Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
BGF Gang Member Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy
Baltimore, Maryland – United States District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Kenneth Faison, age 28, of Baltimore, Maryland today to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for racketeering conspiracy. The Court found at sentencing that a total prison term of 20 years was appropriate, but it adjusted the sentence downward to account for the fact that Faison served five years in prison in connection with two related state cases.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Varisco of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Acting Commissioner Gary Tuggle of the Baltimore Police Department; Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
According to his plea agreement, Faison was a member of an organization known today as the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) Greenmount Regime, a violent set, or “bubble,” of BGF. During the early years in which it operated, the gang called itself the Young Guerilla Family, or YGF, and consisted mostly of younger people who lived in the 2200, 2300, and 2400 blocks of Barclay Street and Guilford Avenue. YGF members sold drugs throughout the Greenmount Avenue corridor and committed murders, shootings, and armed robberies.
According to the plea agreement, Faison admitted that on January 7, 2010, in the 2100 block of Barclay Street, he conducted three separate robberies of three victims. Faison brandished a firearm during all three robberies.
In addition, the Court found at sentencing that in the fall of 2012, Faison and other BGF members participated in an unsuccessful plot to murder a neighborhood drug dealer who had been distributing cocaine and other narcotics inside the gang’s territory.
Faison also admitted in his plea agreement that between 2007 and 2012, Faison conspired with members of the BGF Greenmount Regime to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana in furtherance of the gang, and that it was reasonably foreseeable to him that between 280 and 840 grams of cocaine base would be trafficked by members of the gang.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the ATF, the FBI, the Baltimore City Police Department, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter J. Martinez and Christina Hoffman, who prosecuted the case.
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