Hattiesburg man charged in federal racketeering conspiracy

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) - A Hattiesburg man was among several high-ranking members of a national gang to be charged with federal racketeering charges.

The Department of Justice announced Monday that the last of the seven suspects, Antarious Caldwell, was arrested on Jan. 9 in Clayton County, Georgia.

The charges stem from a superseding indictment returned on Oct. 25, 2018, by a federal grand jury. The indictment charged the seven suspects, most of whom were alleged to be high-ranking Gangster Disciple leaders across the U.S., with various federal offenses, including conspiracy to violate federal racketeering statute, narcotics trafficking, fraud and other offenses, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Georgia.

The initial 2016 indictment included 34 defendants and alleged that defendants named in the conspiracy committed murder, attempted murder, robbery, extortion, arson, firearm crimes, drug trafficking, wire fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud, prostitution and obstruction of justice for the Gangster Disciples, according to U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak.

The October indictment maintained all the allegations and added allegations of murder, robbery, drugs and fraud involving seven new defendants. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the seven new defendants include:

Roy Farrell, 59, of Hattiesburg, Miss., who held the rank of Gangster Disciples “Board Member.”
Mario Jackson, 38, of Jacksonville, Fla., who held the rank of the Gangster Disciples “governor” of Florida and a national enforcer of the gang.
Damien Madison, 32, of Denver, Colo., who was the Gangster Disciple “governor” for Florida.
Lawrence Grice, 32, of Houston, Texas, who held the rank of a Gangster Disciple “governor” for Texas.
Anthony Blaine, 36, of Smyrna, Ga., who was a recent Gangster Disciples “governor” for Georgia.
Antarious Caldwll, 25, of DeKalb County, Ga., who was a member of “HATE Committee,” an enforcement team for the Gangster Disciples.
Condelay Abbitt, 34, of Birmingham, Ala., who was a personal assistant to a Gangster Disciple “board member.”

According to the indictment, board members were national leaders of the gang while governors, assistant governors, chief enforcers and chief security ran each state where the gang is active.