour. Apparently printed directly on their papers they have to fill out is the reminder that they should take the incentive that cooperating witnesses had to embellish or lie directly into their decision. The jury officially began deliberation around 3:30 Friday, and asked to reconvene on Monday after 30 minutes.

The brothers are experiencing one of the longest weekends of their life but staying strong and positive. They have had to be active, relentless players in their own defense as they come against the all the ways in which this trial process is not meant to serve us. They have continuously asked us to share their gratitude with everyone who has shown up to court, written them, visited them, donated money, or showed any form of solidarity. Please be thinking of them and their families this weekend and if possible show up to court in Winston Salem on Monday. Let us also remember that Irvin and Paul will not get to “walk free” should the jury find them not-guilty as they both have state time to finish. Yet even with that knowledge, this week in visiting the both of them, they expressed their desires for their other brothers to walk free so they can continue the fight. As I left the visits both devastated and re-energized, I came across this quote from Jean Weir’s speech at their anarchist comrade’s trial recently:  “They expressed solidarity in its only authentic manifestation, by continuing the struggle…each with their own means, each with their own responsibility.”

After less than three complete days of witness testimony and cross-examination, the defense has rested its case in the RICO trial of the NC ALKQN. Lead defense attorney Michael Patrick called less than a dozen witnesses, at least one of whom had their testimony struck from the record due to an alleged impropriety in court procedure that left two court spectators banned from the trial. He presented a paltry cache of defense evidence, including some photographs taken from Facebook and papers concerning a condemnation order on a house that burnt down. The remaining five defense attorneys called no witnesses and introduced no evidence.

For its part, the government called more than 110 witnesses, tendered several legal “experts” (one a supposed New York gang maven, another a veteran firefigther-turned-arson-investigator), and introduced a cornucopia of “sexy” evidence — a term used by Robert Lang himself, who is a North Carolina State Assistant District Attorney, and the lead prosecutor on the case, in his opening statement — in hopes of damning the Kings.

Automatic weapons, shotgun shells, unused ammunition rounds, machetes stamped with “gang” insignia, fitted hats, prayer beads, graphic tees, pictures of tattoos, video surveillance of alleged robberies, kited check xeroxes, Myspace messages, barely intelligible audio footage from wire recordings (along with their corresponding FBI-prepared transcripts), and an exhaustive battery of testimony from cooperating witnesses and law enforcement personnel were all employed by the government in their pursuit of conviction. They depended on the presence of these artifacts being recognized as signifiers of crime — no cohesive narrative suggesting the use of these items was demonstrated.

As one coarse onlooker commented, “they’re going to throw as much shit up against the wall as they can, and see what sticks.”

Their strategy was virtual and spectacular. Government crime databases like the NGIC already contain huge blocks of data informing federal agents about a Latin Kings template that courts count as criminal and that is applicable wherever Latin Kings are found, as far as investigators and prosecutors are concerned. Popular crime databases like Gangland, The Godfather, and Lockup: Raw already contain huge blocks of data available to the 16 jurors in this case about an organized crime template that the Latin Kings match and that is applicable to whatever alleged gang is paraded in front of them. It’s worth considering who stocks and maintains these databases.

It’s a mistake to dismiss the impact of theatrics and spectacle on this case. Since his opening argument, government prosecutor Lang foamed and preened before the gallery. He punished defense witnesses with argumentative lines of questioning. He nuzzled sheriffs with sycophantic rigor. Through the course of trial, he rarely looked at his interviewee, and swiveled his eye-contact between the jury and gallery as he held forth with grave equipoise.

As armed U.S. Marshalls looked on, he or Lee-Dixon would ask what colors alleged criminals’ clothes were, every time. Lang brandished the zip-tied long guns and pistols menacingly before admitting them to the court as evidence. The brutal avarice and glitzy macabre he accused these young men of conspiring to perpetuate was backed up by a slimy, purposeful histrionics.

At this point it might be germane to remind readers that this account is coming from a decidedly biased — and at this point, frankly, embittered and disappointed — defense coalition. Reference Jordan Green’s writing on the Yes! Weekly blog for calmer coverage, or open a News & Record if you’d like to be reminded what crimes Latin Kings have allegedly committed, if you’d like to hear snitch testimony quoted as fact, and if you prefer potentially exonerating data glossed over or ignored.

