LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that VON TUCKER,
a/k/a “Vaughn Tucker,” a/k/a “Face,” a/k/a “Miller,” was found
guilty this afternoon in Manhattan federal court of murder, drug,
and firearms charges, following an eight-day trial before Judge
SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN. The jury found TUCKER guilty on four counts
in the Indictment, including a count charging TUCKER for the
murder of KENNETH SCOTT, on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2005; two counts
related to his distribution of “crack” cocaine in 2005; and a
count related to his use of a firearm in furtherance of the crack
cocaine operation. According to documents filed in Manhattan
federal court and the proof at trial:
TUCKER was an enforcer in a crack operation that sold
crack on Seymour Avenue in the Bronx, from at least late March
2005 through late June 2005. The crack business operated 24
hours per day, 7 days per week, and sold thousands of dollars of
crack each day. In early May 2005, the victim, KENNETH SCOTT,
robbed the crack operation of 11 bags of crack. TUCKER
volunteered to murder SCOTT as retribution for the robbery, and
to send a message to other criminals that they would not get away
with stealing from TUCKER’s crack operation. On May 8, 2005,
TUCKER and a co-defendant, SHEDRET WHITEHEAD, a/k/a “Damu,”
looked for SCOTT in order to murder him. In the middle of the
afternoon, TUCKER and WHITEHEAD drove up to SCOTT in a van,
firing 13 bullets at SCOTT with a 9-mm firearm. SCOTT was hit
three times and died before reaching the hospital.
Following the murder, TUCKER returned to work at the
crack operation. On June 27, 2005, officers from the New York
City Police Department executed a search warrant at a Seymour
Avenue location and recovered large amounts of crack cocaine and
tools of the crack-distribution business, including equipment
that was used to produce and package crack.
TUCKER faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years
and a maximum sentence of life in prison for the charges on which
he was convicted. TUCKER’s accomplice, WHITEHEAD, pleaded guilty
on January 15, 2008, and is scheduled to be sentenced before
Judge SCHEINDLIN on April 17, 2008. TUCKER is scheduled to be
sentenced before Judge SCHEINDLIN on May 16, 2008.
Mr. GARCIA praised the outstanding efforts of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the New
York City Police Department in this case.
Assistant United States Attorneys LAUREN M. OUZIEL and
ALEXANDER J. WILLSCHER are in charge of the prosecution.
08-32 ###
