CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Within the confines of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center, where youths are supposed to be rehabilitated, were a group of young men who treated it as a prep school for violent crime, county officials said Thursday.
The youngest members of the Heartless Felons gang, age 15 to 17, had a corporate hierarchy and system of advancement, codes and symbols. They had 10 Golden Rules, including to not lie, cheat or steal from other members, not snitch, not indulge in homosexual activity, never take the side of an outsider against a comrade and to always honor being a Heartless Felon.
New members, called foot soldiers, rose through the ranks – Lieutenant, Ground Lord, Under Boss, Head (expletive) in Charge, Godson and Godfather - by carrying out violent attacks on residents and adult staff.
"We know that until six months ago, members of the gang believed they could intimidate and assault other residents or detention officers because those offenses would be charged, by law, as inconsequential misdemeanors resulting in no more court-imposed punishment or meaningful accountability," said Duane Deskins, chief prosecuting attorney for the juvenile division, in a press conference.
No longer.
In what Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty called an unprecedented action, 437 complaints were filed Tuesday against 43 members of the Heartless Felons for participation in gang-related crimes while housed in the detention center.
Prosecutors have asked juvenile court judges, in actions that began Thursday afternoon, to bind over the youths, age 15 to 17, to adult court. All will face charges of participating in a criminal gang and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, commonly known as RICO or simply racketeering.
Other charges include conspiracy, robbery, extortion, assault, theft, kidnapping and aggravated riot.
This is the largest state gang case ever brought in Ohio and is the first time a gang statute has been used against a juvenile gang for actions committed entirely within a correctional facility, prosecutors said.
In the two years since Cuyahoga County moved troubled youth into a newly built detention center, violent incidents, threats and injuries have skyrocketed to a point that Juvenile Court officials now call critical. Last December, McGinty hired Deskins, a veteran Assistant U.S. Attorney, to address juvenile problems.
A new Detention Center Gang Task Force began investigating the problems in January.
"We uncovered the way members of the gang were extorting non-members to turn over their food or prescription medications to the gang if they want to avoid a beating," Deskins said.
"We uncovered how the gang deliberately assaults and intimidates adult detention officers, vandalizes and disrupts the operations of the Detention Center, how it exploits the Detention Center's well documented understaffing and undertraining, as well as safety protocols and procedures that, among other things, limit how the staff can respond to violent provocations and mandates that residents be grouped by age rather than by the risks they present."
Deskins said the violence was pervasive.
Group beating at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention CenterGroup beating video at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center was shown by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office as they announce arrests of the Heartless Felons gang members, a prison gang that has grown deep roots in the county Juvenile Detention Center, during a press conference at the Juvenile Justice Center in Cleveland.
Although most of the violent offenses were captured on videotape, the vast majority of the crimes charged in the complaint had not been reported by victims or guards to the prosecutor's office, he said.
The 43 named in the complaint have a cumulative 493 prior delinquencies or pending charges on their records, Deskins said. Three of the Heartless Felons have had homicide charges filed against them.
"I want to point out that the 43 individuals we are charging represent fewer than two percent of 2,450 juveniles who spent time in the Detention Center this past year," he said. "But this tiny minority cannot be allowed to rob, beat, vandalize, threaten, and intimidate everyone else here."
The roundup of youths is just the latest crackdown on the gang. A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted five adults in May on multiple gang-related crimes, including aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
The Plain Dealer has reported on the gang's violent rise and members' continued allegiance once they are released from prison.
Heartless Felons indictment from Cuyahoga Co. Prosecutor's Office
Click to read document on mobile device
CLICK HERE TO READ DOCUMENT
http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2014/06/heartless_felons_gang_members.html
The youngest members of the Heartless Felons gang, age 15 to 17, had a corporate hierarchy and system of advancement, codes and symbols. They had 10 Golden Rules, including to not lie, cheat or steal from other members, not snitch, not indulge in homosexual activity, never take the side of an outsider against a comrade and to always honor being a Heartless Felon.
New members, called foot soldiers, rose through the ranks – Lieutenant, Ground Lord, Under Boss, Head (expletive) in Charge, Godson and Godfather - by carrying out violent attacks on residents and adult staff.
"We know that until six months ago, members of the gang believed they could intimidate and assault other residents or detention officers because those offenses would be charged, by law, as inconsequential misdemeanors resulting in no more court-imposed punishment or meaningful accountability," said Duane Deskins, chief prosecuting attorney for the juvenile division, in a press conference.
No longer.
In what Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty called an unprecedented action, 437 complaints were filed Tuesday against 43 members of the Heartless Felons for participation in gang-related crimes while housed in the detention center.
Prosecutors have asked juvenile court judges, in actions that began Thursday afternoon, to bind over the youths, age 15 to 17, to adult court. All will face charges of participating in a criminal gang and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, commonly known as RICO or simply racketeering.
Other charges include conspiracy, robbery, extortion, assault, theft, kidnapping and aggravated riot.
This is the largest state gang case ever brought in Ohio and is the first time a gang statute has been used against a juvenile gang for actions committed entirely within a correctional facility, prosecutors said.
In the two years since Cuyahoga County moved troubled youth into a newly built detention center, violent incidents, threats and injuries have skyrocketed to a point that Juvenile Court officials now call critical. Last December, McGinty hired Deskins, a veteran Assistant U.S. Attorney, to address juvenile problems.
A new Detention Center Gang Task Force began investigating the problems in January.
"We uncovered the way members of the gang were extorting non-members to turn over their food or prescription medications to the gang if they want to avoid a beating," Deskins said.
"We uncovered how the gang deliberately assaults and intimidates adult detention officers, vandalizes and disrupts the operations of the Detention Center, how it exploits the Detention Center's well documented understaffing and undertraining, as well as safety protocols and procedures that, among other things, limit how the staff can respond to violent provocations and mandates that residents be grouped by age rather than by the risks they present."
Deskins said the violence was pervasive.
Group beating at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention CenterGroup beating video at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center was shown by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office as they announce arrests of the Heartless Felons gang members, a prison gang that has grown deep roots in the county Juvenile Detention Center, during a press conference at the Juvenile Justice Center in Cleveland.
Although most of the violent offenses were captured on videotape, the vast majority of the crimes charged in the complaint had not been reported by victims or guards to the prosecutor's office, he said.
The 43 named in the complaint have a cumulative 493 prior delinquencies or pending charges on their records, Deskins said. Three of the Heartless Felons have had homicide charges filed against them.
"I want to point out that the 43 individuals we are charging represent fewer than two percent of 2,450 juveniles who spent time in the Detention Center this past year," he said. "But this tiny minority cannot be allowed to rob, beat, vandalize, threaten, and intimidate everyone else here."
The roundup of youths is just the latest crackdown on the gang. A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted five adults in May on multiple gang-related crimes, including aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
The Plain Dealer has reported on the gang's violent rise and members' continued allegiance once they are released from prison.
Heartless Felons indictment from Cuyahoga Co. Prosecutor's Office
Click to read document on mobile device
CLICK HERE TO READ DOCUMENT
http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2014/06/heartless_felons_gang_members.html