Gang members face life sentences after convictions
Men faced federal racketeering charges for violent crimes
Four members of a violent Connecticut street gang were convicted this week of participating in a racketeering conspiracy responsible for an array of violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, assault, obstruction of justice and drug dealing.
Convicted by a federal jury in Bridgeport for crimes associated with the Waterbury 960 gang were Tahjay “Goon” Love, 25; Zaekwon “Yung Gup” Mcdaniel, 25; Malik “Dirt” Bayon, 27; and James “Little Cuz” Graham, 25.
Love, Mcdaniel and Bayon face mandatory sentences of life imprisonment and Graham faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
On Sept. 14, 2021, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned a 36-count indictment charging 960 gang members Love, Mcdaniel, Bayon and Graham, and 12 other alleged gang members, with racketeering, narcotics trafficking, firearm possession, murder, attempted murder and assault, and obstruction of justice offenses.
According to the evidence presented during the trial:
On Oct. 31, 2017, 960 members were involved in a drive-by shooting in the area of Porter Street and Bank Street in Waterbury in an attempt to murder members of a rival gang. One person was shot and wounded. Investigators recovered 17 shell casings from four different firearms at the scene, and also identified the car used by the assailants. Mcdaniel’s DNA was found on the steering wheel of the car.
On Nov. 22, 2017, Mcdaniel, Bayon, and Love shot at Clarence Lewis and Antonio Santos, who were in a car at a restaurant in Waterbury. Lewis fled from the scene at a highrate of speed and crashed into a house at the intersection of Wolcott Street and Dallas Avenue in Waterbury. Lewis, 22, and Santos, 20, were pronounced dead at the scene. Shell casings connected two of firearms used during the shooting to the shooting that occurred on Oct. 31, 2017, and Mcdaniel’s DNA was found on a gun magazine that was dropped at the restaurant.
On Dec. 29, 2017, Mcdaniel shot and injured the father of a rival gang member who was taking out the trash in front of his residence. Some 960 members videoed themselves wearing masks at the scene minutes before the shooting.
On Oct. 19, 2019, Love and Graham, who were incarcerated in state custody, assaulted another inmate who they believed had reported to law enforcement Love’s admitted role in the deaths of Clarence Lewis and Antonio Santos.
The jury found Love, Mcdaniel and Bayon guilty of conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity with special circumstances that they killed Lewis and Santos. and two counts of causing death through the use of a firearm and in relation to a crime of violence.
The jury also found Mcdaniel guilty of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; Love and Graham guilty of obstruction of justice; and Bayon guilty of conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.