Newark -- Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that Alexis Canadas, 37, of Newark was sentenced to 30 years in New Jersey State Prison by the Honorable John I. Gizzo, Judge of the Superior Court, the first defendant to be sentenced under a 2013 state law that requires the imposition of tougher sentences on convicted felons who commit crimes with illegal guns.
Canadas, who is allegedly a high ranking member of the Sex, Money, Murder sect of the Bloods gang, was convicted by an Essex County jury on Feb. 12 of second degree unlawful possession of a weapon, fourth degree possession of hollow nose bullets and fourth degree possession of a defaced firearm.
Additionally, he was convicted under the new first degree unlawful possession of weapon by a convicted felon.
The convictions arise from an incident on Aug. 14, 2014 in Newark during which Canadas was stopped by police while carrying an illegal handgun and hollow nose bullets.
Canadas was eligible for an extended prison term because of his extensive record. He had 16 arrests, six juvenile cases and 11 adult felony convictions over 17 years.
Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Lanni, who tried the case, said, "This defendant has had a lifetime of crime, violence and narcotics that he has pushed on the community with his gang activity. I am here today speaking for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who have been hurt by this defendant. On behalf of them, we must send the message that gun violence and gang violence are not okay.''
With the passage of the 2013 law, Lanni said, the Legislature envisioned that a harsh penalty would be imposed in a case like this one in which the defendant's criminal activities began at age 15 and continued for two decades, stopping only briefly during prior periods of incarcerations.
"Gun violence is a pandemic,'' Lanni said, adding that Canadas and others who would commit these kinds of crimes have to be deterred with lengthy prison sentences.