These South MS gang members are headed to prison after U.S. Justice Department crackdown
The last defendant in a sprawling prosecution of the Simon City Royals gang in Mississippi has been sentenced to prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
In total, the DOJ said 37 members and associates of the gang have been convicted and sentenced on charges from racketeering to drug conspiracy to money laundering.
And many of those defendants hail from South Mississippi.
“The Simon City Royals gang engaged in murder and torture and smuggled drugs and other contraband into prisons,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Nicole M. Argentieri said in an announcement of the sentencing. “This prosecution demonstrates the Justice Department’s resolve, along with our law enforcement partners, in holding violent criminal gang members to account.”
The gang, which is aligned closely with the Gangster Disciples, is a violent group that worked mainly out in the Mississippi Department of Corrections but included members across the South. The group’s crimes include murder, attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, witness tampering, money laundering, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, large-scale drug trafficking and fraud, the Justice Department said.
In 2018, the Simon City Royals issued a “kill on sight order” for a prison inmate and demanded any member who saw the target to murder him, the DOJ said.
Defendants Dillon Heffker and Robert Williams complied — they stabbed the victim dozens of times with knives made in prison — and the gang rewarded them with hundreds of dollars sent to prison commissary accounts, the DOJ said.
In 2015, the DOJ said the Simon City Royals kidnapped and tortured an ex-member because they thought he violated the gang’s code of conduct.
The gang also smuggles methamphatemine, marijuana, heroin and benzodiazepines into state prisons and distributes them to inmates, according to the DOJ.
The DOJ announced the sentencing of the following defendants:
Allen Posey, 48, of Jackson, 20 years;
Jonathan Davis, 39, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, 30 years and five months;
Jeremy Holcombe, 43, of Meridian, Mississippi, 20 years;
Jonathan Burnett, 39, of Birmingham, Alabama, 22 years and six months;
Hank Chapman, 38, of Ripley, Mississippi, three years;
Jason Hayden, 42, of Picayune, Mississippi, five years;
Gavin Pierson, 33, of San Diego, 21 years and 10 months;
Justin Shaw, 36, of Holly Springs, Mississippi, 25 years;
Bobby Brumfield, 44, of New Orleans, 15 years and eight months;
Jordan Deakles, 31, of Gulfport, Mississippi, two years and six months;
Bryce Francis, 43, of Columbus, Ohio, 15 years;
Anthony Murphy, 30, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 10 years;
Chancy Bilbo, 31, of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, 20 years;
Dillon Heffker, 32, of Bay St. Louis, 35 years;
Douglas Jones, 34, of Jackson, 19 years and seven months;
Cody Woodall, 31, of Gulfport, five years;
Michael Muscolino, 43, of Phoenix, five years;
Valerie Madden, 54, of Chicago, two years;
Samuel Conwill, 45, of Tupelo, Mississippi, time served of 20 months;
Jason Collins, 40, of Loraine, Ohio, five years;
Justin Leake, 43, of Meridian, 25 years;
Michael Dossett, 42, of Carriere, Mississippi, six years and six months;
Angel Labauve, 43, of Picayune, Mississippi, nine months;
Bruce Floyd, 42, of Senatobia, Mississippi, 10 years and five months;
Jacquelyn Harmon, 33, of Senatobia, one year and months;
Cody Myrick, 33, of Grenada, Mississippi, one year and eight months;
Craig Thomas, 36, of Grenada, two years and three months;
Arvis Tolbert, 43, of Hurley, Mississippi, three years;
Preston Edwards, 36, of Jackson, 21 years and 10 months;
Catherine Perry, 41, of Tupelo, five years;
John Brooks, 37, of Greenwood, Mississippi, 10 years;
Alana Dickey, 21, of Holly Springs, five years of probation;
Austin Ruby, 35, of Holly Springs, 10 years;
Chris Vincent, 20, of Gulfport, five years and two months;
Trevor Overby, 45, of Jackson, time served of 18 months; and
Anthony Rouse, 33, of Picayune, 10 years.
