Justice Department Archives

Four alleged members of Gangster Disciples from southeast Missouri in custody, under federal indictment

January 25, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The Justice Department has announced arrests and federal indictments against seven alleged members of the Gangster Disciples gang for a years-long conspiracy that involves alleged murders and other crimes. Four of the seven are from southeast Missouri.

The indictments were unsealed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

“The long list of violent crimes alleged in this indictment- including two murders and multiple violent assaults- make plain the threat to our communities posed by criminal organizations like the Gangster Disciples,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division says, in a written statement.

Four southeast Missourians are under federal indictment: 50-year-old Sean Clemon, 28-year-old Dominque Maxwell and 29-year-old Perry Harris, all of Cape Girardeau. They are charged with RICO conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering and related firearms crimes.

44-year-old Barry Boyce of Charleston, an alleged gang member, is charged with RICO conspiracy.

Federal prosecutors allege that Clemon, Maxwell and Harris killed Leroy Allen during an April 2018 Gangster Disciples meeting in eastern Missouri’s Bridgeton.

The indictment alleges that after Allen was killed, Clemon, Maxwell and Harris were promoted to state leadership positions in Missouri.

The 25-page indictment also alleges that the Gangster Disciples have been involved in an ongoing scheme to smuggle K2 into Missouri state prisons. The indictment alleges that Boyce smuggled K2 into four Missouri prisons between 2019-2020: South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific, Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point and Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston. The indictment says Boyce had “help from Gangster Disciples inmates at those facilities.”

The indictment also outlines the rules of the Gangster Disciples, which involves silence and secrecy and a total prohibition on cooperation with law enforcement, “with serious violations punishable by death.”

The FBI, DEA, Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis, Bridgeton Police, Cape Girardeau Police and the Missouri Department of Corrections are all involved with the investigation, according to the Justice Department.

Missouri Congressman wants investigation into Minneapolis PD; Kansas City Police hit with frozen water bottles Saturday (AUDIO)

May 31, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s senior Democrat on Capitol Hill is condemning the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, saying that systematic racism and excessive force led to Floyd’s death.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, briefs reporters at Jamestown Mall in Florissant on May 30, 2020 (photo courtesy of Congressman Clay’s Twitter page)

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, spoke Saturday at an Urban League food distribution event in Florissant, which is a north St. Louis County suburb.

“That video doesn’t lie, and the whole world is watching,” Clay tells the audience. “George Floyd was not resisting arrest, he was resisting strangulation.”

Former officer Derek Chauvin is charged in Minnesota with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Congressman Clay is calling on the other three officers and a medic to be charged as accessories.

“The medic who made no effort to save his (Floyd’s) life,” says Clay.

Congressman Clay, a senior member of the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, is calling on the Justice Department to investigate the Minneapolis Police Department. He wants to see a sweeping consent decree, similar to what happened in Ferguson.

“Unless white America finally sees us and respects us and is willing to mutually recognize our humanity as black people, as much as their own, our country will never heal,” Clay says.

He says the Ferguson consent decree has “totally transformed the local government and the police department” there.

Congressman Clay is extending his condolences to George Floyd’s family.

“It’s clear that he was a beloved man who lived his life for others,” says Clay.

During his remarks at the former Jamestown Mall site, Congressman Clay also spoke directly to what he describes as “my white allies in the progressive movement, who regularly expect black leaders to stand with you to advance your core agenda.”

“Will you stand with us now, will you make a difference in this country and face this evil in its entirety?”, Clay asks.

Florissant is near Ferguson, which was the site of the Michael Brown incident in August 2014.

Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., traveled to Minnesota this weekend to show support for the community there. He tells our sister network, the Minnesota News Network, that what’s happening in Minneapolis reminds him of what happened to his son.

18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot during a confrontation with then-Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. The Obama Justice Department cleared the officer of criminal wrongdoing, and a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict him.

Meantime, things turned violent this weekend in Ferguson. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports protesters launched fireworks at officers, smashed windows to Ferguson police headquarters and looted a beauty supply store.

The “Post” reports police deployed tear gas, in response.

Across the state in Kansas City, the Kansas City Police Department says it made 85 arrests Saturday night, after significant damage to businesses on the Plaza.

“Nearly all officers hit with frozen water bottles or rocks. Two officers hospitalized from being struck, one with an injury to the temple and one with a lacerated liver,” Kansas City Police tweeted Sunday.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) has activated the Missouri National Guard, and has signed an executive order declaring that a state of emergency exists in Missouri, due to civil unrest.

The governor says citizens have the right to peacefully assemble and to protest.

“Violence and destruction are not the answers. I support those who are calling for justice and peace. However, a small element has seized on these peaceful demonstrations to commit violent acts that endanger the lives of citizens and bring destruction to our communities,” Governor Parson said in a written statement Saturday night.

Click here to listen to the full five-minute speech from U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, which took place on May 30, 2020 at Jamestown Mall in Florissant. The audio is courtesy of Congressman Clay’s Facebook page:

Former Missouri hospital executive pleads guilty to $114 million billing scheme

October 29, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A former executive of a northern Missouri hospital pleaded guilty in federal court in Florida Wednesday to a $114 million pass-through billing scheme.

The Justice Department in Washington says former Putnam County Memorial Hospital chief executive officer David Lane Byrns pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Byrns pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Klindt, of the Middle District of Florida.

The criminal count was originally filed in Missouri and was transferred to Florida, where Byrns now lives. The complex case was investigated by the FBI in Kansas City, Jefferson City and in Jacksonville, Florida. The Justice Department in Washington has been involved, as has the U.S. Department of Labor and the offices of two Missouri statewide officials.

The Justice Department says Byrns used the Unionville hospital to submit fraudulent claims for blood testing and toxicology, causing the Missouri Medicaid program and multiple insurance companies to pay more than $100 million in claims.

The Medicaid program is health care for low-income residents. Unionville is in far north-central Missouri, just south of the Iowa border.

Federal prosecutors in Missouri and Florida say billing companies and labs were also involved in the scheme, describing them as “co-conspirators.”

Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s (D) scathing 2017 audit of Putnam County Memorial Hospital uncovered $90 million in inappropriate lab billings, and prompted calls for the federal investigation.

The Justice Department is acknowledging Galloway’s office for assistance, along with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s (R) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.