Alleged gang member admits to pool stick assault
NORRISTOWN>> A Potts town man awaiting trial for attempting to kill rival gang members in the borough last year has admitted to a separate violent act, assaulting a bar patron with a pool stick.
Josiah “Crack” Bailey, 21, a member of the so-called “Brothas From Anotha Gang,” was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to one to two years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault in connection with his November 2014 pool stick attack of a man outside the Olde Gold Tavern in the borough. Judge Steven T. O’Neill im--
posed the sentence as part of a plea agreement.
The prison term ensures that Bailey, who was identified by witnesses through the tattoos adorning his face, will remain in prison while awaiting his upcoming trial on the attempted murder charges lodged against him in connection with his alleged violent gang activities during a turf war with members of rival gang “Straight Cash Money Gang.”
Borough police investigating the Nov. 21, 2014, assault outside the Olde Gold Tavern responded to the bar on South Charlotte Street about 1:26 a.m. after receiving reports of a fight in progress. When police arrived they found a broken pool stick on the ground outside an entrance to the bar and the male assault victim, who required hospital treatment, lying on the ground just inside the side door of the bar, according to a criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Police Corporal Brian-Weitzel.
Witnesses told police that a group of three males assaulted the victim with punches inside the bar and then chased him outside where the assault continued. Authorities obtained video surveillance of the assault.
“A fourth male, later identified as Josiah Bailey, also follows the group outside and grabs a pool stick from inside the bar,” Weitzel alleged. “As the males are punching (the victim) in the head, the defendant then struck (the victim) in the head with the pool stick three times until the pool stick broke. Once (the victim) gets hit in the head with the pool stick he falls to the ground.”
Bailey, of the first block of West-Walnut Street, and the other three males then fled the scene, police said. Bailey was identified through the distinctive tattoos he had on his face, court papers indicate.
Bailey’s legal troubles mounted after the bar assault.
Bailey was one of 47 people arrested last May after the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Violent Crime Unit and Narcotics Enforcement Team-crushed the two rival gangs operating in Pottstown, with tentacles to neighboring Berks County, which authorities alleged were responsible for violent, drug-related incidents dating back to the summer of 2014. The two gangs were identified during an investigation dubbed “Operation-War Ready.”
The conflict between the organizations “resulted in numerous shootings and gun battles,” during a sixmonth period, detectives wrote in arrest documents. Authorities alleged the gangs-were connected to illegal narcotics trafficking.
Bailey was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault in connection with his alleged role in two gang-related shootings on Nov. 30, and Dec. 24, 2014, according to court documents.
The alleged 10 p.m. Nov. 30 gun fight between the rival gang members occurred in the 400 block of Elm Street, court papers indicate.
“Responding police officers found evidence of a gun fight in which a total of at least 28 gunshots were fired from several different weapons,” detectives wrote in court papers.
No one sought medical treatment after the gun battle.
But the investigation determined that Bailey and Markel “Pudge” Harper, another member of the “Brothas From Anotha Gang,” were armed with semiautomatic handguns “and were actively involved in this gun fight” with unidentified members of the “Straight Cash Money Gang,” according to arrest documents.
Authorities alleged Bailey also took part in the 10:31 p.m. Dec. 24, 2014, shooting in the 300 block of Walnut Street during which Daniel Garcia, an alleged associate of the “Straight Cash Money Gang,” suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.
Harper, 22, of Philadelphia, also-was chargedwith attempted murder in connection with the two gun battles. Harper pleaded guilty to charges related to the shootings last week and is awaiting sentencing.