Philadelphia Gang Crimes Defense Lawyer
Philadelphia Gang Crimes Defense Lawyer
Gang-related criminal investigations can be among the most serious and complicated cases prosecuted in Philadelphia. A person suspected of involvement with a gang or organized criminal group may face charges ranging from drug trafficking and firearms offenses to conspiracy, homicide, racketeering, and other violent crimes. In federal court, prosecutors may also use powerful statutes such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statute (VICAR). Consult with an experienced Philadelphia gang crimes lawyer to discuss your specific concerns.
Importantly, association with other people who have committed crimes does not automatically make someone guilty of their conduct. Gang prosecutions frequently turn on whether prosecutors can prove the defendant knowingly participated in a particular criminal agreement or enterprise, what the defendant personally intended, and whether particular crimes can legally be attributed to that defendant.
At Loncar Law Firm, we provide strategic criminal defense representation for serious state and federal criminal cases in Philadelphia. This approach is not only useful, but necessary in complex gang cases, whether in state or federal court.
What Is a “Criminal Gang” Under Pennsylvania Law?
Pennsylvania law contains a specific definition of a criminal gang. Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 5131(e), a criminal gang is generally a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group of at least three people that has the commission of criminal or delinquent acts as one of its primary activities.
Pennsylvania also criminalizes certain conduct used to recruit or force people into gangs. Section 5131 prohibits, among other things, threatening a person with bodily injury or inflicting bodily or serious bodily injury to cause that person to participate or remain in a criminal gang. The grading ranges from misdemeanors to felonies depending upon the conduct involved and can increase when the person being recruited is under 16.
Gang allegations can also substantially affect sentencing. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9720.4, Pennsylvania provides a sentencing enhancement when certain violent crimes or drug-distribution offenses are knowingly committed at the direction of, or to benefit, promote, or further the interests of, a criminal gang.
Under the Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines, the criminal-gang enhancement generally adds 12 months to both the lower and upper limits of the applicable standard guideline range. Thus, even where “gang membership” is not itself the principal criminal charge, the allegation may significantly increase sentencing exposure.
Federal Criminal Street Gang Law
Federal law uses a somewhat different definition. Under 18 U.S.C. § 521, a “criminal street gang” is an ongoing group, club, organization, or association of five or more people that has certain qualifying criminal offenses as a primary purpose, whose members have engaged in a continuing series of qualifying offenses within the preceding five years, and whose activities affect interstate or foreign commerce.
Section 521 can apply to qualifying federal drug felonies, crimes of violence, certain trafficking and sexual offenses, and conspiracies to commit those crimes.
Rather than creating a general federal crime of simply “being in a gang,” § 521 operates as a sentencing enhancement. When all statutory requirements are established—including the defendant’s knowledge, intent, participation, and qualifying prior conviction—the statute can increase a federal sentence by up to 10 years.
Federal gang prosecutions, however, frequently involve statutes carrying even greater potential penalties.
RICO and Gang Prosecutions
One of the federal government’s most powerful tools against alleged gangs and organized criminal groups is RICO, codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1963.
RICO allows prosecutors to charge individuals accused of participating in an “enterprise” through a pattern of racketeering activity. Qualifying racketeering offenses can include murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, witness tampering, obstruction, firearms trafficking, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and numerous other state and federal offenses.
This makes RICO particularly significant in gang prosecutions. Prosecutors may attempt to combine conduct occurring over several years—and involving many different defendants—into one overarching racketeering case.
A RICO conviction ordinarily carries a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment, although the maximum can increase to life where the racketeering violation is based upon qualifying activity carrying a life sentence.
Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering — VICAR
Federal prosecutors can also use 18 U.S.C. § 1959, commonly called VICAR, when they allege that violence was committed in connection with a racketeering enterprise.
The government must prove considerably more than the fact that the defendant associated with alleged gang members. Among other requirements, § 1959 requires the government to establish the required relationship between the violent act and the racketeering enterprise—including that the crime was committed for payment or for the purpose of gaining entrance to, maintaining, or increasing a position in the enterprise.
