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U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Information, Friday, September 14, 2007
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Washington, D.C. - Larry Gooch, a self-appointed enforcer of the violent drug gang known as the M Street Crew, was sentenced today before the Honorable Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to six life prison terms after having been convicted this summer of drug trafficking and multiple violent crimes, including four murders and racketeering (RICO), announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
On June 1, 2007, in a trial that began in January 2007, a federal jury convicted Gooch of 26 counts of violating federal and District of Columbia criminal laws involving a drug trafficking conspiracy, a racketeering enterprise, and for committing numerous racketeering related offenses, including drug distribution, murders, attempted murder of a police officer, and firearm offenses. The same jury’s verdict made him eligible for imposition of the death penalty in accordance with federal law for multiple murders committed in a single episode. Following the verdict, the jury continued to deliberate in a penalty phase. On June 6, 2007, the jury announced that they were unable to reach a unanimous decision to impose the death penalty and as a consequence of operation of federal law, the judge was required to sentence Larry Gooch to a mandatory sentence of life without parole for two of the murders that were charged as capital offenses.
According to a recently enacted federal law, relatives of homicide victims are permitted to speak at sentencing and may provide written victim impact statements. During the sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors introduced 21 of the relatives of those killed by Larry Gooch. In addition to their written submissions, some elected to speak and informed the judge of the grief and personal loss they suffered as a consequence of Gooch’s acts.
Today, Judge Collyer imposed the mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole for two counts of intentional murders in furtherance of a racketeering enterprise. Those counts involved the murder of Yolanda Miller and Calvin Cooper on February 21, 2003, at 18th and M Streets.
In addition, the Court sentenced Gooch to two more consecutive life sentences for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, PCP (phencyclidine) and ecstacy, and conspiracy to participate in a racketeering influenced corrupt organization. The Court imposed additional sentences of 30 years to life for the intentional murders of William Cunningham and Christopher Lane that occurred on August 1, 2000 in an apartment located at 4934 Foote Street, NE. This resulted in a total of six life terms. Life sentences imposed for violations of federal law means that the defendant must serve his entire life in prison and has no opportunity for early release through parole.
Gooch also faces maximum sentences of life in prison for his convictions of attempting to kill a Metropolitan Police Officer on November 8, 2002, again in aid of a racketeering enterprise. On November 8, 2002, the officer was in full uniform in a marked police car parked near Eddie Leonard’s restaurant near Bladensburg Road and 17th Street, NE, and was in the act of transporting a suspect, who had been arrested for a drug trafficking offense. Evidence at trial established that a member of the M Street Crew, informed Gooch that police were arresting one of his fellow crew members. Gooch said, “I’m not going to let them take my man!” He grabbed a .44 caliber handgun and fired multiple shots from a distance of about 35 feet to rear of the squad car occupied by the officer. One of the six bullets fired passed through the headrest narrowly missing the officer.
In addition to the murders and other violent crimes for which he was convicted, and the six sentences of life in prison for those offenses, Judge Collyer sentenced Gooch to consecutive sentences totaling 55 years for federal violations of using a firearm in aid of a crime of violence. Federal law requires imposition of those firearm sentences to run consecutive to any other sentence, even if the other sentence is already a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Both federal prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darlene M. Soltys and John P. Dominguez spoke at sentencing and commented upon Gooch’s role and membership in the racketeering enterprise called the M Street Crew. Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Dominguez characterized Larry Gooch as a “self appointed enforcer of the M Street Crew. His moral code could be distilled into a single phrase, ‘live for the block, die for the block.’” Evidence at trial established that Gooch recited the phrase popularized from rap lyrics, to boast about or explain his violent actions to other M Street Crew members. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darlene Soltys remarked that Larry Gooch’s numerous murders left a total of ten children without fathers or mothers. The M Street Crew was a racketeering drug enterprise that had taken over the 18th and M Street neighborhood and turned it into their own private marketplace for drug trafficking. The crew conducted PCP (phencyclidine), crack cocaine and ecstacy distributions in the neighborhood of 18th and M Streets, NE between 1997 and 2004.
U.S. Attorney Taylor and Assistant Director in Charge Persichini announced that to date, over 30 members have been convicted for their roles as participants in the M Street Crew. The prosecution grew out of the investigative activities of a long-term FBI/MPD alliance called the Safe Streets Task Force. That task force targeted certain violent drug trafficking gangs in the District of Columbia and spent two years gathering the evidence against the M Street Crew and its members. U.S. Attorney Taylor and Assistant Director in Charge Persichini specifically commended the actions of FBI Special Agent Richard Stallings and MPD Detective Joseph Sopata, who led the investigative team. The Safe Streets Initiative was funded in part by the Baltimore Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area as well as the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. In addition, they commended the Marcia Rinker, a victim-witness advocate from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the two prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darlene M. Soltys and John P. Dominguez, who presented the evidence during the long trial that resulted in the conviction and sentencing of Larry Gooch.