Minnesota men convicted on gang charges related to federal crackdown

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota jury on Tuesday convicted three alleged members of a Minneapolis street gang on charges stemming from what prosecutors said was a yearslong pattern of violence and murder.

The charges are part of a crackdown announced in 2023 by federal gang suppression authorities that ensnared dozens of members or associates of two major Minneapolis gangs. Tuesday’s guilty verdict marks the first conviction in the federal operation involving the rare use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. The anti-corruption law is used to tackle organized crime, and prosecutors compared the defendants’ actions to those of the mafia.

“The Minneapolis Bloods gang is a violent criminal enterprise,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger. “As the evidence showed, the defendants convicted today were members of that company and committed violence and murder on behalf of the company. As Bloods members, the rules these defendants adhered to superseded all criminal laws and social principles, such as respect for human life or concern for public safety.”

Jurors convicted Desean Solomon, 34, of RICO conspiracy and use of a firearm in furtherance of murder. They also convicted Michael Burrell, 44, and Leontawan Holt, 26, on federal weapons charges. Lawyers for the three men argued that they acted in self-defense during violent encounters and that the men were members of a loosely affiliated group, not a formal gang.

Prosecutors said the trio has been members and associates of the Minneapolis Bloods street gang since at least 2020. That same year, court records show the men went to a Minneapolis nightclub where they got into a fight with a rival gang member. A gunfight was assured outside the club. Solomon and Burrell both fired their weapons multiple times, resulting in the killing of a rival gang member, prosecutors said.

In a separate encounter in 2022, Solomon and Holt went to a bar to celebrate a birthday. Another fight broke out with a rival gang member. Holt and a juvenile allegedly shot and killed a rival gang member.

Prosecutors have built their case around both of these murders and an alleged pattern of narcotics sales.

Sentencing hearings will take place at a later date. A total of 17 alleged members of the Bloods gang have pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial in the broader federal investigation, which focused on seven murders and numerous drug trafficking and firearms offenses.