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TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that two members of a violent gang in Palm Beach County were sentenced today on criminal charges of racketeering and other crimes. Jessee Thomas and Ernst Exavier were each sentenced to 25 years in prison after both men were convicted by a Palm Beach County jury in December. The men were prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution. The presiding judge also found the defendants to be gang members by statutory definition.

The two men are among 12 Top-6 gang members who were arrested earlier this year during a coordinated operation by the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's Office, and the Police Departments for Lantana and Boynton Beach.

The jury returned guilty verdicts against Thomas, 22, for criminal racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, two counts of possession of paraphernalia, resisting without violence, and possessing forged notes, bills, checks, or drafts; and Exavier, 25, for criminal racketeering. The two men, both of Lake Worth, were indicted by the 18th Statewide Grand Jury in June.

The Top-6 gang is a violent Haitian group that has been connected to a number of murders, both as assailants and victims, as well as possession and sale of narcotics. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution in the 15th Judicial Circuit and Judge Karen Miller presided over the case. Some of the remaining gang members are cooperating with prosecutors; the rest are set for trial at a date in the future.

Photos of the two men are available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7LWUNF/$file/Top-6-a.jpg
(Ernst Exavier) and http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7LWUNY/$file/Top-6-b.jpg. In "Top-6-B," Jessee Thomas is on the left and Ernst Exavier is in the middle. The third defendant's face is hidden because he is still awaiting trial.