THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406280321
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOSEPH P. COSCO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940628 LENGTH: NORFOLK
Powdered cocaine and crack - about 100 to 150 kilograms, according to one gang member - arrived in Hampton Roads in customized stash boxes hidden in luxury cars. About $1.5 million in small bills returned to New York in the same secret compartments.
{REST} On many occasions, college students were recruited to drive the contraband back and forth on the well-traveled drug trail between New York and Hampton Roads.
The gang commanded a large share of the crack trade on the Peninsula for four years before federal investigators indicted 12 people in December.
On Monday, a jury convicted a leader of the gang while exonerating a street dealer who confessed to taking part in a murder.
Prosecutors and investigators were surprised and perplexed by the verdicts.
The jury convicted Wainsworth ``Unique'' Hall, 30, the kingpin at the New York end of the operation, of conspiracy to distribute drugs, conspiracy to launder money and running a continuing criminal enterprise. He was acquitted of single counts of distributing drugs and laundering money.
Acquitted of drug, murder and gun charges was Derrick Kelley, who was charged in the July 1992 murder of Antwan ``A.J.'' Mathis, 19, in Hampton. Kelley testified at trial that he fired one non-lethal shot into Mathis' face, then handed the .357 Magnum to another gang member who finished the execution. That gang member, Todd Moore, earlier pleaded guilty to a capital charge of killing Mathis, described in testimony as a dealer who owed the gang money.
``If you believe Kelley's testimony, legally he's guilty of murder'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Groene. ``I have no idea what happened. I'm speechless. I do not understand the verdict, but the jury has spoken.''
Six other defendants in the case pleaded guilty to various drug-related charges. Charges are pending against another defendant. And three are fugitives, including Hall's brother, Peter ``Khalif'' Hall, 31, who oversaw the Hampton Roads operation and is charged with a murder in Dinwiddie County in May 1993.
Investigators linked the gang to a number of murders.
Moore, 22, is suspected of being involved in four killings and four other non-fatal shootings in New York and Virginia.
Moore pleaded guilty to capital murder and various drug-related counts before the two-week trial began. He will have a sentencing trial in September to determine whether he will join six other drug kingpins on federal death row.
The trial shed little light on the Mathis killing.
Kelley, 20, testified he accidentally fired one shot into Kelley's chin, then handed the .357 Magnum to Moore, who emptied the remaining five shots into the victim.
Kelley said Moore threatened him with death if he didn't shoot Mathis.
``He was, like, `Finish him off,' '' Kelley testified. ``But I gave the gun to him because I didn't want no parts of this.''
Kelley said Moore laughed about the killing. ``It was kind of funny to him, but it wasn't funny to me. . . . I wasn't getting no enjoyment from this like he was.''
Kelley's testimony was one of several different versions he gave of the killing. Meanwhile, several witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the murder. A man who had been in jail with Kelley testified that Kelley had told him he ``aired (Mathis) out.''
Testimony in the trial characterized ``Unique'' Hall as a fast-living drug dealer who operated Mecca Audio store in Harlem, where he hung out with well-known rappers, and staged hot parties with strippers at a place called Club 2000. According to one witness, Mecca Audio had a ``game room'' where people bought marijuana and played dice.
There was testimony that Hall had a fleet of cars, some of which were customized with stash safes, expensive stereo systems and TVs.
One car customizer from the Bronx testified he did between $45,000 and $50,000 worth of work for Hall, but was stiffed for nearly half the bills.
{KEYWORDS} DRUG ARREST DRUG GANGS TRIAL VERDICT MURDER SHOOTING
by CNB