MINNEAPOLIS – This morning, United States District Judge Nancy Brasel sentenced Gregory Hamilton, age 29, to life imprisonment, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen. Hamilton is a violent member of the Minneapolis criminal street gang known as the Highs. He was convicted after a three-week trial of RICO Conspiracy and Premeditated Murder for his involvement in the Highs and the August 8, 2021 murder of Darryl Wells, Jr., an innocent bystander who was mistaken for a gang member.
This is the second life sentence secured by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a part of the RICO prosecutions aimed at disrupting and dismantling the violent and murderous street gangs of Minneapolis. To date, the office has charged well over 100 gang members with federal crimes, including charging 39 members of the Highs with RICO conspiracy, narcotics trafficking, firearms trafficking, and related offenses.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hamilton, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a member of the Highs-a criminal enterprise that controlled territory north of West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis. Evidence at trial proved that members of the Highs committed murders, narcotics trafficking, weapons violations, burglaries, assaults, and robberies on behalf of the enterprise. As members of the Highs, the defendants were expected to retaliate against the rival Lows gang, which operated south of West Broadway Avenue…