The streets of Memphis are down two high-ranking gang leaders following a federal judge’s decision to hand out 50-year prison sentences this week.
Edward Allen, a 42-year-old from Los Angeles known as “E-Money,” and 29-year-old Deandre “Dre” Rodgers of Memphis, were sentenced for their roles in a calculated execution-style murder linked to the Unknown Vice Lords, a violent enterprise often referred to as “The Ghost Mob.”
The convictions, which were finalized on Feb. 13, stem from a wave of retaliatory violence that shook the city in early 2019. According to court records and trial testimony, the chain of events began on Jan. 10, 2019, when the gang’s “Supreme Elite Chief”—the top leader for the state of Tennessee—was gunned down alongside his girlfriend in a residential neighborhood during broad daylight.
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While the Ghost Mob initially blamed rivals, they eventually turned their sights inward, suspecting one of their own members was behind the hit.
Driven by a desire for revenge, Allen and Rodgers orchestrated a plan to eliminate the suspected traitor. On Jan. 14, 2019, the duo secured firearms from fellow member Vincent “V-Slash” Grant. In the early hours of the following morning, the group drove the victim to a secluded area behind a dilapidated apartment complex. There, Allen and Rodgers used the weapons provided by Grant to carry out the murder.
“These defendants carried out a calculated, execution-style murder,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “They intended to incite fear and silence in fellow gang members and in the Memphis community. The court’s 50-year sentences means they now will be known as long-term residents of the Bureau of Prisons, and the good people of Memphis will no longer be dealing with their vice.”
The investigation, led by the ATF with support from the FBI, the Memphis Police Department, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, painted a picture of a sprawling criminal network. The Unknown Vice Lords controlled territory not just in Memphis, but across state lines into Arkansas and Mississippi, funding their operations through human trafficking, drug distribution, and burglary.
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U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee noted that the legal victory effectively stripped the gang of its local leadership. “From now on, E-Money, Dre, and V-Slash will not be ‘known’ by their gang nickname, but only by their Bureau of Prisons inmate numbers,” Dunavant said.
While Allen and Rodgers received the heaviest sentences, Grant was also prosecuted in a separate trial for his role in providing the murder weapons. He was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison. The cases were handled as part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative, a collaborative effort between local and federal agencies specifically designed to dismantle gang structures in Memphis and prevent further retaliatory bloodshed.
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