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3 Members Of 'Native Mob' Gang Sentenced To Prison For Distributing Meth, Assault

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The U.S. Department of Justice says that three members of the "Native Mob" gang have been sentenced to prison for distributing methamphetamine and for assault.

The three members sentenced were 32-year-old Robin Lee Lussier ("Ratchet"), 26-year-old Willard Duane Reed III ("Leftfield") and 25-year-old Joshua Adam Hanks ("Souless").

All three were said to be active in the gang, and prosecutors said from Dec. 1, 2015 through Jan. 1, 2019, Lussier and Reed conspired to traffic meth by the pound throughout northern Minnesota, "including but not limited to Cass Lake, Bemidji, and the Red Lake Indian Reservation."

The justice department said that, in December 2018, Hanks (under direction by Lussier) assaulted a fellow gang member for failing to abide by the rules of the "Native Mob."

Lussier pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Reed received 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release, following his guilty plea. Hanks, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

A decade ago, the National Gang Threat Assessment called the Native Mob one of the largest and most violent American Indian gangs in the U.S., most active in Minnesota and Wisconsin but also in Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota. It is made up of mostly American Indian men and boys, and started in Minneapolis in the 1990s as members fought for turf to deal drugs. The Native Mob has also been active in prison.

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