STAFF REPORTS
BUFFALO — U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Timothy Enix a/k/a Blaze, 60, was sentenced to serve 240 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The defendant, a Kingsmen Motorcycle Club (KMC) member and Florida/Tennessee Regional President, was sentenced for his conviction following a four-month jury trial of RICO conspiracy, possession of firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, and using and maintaining premises for drug distribution.
According to court documents and evidence presented by the government at trial, beginning in 2013, certain KMC members wanted to establish the KMC as a “1% Club.” The “1%” refers to a previous statement by a representative of the American Motorcycle Association that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens with the remaining one percent engaged in certain activities such as drug and firearm trafficking and acts of violence. The defendant, and others, participated in, directly and indirectly, acts of murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. The KMC operated clubhouses in New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Florida, all of which were used for unlawful purposes, including drug distribution and firearms possession.
The KMC also committed numerous acts of violence, including the following:
• The September 6, 2014, murders of KMC members Paul Maue and Daniel “DJ” Szymanski. The two were murdered behind the North Tonawanda KMC Chapter clubhouse;
• On June 7, 2013, the KMC forcibly shut down the Springville KMC Chapter and stripped members of their colors because they were non-compliant members. Brandishing firearms, KMC members struck a victim in the head with a blunt object and stole items from the Springville clubhouse. They then used bleach to clean areas where the victim bled and cut and removed portions of the rug, which contained blood; and,
• On September 12, 2009, a female victim was punched repeatedly in the face by a KMC member and held against her will for three days to conceal her facial injuries from police.
“Following the 2014 murders in North Tonawanda, this Office decided that enough was enough and that it was time to put an end to this criminal organization for good,” stated U.S. Attorney Kennedy. “With today’s sentencing of the final KMC member, I can say—thanks to the prosecutors in my office and our law enforcement partners across the region and across the country—‘mission accomplished.’ With two KMC members, including the National President, receiving multiple life sentences, and 18 other KMC members receiving prison sentences of up to 20 years, other outlaw motorcycle gangs and criminal organizations should take notice. 1%’ers are not welcome in the Western District of New York, and if you come here and commit crimes, then know that you will be 100% dismantled.”
The investigation was led by the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert. Assisting in the investigation were the FBI Knoxville, Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida Field Offices; Homeland Security Investigations; the North Tonawanda Police Department; the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office; the Erie County Sheriff’s Office; the Buffalo Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the New York State Police; the Olean Police Department; the Lancaster Police Department; the Amherst Police Department; the Town of Tonawanda Police Department; the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police; the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department; and the Hamburg Police Department. Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Tripi and Brendan Cullinane for the Western District of New York prosecuted the case.
