COLUMBUS, Ohio – State and federal authorities have announced new charges in an investigation into gang-related murders and drug dealing dating back a decade.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the charges are connected to alleged crimes committed by members of the Short North Posse in Columbus between 2005 and 2014.
Investigators named three new defendants Tuesday and an additional 23 felonies, including another murder and nine attempted murders. The new indictment brings the total number of people charged in the offensive against the Crips-affiliated gang to 20.
The series of violent crimes attributed to the gang includes 13 unsolved murders as well as other attempted murders, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion and robbery.
Seventeen individuals were indicted in the racketeering case in July. All of the defendants are accused of being an organized criminal enterprise known as the Short North Posse. Eleven defendants could face the death penalty if convicted of the crimes in the indictment.
Named in the latest indictment are Andre “Paco” Brown, 33 (above left); Jonathan “Dough Boy” Holt, 22 (center) and Christopher Wharton, 25 (right), all of Columbus. Previous defendant Lance Reynolds, 31, of Columbus, was also charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy.
The charges are connected to 13 unsolved homicides, 33 attempted homicides, 56 violent felonies and 73 weapons offenses committed in Columbus, Canal Winchester, Chillicothe, Pataskala, Pickerington, and Zanesville, Dave DeVillers, an assistant U.S. attorney, says.
Authorities say some members of the Short North Posse formed a hit squad, reminiscent of the Mafia’s Murder, Inc., called the Cut Throat Committee and the Homicide Squad. This group “specialized in murders and robberies of rival gang members, other drug dealers, and targets thought to have large sums of cash or firearms,” federal authorities said.
The defendants will appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge who will determine whether or not to hold them without bond until trial.