TRENTON – The leader of the “Bounty Hunters” set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced to life in prison today for his conviction on charges for distributing crack cocaine in Trenton, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson, who presided over a five-and a-half week trial, sentenced Isaac Barlow, 33, a.k.a. “Chin,” of Trenton, to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole.

Also today, Judge Wolfson sentenced Barlow’s co-defendant, Alfredo Payne, 23, a.k.a. “Fredo,” of Trenton, to 120 months in prison and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term.

On June 20, 2007, after approximately eight hours of deliberations, a jury convicted Barlow and Payne of one count each of conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and distribution of more than 50 grams of crack cocaine on March 31, 2006. Barlow was also convicted of two counts of possession with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and once count of maintaining a house for the distribution of a controlled substance. Payne was also convicted of an additional count of distribution of more than 50 grams of crack cocaine.

The case was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin and Special Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Gasparian, an Assistant Prosecutor in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

During the trial, the jury heard testimony of more than 35 government witnesses and viewed hundreds of pieces of evidence regarding the defendants’ crack cocaine distribution network. In convicting the defendants, the jury found that Barlow and Payne, along with others, conspired from November 2005 through May 2006 to distribute crack cocaine.

According to trial testimony and evidence, Barlow was the leader of a Bloods street gang set called the “Bounty Hunters” which operated in the Trenton area. Payne acted as Barlow’s right-hand man and was a street-level crack cocaine dealer in Barlow’s organization. Barlow and his “line” of Bounty Hunter Bloods, which included Payne and approximately 20 others, controlled the distribution of crack cocaine in the 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Avenue in the Wilbur Section of Trenton from October 2005 through May 2006.

Barlow’s prison phone calls and several witnesses established at trial that Barlow was attempting to learn the identity and location of the government’s informants, in an attempt to “get rid of them,” as one government witness testified. Barlow also repeatedly referenced attempting to keep his co-defendant Payne from cooperating against him.

Click the following link for the news release on the defendants’ conviction: www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/files/pdffiles/barl0620rel.pdf

In determining the actual sentences, Judge Wolfson consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, was not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie thanked Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr., for his office’s assistance in the case by assigning Assistant Prosecutor Gasparian to the trial team.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI’s Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun in Newark; State Investigators with N.J. Division of Criminal Justice, under the direction of Gregory A. Paw, Director; State Troopers with the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes, Superintendent; Detectives of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, Special Investigations Unit, under the direction of Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr.; and Police Officers with the Trenton Police Department, under the direction of Joseph Santiago, Public Safety Director, for investigation of the case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Askin, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton, and Special Assistant Gasparian of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

end

Defense Attorneys: Barlow - James R. Murphy, Esq. Princeton Payne - John Holliday, Esq. Trenton