But concerning the theatrics of trial: some of the defense attorneys for the Kings managed to counter Lang’s grandstanding. Brian Aus, towering at more than 6′ 3″, was sharp and conversational in his cross-examinations, inviting several important contradictions on the part of informants and exposing other shoddy and shady elements of their testimony. Aus represents Russell Kilfoil.

Christopher Shella brought potent iconoclasm, frequently questioning the validity of testimony provided by law enforcement personnel and cooperating witnesses alike. On one occasion on Nov. 2, he boldly insinuated a former Greensboro Police Department Gang Unit officer Roman Watkins of being a hothead racist in dereliction of his duties to protect and serve (in so many legalese words). Shella, who represents Randolph Kilfoil, even provided some friendly ribbing to Lee-Dixon during some recesses.

Irvin Vasquez’s lawyer, Helen Parsonage, fought admirably to dismiss her client’s case (though she failed), and showed wit and panache during her opening argument when she pre-emptively explained away the curiosities jurors might have about her English accent.

Charles White was ruddy and tremored with rage when he cross-examined José Lugo, the government’s most celebrated, arrogant, and well-paid informant. White’s fervor was vindicated Tuesday when he successfully argued for the dismissal of RICO charges against his client, Carlos Coleman.

Scott Holmes was almost eerily soothing in his cross-examination, asking questions in soft, even tones and refusing to resort to the aggravated, condescending lilt Lang so expertly employed. But Holmes, unflappable and patient, proved to be one of the most poignant and energetic members of the defense team, and clearly delineated a strong case for the acquittal of his client, Ernesto Wilson, who is not even alleged by the government to be a Latin King, but who supposedly is an “associate-in-fact”.

Michael Patrick, for all his work, was soft-spoken & meek in his questioning. He possessed none of the intuition, fight, cunning, nor tranquility of his colleagues, and seemed to sluggishly eke through his work, rarely deigning a polytonous sentence or demonstrative hand gesture. Patrick is a court-appointed public defender whose expertise is personal injury litigation.

Not to lambaste a lawyer for his shortcomings as a dramatist, and not to impute this case unduly with paranormal energy. But this case hinges on a complicated litigation tool that is more or less beyond this jury’s scope of comprehension. The defense attorneys are relatively unskilled in working this type of law, and even the prosecution kept a thick copy of the manual for Federal RICO prosecution on their table for most of the proceedings.

What remains, then, is the feelings either side can generate that jurors believe are founded in the spirit of RICO. Inasmuch as both parties are generally believable as precise arbiters of the law, the raw amount of time one spends in front of the jury might reasonably sway jurors in that side’s direction.

The prosecution’s sprawling omnibus of evidence and testimony dwarfing that of the defense, both in terms of volume and time, is troubling, to say the least, from a sympathetic spectator’s point-of-view. Considered as an imbalance and negligence that may well delete 20 years or more from the free lives of these young men, it’s horrifying.

Court will continue Friday, when attorneys will present their closing arguments. The jury deliberate, and a verdict is expected sometime next week, though it could be handed down as early as Friday.

Carlos Coleman was acquitted of all counts of RICO conspiracy and substantive RICO in court Tuesday, Nov. 13. After the prosecution rested its case, each of the defense attorneys made motions to dismiss various aspects of the RICO indictment. Each motion was denied, save that of Coleman, who has also been known as “Spanky.” His lawyer indicated that although he is acquitted of federal RICO charges, he may stand to face state criminal charges in the future.

The acquittal is significant in that it indicates a case so weak by the prosecution that federal legal procedure allowed the dismissal of charges without deliberation by the jury. When the Jury was reconvened, Judge Beatty advised the jury not to speculate as to why Mr. Coleman was absent. During a recess after the acquittal, one of the defense attorneys was heard to remark, “One down, six to go.” The remark was met by grudging smiles from the prosecution.

The defense has begun to call its witnesses; more will testify Wednesday.

Since the December indictment and pursuant raid that imprisioned 14 men under federal RICO charges, media coverage has labelled the case one of “Murder, Kidnapping, and Arson.”

This shorthand is convenient, but evidence—and more frequently, a lack thereof—emerging in the trial may discredit that characterization.

In a move that surprised federal prosecutors, public defense attorney Michael Patrick filed a motion Friday to strike recordings alleged to contain a murder threat made by Jorge Cornell, effectively dropping the allegation from the case.

Hundreds of hours of audio surveillance was taken José Lugo, a paid FBI informant, who had been impersonating a Latin King since 2008, working to incriminate NC ALKQN members. According to an FBI-prepared transcript of one of those recordings, Cornell is alleged to have said he killed a member of MS-13.

