A Cleveland federal jury found three Fully Blooded Felons members guilty of racketeering offenses, including RICO murder and RICO kidnapping, as well as drug trafficking and firearms crimes, the Justice Department said Thursday. The verdict followed a three-week trial.
According to trial evidence described by the department, Raven Mullins, 37, Malik Brooks, 28, and Jayon Florence, 23, all of Cleveland, were members or associates of the gang, which has operated in Ohio since about 2012. The department said Mullins oversaw the gang’s “Commission,” which set rules, enforced discipline, and decided how the organization would make money.
The department said evidence showed the defendants and co-defendants who earlier pleaded guilty kidnapped and murdered a victim after suspecting she was involved with a rival gang member and sharing information. On or about July 28, 2022, Mullins directed gang members, among them Brooks and Florence, to punch and choke her repeatedly while holding her in an apartment, according to the department. After reviewing her phone and believing she planned to provide a rival gang with Brooks’ location, Brooks and Florence, with others and with Mullins’ approval, drove her the next day to the west side of Cleveland and fatally shot her 19 times, leaving her in the front seat of a stolen Kia Optima, the department said.
From June 30 to July 5, 2022, Mullins and other gang members kidnapped and assaulted a 22-year-old woman who had given a police statement implicating a gang member in a robbery; she was later released, according to the department. On Sept. 12, 2023, Mullins and two other members robbed and murdered a second victim on Cleveland’s west side; trial evidence included a knife sheath carrying Mullins’ DNA found at the scene, the department said.
The prosecution also introduced evidence showing that Brooks shot two rival gang members on the west side of Cleveland on July 18 and July 20, 2022. The prosecution also introduced evidence that Fully Blooded Felon members used two different stash houses at a local apartment complex. During the execution of two search warrants, law enforcement recovered over 300 grams of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine as well as seven firearms.
The Justice Department said the defendants face maximum penalties of life in prison. A sentencing date has not been set by the court.
As of Thursday, the department said 25 Fully Blooded Felons members have been charged and convicted in relation to this indictment for crimes including RICO conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, and various firearms and drug-related offenses. The FBI led the yearslong investigation with assistance from the Cleveland Division of Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, among other agencies.