Feds indict North Philly gang for violent crimes, $1.5M counterfeit scheme

Federal authorities have filed racketeering charges against eight men allegedly involved in a violent North Philadelphia street gang responsible for a botched murder-for-hire plot and more than $1.5 million in counterfeit money.

“Omerta,” as the group is known, carried out several shootings in 2020 and 2021, including the killing of a 14-year-old boy, prosecutors said in a grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday.

In addition, the gang tried to pass off fake cash at stores as far away as Georgia and filed about $443,000 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The group was based between 25th and 30th streets in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood and was closely aligned with a larger North Philadelphia outfit called “Zoo Gang,” the indictment alleges.

One of Omerta’s alleged leaders, Jahlil Williams, 25, is accused of recruiting gang members and affiliates on Instagram to help him murder someone for money. In September 2021, they allegedly shot and killed the wrong person – 24-year-old mother Chaundrah Jones – and wounded two other women at 33rd and Diamond streets.

A month later, Williams and two others named in the indictment – Kyair Garnett, 23, and Haneef Roberson, 23 – fatally shot 14-year-old Samir Jefferson in Feltonville, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the gang targeted Samir either because they believed he mocked their group or was related to someone who had killed an Omerta member.

In that case, a murder trial for Williams, Garnett and Roberson is scheduled to begin Thursday in state court. Williams and six others are facing state murder charges in connection with Jones’ killing.

When Williams was jailed, in 2022, Rakiem Savage, 26, took over and continued to talk with Williams and other incarcerated gang members, according to prosecutors.

Last spring, an unnamed co-conspirator helped Williams smuggle marijuana, suboxone and a cellphone into prison, the indictment alleges. The phone, the document indicates, allowed him to text Omerta members on the outside.

Omerta used social media to promote itself, producing music videos and even branded clothing, according to the indictment.

Much of the communication between members appears to have occurred on Instagram, where authorities said there was a group chat with instructions about how to apply for Pennsylvania’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, authorities said.

The initiative was aimed at helping people who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. But the Omerta members, prosecutors said, were not employed prior to the pandemic and were not actively seeking job opportunities.

Harry Draper, 46, is accused of supplying the group with counterfeit money, and prosecutors said he began selling the fake cash to a confidential informant in March 2021.

Omerta members took the phony bills to supermarkets and other stores around the region, attempting to buy items or asking to exchange money, authorities said. In some cases, if a cashier refused to accept the cash, the suspects robbed the business, according to the indictment.

In addition, the gang operated illegal gambling operations on neighborhood corners and sold marijuana and promethazine, a cough syrup, investigators said.

Also charged in the indictment is Biheis Moore, 26, Ward Roberts, 25, and Rakiem King, 25, who was sentenced to 6 to 12 years in state prison in 2022 for a Omerta-related robbery and nonfatal shooting. Roberts primarily participated in the counterfeit cash and unemployment schemes, according to authorities.

Legal representation for the defendants in the federal case could not be identified as of Tuesday.