Washington, D.C. – Gregory Bell, also known as Boy-Boy, a 38-year-old Seat Pleasant, Maryland man who also resided in Congress Park, Washington, D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Richard W. Roberts to 192 months of incarceration, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release, for his role in the crimes prosecuted by the government last year as part of the case of United States v. Antwuan Ball, et al., also known as the Congress Park Crew case, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced.

Bell was one of six defendants prosecuted during an eight-month trial in federal district court last year before Judge Roberts. The government presented evidence that Bell, along with his five co-defendants, Antwuan Ball, also known as Big Ant, David Wilson, also known as Cool Wop, Joseph Jones, also known as Jo-Jo, Desmond Thurston, also known as Dazz, and Dominic Samuels, also known as Don, as well as others, were members of a crew that had engaged in a series of crimes, including crack cocaine dealing, armed robbery, attempted murder, and murder in the Congress Park neighborhood of Southeast, Washington, D.C. for over a decade. Since March of 2005, a total of 18 individuals have been indicted in connection with this case. Bell and his five-co-defendants were the final six defendants remaining from the original March 2005 indictment. The other defendants have previously either pled guilty or been found guilty after trial.

The jury in this case acquitted the six defendants of the charged conspiracies in this case, and convicted on 18 other felony charges, including the August 1998 double-homicide of Ronnie “Squid” Middleton and Sabrina Bradley, which was committed by Wilson as part of an ongoing turf war between the Congress Park Crew and one of its rivals, the 1-5 Mob formerly led by Tommy Edelin. Wilson faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years incarceration for this double-murder. The jury hung with respect to the August 2002 murder of Jamel Sills, also known as Black, which was charged against defendant Dominic Samuels. However, Samuels subsequently pled guilty to manslaughter while armed in connection with this murder, and was sentenced earlier this month by Judge Roberts.

Co-defendant Joseph Jones was sentenced last week by Judge Roberts to 180 months incarceration, to be followed by 72 months of supervised release, for his role in this case.

The remaining three defendants – Ball, Thurston, and Wilson – each face up to at least 40 years imprisonment for the narcotics crimes for which they were convicted.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor praised the collective and cooperative efforts of the various law enforcement agencies that worked together to investigate and prosecute this complex case, including the outstanding work of the FBI/MPD Safe Streets Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Park Police Force. In addition, the U.S. Attorney commended the outstanding work of the following law enforcement personnel: FBI Special Agents Robert C. Lockhart, Brian Jacob, Catherine Hanna and Kevin Ashby; MPD Detectives Anthony Brigidini, Kenneth Todd Williams, Constantinos “Gus” Giannakoulias and Anthony Commodore; USPP William Sepeck and Paul Edwards; and Special Investigator Diane Eickman.