”Charges Include Murder of 32-Year-Old Man, Attempted Murder of Police Officer.”
TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced first-degree criminal charges against 16 alleged members and associates of the “Get Money Boys” or “GMB,” a violent street gang linked to multiple shootings, including the December 2019 murder of Michael Barnes, a 32-year-old Trenton man, and the February 2020 attempted murder of a police officer.
Fifteen GMB members and associates, including its alleged leader, Charles Willis, 27, are charged with first-degree racketeering, and 10 GMB members, including Willis, are charged with either murder, attempted murder, or conspiracy to commit murder. As alleged in court documents, Willis and GMB engaged in violent criminal conduct in furtherance of their heroin and cocaine distribution activities in the area of the Oakland Street Apartments in Trenton.
GMB Members have been charged in connection with the following shootings:
Sept. 17, 2019 Shooting. Shaiquan Hearns, 21, is charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in the leg in the early morning hours of September 17, 2019, on Lamberton Street in Trenton.
Dec. 27, 2019 Murder of Michael Barnes. Michael Barnes, 32, was shot in the face on Commonwealth Avenue in Trenton on the night of December 27.
Davion Fenderson, 25, is charged with the murder, and Willis, Hearns, Bobby Hood, 28, and Jayshawn Fisher, 26, are accused of conspiracy to commit murder.
Feb. 12, 2020 Shooting of Civilians and Attempted Murder of Police Officer. On February 12, GMB members allegedly shot at two men, causing them to crash their car.
When a police officer pursued the GMB members, they allegedly fired at him. He was not hit. Hearns, Dion Battle, 28, and Yahonatan Salter, 28, were charged on February 12 with attempted murder in the shooting involving the officer.
Those men and Willis are now charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting involving the two civilian victims.
May 1, 2020 Shooting. On the night of May 1, 2020, five GMB members allegedly opened fire on a group of individuals on Sanhican Drive in Trenton, wounding two men. Willis, Hood, David Williams, 28, Shawn Anderson, 21, and Zaire Jackson, 24, are charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in that shooting.
“Gang violence has taken the lives of too many young people in Trenton, and the Get Money Boys have been a major contributor to that violence,” Attorney General Grewal said. “We will continue doing everything we can to make our capital city safe for its residents.”
“But we also know that arrests alone won’t stop the cycle of gang involvement, violence, and incarceration,” continued Attorney General Grewal.
”That is why we plan to work closely with the community in the coming months to develop programs that have the power to turn young people away from the false glamor of gang life and show them a healthy and positive path forward.”
“Through this collaborative investigation, we charged 16 alleged members and associates of this violent gang with first-degree charges carrying lengthy prison sentences,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice.
“Each time we take down a dangerous gang like this one, we make Trenton safer for residents and for the law enforcement officers who work heroically every day to protect them.”
“These individuals have threatened Trenton’s hard-working, law-abiding citizens with their guns and drugs for too long. They pose a danger to the entire community, not just gang members, and I am extremely proud of the collective efforts and hard work of all of the agencies involved in this investigation,” Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri said.
“My office will continue to work with state and local law enforcement to arrest and prosecute those assaulting our cities with acts of violence. We also intend to work with Attorney General Grewal and the community to cultivate programs and solutions that will give our youth population an alternative to gangs, drugs, and violence.”
“Street gangs like the Get Money Boys tear apart communities through their drug trade, violence, and murder, and by actively recruiting impressionable young people,” said Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “Our involvement will not stop with these arrests. We will continue to work cooperatively with our partners in the community to develop programs that present positive alternatives for the youth of our capital city.”
The complaint charging Willis with conspiracy to murder Michael Barnes alleges that in 2019, Willis and other GMB members began targeting Barnes and that Willis threatened Barnes’ life on social media. It further alleges that Willis actively ordered GMB members to hunt for Barnes and kill him. It is alleged that Fenderson committed the murder at Willis’s direction on December 27, 2019.
