Minnesota Gang Member Tez Blood Sentenced for Racketeering, Drug trafficking and several other Charges in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN: A Minnesota gang member and high-ranking fentanyl trafficker received a nearly 20-year prison term for a variety of federal racketeering offenses, including attempted murder, drug trafficking, and machine gun possession.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel handed down a 235-month jail term to 32-year-old Montez “Tez Blood” Brown on Wednesday. In November, Brown entered a guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy to distribute controlled narcotics and one count of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracy.
Reports from local ABC station KSTP-TV cite Brasel, as saying, “Gangs have created a public health crisis, and gang wars have not only caused exponential trauma on the north side but across all of Minneapolis, and it’s time to stop it” before imposing the sentence.
“This is the end of the line. Prison is the only tool that I have, and being lenient here will deter no one,” she added.
U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger made a statement stating that the federal government is using the RICO Act, which prosecutors used in the 1970s to bring organized crime to justice, to crack down on the gangs that have controlled north Minneapolis for a long time.
“Minneapolis gangs have caused a staggering amount of damage to the community through retaliatory shootings, narcotics trafficking, and other illicit activity,” he said. “Individuals who choose to fuel violence and destruction on behalf of a criminal enterprise such as this will be held accountable under federal law.”
Brown’s lawyer, Frederick Goetz, had requested a sentence of eleven to twelve years in prison, according to the Star Tribune, citing Brown’s efforts to better himself during the past year in prison as his justification.
Brown was a gang member of the Highs gang, which has allegedly been involved in a string of crimes in the region since 2004, including robberies, killings, and trafficking. Thirteen additional gang members and associates have pled guilty, and five have already received sentences, according to this indictment.
According to the indictment, the Highs demonstrated their allegiance to the gang by “putting in work”—engaged in violent acts or providing a means for the gang to acquire drugs or weapons. As part of the process of being kicked out of the gang, those who do not put in the necessary work are subjected to physical violence, according to officials.
According to the indictment, Brown committed crimes beginning on September 27, 2016. According to court records, he wounded someone named “Victim A” as he shot from one vehicle into another.
Brown sold two pills of oxycodone hydrochloride after advertising them for sale on Facebook in January 2017. He also shared a Snapchat video that same month showing himself with two guns. According to court filings, he evaded authorities outside a residence in gang territory later that month while selling oxycodone hydrochloride with other gang members.
After following him from his residence, authorities stopped him in April 2023 as he got into a Chevrolet Tahoe and drove away. About 1,000 blue “M-30” pills were discovered during the search of the vehicle. Authorities later reported that tests confirmed the presence of fentanyl. On Brown, police discovered $2,728 in cash and the key to a second car, a Mercedes SUV.
On the floor of the Mercedes was a brown bag containing 8,700 blue “M-30” pills in approximately 87 plastic bags, according to the cops. The Mercedes’s floor revealed a stolen Glock 17, 9 mm, with an extended magazine and a “switch”—a gadget that transforms a semi-automatic gun into a fully automatic one—wrapped in a sweatshirt and housed in a blue bag.
Hidden behind the Mercedes’s front driver’s seat, concealed in a Target bag, was a Glock Model 42. Police retrieved six grand in cash from Brown’s home.
