District of Connecticut | Violent New Haven Gang Member Sentenced to 84 Months in Federal Prison

SAMUEL DOUGLAS, aka “Blamm,” 25, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 84 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his participation in a violent New Haven street gang.

Today’s announcement was made by Vanessa Roberts Avery, District Attorney for the District of Connecticut; John P. Doyle, Jr., District Attorney for the Judicial District of New Haven; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Boston Field Division; Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England; and New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in an effort to address the violence in New Haven, the ATF, FBI, DEA and the New Haven Police Department have worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the New Haven District Attorney’s Office to investigate an ongoing turf war between members and associates of the Exit 8 street gang and rival gangs in the Hill section and other parts of the city. The Exit 8 gang is named after the geographic area reached by closing Interstate 91 at Exit 8 in New Haven. Recently, younger members of Exit 8 have begun identifying themselves by the word “Honcho,” which is derived from the street name of an Exit 8 member who was murdered on Quinnipiac Avenue in February 2020.

The investigation revealed that Douglas and other members of the Exit 8 gang engaged in drug trafficking, used and distributed firearms, and committed at least three murders and 16 attempted murders from 2018 to 2023. Exit 8 members and associates also stole vehicles, sometimes from out of state, and used the stolen vehicles to commit violent acts. Gang members also promoted, coordinated, facilitated, and celebrated their drug distribution and violent acts through text messages and the use of social media applications and websites, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

On April 22, 2024, Douglas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, specifically admitting that on June 16, 2018, he and fellow Exit 8 member Kiveon Hyman shot and attempted to kill a member and associate of a rival gang in the area of ​​Fountain Street, Davis Street, and Lakeview Terrace in New Haven. The shooting left the associate of the intended victim with seven gunshot wounds, but survived. Investigators found 15 spent ammunition casings at the crime scene.

Investigators subsequently recovered two handguns that fired ammunition casings collected from the scene. One handgun was seized in March 2019 from a now-deceased Exit 8 member. National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) analysis of the second handgun, recovered in January 2020 during a New Haven Police Department investigation, linked it to eight other shootings in New Haven in 2018.

Douglas has been in custody since November 10, 2022.

Hyman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 78 months in prison on April 1, 2024.

This investigation was conducted by ATF, FBI, DEA, New Haven Police Department, Hamden Police Department, and the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, with assistance from the Connecticut State Police and the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rahul Kale and Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis.

This prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Project Longevity, and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) programs.

PSN is a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. Project Longevity is a comprehensive initiative to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities. Through Project Longevity, community members and law enforcement engage directly with members of groups prone to violence, delivering a community message against violence, a law enforcement message about the consequences of further violence, and an offer of help for those who want it. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Additional information about the OCDETF program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.