The 37th and final defendant charged as part of the case against the violent Simon City Royals gang has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges, the Department of Justice announced on Oct. 19.
The guilty plea from the final member of the gang, who was not named, “ended a reign of terror for 37 career criminals,” said U.S. Marshal Daniel R. McKittrick for the Northern District of Mississippi in a statement.
The racketeering conspiracy charge alone carries a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment.
Prosecutors said members of the gang have “terrorized” Mississippi prisons and communities for “far too long” while praising the DOJ’s dedication to “disrupting and dismantling violent criminal enterprises, regardless of where they operate.”
Prosecutors said the gang now operates primarily in the Mississippi Department of Corrections but has members and associates acting on behalf of imprisoned inmates outside of jail throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and elsewhere.
Through an alliance with the violent Gangster Disciples gang—a street and prison gang also known as “Growth & Development”—the Simon City Royals conducted a range of criminal activities, including murder, attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, witness tampering, money laundering, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, large-scale drug trafficking, and fraud, prosecutors said.
This includes the brutal murder of a prison inmate in 2018, according to officials.
Gangs Put ‘On Notice’
Simon City Royals were also responsible for the “savage” kidnapping and torture of a former member in 2015 who they claimed violated the gang’s code of conduct, officials said.According to the DOJ, gang members kidnapped the victim at knifepoint and forced him into a hotel room where they proceeded to burn off his Simon City Royals tattoos.
Additionally, members of the gang engaged in widespread drug trafficking, including smuggling large quantities of 100 percent pure crystal methamphetamine—a powerful and highly addictive stimulant—marijuana and synthetic marijuana, heroin, and benzodiazepines into dozens of prisons across the state of Mississippi to be used by inmates.
According to a March 2022 announcement from the DOJ, the gang operated under a “formalized hierarchy” that included various “boards” and “teams” such as one focusing on gang punishments and another that concentrated on revenues from fraud, illegal gambling, and identity theft.
“Our communities have every right to expect that violent criminal gangs will be held to account and incarcerated for their crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner for the Northern District of Mississippi.
“Thanks to the extraordinary work of our law enforcement partners and career federal prosecutors led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stringfellow, 37 members of the Simon City Royals, a violent gang acting outside as well as inside our prisons as a criminal enterprise, have been arrested, incarcerated, or are currently awaiting sentencing,” he added.
The U.S. attorney concluded that the DOJ will not compromise when it comes to protecting citizens, adding that “every criminal gang operating in the Northern District of Mississippi can consider itself to be on notice.”
