A member of a notorious Baltimore gang prosecutors have connected to seven murders along with several armed robberies, shootings, and stabbings, received a life sentence Thursday for his participation in conspiracy and racketeering.
Kenneth Jones, 30, of Baltimore, was convicted in January by a federal jury of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Going by the aliases of "K-Slay" and "Slay," Jones was a member of the Black Guerilla Family gang's Greenmount Avenue regime. As the primary enforcer for the gang, prosecutors linked Jones to three separate murders and at least one attempted murder.
The gang had been known as the Young Guerilla Family in its earlier form, comprised of mostly younger members who lived between the 2200 and 2400 blocks of Barclay and Guilford Avenues. The group sold drugs and committed murders, shootings, and armed robberies throughout the Greenmount Avenue corridor.
By mid-2007, the gang took an oath and joined the Black Guerilla Family, operating as the BGF Greenmount Regime. They continued to sell drugs and commit violent crime, eventually controlling a territory that stretched from Greenmount Avenue to the east, Guilford Avenue to the west, 25th Street to the north, and Federal Street to the South, with offshoots stretching further east to Mund Park and Cokesbury Avenue.
Between 2005 and 2017, investigators linked the crew to seven murders, three non-fatal shootings, more than 10 armed robberies, all while consistently dealing drugs through the 12 year span. During trial, prosecutors proved Jones' hand in three of those murders, and an attempted fourth murder.
In January 2007, fellow gang member Gregory Rochester was rumored to be cooperating with the government, and thought to have stolen drugs from a fellow YGF associate, resulting in Jones and two other YGF members being ordered to kill Rochester.
At trial, Jones was also linked to the murder of Trevon White, another member of the BGF Greenmount regime. Jones was also tied to the March 2013 murder of Thabiti Wheeler, a hack cab driver.
Jones was also responsible for the attempted murder in October of 2013 of Lamontae Smith, who was shot in the arm. At trial, Smith explained that three fellow BGF members attempted to shoot Jones in retaliation for the murder of White. In further retaliation for the attempt on his life, Jones incorrectly thought Smith was among the shooters.
Jones joins eight other BGF and YGF members who have pleaded or been found guilty of conspiring to violate federal racketeering and drug trafficking laws.
