BUFFALO — Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that LRGP Gang Member Fred Keys, 53, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of RICO conspiracy and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, was sentenced to 360 months in prison, by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. In addition, LRGP Gang Associate Alexis Mills, 24, also of Buffalo, who was convicted of RICO conspiracy, was sentenced to 222 months in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas S. Duszkiewicz and Joel L. Violanti, who handled the case, stated that between 2009 and January 23, 2012, Keys was an associate of the LRGP gang, an organization engaged in violent criminal activity, including the distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine and the use of firearms, which operates primarily in the area of Lombard, Rother, Gibson, and Playter Streets in the City of Buffalo.
In April 2011, the defendants and others, while at 318 Sobieski Street in Buffalo, agreed that a member of the Cold Springs Gang, a rival criminal organization, should be murdered in retaliation for killing Alonzo Scott, in March 2011. Scott was the brother of LRGP leader Dewayne Gray. The individuals settled upon killing Amir Chambers, whom they believed to be associated with the Cold Springs Gang, and who had an ongoing social relationship with Alexis Mills.
After a failed attempt by Mills to poison Amir Chambers, it was agreed that Keys would kill Chambers by shooting him. Mills was to use her relationship with Chambers to get the victim to open his residence door. On April 20, 2011, Keys, Mills, and others went to a residence at 111 Mills Street in Buffalo where they dropped off Fred Keys and Alexis Mills. Chambers opened the residence door upon seeing Alexis Mills at which time Keys killed Chambers by shooting him in the head. Mills, for her part, kicked the victim in the head following the shooting to ensure that Chambers was in fact deceased. Keys later called 911 to report that there was a “body” at 111 Mills Street.
A total of 19 LRGP Gang members and associates have been convicted in this case.
The sentencings are the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, New York Field Office; and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
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