When Willis was arrested at his home on June 2, 2020, in Willingboro with his girlfriend, Daysha M. Brown, 24, detectives seized a defaced firearm – which allegedly was within access of a toddler who lives in the home – and an illegal large-capacity magazine. Willis and Brown were each charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, fourth-degree possession of a defaced firearm, and fourth-degree possession of a large-capacity magazine. Willis also was charged with possession of a weapon as a convicted felon.
Additional details about the February 12 attempted murder of a police officer and related charges are provided in the press release at this link: https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases20/pr20200213b.html
In that incident, a Hamilton Township police officer assigned to the New Jersey State Police Crime Suppression Central Unit Task Force observed a shooting in progress in the area of West State Street and Parkside Avenue in Trenton. The officer, who was operating an unmarked vehicle, followed the suspect vehicle to the area of the Oakland Park Apartments on Coolidge Avenue, where he was fired upon by the occupants of the vehicle.
Three guns were seized from defendants during the course of this investigation. On May 31, 2020, detectives executed a search warrant for a storage unit in Hamilton, Mercer County, rented by defendant Briana Blue, 22, where they seized 254 bricks of heroin, consisting of approximately 12,700 individual doses packaged in wax folds that were stamped with the brands “Dope Dick” and “Fruit Loops.”
On the same date, detectives executed a search warrant for a car rented by defendant Tre Whetstone, 26, and seized 130 bricks of heroin, or approximately 6,500 doses, bearing the same stamps.
The following 16 alleged GMB members and associates have been charged as indicated:
Charles M. Willis, 27, of Willingboro, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First- Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Michael Barnes
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Feb. 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
First-Degree Attempted Murder – Feb. 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
First-Degree Possession with Intent to Distribute CDS
Second- Degree Solicitation, Recruitment of Juveniles to Join a Street Gang
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
Third-Degree Possession of CDS
First-degree Attempted Murder – May 1 Shooting
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault – May 1 Shooting
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Second-Degree Possession of Weapon as Convicted Felon
Charles J. Willis (father of Charles M. Willis), 49, of Lawrenceville, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-Degree Possession with Intent to Distribute CDS
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
Shaiquan Hearns, 21, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First- Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Michael Barnes
First-Degree Attempted Murder – September 17 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault – September 17 Shooting
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
First-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Second-Degree Possession of Weapon as Convicted Felon
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
First-Degree Attempted Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
Second- Degree Solicitation, Recruitment of Juveniles to Join a Street Gang
Tre Whetstone, 26, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
Third-Degree Possession of CDS
First-Degree Possession with Intent to Distribute CDS
Bobby Hood, 28, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First- Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Michael Barnes
First-degree Attempted Murder – May 1 Shooting
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Yahonatan Salter, 28, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
First-Degree Attempted Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
Dion Battle, 28, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
First-Degree Attempted Murder – February 12 Shooting (Civilian Victims)
Davion Fenderson, 25, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First- Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Michael Barnes
First-Degree Murder of Michael Barnes
Frederick Eustsey, 45, of Ewing, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
John Colvin, 23, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
David Williams, 28, of Camden, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-degree Attempted Murder – May 1 Shooting
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Second-Degree Possession of Weapon as Convicted Felon
Second- Degree Solicitation, Recruitment of Juveniles to Join a Street Gang
Zaire Jackson, 25, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-degree Attempted Murder – May 1 Shooting
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Shawn Anderson, 21, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-degree Attempted Murder – May 1 Shooting
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Second Degree Aggravated Assault
Second-Degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose
Second-Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon
Juvenile Male, 17, of Trenton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
First-Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – May 1 Shooting
Jayshawn Fisher, 26, of Trenton, N.J.
First- Degree Conspiracy to Commit Murder – Michael Barnes
Briana Blue, 22, of Princeton, N.J.
First-degree Racketeering
Second-Degree Conspiracy to Distribute CDS
First-Degree Possession with Intent to Distribute CDS
Willis, Hearns, Salter, Battle, Colvin, and Fisher were previously in jail and were served with the charges outlined above while in jail. The other ten defendants were arrested on June 5.