Two Griffin gang leaders were convicted of racketeering charges this week, prosecutors said.
A jury found Myrrin Kendrell Watson, 43, and Andre Denard Noble, 37, guilty Thursday on two counts apiece of violating the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) act, according to Marie Broder, district attorney for the Griffin Judicial Circuit. They were both sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Watson and Noble were career criminals who led a local network of the Rollin 20 Neighborhood Bloods, a notorious street gang originally founded in south Los Angeles in the 1970s, Broder said in a news release.
Prosecutors proved that Watson and Noble were part of a gang-related conspiracy in Upson County along with several other members of the Rollin 20s. They orchestrated armed robberies, aggravated assaults and drug trafficking, and helped smuggle contraband into Georgia prisons so inmates could sell and distribute the items.
Broder said the men posted about gang activity on social media and sent members into Upson County to enlist new recruits.
“This jury and this sentence sends a message to other gang leaders seeking to recruit and commit crimes here ... stay out of Upson,” the district attorney said.
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