Syracuse Man Sentenced to Nearly Eight Years in RICO Gang Case

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Rashawn Wynn, age 43, of Syracuse, was sentenced today to serve 92 months in prison for violating the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as part of the 110 Gang, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), and Chief Kenton Buckner, City of Syracuse Police Department.

In imposing sentence, Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. also ordered Wynn to serve three years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.  As part of his guilty plea, Wynn admitted that he was a member of the 110 Gang operating in the City of Syracuse.  Wynn further admitted that he repeatedly distributed crack cocaine in 110 Gang territory during 2017 and 2018, and that he was supplied crack cocaine by other 110 Gang members.  In imposing sentence, the Court found that the 110 Gang members regularly possessed and used firearms to facilitate their drug trafficking, and that the defendant was aware of such use.

Wynn was one of 14 defendants charged in the case for violating RICO based on their membership in the 110 Gang.  The other 13 men have all pled guilty or been convicted at trial.  Co-defendant Damani Prince was sentenced in October 2019 to serve six and one-half years in prison, to be followed by three years supervised release.  The remaining defendants in the case are awaiting sentencing.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Syracuse Police Department, and the Gang Violence Task Force, which consists of members of the Syracuse Police, the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the New York State Police, the New York State Department of Corrections, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicolas Commandeur and Kristen Grabowski.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.