Three alleged members of the Minneapolis Bloods street gang were convicted Tuesday on charges including racketeering conspiracy and using firearms to carry out a pair of murders.
The guilty verdicts, decided by an anonymous jury of 12 that spent 2½ days deliberating, capped a weekslong trial that featured testimony from fellow Bloods-turned-government cooperators and a slew of law enforcement officials who’ve been behind Minnesota’s ongoing gang crackdown.
Jurors convicted Desean James Solomon, 34, of Richfield on charges of racketeering conspiracy, carrying and using a firearm in a crime of violence and aiding and abetting. They also convicted Michael Allen Burrell, 44, of St. Paul and Leontawan Holt, 26, of Minneapolis of aiding and abetting and carrying and using a firearm in a crime of violence.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, in a brief news conference Tuesday in St. Paul, said the verdicts made clear that the Bloods “created and brutally enforced a clearly defined set of rules that govern all Bloods members just like traditional organized crime.”
“In this criminal enterprise these rules supersede all criminal laws and social tenets such as respect for human life and public safety,” Luger said.
Messages were left seeking comment from each of the three men convicted Tuesday. At least one attorney confirmed plans to appeal the verdict.
“While we genuinely respect the jury’s efforts, Mr. Solomon, his family and I disagree with the verdict,” said Thomas Plunkett, Solomon’s attorney. “We will have several issues to address on appeal.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara joined Luger and the three prosecutors who tried the case — Assistant U.S. Attorneys Esther Soria Mignanelli, Kristian Weir and Campbell Warner — at a news conference following the verdicts.