A high-ranking enforcer of the notorious Gangster Disciples gang was sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of multiple offenses, the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement Thursday.
A trial jury found Lewis Mobley, 45, guilty of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, unauthorized use of a firearm in that attempted murder, and conspiracy.
Mobley lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a known strongman for the Disciples. He was charged with attempted murder after reportedly shooting a minor multiple times in the chest after he interrupted the filming of a music video.
Mobley is the last gang member out of 38 individuals from the Disciples to be sentenced in an ongoing case against the group. The gang members were first indicted by a federal grand jury in 2016, according to the DOJ.
The 38 defendants included high-level Disciples from eight different states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Numerous government agencies were involved in rounding up the gangsters and levying charges, including the DOJ, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
These agencies were assisted by a number of local police departments and state attorneys' offices.
The DOJ presented evidence during the trial that showed the group was "responsible for 25 shootings from 2011 through 2015, including eight murders." Prosecutors also showed additional evidence tying the gang members to numerous other crimes, including extortion, fraud and drug trafficking.
Thirty-three firearms were also surrendered to the court, the DOJ stated.
"These sentences are a major achievement in our fight against gang violence," said DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. "The Gangster Disciples have ravaged communities across the nation, but now dozens of their leaders and enforcers are off the streets thanks to the extraordinary devotion of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners."
"The Gangster Disciples have wreaked havoc in our neighborhoods for far too long with the drug trafficking, thefts, violent assaults and murders they have committed," added Chris Hacker, the FBI's Special Agent In Charge of the Atlanta Field Office. "Mobley is the last of many members of the ruthless gang to be sentenced as a part of this investigation by the FBI's Safe Streets Gang Task Force and its state and local partners."
The Gangster Disciples are a predominantly African American gang founded in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1970s. Beginning as a small neighborhood group, the Disciples gained power and money through numerous criminal activities, such as robbery, laundering, extortion and various forms of fraud.
Soon, the Disciples branched out into more violent crimes, including murder and assault. Strict adherence to a code of silence was expected, and "members and associates were routinely fined, beaten and even murdered, for failing to follow rules," according to the DOJ.
A profile of the gang published by the DOJ in 1995 called them "one of Chicago's most successful, albeit illegal, home-grown corporations in the modern American underground economy," and stated that the Disciples had 30,000 members in Chicago alone.
As the decades passed, the Disciples began to spread across the United States. At one point, it was estimated that the gang had branches in over 100 cities.
The DOJ states that the Disciples are "now active in at least 25 states."
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