BALTIMORE, MD—Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Ridgley Shipley, a/k/a “Crazy”, 32, of Baltimore, to 184 months in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for a racketeering conspiracy and for using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a robbery. Shipley was a member of the Eight Tray Gangster (“ETG”) Crips gang in Baltimore.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

The ETG Crips are a violent subset of the Crips gang that originated in California in the 1970s, eventually operating on the streets and in correctional facilities in Maryland beginning in the 2000s. For many years, the ETG Crips controlled the drug trade in particular territories in Baltimore City, including the area near the intersection of West Baltimore Street and South Hilton Street in West Baltimore (the “Baltimore Hilton neighborhood”), the area near the intersection of West Lexington Street and North Fremont Avenue (the “Lexington Terrace neighborhood”), and the area near the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Sinclair Lane in North Baltimore (the “Frankford Sinclair neighborhood”). The ETG Crips members from the Baltimore Hilton and Lexington Terrace neighborhoods referred to themselves as the Baccwest ETG Crips—modeling themselves after the Baccwest ETG Crips in Los Angeles—and ETG Crips members from the Frankford Sinclair neighborhood called themselves the Nutty North Side ETG Crips. The two groups worked together for common criminal purposes.

According to his guilty plea, from 2008 to 2019, Shipley participated in the gang’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity which included drug dealing, robbery, witness retaliation, and other acts of violence. For example, while incarcerated in 2017, Shipley physically assaulted a fellow ETG Crips gang member who violated gang code by disrespecting another Crip in front of members of a rival gang. Shipley also discussed “weeding out” unofficial self-professed ETG Crips members, recruited new gang members in prison, and discussed murdering at least one victim who cooperated with law enforcement.

After Shipley was released from prison, Shipley and a co-conspirator robbed the employees of an Arnold car repair shop in June 2019. During the robbery, Shipley brandished a stolen, fully loaded, .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

Co-defendant Trayvon Hall, a/k/a Tru,” and “G Tru,” 31, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to racketeering and drug conspiracy charges on August 26, 2022. If the Court accepts his plea, Hall will be sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

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