Three Lincoln men indicted for trying to kill a rival gang member in a 2019 shooting got federal prison time for it Tuesday.
Edward "Eddie" Williams, Antonio Shannon and Emmanuel Kuot, all now 21, pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy in a plea agreement that capped their potential sentences at 15 years.
There is no parole in federal prison.
At back-to-back hearings in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, the federal prosecutor described Williams as the leader and Shannon and Kuat as members of the Day One Brothers or D1B, a violent street gang based in Lincoln that conspired to violate racketeering laws through a pattern of activity consisting of multiple acts involving an attempted murder and multiple robberies and marijuana sales through social media.
"This is an offense that involved violence on several occasions," Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Molsen said.
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He said the focus of the case was a shooting Oct. 26, 2019, that easily could have resulted in someone getting shot and killed.
But there were mitigating factors, too, in reaching the plea agreement, he said. All three were young, around 18, at the time; and, thankfully, no one was hit.
Molsen said that after learning that a member of the rival gang Bout Dat Boys (BDB) was at a home near them in the Belmont neighborhood, Williams and Shannon fired multiple shots at the apartment after Kuot lured the intended victim, a 21-year-old Lincoln man, outside.
The apartment had been struck with eight bullets, fired from two guns, leaving two windows shattered and a bullet lodged in the living room wall.
Investigators said they came to believe the shooting was part of a "continuing beef" between the groups over Edgar Union Jr.'s killing in 2018.
Natavian Morton pleaded no contest to manslaughter for it and was sentenced to 45 to 60 years.
On Tuesday, Williams and Shannon declined a chance to speak first. Kuot, who likely will be deported after serving his sentence, offered a brief apology to the victims, saying he was continuing to grow.
Senior U.S. District Judge John Gerrard said the case was an extremely violent gang situation and he initially struggled with the plea agreement. Under the guidelines, Williams could have gotten up to 20 years. But he ultimately accepted the agreement between the attorneys.
"It's no secret to you the D1B gang was extremely violent. That was their M.O. It was violence, it was intimidation, it was robberies," the judge said.
They committed robberies, assaulted suspected snitches, even attempted to kill a rival, he said. And he hoped the sentences would provide some semblance of protection to the public.
"You, Mr. Williams, were one of the leaders of that gang," Gerrard said, giving him 15 years in prison.
He gave Shannon 12½ years, and Kuot 10.
All three also will be required to serve three years on supervised release after their release.