Federal judge denies bond for UBN gang members

Last October, during a phone conversation from his Mecklenburg County jail cell, gang leader Jamell Cureton asked to have Randall “Foe” Hankins put on the line.

“I have some s--- I got to get handled,” he told Hankins, a federal prosecutor said Monday.

“I’m already on it,” Hankins replied.

Two weeks later, Doug and Debbie London were gunned down in their Lake Wylie, S.C., home. Federal prosecutors say the killings occurred to keep Doug London from testifying against Cureton and two other members of United Blood Nation, an East Coast gang with strong criminal ties in Charlotte.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Greene told a federal judge on Monday that Cureton and other members of the local UBN cell known as the “Valentine Bloods” planned the murders for weeks. Cureton took the leading role, Greene said, despite being jailed at the time on charges that he and two other gang members tried to rob the Londons’ mattress store on South Boulevard last May.

Cureton – a midlevel gang leader known as “Murda Mel” and “Assassin” – called meetings, made phone calls, even wrote orders on how how he wanted the killings carried out, court documents state.

At one point, Greene said, Hankins asked Cureton if he wanted “One or two weeks?”

Translation: Did he want one or both of the Londons silenced?

“Yeah, two weeks,” Cureton replied, Greene said.

Twelve reputed UBN members were indicted last week on charges ranging from murder to racketeering and conspiracy. Cureton, Hankins and four others are charged with the Londons’ killings. If convicted, they face a possible death sentence. Of the six, Hankins and Rahkeem “Big Keem” McDonald, 22, were in court Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer.

McDonald’s brother, 21-year-old Ahkeem “Lil Keem” McDonald, also was in court Monday, charged with conspiracy connected to the Londons but also with murder in the 2013 killing of Kwamne Clyburn, 18, who was shot to death in a southwest Charlotte park for falsely claiming to be a member of the UBN cell, documents say. Ahkeem McDonald is accused along with Cureton of killing Clyburn. A conviction carries a maximum sentence of death.

In all, six UBN defendants faced Cayer on Monday. The judge ordered that five of them – Hankins, 20; Centrilia “CeCe” Leach, 31; Daquan “Day Day” Everett, 20; and the McDonald brothers – be held without bail until their arraignments. All pleaded not guilty and requested jury trials. Greene told the judge that the five were flight risks and threats to public safety.

The detention hearing of Nehemijel Houston, 20, was delayed until Friday at the request of his attorney. As the lanky Houston left the courtroom in the custody of U.S. marshals, a family member yelled out, “Love ya, baby.”

Leach, Everett and Houston all face racketeering conspiracy charges connected to the Londons’ deaths. If convicted, they could get life.

Cureton will be arraigned on murder and other charges on Wednesday morning. David “Flames” Fudge, 22, of Pineville, who is also charged with the Londons’ murders, will be arraigned Thursday.

The alleged shooter, Malcolm “Bloody Silent” Hartley, 21, and his getaway driver, Briana “Breezy B” Johnson, 19, of Concord, will have detention hearings after they are extradited from York County, S.C., where the killings took place.

One at a time

On Monday, Cayer had each of the six defendants brought in separately. Greene then read details of their gang activity and any role they played in the killings of Clyburn or the Londons. She frequently read excerpts from “recorded conversations,” raising the likelihood that the FBI used informants, wiretaps or surveillance equipment to monitor the gang. After the hearing, an FBI spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

Hankins walked in first. Greene described him as a “scrap,” gang parlance for a soldier in the gang. In the weeks leading up to the Lake Wylie hit, Hankins was a key planner of the attacks, Greene said. Afterward, Hankins was among the UBN members who celebrated at a gang hangout.

Court-appointed defense attorney James Weidner told Cayer that his client has been charged “with an incredibly serious crime, which is out of character with his past.” Hankins had a steady job and lived with his mother, the lawyer said.

Given the chance to speak, Hankins asked Cayer in a low voice to allow bond because “I’d really like to continue my education and to work.” Cayer denied the request.

The McDonald brothers appeared in back-to-back sessions as their parents, siblings and other relatives spilled over into several rows of the small courtroom. Ahkeem, the younger, came first – waving and smiling at his loved ones before taking a seat. Defense attorney Mark Foster, a former U.S. attorney, said his client had little history of violence and lived with his mother. Greene, though, said Cureton considered “Lil Keem” an elite soldier – an “across-town killer” – who appears to have been Cureton’s first choice to kill the Londons.

Rahkeem McDonald entered the courtroom with far less exuberance. Greene said the older brother talked to Hartley and Johnson immediately after the killing and told them to come to his house. There, the prosecutor said, Hartley and McDonald scrubbed down Johnson’s car and burned a letter from Cureton on how the killings were to be done. McDonald then buried the murder weapon, a .380-caliber handgun, behind his home. The FBI dug it up in January, Greene said.

Defense attorney Roderick Wright said his client is nonviolent and had no role in planning or carrying out the killings. When Hartley and Johnson came to his home with the gun after the killings, McDonald “had a decision to make,” Wright said. “It would be difficult for anyone to say no. You might have that gun turned toward you at that point.”

Girlfriend’s role debated

The hearings ended with conflicting portraits of Leach. Greene said the former girlfriend of Cureton gathered information about the Londons and other possible gang targets, bought weapons, and even photographed Debbie London when she attended a court hearing for one of the men accused of robbing the mattress store.

Leach was “an extension” of Cureton, Greene said, and she urged Cayer to keep her jailed and “shut her down as a gang mouthpiece.”

Defense attorney Julia Mims, though, said that at the time of her arrest, Leach was working in a clothing store, attending Central Piedmont Community College and taking care of her two children. Mims said her client had been forced into the gang by Cureton’s assaults and threats.

Now, Leach wanted to get out on bond so she could move in with her mother in Raleigh, Mims said. “She wants to get out of Charlotte because she knows she’s in a lot of danger here.”

The judge refused. Leach was already crying as marshals began ushering her out of the room. “Get me a lawyer,” she mouthed to her family.

Then Leach began to sob.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Federal judge denies bond for UBN gang members."