A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia returned an indictment yesterday charging five alleged Gangster Disciples members with murder and racketeering in connection with the alleged murder of three people, as well as drug trafficking and obstruction of justice.
Each of the defendants, Philmon Deshawn Chambers, aka Dolla Phil, 33, of Atlanta; Andrea Paige Browner, aka Light Brite, aka Shawty, 27, of Athens, Georgia; Lesley Chappell Green, aka Grip, 34, of Stone Mountain, Georgia; Robert Maurice Carlisle, aka Different, 33, of Lithonia, Georgia; and Shabazz Larry Guidry, aka Lil L, aka L, aka Lil Bro, aka Lil Larry, 27, of Decatur, Georgia, are each charged with Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization (RICO) conspiracy.
Chambers and Browner are also charged with murder in aid of racketeering, carrying, using, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime, and using a firearm that results in death.
The Gangster Disciples are a national gang with roots in Chicago, Illinois, that have been active in at least 25 states since the 1970s.
Three gang-related murders were allegedly committed as a result of the murder of a Gangster Disciple member, according to the indictment.
Other Gangster Disciples allegedly sought to identify and avenge those responsible for the victim’s death after the murder.
Chambers allegedly tracked Rodriguez Apollo Rucker to his Athens home, where he fatally shot him.
Chambers and Browner fled Georgia for Texas after learning that police suspected Chambers of Rucker’s murder, according to the indictment.
To hide the crime, Chambers allegedly ordered the murders of Derrick Ruff and Joshua Jackson, two fellow gang members who he suspected of cooperating with law enforcement.
Ruff and Jackson were allegedly shot and killed by defendants Green, Guidry, and Carlisle, and their bodies were discovered four months later in a storage unit in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Chambers allegedly held a “Position of Authority” with the Gangster Disciples organization, which included overseeing members of the “Enforcement” or “Elimination” team (E-Team); Browner was allegedly a member of the “Sisters of the Struggle” or “SOS,” a parallel female component of the Gangster Disciple organization; Green allegedly was a member of the E-Team; Carlisle was a member of the GD organization; and Guidry allegedly held a “Position of Authority” as the “Assistant Literature Coordinator.”
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and United States Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia.
The FBI Athens Resident Agency Middle Georgia Safe Streets Gang Task Force, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, and the Gwinnett County Police Department are all investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Ken Kaplan of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant United States Attorney Mike Morrison of the Middle District of Georgia are prosecuting this case.
These cases are being prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, which is a joint federal, state, and local effort to reduce violent crime.
PSN is a research-based program that has been shown to reduce violent crime.
PSN brings together a diverse group of stakeholders to identify the community’s most pressing violent crime issues and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.
PSN implements this strategy by concentrating enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and collaborating with locally based prevention and reentry programs to achieve long-term crime reductions.
An indictment is nothing more than a charge, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.