Atlanta, Georgia - Last week, six members of the Nine Trey Gangsters (NTG) national criminal organization pleaded guilty to Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization (RICO) conspiracy charges.

According to court documents, the NTG is a national gang that started in the prisons of New York as a subset of the United Bloods Nation and has since spread throughout the East Coast and Southeast. The NTG is a criminal organization whose members and associates engage in acts of crime and violence including murder, assault, robbery, firearms possession, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking and extortion among other criminal activity.

“The Department will continue to bring to justice the leaders and most violent members of dangerous criminal enterprises like the Nine Trey Gangsters,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Removing those most responsible for the violence and drug dealing perpetrated by members and associates of violent street gangs like the Nine Trey Gangsters makes our neighborhoods and communities safer.”

“Members of the Nine Trey Gangsters showed a shocking indifference to human life, both in carrying out planned acts of violence, and in distributing drugs, including methamphetamine, throughout Georgia,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine for the Northern District of Georgia. “While the gang offered members a sense of belonging and the opportunity to make money through illicit drug sales, it was those same members who were most often the targets of violence from the gang based solely on the whims of the gang’s leaders.”

“Members of Nine Trey Gangsters have plagued our streets with violence and drug trafficking for far too long,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Hacker of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office. “These pleas are an example of our commitment to dismantle organized, violent criminal enterprises. The community can rest assured these six defendants won’t be on our streets for a very long time, thanks to the efforts of the FBI-led Safe Streets Gang Task Force and its state and local partners.”

“As part of our commitment of ridding our facilities of criminal activity, we maintain a robust plan for identifying and managing those participating in gang activity from behind prison walls,” said Commissioner Timothy C. Ward of the Georgia Department of Corrections. “We appreciate the support and assistance of our law enforcement partners on every level, in our efforts to see that justice is being served on those who pose a threat to the safety of the public and the safe operations of our facilities.”

“These Bloods members terrorized communities by committing murders and robberies with no regard for human life,” said Assistant Director Calvin Shivers of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s convictions provide a measure of justice, and the FBI will continue to dismantle these criminal enterprises and protect communities from gang violence.”

The NTG have a hierarchical structure in which members throughout the country are subdivided into separate groups or “lines.” Each NTG member has a specific rank within the gang or a specific line, and this rank comes with specific duties and responsibilities. Each of the six defendants who pleaded guilty were part of the gang’s “fire” line.

The following NTG gang members, all of Georgia, pleaded guilty to count 1 of the second superseding indictment charging them and four others with RICO conspiracy:

• Tyrone Clark, aka “Tight Eye”; Joseph Riley, III, aka “Joe Blow”; Gary Sartor aka “G-Stacks”; and Patrick Caple, aka “Zoe,” all held the rank of “Fifth Floor” in the gang’s hierarchy, one of the highest ranks an individual can hold within a line of the gang. In those roles they were responsible for overseeing all the members below them and reporting up to the gang’s national leadership.
• Brandon Asberry, aka “B5,” held the rank of “Second Floor” in the gang’s hierarchy. In this role, Asberry was responsible for collecting dues form the gang’s members and overseeing the gang’s meetings or “nines.”
• Michael Jackson, aka “MJ,” held the rank of “Third Floor” in the gang’s hierarchy. He was responsible for planning “wars” or conflicts with rival gangs and providing weapons to other NTG members.

Clark, 40, of Marietta; Jackson, 27, of Chester; Caple, 56, of Glennville; and Riley, 37, Sartor, 37, and Asberry, 32, all of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge for their involvement in planning, facilitating and executing multiple acts of violence and participating in the gang’s drug trafficking activities, including the distribution of methamphetamine, marijuana, and Xanax. Sartor, Caple and Jackson were in Georgia Department of Corrections custody when they participated in the conspiracy.

The defendants face a statutory maximum penalty of life in prison. Jackson, Riley and Clark are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 1, 2022. The others will be sentenced in the coming months by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg in the Northern District of Georgia. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is being investigated by the FBI as part of the Safe Streets Task Force, with valuable assistance provided by the Georgia Department of Corrections. 

Trial Attorney Kristen Taylor of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.