Violent Fights Between Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples Place Mississippi Prisons on Lockdown, Leaves Five Dead, Connected to Chicago

“I must live and die by a sword to be an Almighty Vice Lord.”

Those words are from the Vice Lords literature, and when you become a legitimate Vice Lord, you have to learn that document by heart.

The Gangster Disciples literature states that they "would overturn this system without hesitation because they have absolutely nothing to lose... by the ballot or the bullet."

Jimmy Anthony speaks for the Mississippi Association of Gang Investigators, or MAGI. “Myself and other MAGI members have resources inside the facilities that are gang members that are contacting us and letting us know what’s going on,” he said.

The gang investigators are a group of cops from all over the state that gather and share information in order to draw a bigger picture of gang activity around the state. They said they've actually warned state officials that this day could come in the prisons.

“This is reality. It’s happening today. It’s been building for about three years, and we’ve talked about it, we’ve tried to share it," Anthony said. "This is not kids playing basketball on the street corner. This is a multi-billion dollar narcotics business.”

Informants are telling MAGI investigators that there have been guards who gave keys to inmates which allowed them to get to other inmates they wanted to attack. They said the fight started with the Vice Lords and the Gangster Disciples started to retaliate.

“The people who perpetrated this violence will be charged and brought to justice. Gang violence will not be tolerated in state prisons or on our streets,” tweeted Gov. Phil Bryant on Friday. And it’s quite possible the violence isn’t over yet, state law enforcement sources said.

Both the Vice Lords and the Gangster Disciples in Mississippi are “plugged” into Chicago, which means that they receive orders from leadership there. “Any major moves must be approved by Chicago because they have that plug,” said Anthony. “But by having that plug, it also gives them backup.”

According to MDOC, Denoris Howell, the last inmate who died, was not involved in one of the situations that stemmed from the gang wars. Inmates housed in Unit 29 where the riots took place have been moved to another unit so everyone is in a cell now.

“I received a briefing today from MDOC on the prison gang violence. Grateful to those working to restore order and safety. That is the first priority. Then we need answers and justice on the people who perpetrated this violence. Any loss of life is tragic and must be addressed,” he tweeted. “There is much work to be done in our correctional system. Until the transition, we will be working to get more information and offering our assistance to the current leadership.”

The Department of Public Safety issued a statement on Friday as well. “DPS will continue to work diligently with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and will provide all available resources in order to bring resolution to this current situation," said Commissioner Marshall Fisher. “Commissioner Hall and I are in communication regarding the situation and are closely monitoring gang related issues that could be contributing factors.”

MAGI officials say their goal is simply to stop the killing.

“Mainly we need to pray. We need God on our side. We’ve lost enough life," Anthony said. "We don’t need to lose any more people in our prisons, we don’t need to lose any of our guards, and we don’t need to lose any more of our law enforcement over this.”

The names of those killed in the gang war so far are:

Terrandance “Kaboom” Dobbins, 36
Walter Gates, 25
Gregory Emary, 26
Unidentified Inmate, age unknown

Thanks to Therese Apel.

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Willie Lloyd: Former Gang Leader of the Vice Lord Nation is Dead

Former leader of Vice Lord Nation and reformed advocate of anti-violence, Willie Lloyd died at the age of 64. He relocated with his family to Minnesota a few years ago and retreated to a quiet and solemn life. 

Lloyd joined the Unknown Vice Lords, a faction based along 16th Street in the Lawndale neighborhood. He soon became the faction’s leader and recruited thousands of followers. He proclaimed himself “King of Kings” and stated that he was the leader of the entire Vice Lord Nation. However, his tenure was interrupted by a prison term for his part in the murder of a police officer in Iowa.

During his incarceration, Lloyd wrote “The Amalgamated Order of Lordism”, a 61-page manifesto on the Vice Lord command structure in the prisons and on the streets. He was incarcerated in 1971 until his release on parole in 1986, then was back in prison a year later on a weapons conviction until another parole in 1992. In 1992, he was involved in a protracted gang war over control of the Vice Lord Nation, involving kidnapping and the murder of rival members’ children. Law enforcement intensified its efforts to remove Lloyd from the street, and from 1994 to 2001, he was again incarcerated for weapons violations.

Willie Lloyd quit the Vice Lords after his release from prison, and became an outspoken critic of gang life.

After his release from federal prison in 2002, Lloyd decided to retire from his life of crime and attempt to earn a legitimate living as a mediator for gang members. He began collaborating with Chicago’s School of Public Health, where he worked with the Chicago Project for Violence. He also involved himself with Cease Fire, a program that provides gang mediation efforts while mentoring at a Westside church.

