Remember the R2 gang that terrorized Newhallville?
Joseph Jackson — known in the trade as “Mighty” — ran a crack-dealing operation at the heart of the violent street gang, according to federal authorities.
He fessed up Friday. He pleased guilty in U.S. District court to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 280 grams or more of crack.
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Bree Burns is set to decided on May 2 how long to keep him in jail. He faces a mighty long time there — a minimum of 10 years, a maximum of life. Under his plea agreement, he would serve 25 years.
He also lost “two automobiles and two motorcycles seized during the investigation,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A joint New Haven-Hamden-DEA-FBI task force arrested Mighty along with 36 other alleged R2 havoc-wreakers in the fall of 2010. Read about that here. To date the operation has netted 47 arrests in all.
R2 emerged in early 2010 as the one of the city’s most violent gangs, linked by police to at least two homicides, three attempted armed assaults on cops, 19 aggravated assaults, 78 firearms discharges, and 15 street robberies. Read about that here.
