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2006 Latin Kings Sting Has Gone Almost Completely Bust

News Channel 8 photo by Paul Lamison

An unidentified male is hand cuffed and ltaken to a TPD squad car during a multi-agency task force raids the Caribbean American Club located in South Tampa at 6211 S Martindale Ave Tampa, FL 33611.

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 23, 2008

TAMPA - Racketeering and conspiracy charges have been dropped in the case against the final five defendants among more than 50 arrested in a roundup of suspected Latin Kings gang members.

These last defendants still face charges of armed kidnapping, aggravated battery and aggravated assault. But a defense lawyer who says she will represent two of the five defendants said they likely will face lesser versions of those charges, too.

"We are just defending the charges that are pending against the two of them to the best of our abilities," Lyann Goudie said.

More than 50 purported members of the Latin Kings were arrested in the multiagency operation.

Most of the defendants were arrested Aug. 20, 2006, at a mandatory gang meeting.

In April, Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet threw out racketeering and conspiracy charges against almost all of the defendants. He ruled that the defendants were forced to go to the meeting, with threats of violence if they did not attend. Just showing up at the meeting, therefore, was not grounds for racketeering or conspiracy charges, he determined.

The meeting was set up by Luis "Danny" Agosto, a confidential informant hired by the FBI and Tampa police.

Agosto was paid $2,400 per month, given a cell phone, a rent-free apartment and the promise of a $100,000 bonus upon conviction of gang members. While he acted as an informant, he continued a life of crime, Sleet wrote.

Sleet initially kept racketeering and conspiracy charges against a handful of defendants who also attended another meeting that Sleet said was independent of Agosto. Three months before the Aug. 20, 2006, bust, some of the gang members beat another member, prosecutors allege.

Defendants Michael Victor Lugo, Omari Elijah Tolbert, Orlando Geraldo Perez, Edwin Deleon and Marcus Jiles still face charges of armed kidnapping, aggravated battery and aggravated assault relating to that incident.

Goudie says she will help represent Lugo and Tolbert as co-counsel. Prosecutors, she said, are overreaching on the charges.

Lugo also faces federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Tolbert still faces two drug traffic charges.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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