But no evidence of this murder has ever been presented by the prosecuting attorneys in this RICO case, nor by any other law enforcement officials in a local-level jurisdiction. In fact, there is no evidence of this event ever taking place known to the court, except in the alleged recording and the original indictment. Given this absence, Patrick was able to convince the court that the statement should not be presented to the jury.

Under federal rule 403-b, the court may exclude evidence if its value is substantially outweighed by a danger of unfair prejudice, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or other improprieties. Patrick successfully showed the statement would be unduly prejudicial.

Robert A.J. Lang, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, scrambled for a response to Patrick’s motion, but was unable to produce any substantive objection, and Judge James A. Beaty, Jr., allowed it.

Lang was visibly flustered by the event. During much of the trial Friday, Lang allowed Dixon to take the lead questioning witnesses, while he pored over a spread of texts on his desk. Any strategy to reintroduce the alleged statement has yet to surface, but Lang did oversee the authorization of a Seal of Secrecy on hundreds of pages of public documents, interfering with information gathering by the defense team that could lead to more exonerating data.

It is unclear whether the documents sealed by the government pertain to any arson or kidnapping. But at least one of the documents recovered before the seal suggests that officers with the GPD recorded a statement by a man named Gorge [sic] Cardenas who said he had been sent to “get close to” and “gather information” on Jorge Cornell. He stated repeatedly that Cornell’s “days were numbered” and that he was about to be “taken out.” Mr. Cardenas was not arrested, and he was apparently not questioned concerning the Aug. 2008 shooting of Cornell.

Additionally, a motion submitted Oct. 29th by Michael Patrick states that District Attorney Lang had been told by Greensboro Police Department (GPD) Offficer P. Caffey, a potential witness, that “one of the potential defense witnesses on a previous occasion had told her that he had shot Jorge Cornell on Aug. 10, 2008.” Lang told Patrick this allegation has been referred to Internal Affairs of the GPD for further investigation.

Inhumane negligence in furtherance of disrupting perceived “gang activity” has been a policy of the GPD in the past: in 2008, Samuel Velasquez spent more than five months in prison for a murder he couldn’t possibly have committed. Evidence was quickly produced that he was at work during the alleged crime, and sworn coworker testimony, as well as time-stubs proving his alibi, were ignored.

GPD Officer A.J. Blake said he was aware of the exonerating evidence, but chose not to move on it swiftly in order to put pressure on Velasquez. This, he thought, might give the GPD some leverage in further dismantling the rampant gang problem Lang saw represented by Velasquez’s Latin Kings.

Another instance of this “gang problem” was an arson Cornell was alleged to have ordered in 2010. The circumstances surrounding the arson were made suspect, although the supposed crime wasn’t dismissed outright, as the claim about murder was. José Lugo, the informant, was cross-examined by Brian Aus, Russell Kilfoil’s public defender.

During his testimony, Lugo admitted to teaching ALKQN members how to make firebombs using gasoline, glass bottles and rags; he denies ever having actually used one himself. Lugo also admitted to encouraging the Kings to use the firebombs to commit an arson, and he conceded that Kilfoil advised those same Kings against committing the act.

According to federal law, the second person in a conspiracy cannot be an undercover agent or government informant (see United States v. Duff, 76 F,3d 122; 7th Cir. 1996). Inasmuch as Lugo was instrumental in the arson plot, that overt act stands to be invalidated as well.

Another “overt act” alleged in the indictment is a kidnapping said to involve Jason Yates and Irvin Vasquez.

Yates was assigned a new, separate trial date after it became evident that he had not spoken to his lawyer more than once during the 10 months he was imprisoned after the raid. No information or evidence concerning the alleged kidnapping has been presented yet.

It has been the position of the defense attorneys that Yates was responsible for a rift in the NC Latin Kings. Representing a distinct faction of Latin Kings hailing from Chicago, Yates had an energetic criminal proclivity that caused clashes between he and Cornell, according to testimony from Jesús Alvarenga, a former Latin King. Bellow is another of the ALKQN’s discontents who became a confidential informant for the FBI around 2008. He left the group sometime in 2009.

Cornell’s civic involvement — his work to broker a gang peace treaty, his campaign for Greensboro City Council, his service on the Guilford County School Safety Comittee — was minimized by prosecuting attorneys.  But Bellow contended that his understanding of the Latin Kings included a deep structural disconnect: Chicago transplants seemed interested in criminal organizing, whereas Cornell, of New York, was interested in creating unity, righteousness, and empowering Latinos.

