A former member of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club has acknowledged that his group was "nothing more than a criminal front, engaging in such crimes as drug distribution, firearms sales, committing violence and promoting prostitution." That is according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which has accepted Emmett Green's guilty plea to RICO conspiracy. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The 45-year-old Delevan man is one of 17 defendants arrested in this case. Other acts of alleged violence by the Kingsmen include the execution-style murders of members Paul Maue and Daniel "DJ" Szymanski, who were killed behind the North Tonawanda Chapter clubhouse on September 6, 2014.
In March, national and local Kingsmen leaders were charged in connection with the murders, ordered because of dissension in the North Tonawanda club, according to officials. They say Green was the regional president of the club's New York state chapter, serving under National President David Pirk.
That 46-count indictment alleged a recorded conversation during which Pirk ordered Maue and Szymanski killed. The enforcer said to have carried out the murders was Andre Jenkins of Florida, who was convicted last August.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi says Green admitted being a member of the Kingsmen, a criminal organization which engaged in such unlawful purposes as distribution of controlled substances, maintaining premises for use and distribution of controlled substances, possession, use and sale of firearms, sales of untaxed cigarettes and promoting prostitution.
Tripi says the club sought to preserve and protect their power, territory and reputation through intimidation, violence, threats of violence, assaults, attempted murder and murders and was involved in placing victims, potential victims, potential witnesses and others in fear of the enterprise, its members, and associates, through violence and threats of violence.
The plea is the culmination of the an investigation led by the FBI, with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security, the Erie and Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Offices, New York State Police, as well as the Amherst, Buffalo, Hamburg, Lancaster, NFTA, Olean and Town of Tonawanda Police Departments.
