VALDOSTA —
The alleged one-time leader of one of Atlanta’s most notorious gangs died earlier this week following an attack in Valdosta State Prison, according to the state Department of Corrections Thursday.
Inmate Darryl Christmas, 33, “was assaulted by multiple unidentified inmates at Valdosta State Prison,” said Gwendolyn Hogan, Georgia Department of Corrections public relations and information coordinator.
The incident occurred 6:38 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27. Christmas was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m., according to the DOC.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident, Hogan said.
Darryl “Mac Jones” Christmas of New Jersey was in the Valdosta prison on convictions stemming from a brutal series of gang-related deaths in Atlanta.
Christmas was the purported leader of the Nine Trey Bloods, according to Atlanta media reports and court testimony.
In early October 2008, gang members drove to a house, jumped from the vehicle and stabbed two men on a front porch after one of the men reportedly refused to let his girlfriend leave with the gang, according to media reports.
Two days later, a Blood member and a teenage friend were executed because the man was planning to leave the gang.
The man’s girlfriend threatened to report the death to police. Gang members came to her house, shot and killed her teenage son hiding in a closet, killed her dog, and aimed a gun at her face.
She survived; the gun jammed, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Media reports claim the Fulton County gang had been infused in 2008 with new leadership from New Jersey.
During trial, prosecutors claimed Christmas wanted to quickly gain a solid foothold in the Atlanta area.
He reportedly recruited potential new members by distributing a book of rules called the “Bloods’ bible.” Recruits were given a specific amount of time to learn the rules.
If a recruit failed a test, leadership ordered the recruit beat down.
Meanwhile, during the trial, defense attorneys argued that Christmas was a member of Nine Trey Bloods but not the gang’s leader.
Christmas was serving a life sentence in prison on convictions of two counts of murder, two counts aggravated assault, and gang participation. He entered the Georgia prison system on Nov. 8, 2010.
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The alleged one-time leader of one of Atlanta’s most notorious gangs died earlier this week following an attack in Valdosta State Prison, according to the state Department of Corrections Thursday.
Discussion
Prison assault kills one
Inmates attack reputed gang leader
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