Sweeping federal indictment ties Erie gang to killing at short-term rental, other violence
Erie police quickly collected evidence that a drug-related dispute fueled a fatal shootout at a short-term rental house in early 2022.
A large Erie gang was also connected to the killing, according to a newly unsealed 58-defendant federal indictment aimed at dismantling the gang, known as 4-Nation.
Members and associates of 4-Nation triggered the events at the house in the 3900 block of McClelland Avenue on Jan. 27, 2022, according to the indictment, which was unsealed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Erie.
The indictment alleges the members and associates "attempted to commit an armed robbery of the drug suppliers" of two high-level members of the gang, or criminal enterprise: Davante Q. Jones, also known as Smoov, and Marius L. Russell, also known as Gifted. Jones is the lead defendant in the federal case and Russell is listed as the eighth-highest defendant, according to the indictment.
The robbery attempt, the indictment alleges, resulted in "a target of the robbery sustaining gunshot wounds and the death of a member of the enterprise who was participating in the robbery."
Jones, Russell and the other 56 defendants named in the 30-count indictment are not charged directly in connection with the fatal shooting.
Twenty-two of the defendants, including Jones and Russell, are accused of trafficking in the synthetic opioid fentanyl as well as methamphetamine and cocaine as members of 4-Nation and also engaging in other illegal activity as 4-Nation members dating to around 2012, when the indictment alleges 4-Nation formed.
The 36 other defendants are accused of conspiring to deal drugs in other capacities starting in August 2021. Some defendants are also accused of gun-related offenses and other charges.
But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Erie is using the fatal shooting and other incidents of violence and drug dealing to try to prove that the 22 accused members of 4-Nation committed racketeering by operating the gang.
The 22 were all indicted on a charge that they violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. It is the law the federal government uses to prosecute organized crime, including the mob.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is using RICO to try to bring down 4-Nation, an organization that the office characterizes in the indictment as Erie's "most prominent gang" on the city's east side. In the 4-Nation case, a conviction on the RICO count would carry a life sentence under certain circumstances, according to court records.
Indictment lists shootout on McClelland Avenue as 'overt act'
In the section of the indictment against the accused 4-Nation members, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that "it was part of the conspiracy that each defendant would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise." The indictment alleges the accused gang members committed 43 "overt acts" of racketeering activity between July 2015 and March 2023.
The list includes the shootout on McClelland Avenue as well as other acts of violence, such as a drive-by shooting at a house in Erie in February 2016. In that case, Jones — the lead defendant in the federal indictment — pleaded guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in the Erie County Prison in January 2017, when he was 23.
The other overt acts include drug deals, weapons offenses and the stabbing of rival gang members. The shooting in the 3900 block of McClelland Avenue is the only homicide.
Several of the overt acts correspond to older cases that led to convictions or guilty pleas in Erie County Common Pleas Court. Most of the overt acts alleged to have occurred from mid-2021 to the present led to new charges related to the federal case.
In the McClelland Avenue case, Erie police allege the fatal shooting occurred during the robbery of four Arizona men staying at the short-term rental house. Four defendants are charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of 30-year-old Shannon Crosby, who the indictment alleges was a member of 4-Nation. One of the Arizona men staying at the house was also shot during what police said was an exchange of gunfire.
The four defendants are Julia D. Gaerttner, Marsea S. Jones, Jamie D. Smith, Jr. and Derrick S. Wright. They are scheduled to go to trial in January in Erie County Common Pleas Court. Those defendants are not named in the federal case.
An unprecedented investigation targets 4-Nation
The defendants in the 4-Nation case are to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Erie over the next several days. At 58, the total number of defendants makes the case the largest to be prosecuted in federal court in Erie.
The indictment also represents the most extensive effort of local, state and federal authorities to fight illegal gang activity in Erie through criminal prosecutions. The use of the RICO statute signals the extraordinary scope of the case. It is the first time law enforcement agencies have used the RICO statute to target an Erie gang, officials said at a news conference on Friday at Erie City Hall.
"This investigation, these arrests, are truly historic," said Mike Nordwall, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office, which includes the FBI office.
The FBI and a number of other federal, local and state law enforcement agents cooperated in the year-long investigation that focused on 4-Nation, Nordwall said. He said investigators tapped the phones of the accused gang members and used search warrants and other investigative tools to gather evidence.
The indictment alleges that 4-Nation trafficked in more than 150,000 fentanyl pills, more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine and multiple kilograms of fentanyl and powder of fentanyl-related drugs known as fentanyl analogues.
The gang is accused of getting the drugs from California, Arizona and Mexico and distributing them in Erie and in Ohio and New York, officials said. They said 4-Nation used violence to protect its territory, intimidate rivals and damage Erie.
"This gang has plagued the east side of Erie for a decade by committing acts of violence and distributing fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. But no more," Stephen Kaufman, executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said at the news conference. "We are confident the federal charges set forth in the indictment will result in convictions and the entire dismantlement of the 4-Nation gang."
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Erie is a satellite office of the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The Erie office is prosecuting the case at the federal courthouse in Erie.
Kaufman acknowledged that others in Erie might attempt to fill the void created with the charges against the 22 accused 4-Nation members. He said officials are monitoring the situation.
"Any time there is a vacuum created by this number of arrests, obviously sometimes others see an opportunity there, unfortunately," Kaufman said. "We in law enforcement are going to stay on top of that as well, because we know that can happen. But, no, we are not predicting any violence due to that. I think the violence will be significantly reduced due to this operation."
Read the indictment here. Read the the news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, which includes the defendants' names and ages, here.
Hundreds of law enforcement agents helped in arrests
A total of 47 of the defendants had been arrested as of Friday morning, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Ten of those defendants were later released, and 11 defendants were still at large as of Friday morning, the office said.
As many as 250 law enforcement officials participated in the arrests, the FBI's Nordwall said. The Erie police alone arrested 31 of the defendants on Thursday, starting at 4:50 a.m., according to police records.
The Erie FBI's Erie Area Gang Law Enforcement task force, known as E.AG.L.E., conducted the investigation. The task force is made up of a number of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Erie police, Millcreek Township police, Pennsylvania State Police, Erie School District police and federal Customs and Border Protection officers. Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS also assisted in the investigation along with the Erie County District Attorney's Office and Erie County detectives, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter. The initial proceedings are before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo.
As the case moves through the court system — a process that is expected to take months, if not years, for many of the defendants — details of what the U.S. Attorney's Office alleges were 4-Nation's illegal activities could be further exposed in open court. The indictment summarizes what the office alleges was the purpose of the gang under the 22 accused members.
Unprecedented in scope: Federal indictment targets Erie gang as 22 accused members, 36 others charged in drug case
The 22 defendants, the indictment alleges, belonged to "a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in criminal activity including but not limited to drug distribution and acts of violence in furtherance of drug trafficking."
Headed to trial: Prosecutors seek 2nd-degree murder convictions in 2022 fatal shooting at Erie rental house
The indictment also alleges: "4-Nation continued to operate as a criminal enterprise despite attrition occurring when members were incarcerated for criminal offenses, left the gang or were killed. 4-Nation also continued to operate as a criminal enterprise in spite of internal factions and rivalries occasionally occurring within the enterprise.
"Rival gang members and others were aware of the continued existence of the enterprise, protection of its territory and criminal operations despite this attrition."
Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie, PA gang linked to fatal shooting at short-term rental, feds say
