Petties cohort gets 25 years
Rickey Evans, 32, a drug trafficker with the deadly Craig Petties cocaine ring, pleaded with a judge Thursday for leniency so he can watch his three children grow up.
“I got involved with some stuff t hat was out of my league,” he said of the organization with ties to the ruthless Beltran Leyva Mexican cartel, blamed for beheadings and bodies hung from bridges. “I was blinded by the money.”
But U. S. Dist. Judge Samuel “Hardy” Mays cited the breadth of the organization — considered the largest in Memphis history — and the need to deter others as he handed down a sentence of 25 years in a federal prison, where parole isn’t an option. Evans’ attorney, T. Clifton Harviel, had asked for 15.
The judge said he had to consider Evans’ extensive criminal history that includes drugs, weapons and assault charges.
Evans’ attorney argued that Evans had a tough upbringing in an impoverished household with a disabled father and a mother with congenital heart failure.
Evans dropped out of the 11th grade to help support his family, which included six siblings.
He began a lawn care business, but was soon seduced by the lure of easier and quicker money.
He initially agreed to a one-time business deal with the Petties organization — a group he grew up with in the South Memphis neighborhood of Riverside, his attorney said. He netted $10,000 one night
for counting $200,000 in drug proceeds.
But he eventually joined the group and later rose to become a midlevel supervisor, relaying orders from Petties in Mexico to underlings in Memphis.
From 2005 to 2006, he organized the distribution of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine monthly, prosecutor David Pritchard said.
Evans recruited his brother-in-law, Dana Bradley, to join the drug ring when Bradley’s wife died so Bradley could buy his wife — Evans’ sister — a nice casket.
Evans also recruited his cousin, Bobby Craft, when the Iraq veteran couldn’t find a legitimate job. Craft ended up stealing about $4 million worth of cocaine.
When Petties wanted revenge, Evans said he fed Petties false information about Craft’s whereabouts to thwart his cousin’s murder.
Evans’ attorney said all of the orders to kill originated from Petties, not Evans.
The defendant’s wife, Shapale Evans, pleaded with the judge for mercy so he could play an active role in the lives of his chil- dren, ages 6, 7 and 10. They don’t fully understand why he can’t attend their ball games, school plays and recitals, she said while wiping tears.
She said she has survived a brain tumor and needs her husband.
“The man I fell in love with has a great heart,” she said.
Evans, who has helped the government prosecute others, told the judge that his life is in danger.
The judge agreed to recommend a prison near Memphis and not in Texas, where Evans fears the vengeance and influence of Texas native Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a high-ranking Mexican cartel leader known as “La Barbie.”
The judge told Evans that deciding his punishment, which could have been up to a life sentence, was difficult.
Prosecutors, who initially planned to lobby for a lighter sentence due to Evans’ cooperation, nixed that after allegations Evans has been selling cocaine while in jail.
“I think this is the right sentence,” the judge told Evans. “If there’s anything wrong with it, it’s that it is low.”
Evans then turned to smile and wave at his family, while his relatives sobbed.