Convicted Newark Crips leader gets life plus 35 years
NEWARK » The man authorities say terrorized northern New Jersey as the kingpin of the region’s most powerful drug gang sat silently in court Wednesday as a judge sentenced him to life in prison and his victims’ relatives described lives torn apart by the violence he sanctioned.
Some in the packed courtroom wept during the victims’ impact statements and again when U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo pronounced sentence on Corey Hamlet, a 42-yearold Belleville resident who led the Grape Street Crips. It is a set of the Los Angeles-based Grape Street Crips and was considered Newark’s dominant street gang.
In addition to the mandatory life sentence required by Hamlet’s convictions on counts including racketeering conspiracy, Cox Arleo added a total of 35 years to be served consecutively.
Hamlet, who went by the nickname “C-Blaze,” was convicted in July of racketeering conspiracy, murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon and other weapons offenses. An earlier trial had ended in a hung jury.
He was one of several dozen Crips members arrested and charged in an investigation begun several years ago.
The violence was aimed at competitors but also at Crips members suspected of cooperating
with law enforcement or otherwise displeasing Hamlet and gang higherups, prosecutors said.
“You put my family through hell,” the mother of one of the victims said as she addressed Hamlet in court Wednesday, describing how her son’s 7-year-old child still has nightmares and asks, “where is my father?”
“We stand here today and there are no winners,” her husband said before breaking into tears.
Anwar West, another victim, was murdered even though he was trying to act as a peacemaker, prosecutors said.
Turning and looking at Hamlet as she spoke in court Wednesday, West’s mother told him, “I hope the nights that you spend alone in your cell bring some justice to your heart, and that at some point you reach out to these victims and tell them how sorry you are.”