VICAR offenses can include murder, kidnapping, maiming, assault with a dangerous weapon, serious bodily injury, threats, attempts, and conspiracies. The penalties vary dramatically depending on the offense. VICAR murder can result in life imprisonment, while assault with a dangerous weapon or resulting in serious bodily injury can carry up to 20 years.
Gang Charges and Criminal Conspiracy
Conspiracy is another central feature of gang prosecutions.
Under Pennsylvania law, 18 Pa.C.S. § 903 generally requires proof that the defendant agreed with another person to commit or facilitate a crime with the intent of promoting or facilitating that crime, together with the required overt act where applicable. Pennsylvania generally grades conspiracy at the same level as the most serious offense that was the object of the conspiracy under 18 Pa.C.S. § 905.
Federal prosecutors likewise frequently charge conspiracy under statutes including 18 U.S.C. § 371, drug conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846, and RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d).
This distinction is critical: knowing people who commit crimes is not the same thing as agreeing to participate in their crimes. A defense may focus on whether the prosecution can prove the defendant actually joined the alleged conspiracy and possessed the required criminal intent.
Violent Crimes, Guns, and Drug Trafficking
Gang investigations frequently generate multiple overlapping charges. A single federal indictment may allege RICO conspiracy together with drug trafficking, firearm possession, shootings, robbery, homicide, witness intimidation, and VICAR offenses.
For example, recent federal prosecutions in Philadelphia demonstrate how broadly prosecutors can construct alleged enterprises. Federal prosecutors charged alleged members and associates of the Philadelphia group Omerta with offenses including racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering, alleging an enterprise involving shootings, firearms, counterfeiting, money laundering, robbery, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and fraud. Prosecutors described Omerta as based in Strawberry Mansion and closely aligned with another Philadelphia group identified as “Zoo Gang.”
Federal authorities have also prosecuted the Frankford-based organization known as SG1700 or L-Block through RICO, drug-trafficking, firearms, murder, and VICAR charges.
These cases illustrate why defending an alleged gang case often requires addressing much more than the question of membership.
Organized Crime in Philadelphia
Gang and organized-crime prosecutions in Philadelphia are not limited to neighborhood street organizations.
The federal government has long prosecuted the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN), commonly called the Philadelphia Mafia, through racketeering and conspiracy statutes. Federal prosecutions have alleged activities including illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, drug trafficking, and related crimes.
Federal authorities also investigate motorcycle clubs when they believe particular members are engaged in organized criminal activity. The Pagans Motorcycle Club, for example, has been the subject of significant federal investigations in Pennsylvania and throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Membership in a motorcycle club does not itself establish criminal responsibility, however, and motorcycle-club prosecutions raise their own distinctive evidentiary and constitutional issues.
Defending Gang and Organized Crime Charges
Gang prosecutions can create a serious danger of guilt by association. Photographs, social-media posts, music videos, tattoos, friendships, neighborhood connections, clothing, nicknames, and communications may all be offered by prosecutors as evidence of membership or association. But evidence suggesting association with a group is not necessarily proof that a defendant participated in a specific crime or criminal conspiracy.
An effective defense therefore requires examining the government’s theory defendant by defendant and charge by charge.
Defense strategies may include challenging whether an alleged enterprise or conspiracy legally existed; whether the defendant knowingly joined it; whether particular acts can properly be attributed to the defendant; the admissibility of alleged co-conspirator statements; identification evidence; cooperating witnesses and informants; searches, seizures, wiretaps, and electronic surveillance; cell-site and social-media evidence; firearms or forensic evidence; and whether alleged acts actually satisfy the elements of RICO, VICAR, conspiracy, or the underlying violent offense.
Gang cases can expose defendants to decades in prison or, in the most serious cases, life imprisonment. They demand careful investigation, command of complicated conspiracy and racketeering law, and a defense focused on the evidence against the individual defendant—not simply the label prosecutors place on the group.
Loncar Law Firm provides strategic criminal defense representation in serious state and federal cases in Philadelphia, including gang allegations, conspiracy, RICO, homicide, firearms offenses, drug trafficking, and other violent-crime prosecutions.