For 26 years now, I've defended those individuals who are charged with drug-related offenses and also gang allegations are alleged on the back of their charge. This obviously makes things much more serious.
There's a lot of gangs that are involved in the drug trade and it's big money and there are weapons involved and murders and all sorts of things going on that the police and prosecutors are trying to prevent.
So, if you or a loved on is charged with both a gang allegation and a drug charge — whether that be at the federal level — sometimes they'll be RICO charges, drugs, gang allegations, murder charges — all sorts of stuff — multiple defendants.
Federal RICO Allegations
They prosecuted one of the first big gang cases that involved drugs — the Vineland Boys. That was in the 1990s.
That was one of the first time the feds actually came in and arrested pretty much as many people as they could in the gang, charged them with RICO allegations. They charged them with gang allegations; charged them with moving drugs.
The police and the FBI know that gangs move drugs. They move drugs out of jail; they move drugs in jail, believe it or not.
What they are tasked with doing, obviously, is stamping out gang activity. Part of that from their perspective, involves taking out these individuals who are involved with drug sales, drug distribution.
Whether it be inside the United States or outside the United States, inside the jails/prisons, and on the local streets of Los Angeles.
Gang Sentencing Enhancement
So, the federal government and the state governments have set up multi-task forces where state and federal law enforcement are working together to try to stamp out gangs and drug activity.
That's why a lot of these federal cases involve 10, 20 year minimum for those individuals who are caught with large amounts of drugs, especially if they're moving drugs to benefit a criminal street gang.
That's one big thing the prosecutors have to prove if they have a gang allegation which comes with big time.
They have to be able to prove that the reason these drugs are being moved is so that a criminal street gang can benefit by the movement of these drugs.
If they can prove that, that extra allegation can bring with it, years in either state or federal prison.
Experienced Drug Crime Lawyer in Los Angeles
So, if you or a loved one is charged with moving drugs, gang allegation and facing a lot of time in prison, obviously you're going to want to hire someone like me who's been doing this for over 25
years, had a lot of success, knows how to defend these cases.
Sometimes the prosecutors and police try to ram a square block into a round circle to try to force that this must be for the benefit of a street gang.
They try to force that this person must be involved in a large quantity of drugs even though they're just a mule, have limited responsibility, limited monies being made, yet they try to heap all of these horrible penalties that come along with drug and gang-related offenses.
It's my job, obviously to try to minimize those type of penalties, or try to win the case outright if it's a case that winnable.
That's probably one of the first things that we need to figure out when we meet. That is, is your case winnable or is this a case where it's not winnable and we really should be looking trying to work out a resolution instead of trying to fight the case.
Once we have that figured out, then the pieces pretty much fall in place and we decide exactly how we're going to handle your drug and gang-related charges.
Review of Discovery to Determine Case Strategy
What I like to do is meet with a defendant in the case after having had the benefit, if possible, of review all of the discovery in the case, the paperwork, videos, whatever they've got.
Also, speaking to the prosecutor and seeing what their position is, then I can really have a good conversation with the client to make the best decisions moving forward.
How we can best defend you if you're charged with moving, transporting, possessing for sale, drugs, and also there's a gang allegation on the back end of it.
Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.
