Leaders of Young Buck Killas gang sentenced
Two convicted leaders of the notorious Young Buck Killas gang were handed hefty sentences in a Toronto courtroom on Friday morning.
Mohammed Hersi, who Justice Steven Clark called one of the gang's "principal leaders," and Guled Mahadale, a high-level member, were convicted earlier this year on firearm and drug charges.
At trial, both men not only confirmed the gang's existence, but acknowledged that it had "among its principal aims and objectives the commission of robberies and the production and trafficking of controlled substances, principally cocaine," according to Clark's written judgment.
13 years in prison
While the gang started in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood, its operations eventually spread to Hamilton and London, Ont., Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alta., and Surrey, B.C.
Gang members would rent houses from which "underlings" would sell drugs, according to the judgment. Drugs and firearms were also transported between these "operational centres."
After months of surveillance, police swept up gang members in nationwide raids in December 2011.
Earlier this year, both men were found guilty of having transferred or offered to transfer a firearm and the additional charge of having done so for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization.
Both men had also been charged with possessing a restricted firearm, with the additional charge of having done so at the direction of, or in association with, a criminal organization. Hersi was found guilty, while Mahadale was acquitted.
Hersi was also found guilty of two other charges: conspiring to traffic in a controlled substance, with the addition of having done so to the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, and having trafficked a controlled substance, with the addition of having done so to the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization.
On Friday, Hersi was sentenced to 13 years in prison less 11 months, while Mahadale was sentenced to eight years in prison less 68 months for time in pre-trial custody.
Neither man can seek parole until he has served at least half of his sentence, according to Justice Clark. Each man must also pay a $200 victim surcharge.
