In court Monday, a federal judge and a prosecutor said Mikal Mustafa Mix threatened to have the gang's co-leader, Marlon Reed, killed for testifying against Mix.U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman made the comment just before sentencing Mix to life in prison, plus five years, for being the gang leader and committing a long list of violent crimes, including helping a group of teenagers evade capture after a 2007 mob killing in Ocean View.Friedman, citing a confidential pre-sentence report, said Mix tried to recruit someone to kill Reed at the Chesapeake Correctional Center and then later tried to make arrangements to have Reed killed after he was transferred to federal prison."Is there anything you'd like to say?" Friedman asked Mix."No, sir," Mix replied.Friedman sentenced Mix, 31, to multiple life terms, but ran them all concurrently. He tacked on an additional five years to run consecutively for having a gun while trafficking drugs.Mix was convicted at trial this summer of 16 felonies, including being an accessory to murder, and faced an almost certain life sentence. Co-defendant Gary Lynn Toliver Jr., described in court as a second-tier gang leader, was sentenced last week to life plus 207 years. Toliver was convicted of a number of gun-related charges that carried mandatory consecutive prison terms beyond what Mix faced. Mix had one gun-related count.Mix's attorney tried to argue for a minimum sentence of 35 years in prison, saying that Reed's testimony was unreliable. Reed, a co-leader of the gang, was sentenced to 19 years in prison, a substantial reduction from what he could have gotten.
Friedman dismissed the attorney's argument."There was more than sufficient evidence," Friedman said.Reed's testimony was key to the prosecution's case. He described in detail the workings of the gang, from initiations and drug deals to their signature home invasion robberies. He said Mix and a relative moved here around 2000 from New York to start the gang, recruiting him as one of the earliest members."Obviously, nobody likes gangs," said Mix's attorney, Lawrence H. Woodward Jr. "But I don't believe Mr. Mix was involved to the extent what other people said."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Muhr described how Mix helped protect a group of teenagers implicated in the July 2007 mob beating death of 19-year-old James Robertson in Ocean View.Mix forced several of the teenage girls to stay in a hotel room out of sight and helped another teen get out of town.Muhr asked the judge to send a message to juveniles "who think they want to live the gangster life.""The Bounty Hunter Bloods has only brought destruction and violence to Norfolk," he said.