In addition, Lloyd agreed to lecture incoming freshmen at DePaul University’s Discover Chicago program on the dangers of gang life. He would take sociology students on a field trip to give them an inside look at gangs in their natural habitat and discussed the pathology of crime. When parents learned of the arrangement, however, angry phone calls to school administrators shut the program down.

In August 2003, Lloyd was shot six times while walking his dogs in Garfield Park in Chicago. He survived the attack, but was paralyzed from the neck down this was the third assassination attempt on Lloyd. He was paralyzed from the neck down due to injuries from the shooting. Although rumors swirled around that Lloyd still wanted to collect a “tax” from the Vice Lords as its leader, even though he had allegedly left gang life.

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Traveling Vice Lords Gang Leader Sentenced for Murdering @Chicago_Police Detective

A high-ranking leader of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang who directed a violent west side drug-trafficking conspiracy was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison after a judge ruled that he “very likely” murdered an off-duty Chicago police detective and a woman in August 2008.

“Your drug trafficking activities were a scourge on your community,” Judge Lefkow said.


The judge also ruled that the government met its burden in proving by a preponderance of evidence that it was “very likely” that Austin committed the murders of Det. Robert Soto and Kathryn Romberg on Aug. 13, 2008, and then subsequently attempted to obstruct the murder investigation. The victims were shot as they sat in a parked car in the 3000 block of West Franklin, about three blocks east Kedzie and one block south of Ohio. During a sentencing hearing that began last month, the government presented evidence that Austin shot and killed the pair after mistaking them from for a rival drug dealer and the drug dealer’s companion.

“We are gratified that the Court found Austin responsible for the murders of Detective Soto and Ms. Romberg. Jason Austin is a violent drug dealer, and today’s 35-year sentence provides a modest measure of justice,” said Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

“Jason Austin sold heroin and crack cocaine in the area of Kedzie and Ohio for years. He ran the block, had employees who worked for him, and he sold thousands of dollars of heroin a day. Austin controlled his territory through fear, violence, and threats of violence. He kept guns at the ready to stave off the competition. Austin thought of Kedzie and Ohio as his,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maribel Fernandez-Harvath and Matthew Madden argued in seeking a significant sentence.

Austin and 30 other members and associates of the Traveling Vice Lords were arrested in November 2010 as part of Operation Blue Knight, which focused on around-the-clock retail street sales of crack cocaine and heroin in the area of Kedzie and Ohio, known as “KO.” Significant amounts of crack cocaine and heroin were seized during the two-year investigation, which the Chicago Police Department’s Organized Crime Division began in 2008 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation joined several months later. Overall, their efforts resulted in a total of 104 defendants being arrested on state and federal charges in this and related investigations.

The evidence at trial showed that Austin conspired with others to distribute heroin to customers via hand-to-hand transactions in the “KO.” The heroin, named “Blue Magic,” alone accounted for as much as $8,000 a day in sales, between approximately 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week. During the investigation, law enforcement officers repeatedly observed the conduct of co-conspirators at KO. Surveillance, often video recorded, documented hand-to-hand drug transactions, controlled purchases of narcotics by undercover Chicago police officers, and controlled purchases of narcotics by confidential sources.

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Sterling Rivers #LittleReal #ViceLords Leader Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison

Sterling Rivers, a/k/a “Little Real,” 26, of Lebanon, Tennessee, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 28 years in prison for conspiring to distribute large quantities of crack cocaine and cocaine, as part of his involvement in a criminal street gang called the Unknown Vice Lords, announced David Rivera, U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Rivers was indicted with 16 other individuals in September 2011 following a nearly two-year investigation into a national street gang, the Vice Lords, operating in Wilson and Putnam County, Tennessee, and beyond. Rivers fled following his indictment and was arrested in October 2011 as a fugitive in Texas. Rivers was convicted following a trial in September 2013 in which he represented himself.

“This sentence reaffirms that drug trafficking and organized crime will result in significant prison sentences,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera. “This and other recent sentences of gang members should send a clear and convincing message that violent gang activity in this district will be vigorously pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners.”

The convictions in this case followed a two-week trial, during which Rivers represented himself. Proof at trial established that Rivers was engaged in organizing the Vice Lords Gang throughout the state of Tennessee and had been involved in an array of violent crime, including the robbery of another drug dealer and the shooting of another individual.

Sixteen other defendants were also charged in connection with this investigation, and all have been convicted.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI; the Lebanon Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Braden H. Boucek and Brent Hannafan.

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