Jury convicts three members of the Minneapolis Bloods gang during racketeering trial

A federal jury on Tuesday convicted three members of the Minneapolis Bloods gang in connection with the murders of two rivals. The case is notable because jurors found one of the defendants guilty of racketeering. It’s part of a strategy by federal prosecutors to use a law written to target East Coast mafia families to take out Twin Cities street gangs.

The main defendant, Desean Solomon, is already serving a 36-year prison sentence for the 2020 murder of rival gang member Marcus Banks outside the 200 Club in north Minneapolis.

Now Solomon, 34, faces life in prison after jurors convicted him of racketeering and using a gun to commit murder on behalf of the Bloods gang, which operates in south Minneapolis.

On trial along with Solomon were 44-year-old Michael Burrell, who was convicted along with Solomon in connection with Banks’ death. Jurors convicted Leontawan Holt, 26, of killing Rayshawn Brown in 2022 outside a pub in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. Burrell and Holt were each found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of murder in aid of racketeering, which also carries a life sentence.

Prosecutors in this case not only had to prove the underlying murder charges, they also had to convince jurors that the suspects committed the crimes on behalf of a gang. Local and federal authorities have long cooperated in gang cases because federal sentences are typically longer than state prisons.

During her closing arguments Thursday morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Esther Mignanelli Soria said the Bloods are a criminal enterprise because they have a rank structure, a common language and strictly enforced rules. She said both killings were the result of fighting between members of rival groups.

At a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said the RICO law allows prosecutors to go after an entire criminal organization — not just its individual members.

“One murder at a time is an important and effective way to go after the activity,” Luger said. “But if it’s part of an organization and part of an ongoing crime pattern, it’s better to do it under a statute that allows you to bring everything before one jury.”

Luger noted that testimony from defendants who pleaded guilty and cooperated was critical. Soria applauded the courage of the victims who stepped forward to testify.

“It is a privilege to do this work,” Soria said. “And it is an even greater privilege to be entrusted with the stories of community members and victims and to be able to amplify those stories in a trial like this.”

Judge Susan Richard Nelson kept the names of the jurors in the trial anonymous from the plaintiffs, the defendants and their attorneys. These parties usually know the names of the judges, even if the audience only knows them by number.

Juror safety is a major concern among federal judges and attorneys in Minnesota after a woman visited the home of a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial in June and tried to bribe her with a Hallmark gift bag containing $120,000.

Tom Plunkett, Solomon’s attorney, said in his closing remarks that the government has never proven that Solomon fired the shots that killed Banks. Karen Mohrlant, who represented Holt, downplayed the rigid gang structure the government emphasized during the trial.

Mohrlant noted examples of members of rival gangs getting along and even being part of the same extended families. She also argued that Holt acted in self-defense and likely would have died if Rayshawn Brown’s gun had not jammed during the Uptown incident.

In his closing, Burrell’s attorney Steven Wolter similarly argued that the government failed to prove that Burrell killed Marcus Banks and argued that the murder was a personal matter unrelated to the Bloods.

Prosecutors said the fight in the bar that evening began when Solomon and Burrell saw a man who had testified against Burell’s younger brother Myon, who was convicted in 2002 of killing 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was doing homework in her home. to make. when a bullet went through the wall of her home in south Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Board of Pardons commuted Myon Burrell’s sentence in 2020 after a joint APM Reports/Associated Press investigation found major problems with the evidence and an independent panel of experts called for his release. Myon Burrell, who was in the courtroom for closing arguments, may go back to prison after a Hennepin County judge convicted him on gun and drug charges.

The convictions of Solomon, Holt and Michael Burrell are part of a prosecution effort that Luger and multiple law enforcement agencies launched last year that targeted gangs including the Bloods, Highs, Lows, 10z and 20z.

So far, prosecutors have charged 83 people, and nearly four dozen people have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.