Gang's leaders sent to prison

Officials say the Royal Bloods, a west Pasco gang, is "decapitated" by the loss of the trio.

By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
Published August 28, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Gang commander Richard "King Shorty" Wears has a tattoo on the back of his left leg. It's an image of himself behind bars, in a red bandanna - his gang colors - with a message for his family:

"Would you still love me?"

Pasco sheriff's Detective Mike Jenkins has seen it. To him, the tattoo meant only one thing:

Wears always knew where gang life would take him.

"That was prophetic," Jenkins said, "and we have seen that come to pass."

Wears and two other gang leaders were sent to prison Monday for last year's brutal beating of a former comrade. Authorities say that has decapitated the gang once known as the Royal Bloods.

The west Pasco gang, once 32 members strong, engaged in narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting and property crimes. But now it is no more, the detective said.

Wears, Allen Barrie Harvey III and Andrew Michael Henn pleaded no contest to first-degree attempted murder and other charges.

All three were adjudicated guilty by Circuit Judge William Webb.

Wears, 24, agreed to 30 years in prison for ordering the attack on former member Joseph Holt, their "Second Crown." Wears, the gang's founder, was "First Crown."

Wears will serve every day of that sentence, the state said, because this latest crime occurred within three years of his last prison stint.

Harvey, 20, will spend 25 years in prison. Henn, 20, got almost 17 years.

Monday was the deadline for all three to make a deal or face trial and possible life sentences.

"All three of them, in my opinion, showed no remorse," said Assistant State Attorney Aaron Slavin. "It's amazing how a young kid can sit there with a blank look on his face when he's getting sentenced to 25 years in prison."

The Royal Bloods are a set of the United Blood Nation, a national gang born in New York's jails in 1993. Wears - also known as "King Shorty" - belonged to the Bloods in St. Petersburg, according to the detective. Wears got permission to organize a local set in New Port Richey.

They wore red bandannas, baseball caps tilted to the right and red "blood beads." But according to the state, Holt had second thoughts about the gangster lifestyle. He was a father now and talked about leaving the gang.

"The way the Bloods work is blood in, blood out," said Slavin, who handles gang prosecutions in Pasco and Pinellas. "They beat you to get into the gang and they beat you to get you out of the gang."

Holt was lured out to the woods Oct. 1, told he was there to initiate two new members, according to sheriff's reports. Instead, four gang members stomped him and beat him with a crowbar, the reports said.

The victim identified them as Harvey, Henn and the two new members, Nathaniel Nichols and Shane Norman Thomas, both now 17.

Thomas is set to make a plea deal in September. Nichols' attempted murder trial is set for October.

The beating was ordered by Wears, according to the Sheriff's Office. Wears later told Holt in a recorded phone call that it was for a "gang violation."

A witness told investigators that Harvey asked Wears: "If I kill Joey, can I take his place?"

Wears, according to the witness, said yes.

Jamal Thalji can be reached at (727) 869-6236 or thalji@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 27, 2007, 22:14:20]