Black Guerrilla Family indictees (clockwise from top left) Avon Freeman, Darien Scipio, Darryl Taylor, Deitra Davenport, Marlow Bates, Nelson Robinson, Randolph Edison, Roosevelt Drummond, Ray Olivis, and Zachary Norman
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If proven right, either at trial or by guilty pleas, the accusations against the BGF in Maryland would mean not only that Brown's legitimate-looking "movement" is a criminal sham. It would mean that the prison gang, while insinuating itself so effectively within the sprawling correctional system as to make a mockery of prison walls, was also able to embed itself in ordinary Baltimore life. If not for the indictments, should they be proved true, one can only imagine how long it could have lasted.
Calvin Robinson might have gone undetected. But the city waste-water worker, who owns real estate next to the Baltimore Police Department's Western District station house and next to the city's historic Hollins Market, where his In and Out Boutique clothing store continues to operate, instead was heard on the BGF wiretap talking with Glasscho about suspected drug deals. And he was observed conducting them. And when his house was raided, two guns turned up.
Robinson at least made a good show at legitimacy during court appearances in the BGF case, unlike Freeman's performance before Judge Bredar. His lawyer played up Robinson's city job, and even had his supervisor, Dorothy Harris, on hand in the courtroom to attest to his reliability at work. He looked poised and professional, with his clean-shaven head, trimmed mustache, and designer glasses. But just like Freeman, Robinson, who has drug convictions from the early 1990s, lost his plea to be released and was detained pending trial.
Of the 25 BGF defendants, five were granted conditional release. All of them women, they include three former prison guards, Davenport, suspected drug dealer Lakia Hatchett, and Cassandra Adams, who is Glasscho's girlfriend and alleged accomplice. All were deemed sufficiently "responsible adults" to avoid being jailed before trial, so long as they continue to meet strict conditions. They, unlike the rest of their co-defendants, were found neither to be a threat to public safety nor a risk of flight, should they await trial outside of prison walls. Given the sprawling conspiracies, one can imagine why Freeman's in fear at the Supermax--and why the released women should be breathing a sigh of relief.
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