A Boston man tied by federal prosecutors to Dorchester’s Cameron Street gang has admitted he was part of a racketeering conspiracy involving murder and drug trafficking, the latest turn in a sweeping case that first produced indictments in May 2023. He entered his guilty plea Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2026, according to federal filings.
In U.S. District Court, 34-year-old Takari Elliott, also known as “T-Paper,” admitted he conspired to participate in a racketeering enterprise that prosecutors allege included murder. Elliott is the 21st defendant to be convicted in the May 2023 indictment; one co-defendant remains a fugitive. “This defendant and his fellow Cameron Street gang members terrorized communities for years,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said. The racketeering conspiracy count linked to murder carries the possibility of life in prison, along with supervised release and fines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts.
Elliott’s criminal record was already extensive before the federal case landed. In April 2023 he pleaded guilty in Plymouth Superior Court to manslaughter in a 2020 Brockton killing and was sentenced to three to five years in state prison, as reported by The Boston Globe. That state plea and a series of prior arrests formed part of the backdrop for federal prosecutors as they built out the broader racketeering case.
How prosecutors say the killing unfolded
According to federal filings, on Oct. 13, 2020, Elliott used Snapchat to message Manuel Duarte and set up what prosecutors describe as a drug deal at a Brockton home. Once Duarte arrived, another alleged Cameron Street member emerged from a backyard and shot him multiple times, prosecutors say. Investigators allege Elliott and the shooter were paid about $60,000 for the killing and split the money, and that Elliott was picked up near the scene while the shooter fled in a rental car. Those allegations appear in court filings and public statements by federal prosecutors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts…