The leader of the gang was finally brought to his knees and is currently serving more than two dozen life-sentences in federal prison.
Nashville, Tennessee, isn’t only the home of country music, but it’s also the home to gangs.
“We had some gangs from L.A. try to come in here and set up base here and begin to sell drugs out of Nashville and out of L.A.,” said former MNPD Homicide Detective Pat Postiglione.
The L.A. Crips gang or the Rollin’ 90’s Crips infiltrated Nashville in between 1994 and 1995.
Postiglione was on the front lines battling the Rollin’ 90’s Crips and other gangs.
“They really had some fertile ground when they first came here because no one had a clear understanding what the gangs was about,” Postiglione said. “When they got here in Nashville, they really made their presence known really quick.”
Next came drugs, violence and murder.
“One, in particular, was in 1995, there was a Crip that was killed out on Dickerson Pike as a result of that homicide. There were two or three other homicides that occurred all related to the gangs, all related to the drug trafficking they were trying to do in Nashville,” Postiglione said.
One of the most notorious gang members to ever step foot in Nashville is convicted drug kingpin and gang leader Jamal Shakir, also known as “Donut.”
Shakir left behind multiple victims.
“Nine murder victims, only one was killed in this district,” Assistant United States Attorney Sonny Koshy said. “The very first one, Mr. [Richard] Chambers. The rest were killed in Oklahoma City and Los Angeles. Shakir sent one of his under links to Oklahoma City who then shot one of the gang members, his pregnant girlfriend while they were sleeping in the bed and he shot Kinberly Suetopka in both elbows. She survived and was found about 10 days later when the landlord came in there. She was between the decomposing bodies of her mother and her boyfriend and she survived drinking toilet water for over a week. That’s what gang violence, that’s what belonging in gangs, what you do about drugs and gangs affects people and hurts communities.”
“He was trying to restart his criminal organization. He was trying to locate witnesses and have them killed, he set up robberies of drug dealers,” Koshy said. “He was selling drugs with the thought of financing what was originally the purchase of a helicopter but then they planned to abduct a helicopter pilot, take his helicopter all in order to carry out an escape of Jamal Shakir from the rooftop of the Criminal Justice Center.”
Shakir is serving 16 life sentences, another nine life sentences, after trying to restart his drug enterprise, plus an additional 20 years.
That spun into an investigation of the Rollin’ 60’s Crip gang and indictments of 40 or more gang members.
“We recovered letters written by Shakir himself describing his part of the organization as one of the most violent and that he was the head of the beast,” oshy said. “Well, the head of that beast is never going to breathe our air again.”
Koshy said gangs will forever be a part of the Nashville community.
“They are, and that’s why we need everybody’s help - pastors, parents, teachers, the state court system, all of them, along with social service agencies have to address this,” Koshy said. “Early intervention is important to stop it, but if that fails, we’re going to be the brick wall to bring them down.”
Postiglione said he thinks Metro police do have a handle on the gang problem, and he said the L.A. connection is not as prevalent as it was in the 1990’s.
“Like any city, Nashville is a beautiful city, it’s got that underbelly,” Postiglione said. “It’s got a little underbelly that a lot of people don’t see, gangs, being part of that underbelly where there’s a lot of violence involved.”
Koshy said Shakir agreed to drop all of his appeals and most of his post-conviction efforts to get back out on our streets.
Koshy calls the take-down of Shakir, a significant public safety win for the country.
USA - BN.
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