Norfolk, Virginia - A member of the Nine Trey Gangsters was sentenced today in the Eastern District of Virginia to life in prison for his role in four murders and several additional non-fatal shootings.
According to plea documents, Anthony Foye, 26, of Suffolk, Virginia, is a member of the Nine Trey Gangsters, a street gang with members in states across the East Coast that is affiliated with the United Blood Nation. Foye and another gang member convicted of multiple murders, Nathaniel Mitchell, were trying to gain a reputation within the gang as “shooters.” In furtherance of his membership in the gang, Foye murdered Al-Tariq Tynes, Vandalet Mercer, Linda Lassiter, and Wayne Davis, shot into a residence in Portsmouth, Virginia and shot several other individuals across South Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Foye pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 2017, to four counts of murder in aid of racketeering activity, and faced a mandatory life sentence on each count.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick for the Eastern District of Virginia; Attorney General of Virginia Mark R. Herring; Special Agent in Charge Martin Culbreth of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Chief of Norfolk Police Larry D. Boone; Chief of Portsmouth Police Tonya D. Chapman; Chief of Virginia Beach Police James A. Cervera; Col. K.L. Wright, Chief of Chesapeake Police; and Chief of Suffolk Police Thomas E. Bennett made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.
The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) Operation Billy Club. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
Trial Attorney Teresa A. Wallbaum of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. DePadilla, Andrew C. Bosse and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Butler of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.