In the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans, a 19-year-old male named Terrance Dennis was fatally shot on February 19, 2011. His death was not an isolated incident but rather a piece of a much larger and more sinister puzzle that would eventually be unraveled by federal investigators. The shooting cut short a young life and left a community searching for answers.
The investigation into Dennis's murder led authorities to a violent street gang known as the '39ers.'
This group, an alliance between the 'G-Strip gang' and the '3NG gang,' was notorious for its drug trafficking operations and a string of violent crimes that plagued the city. In a sweeping federal indictment, members of the 39ers were charged with a host of crimes, including racketeering and multiple murders. Terrance Dennis was named as one of their victims.
The federal case brought against the 39ers detailed a criminal enterprise responsible for numerous acts of violence. Among those charged in connection with Dennis's death were Jasmine Perry and Ashton Price. The specific counts against them in relation to this crime were 'Murder in aid of racketeering' and 'Causing death through the use of a firearm.'
The subsequent trial of the 39ers gang members brought a measure of justice, though not in the way some might have expected for the murder of Terrance Dennis. While the jury found Perry and Price guilty of other charges under the expansive RICO indictment, they were ultimately acquitted of the specific charges of murdering Dennis. The broader convictions against the 39ers gang, however, led to significant prison sentences for its members, effectively dismantling the violent organization that had long terrorized New Orleans.
