Down Below Gang member sentenced
for racketeering

By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service

March 13, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A member of a violent San Francisco street gang who admitted to aiding in two murders was sentenced in federal court today to 17 and one-half years in prison for his racketeering conviction.

Robert Calloway, 22, is the fourth member of the so-called Down Below Gang to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco.

Prosecutors say the gang, operating in the Sunnydale housing project in the city's Visitacion Valley district, sold cocaine base and used violence and intimidation to enforce control over its territory.

A total of 12 gang members were indicted in 2005 in an 86-count indictment that included charges of racketeering, drug dealing, murder and attempted murder.

Eight of the 12 defendants, including Calloway, pleaded guilty to various charges before Alsup in December.

Calloway pleaded to one count of conspiring to participate in racketeer-influenced and corrupt organization, known as a RICO charge.

In a written guilty plea, he admitted to aiding in two murders committed by other gang members in 2004 as part of the racketeering. His sentence was stipulated by prosecution and defense in the plea agreement.

Three other defendants who pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and sell illegal drugs were sentenced by Alsup last week to prison terms ranging from one year and nine months to six years and five months.

Four others will be sentenced between March 21 and April 11 for racketeering or other convictions.

Of the remaining defendants, three are awaiting a not-yet-scheduled trial before Alsup.

Two of them, Edgar Diaz and Emile Fort, are each charged with committing three different murders in aid of racketeering, in addition to other counts, and face a possible federal death penalty if convicted.

The 12th defendant's name is under seal. U.S. attorney's office spokesman Luke Macaulay declined to comment on that defendant's status.

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