Federal jury convicts three Minneapolis ‘Highs’ gang members of murder, racketeering

Three alleged members of the Minneapolis street gang known as “the Highs” were convicted of charges including federal racketeering and using firearms that led to the death of an innocent bystander.

The verdict, reached Wednesday after hours of deliberation, comes after the second major Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) federal trial targeting members of Minneapolis street gangs using a law first created to take down organized crime families. Jurors convicted Keon Pruitt, 22, Dantrell Johnson, 32, and Gregory Hamilton, 29, on racketeering conspiracy and using a firearm during a crime of violence causing death.

All three are already serving 35-year state prison sentences for one of the murders related to the federal convictions.

During a news conference following the verdict, acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick said the convictions mark “a great victory in our fight against the gangs” using the prosecutorial strategy.

“These defendants are not only gang members participating in a criminal enterprise, whose main purpose was to hunt and kill rivals, they were also cold-blooded killers,” she said, noting that part of the Highs case included evidence of their role in the shooting death of a bystander.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has left messages seeking comment from the attorneys of the three men. Bruce Nestor, who represented Gregory Hamilton, said: “Mr Hamilton was already serving a 35 year state prison sentence when the federal government decided to prosecute him a second time for the same crime. This RICO case was about public relations, not making north Minneapolis safer.”

Federal prosecutors during the three-week trial attempted to tie the Highs to a number of offenses, including burglaries, assaults and weapons violations as part of their criminal enterprise, which staked out territory north of W. Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis.

A major part of the trial included a pair of shootings in August 2021 that federal prosecutors said were carried out by the Highs as retaliation for the slaying of one of their members by a rival gang, the Lows — who controlled the streets south of W. Broadway Avenue.

Johnson, Hamilton and Pruitt were accused of driving to Skyline Market in the 1800 block of Glenwood Avenue N. to shoot another Lows member, but mistook a man shopping for groceries as their target and shot him. Pruitt and two juveniles then chased the man, 25-year-old Darryl Wells Jr., into a nearby alley and shot him again. Each of them pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court and were sentenced to 35-year terms with eligibility for release after serving about 22 years.

On the federal convictions, man faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Their sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

The verdict also marks the second conviction against gang members charged under RICO whose cases have been brought to trial. Last October, jurors found three members of the Minneapolis Bloods street gang guilty on similar racketeering conspiracy and firearm-related charges.

Another trial involving members of the Highs is expected in the coming weeks.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who joined the news conference, credited the ongoing federal prosecutions as a major part in the city’s dip in gun violence. Minneapolis recorded a 9% drop in violent gunfire last year and fell nearly by half since 2021, when it peaked, largely due to a 57% drop in shootings across north Minneapolis, a Minnesota Star Tribune analysis showed.

“The only reason that is possible is because of the work that you have done,” O’Hara said, addressing the prosecutors who tried the case. “The streets in this city are safer on some blocks than they have been in decades because of your work.”