Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Philip Brown, 24 of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of RICO conspiracy, was sentenced to 240 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel L. Violanti, who handled the case, stated that between 2009 and January 23, 2012, Brown was an associate of the LRGP gang which operates primarily in the area of Lombard, Rother, Gibson, and Playter Streets in the City of Buffalo. It is alleged to be an organization engaged in violent criminal activity, including the distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine and the use of firearms.

In April 2011, the defendant and others, while at 318 Sobieski Street in Buffalo, agreed that a member of the Cold Springs Gang, a rival criminal organization, should be murdered in retaliation for the killing of Alonzo Scott, one month earlier. Scott was the brother of LRGP leader Dewayne Gray. The individuals settled upon killing Amir Chambers, whom they believed to be associated with the Cold Springs Gang, and who had an ongoing social relationship with Alexis Mills.

After a failed attempt by Mills to poison Amir Chambers, it was agreed that co-defendant Fred Keys would kill Chambers by shooting him. Mills was to use her relationship with Chambers to get the victim to open his residence door. On April 20, 2011, the defendant, along with Mills and two others – Fred Keys and Timothy Finch - went to a residence at 111 Mills Street in Buffalo where they dropped off Keys and Mills. Chambers opened the residence door upon seeing Mills at which time Keys killed Chambers by shooting him in the head. Mills, for her part, kicked the victim in the head following the shooting to ensure that Chambers was in fact deceased. Keys later called 911 to report that there was a “body” at 111 Mills Street.

Philip Brown is the final defendant out of 17 individuals to be convicted and sentenced in this case.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, New York Field Office; and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.

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