COLUMBUS, Ohio –The final 19 T&A Crip members have been convicted of federal crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office released the following statement regarding the convictions.
“Members of the Columbus gang-related racketeering conspiracy pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for his part in furthering the violence of the local Crips gang. The racketeering conspiracy first charged in 2018 includes five murders, at least 26 attempted murders, and other violent and drug-trafficking crimes.
Shawn Nelms, 28, was admitted in federal court on Sept. 8 to participate in the 2013 murder of William Moore. Nelms and others spotted Moore, a rival Poindexter Thug Life Bloods gang member, walking on Mount Vernon Ave. and agreed to kill the man for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their positions within T&A. According to his plea, in 2011, Nelms shot another man in the chest, and the gunshot victim survived. During a robbery in 2011, one of several rounds shot by Nelms went into a nearby house and struck a young girl, who also survived. Nelms’s plea includes a recommended sentence of 34 to 40 years in prison.
Nelms was scheduled to stand trial beginning next week and pleaded guilty at a pretrial conference yesterday evening.
The United States Attorney’s Office charged 19 total defendants in 2018 as part of the local gang T&A Crips. The gang derived its name from Trevitt and Atcheson streets in the King-Lincoln District of Columbus, where its members predominantly resided.
The criminal organization included various subgroups, including, Atcheson Crip Gangsters (ACG), Catch A Body (CAB), Kwamie Gang (KMG), Waun Gang, Family Over Everything (FOE), Go Gang, On The Family (OTF), Toe Tag and Go Crazy.
T&A identifies with the national Crips gang, adopting the traditional colors, symbols, culture, codes, and enemies of the Crips gang. Its local rival Blood gangs include, but are not limited to, the Easthaven Bloods, Poindexter Thug Life (PTL), and the Milo Bloods.
T&A members marked the gang’s territory with graffiti and themselves with common tattoos. Members also produced songs to boast of the gang’s existence, communicate their violent methods, and threaten non-members and rival gang members. These songs were posted on various social networking sites used by the T&A members.
T&A controlled the neighborhood through intimidation, fear, and violence. Gang members were expected to retaliate with acts of violence when their members and associates were disrespected, threatened, intimidated, or subjected to acts of violence.
Specifically, co-conspirators, in this case, have been convicted of five murders:
the murder of Franky Tention on July 1, 2012, in the area of 431 Ellison Street;
the murder of William Moore on March 15, 2013;
the murder of Marvin Ector on December 23, 2013, on East 5th Avenue;
the murder of Quincy Story on January 24, 2015; and
the murder of seven-year-old Deonte Fisher on March 4, 2016.
Additionally, from June 14, 2010, until March 15, 2017, there were at least 26 separate incidences in which T&A gang members attempted to murder more individuals by shooting at them.
Co-conspirators also threatened and/or intimidated witnesses, using violence or the threat of violence to deter them from providing information to law enforcement and to enforce a “no snitching” code.
Defendants distributed cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, and marijuana. They also used “trap houses” in other individuals’ names to store and sell narcotics.
T&A members used the drug proceeds to purchase firearms to use in gang wars in Columbus. They often traveled to Huntington, West Virginia, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Chillicothe, Ohio, (among other locations) to sell and purchase drugs and guns.”
Seven defendants have been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. They include:
| Name | Also Known As | Sentence |
| Charles Carson | 30 years in prison | |
| Jonathan Dantzler | Jesus | 30 years in prison |
| Eric Henderson, Sr. | Easy | 15 years in prison |
| Michael Henderson | Bang | 10 years and 9 months in prison |
| Steve Henderson, Jr. | Big Go, Tana | 20 years in prison |
| Shawn Nelms | Mook | 34-40 years recommended |
| Marcus Walton | Ox, Wax | 10 years in prison |
| Michael Watson | Sossa | 30 years in prison |