In federal court in Boston Monday, an East Side Money Gang (ES$G) member known as “Superbad” received his sentence for racketeering and drug trafficking charges.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns handed down a 10-year prison term along with five years of supervised release to Josue Rodriguez, a/k/a “SB,” a/k/a “Superbad,” 20, of Chelsea. The defendant’s guilty plea came in June 2017, when he admitted to one count of conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, commonly known as RICO, and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.
As a member of the ES$G, a Chelsea-based street gang, Rodriguez participated in an organization that employs violence to further its criminal activities and enforce its internal rules. The gang uses violence specifically to protect its members/associates, target rival gang members/associates and intimidate potential witnesses.
According to his admission, Rodriguez ambushed a rival gang member on July 5, 2015, who was walking down the street, shooting at him with a semi-automatic pistol, but did not hit him. On March 29, 2016, Rodriguez and another ES$G member agreed to provide a .22 caliber revolver to a third ES$G member so he could “spank” with it – meaning that he could use it against rivals of ES$G.
That third gang member deployed the revolver on April 3, 2016, in an attempt to murder two men believed to be members/associates of a rival gang. One of the targets was shot but not killed.
After another ES$G member/associate attempted to shoot a rival gang member, Rodriguez attempted to hide the .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver used in a shooting, as well as spent and live shells, on May 26, 2016.
Drug trafficking operations, encompassing cocaine, cocaine base (crack) and heroin, were also conducted by the East Side Money Gang.
Working alongside other gang members and associates, Rodriguez conspired to distribute at least one kilogram of cocaine base. He further admitted that his home in Chelsea served as a location where drugs were stored and distributed, and that the gang maintained at least one firearm at the location.
Among 53 defendants indicted in June 2016 on federal firearms and drug charges following an investigation into a network of street gangs that had created alliances to traffic weapons and drugs throughout Massachusetts and to generate violence against rival gang members, Rodriguez was one. Leaders, members, and associates of the 18th Street Gang, East Side Money Gang and the Boylston Gang, according to court documents, were responsible for fueling a gun and drug pipeline across a number of cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 70 firearms.