Ras Baraka.JPG

South Ward Councilman and Newark mayoral hopeful Ras Baraka wrote several letters on behalf of the founder of one of the city's most violent gang factions in 2010 and 2012, according to records obtained by The Star-Ledger. Baraka says he didn't know the letters would be used in a petition for leniency on behalf of alleged Brick City Brims founder Al-Tariq Gumbs.

(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

NEWARK — A councilman vying to replace Cory Booker as mayor of New Jersey's largest city has written letters used in motions requesting leniency for one of Newark's most notorious gang leaders, The Star-Ledger has learned.

South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka wrote the letters on behalf of convicted gang lord Al-Tariq Gumbs at his sentencing in 2010, the same year Gumbs was accused of plotting murders from a federal prison cell in Arizona, court papers obtained by the newspaper show.

That first letter was dated Nov. 10, 2010 — 10 months after Gumbs was indicted on the murder conspiracy charges. Baraka’s letter was filed in support of a motion to reduce Gumbs’ bail.

The second letter was used two years later in an effort to get Gumbs’ sentence reduced after he pleaded guilty to some of the conspiracy charges from 2010, according to copies of the letters and court transcripts obtained by the newspaper.

Gumbs’ attorney, Thomas Ambrosio, said the second letter was a plea for leniency.

"It was a general, ‘Hey, please be lenient on him and I think he’s turned his life around’ kind of letter," Ambrosio said.

In the first letter, Baraka said he believed Gumbs could be integral to resolving some of the gang disputes that often lead to shootings and homicides in the Brick City.

"Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to communicate with (Gumbs) through mail and have been personally impressed by his writing and passion to self correct and be an asset to our community," Baraka wrote.

Baraka, one of four candidates running in Newark’s 2014 mayoral race, said he did not know the letters would be used in a criminal proceeding, and he said he was unaware of the indictment filed against Gumbs less than a year before he penned the 2010 letter.

The councilman said he became familiar with Gumbs and other high-ranking gang members when he helped broker a truce between some of Newark’s largest rival gangs in 2004 as a deputy mayor under Sharpe James.

"All the kids in this city know the legend of ‘Killer Reek’ in the community," Baraka said, referring to Gumbs’ street name. "When you walk into a neighborhood and you say we’re trying to put together a truce, and Killer Reek is a part of this truce, that holds a whole hell of a lot of damn weight."

If elected, Baraka said, he would not shy away from writing similar letters. Newark will see its annual homicide total increase for the fourth straight year in 2013, and Baraka said it’s long past time to take a different approach to crime-fighting, even if that means working closely with the criminal community.

"If we really want to stop it, then it’s going to take a risk, a risk that we have to be brave enough and bold enough to take," he said. "If not, we could just sit around here and pass judgment on each other and let our kids die in the street, which is what we’re doing now."

Baraka — who will run against North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, former assistant attorney general Shavar Jeffries and Central Ward Councilman Darrin Sharif in the 2014 election — is a longtime community activist who has spoken out against street violence in the city for decades. In 2009, he helped found the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, a group that holds protests and shuts down intersections nearly every week in the city.

FOSTERING COMMUNICATION

Part of Baraka’s public safety plan, dubbed "Project Chill," involves improved communication with gang members to stymie street disputes. The councilman has been touting his gang intervention plan all week, in the wake of a series of shootings that left several teenagers dead, including a 13-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet while taking out the trash on Christmas night.

Gumbs, 36, founded the powerful Brick City Brims set of the Bloods street gang while imprisoned in the late 1990s, according to the 2010 indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

His criminal record stretches back to 1998, when he was convicted of a drug offense, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

In 2002, Gumbs was convicted of aggravated manslaughter, and he has remained in state or federal custody ever since, records show.

The councilman said he has written similar letters for other gang leaders who, like Gumbs, aided him in arranging the 2004 truce. The letters were not intended to help anyone avoid punishment for a crime, Baraka said.

"If they do a crime, they’re gonna be arrested and they should be. But I don’t think that should impede us from trying to continue to do the work that we’ve been doing in the community," Baraka said. "If somebody has helped us try to bring people together and they ask me to write a letter, then I will."

Baraka said he has never met Gumbs, though Gumbs’ son once attended Central High School, where Baraka was principal before taking a leave of absence to focus on his campaign.

The councilman also wrote a letter to a parole officer in 2010 on behalf of Corey Hamlet, whom police sources have previously described as a high-ranking member of the Grape Street Crips, Newark's largest faction of the gang. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Hamlet's criminal history with the public.



HELPED ARRANGE TRUCE

In the letter, Baraka said he wanted to help Hamlet find employment after the man was released from prison on federal drug trafficking charges, according to a document obtained by The Star-Ledger.

Baraka said he met Hamlet in 2003 and that he was key in arranging the 2004 gang truce.

Hamlet, 36, pleaded guilty to multiple drug and weapons charges in separate cases in 1997 and 2000, according to records, and was convicted of distributing heroin and Ecstasy in a 2007 federal court case.

Hamlet also was charged with the 2005 murder of the son of a retired city police officer. He was found not guilty at trial in 2012, records show.

He has remained free since the 2012 trial.

While imprisoned in Arizona in 2008 and 2009, Gumbs allegedly helped control the Brick City Brims via a smuggled cell phone, according to that indictment. In those conversations, Gumbs allegedly did everything from direct drug trafficking to order murders.

"On or about Sept. 9, 2008, Altariq Gumbs sent … a letter ordering a member of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims Set to be disciplined by other members of the Set; in that same letter, Altariq Gumbs ordered Set members to kill individuals in retaliation for their assault of a Set member," the indictment reads.

In February 2009, Gumbs allegedly discussed the killing of a Brims member who had "disrespected" him, according to the indictment.

In recent years, Gumbs has become more repentant about his past, according to his lawyer and his personal Facebook page.

While incarcerated, Gumbs wrote a book called "How To Keep Your Kids Away From Gangs," according to his website.

Ambrosio said that during his client’s 2012 sentencing, Gumbs asked to be incarcerated far from New Jersey so he could stop interacting with his gangland contacts.

Star-Ledger staff writer Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report.



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