Following a three-week trial, a federal jury in Minneapolis convicted five Minnesota men for their involvement in the Highs — a violent Minneapolis street gang — and in gang-related murders, shootings, and narcotics distribution.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, defendants Tyreese Giles, 24, Josiah Taylor, 31, Trevaun Robinson, 29, William Banks, 35, and Gregory Brown, 35, all of Minneapolis, were members of various “cliques,” or subsets, of the Highs — a criminal enterprise that controlled territory north of West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis.
Members of the Highs committed murders, narcotics trafficking, weapons violations, burglaries, assaults, and robberies on behalf of the enterprise.
As part of their Highs membership, the defendants were expected to retaliate against their rivals, the Lows gang, which operated south of West Broadway Avenue.
These two gangs had been in a gang war that spanned years, and alleged members of the Lows gang have been separately charged with federal crimes, including racketeering charges.
“This is the second successful trial against members and associates of the Highs gang in this case in the last three weeks,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
As proven at trial, the gang war escalated when, on September 9, 2021, a prominent Highs member was shot and killed at a barbershop in Minneapolis. About two hours later, suspecting that the Lows were responsible for the killing, defendant Giles travelled to Pennwood Market in the Lows’ territory.
Once there, Giles, who was dressed in black and wearing a mask covering his face, shot and killed a Lows member. He fired the fatal shot into the victim’s back before he attempted to flee from the scene.
Evidence at trial tied defendant Robinson to two shootings — one into a crowd of individuals in downtown Minneapolis on July 7, 2019, and another in the parking lot of Merwin Liquors, a Highs hangout, on April 2, 2022.
Defendants Taylor and Banks trafficked drugs, including fentanyl, on behalf of the Highs. Evidence proved that Brown was a high-level narcotics supplier for the Highs and coordinated trips to and from Arizona for Highs members to obtain tens of thousands of fentanyl pills to sell on the streets of Minneapolis.
Each defendant was arrested in possession of narcotics, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and oxycodone, and one possessed a firearm in furtherance of their narcotics trafficking.
The jury convicted defendants Giles, Robinson, Banks, and Brown of Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations conspiracy. Defendants Taylor and Banks were also convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.
The jury convicted Taylor of the separate crime of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
This is the second of several trials in this case, which charged over 40 defendants with RICO conspiracy, narcotics trafficking, firearms offences, and other charges related to their activities as members and associates of the Highs gang. Nine defendants are awaiting trial.