While it doesn’t appear that the indictment is duplicitous (and subject to dismissal) as it stands now, the disconnect suggests a willful imprecision on the part of the government in discerning how deep geographical and ideological rifts within the broad grouping of “Latin Kings” has played out at local levels.

As of Friday, two of the cooperating witnesses had sided with Cornell until the raid arrests, after which they took plea agreements in hopes of reducing their sentences. Each of the other seven informants who have testified against the co-defendants has made an agreement with the government for an incentive in exchange for their testimony. Some were promised immunity from alleged crimes they say they participated in, some were paid hundreds of dollars for information gathering.

According to his testimony, José Lugo made more than $14,000 in the course of his work wearing recording devices for the FBI and catalyzing criminal activity and discord within the group. On cross-examination, he claimed to have crafted an elaborate criminal persona to deceive the NC ALKQN. He emphatically testified to being a successful liar when questioned by Scott Holmes, who represents Ernesto Wilson in the case. He also admitted to having used his position as an informant to evade conviction for other crimes he committed while working for the FBI. Additionally, Lugo said he hopes to have the process of earning his citizenship eased by his work with the government on this case.

Frequently, the testimony of one cooperating witness or informant contradicts that of another.

For example, Cornell’s presence at a Hooters restaurant after the shooting at the Maplewood apartments differs between Anthony Vasquez, José Argomaniz, and Marcelo Ysrael Perez, all of whom allegedly were there. Vasquez contends that Cornell attended the meeting and commended Argomaniz for his work. Argomaniz testified to a federal grand jury that Cornell was not at the Hooters. But during trial, Argomaniz said “I’m positive Jay was there that day,” and added that he, Jason Yates, and Irvin Vasquez were there. Perez said Cornell definitely wasn’t there — Yates took Perez to the restaurant after Cornell refused to let him enter Cornell’s home, he said. But Perez claims Cornell ordered the shooting, which he admitted to carrying out.

Vasquez was kicked out of the NC ALKQN in 2009. He was convicted of three felony assaults before then and another felony in 2011. He said the charges had to do with personal disputes and weren’t in furtherance of the Latin Kings as a criminal enterprise. He was paid $2,500 for information he provided to the FBI (which he began doing in Nov. 2008), and also testified that he hoped to have these charges reduced or dismissed as an incentive for his testimony.

The man Perez shot, Rojelio Lopez, said he had no gang affiliations and was going to his door when he saw a group of people walked up who he thought were friends. Lopez suffered a shotgun wound that was nonfatal. Perez claimed he positively identified him as an MS-13 member dressed in gang colors who he recognized from a fight earlier that day. Perez also admitted to having a pending felony when he was tapped to become an informant, and has similar hopes of reducing or dropping that charge through his cooperation.

Discrepancies in details sometimes arise within the course of a single cooperating witness’s testimony. José Lugo testified that he never received anything for his assistance to the FBI in their investigation. Lugo also claimed to have never committed any crimes outside of those sanctioned by the FBI to further his infiltration, but later testified to shoplifting, selling marijuana, and assaulting a fellow ALKQN member during his work as an informant.

Lugo also had extreme difficulty with his memory. When asked about the date of an alleged crime, he said he was unable to recall. When the cross-examining attorney asked him if it occurred before or after the birth of his child, he said he could not recall the date the child was born.

“I had to do a lot of lying, manipulating, and conniving to get the information that I got,” Lugo said.

During a recess, FBI Special Agent Doug Rentz and Safe Streets Task Force Officer Chris Lowes attempted to coach Lugo and encourage some finesse. “You can not do that again,” Lowes said in hushed tones to an aloof Lugo, presumably in reference to his irreverent, jocular, and rude attidtude during testimony. “Just…try to think of it like church.”

Trial wrapped up Friday with a video of Cornell interceding on the behalf of Wesley Williams when GPD Officer Roman Watkins attempted to tell him to stop “throwing gang symbols.”

This is the video prosecutors played in court.

One member of the defense team said it was puzzling to gather how the prosecution intended to use this footage as damning evidence. After the video was shown, The defense team took advantage of their cross-examination opportunities to begin exposing some unsavory behavior on the part of Watkins, who was a leader of GPD’s Gang Unit at the time. It appears Watkins may have aggressively avoided protocol in some of the arrests mentioned in the indictment and misquoted defendants in custody in furtherance of his anti-criminal enterprise.

Trial resumes next Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.