On the morning of September 14, 2011, Michael Marshall, a male resident of New Orleans, was fatally shot as he arrived for work at a scrap yard on Poland Avenue. His death was not a random act of violence, but a calculated assassination carried out by members of a notorious street gang. Marshall had been cooperating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and his killers were hired to silence him.
The investigation into the murder revealed the involvement of the '39ers,' a violent
street gang. Three members of the gang, Washington “Big Wash” McCaskill, Leroy “Lee” Price, and Ashton “Pound” Price, were identified as the men who hunted down and killed Marshall. They were subsequently arrested and faced federal charges for their roles in the murder and other gang-related activities. The trio was convicted for the assassination, bringing a measure of justice for Marshall's death.
Further inquiries by law enforcement uncovered the identity of the man who allegedly ordered the hit. Steven J. “Shaq” Burns Jr. was indicted by a state grand jury on charges of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder for paying the three gang members to kill Michael Marshall. In a strange twist of fate, authorities discovered that Burns had died in his sleep just before the indictment was handed down, meaning he would never face a trial for his alleged role in the murder-for-hire plot.
