By Gangsters Inc. Editors
Dantrell Johnson and Gregory Hamilton, both members of the Highs street gang, were sentenced to life in federal prison this week after a jury found them guilty of running a violent racketeering conspiracy and using firearms to carry out a gangland murder. The sentences cap a case that exposed how territorial street beefs, retaliation culture, and easy access to guns can spiral into irreversible bloodshed.
The convictions stem from a two-week federal trial that laid bare the inner workings of the Highs, a gang that claimed territory north of West Broadway Avenue and enforced its dominance through shootings, drug trafficking, robberies, and intimidation. Loyalty wasn’t optional. Retaliation wasn’t debated. It was expected.
The Highs versus The Lows
On August 7, 2021, a prominent Highs member was shot dead at the Winner gas station, a known gang hangout, by someone aligned with their rivals, the Lows, who controlled turf south of West Broadway. The next day, the Highs gathered at the same gas station for a memorial that doubled as a mobilization. Guns were handed out. Emotions ran hot. Payback was openly discussed.
- READ: Sex Money Murder: The violent rise and fall of Bronx gang ingrained in New York underworld’s history
Hamilton and Johnson were there.
Hours later, the violence began. The pair drove to Wally’s Foods, a Lows hangout, and opened fire on a man prosecutors identified as a Lows associate. He survived. The message, however, was clear: the Highs were hunting.
Roughly two hours after that shooting, Hamilton and Johnson went looking again. This time at Skyline Market. Surveillance video showed them following another man into the store and shooting him at close range. They believed he was a Lows member. He wasn’t.
The victim ran into the street, wounded and desperate. That’s when a stolen Porsche pulled up, driven by Highs member Keon Pruitt. Two juveniles jumped out and chased the victim into an alley, firing more rounds. By the time it was over, the man had been shot at least eight times. He died there, bleeding out in a gang war he wasn’t even part of.
Organized criminal enterprise
Federal prosecutors framed the killings not as isolated acts, but as predictable outcomes of an organized criminal enterprise built on violence and revenge. Jurors agreed, convicting both 29-year-old Hamilton and 32-year-old Johnson on RICO conspiracy and firearm murder charges, offenses that carry mandatory life sentences.
Pruitt was sentenced last month to more than 37 years in prison for his role in the same conspiracy and killing.
The investigation that dismantled the Highs pulled together federal, state, and local agencies, combining wire work, surveillance, forensic evidence, and street intelligence. It was the kind of long, grinding case typically reserved for New York Mafia families, except this time, the targets were a modern street gang operating in Minneapolis.
For Hamilton and Johnson, the verdicts mean life by the gun will be replaced by concrete walls and razor wire. For the rest of their lives.
- Back to the Black organized crime section or Street Gangs section on Gangsters Inc.
- Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our news section
- About Gangsters Inc.
Copyright © Gangsters Inc.
Leave a Reply