Violent Member of Local Drug Gang Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison

Washington, D.C. - Darryl M. Woodfork, also known as "D," 31, a member of a local violent drug gang known as the Taft Terrace Crew, has been sentenced to 360 months (30 years) in prison for his lead role in the gang's criminal activities from 2001 through 2005, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Woodfork was sentenced on Thursday, July 17, 2008, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by the Honorable James Robertson. For security reasons, the Judgment in the case - pronouncing the sentence imposed by the Court - was not filed until Monday, October 6, 2008.

In May of 2005, Woodfork was indicted with five others for participating in a short-lived but violent racketeering conspiracy that spanned eleven days from December 28, 2003, through January 8, 2004. During that time, the indictment charged, members of the conspiracy conspired to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity that, in separate shootings on January 7 and 8, 2004, respectively, claimed the lives of Damian May, known as "Wink," and Clabe Walker, known as "Weasel."

The investigation leading to Woodfork's indictment and guilty plea showed that for several years he was a member of the Taft Terrace Crew, known also as "18th and Monroe," "Taft," "Taft Terrace," "TNT," or, more simply, as "TTC." This criminal organization constituted a racketeering enterprise whose members and associates were engaged primarily in drug trafficking. Members of the enterprise distributed crack cocaine, marijuana and, to a lesser extent, PCP. The territory of the Taft Terrace Crew was centered in the Taft Terrace neighborhood in upper Northeast Washington, D.C. Its territory there included Otis and Newton Streets between 18th, 20th, and 22nd Streets, NE. The territory of the Taft Terrace Crew also extended north into Mount Rainier, Maryland, where it included the Kaywood Gardens apartment complex and several nearby business establishments.

The investigation showed that beyond buying, selling, and otherwise dealing in crack cocaine, marijuana, and PCP, members of the Taft Terrace enterprise engaged in acts and threats involving murder, attempted murder, robbery, arson, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, and interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles. Members of the enterprise often used violence to achieve various objectives.

Woodfork entered his guilty plea on June 28, 2006. That guilty plea embraced many more crimes, committed over a much broader period of time, than he was charged with in the original conspiracy indictment returned in May of 2005. Woodfork accepted responsibility for a diverse array of crimes committed over the span of several years. Those crimes include drug trafficking over the course of four years, involving the distribution of over two kilograms of crack cocaine, two racketeering murders and active participation in a racketeering conspiracy to kill a third individual, an attempted murder, a burglary, an arson, and three instances of using stolen motor vehicles.

In entering his guilty plea, Woodfork also agreed to cooperate with the government in its investigation of other crimes. All told, the Taft Terrace investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of over 35 individuals and closed well over 50 open crimes. The vast majority of those crimes were committed in the District of Columbia, but some also were committed in Maryland and North Carolina.

The Taft Terrace investigation was conducted primarily by a task force of law enforcement personnel from four different agencies: the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Park Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Important and helpful support also was provided by members of the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Marshal's Service, Mount Rainier Police Department, the Hyattsville Police Department, and the Prince George's County Police Department. A limited number of agents and officers from these organizations, in combination, conducted a wide-ranging investigation that ultimately linked members of the Taft Terrace Crew to the May and Walker murders and to a significant number of additional crimes.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the tireless efforts of Detectives William Sepeck and Irving Paul Edwards of the U.S. Park Police; Special Agent Frank Oliver of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco; Detectives Jimmy King, Daniel Lewis, Sean Caine, William Xanten, Daniel Straub, Investigator Joe Abdalla, Sgt. Curt Sloan, Officer Luciano Morales, and Commander Christopher Lojocano of the Metropolitan Police Department; Special Agents Brian Wilhite, Ryan Pardee, Tim Foster, and Raymond Rozycki of the FBI; former Special Agent David J. Knoedler of the U.S. Secret Service; Joseph E. Nestro, Jr., of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Detective Bernard Nelson of the P.G. County Police Department; Chief Mike Scott of the Mount Rainier Police Department; and Tom O'Brien, Marty Flynn, and Christopher Street of the U.S. Marshal's Service. He also recognized the efforts of U.S. Attorney's Office Paralegal Nicole Tate and Victim Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant. Finally, he commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Brittin and Rachel Lieber, who conducted the investigation leading to the indictment and guilty plea in this case.

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