United States of Europe

Edgar Diaz, 23, was a member of the Down Below Gang, which operated in the Sunnydale housing project in the Visitacion Valley district of San Francisco. Prosecutors said the gang sold crack cocaine and other drugs and protected its turf with violence and murder.Diaz pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco in November to participating in a racketeering conspiracy that included three murders and several attempted murders personally committed by Diaz.The 40-year sentence handed down by Alsup on Tuesday was agreed to by prosecutors and defense lawyers in the plea bargain.Before the guilty plea, Diaz faced the possibility of a rare federal death penalty if his case had gone to trial and he had been convicted. The U.S. Justice Department had authorized local federal prosecutors to seek a death penalty.Alsup referred to the three murders during the sentencing and said, "In a way, it's hard to accept the sentence of only 40 years, as long as that is....

Edgar Diaz, 23, originally faced a possible death sentence but reached agreement with federal prosecutors on a prison term in November, when he pleaded guilty to taking part in a racketeering conspiracy. The charge included distribution of crack cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana, a number of attempted murders, and the murders of Beverly Robinson in April 2004 and Kenya Taylor and Antoine Morgan in June 2004.member of the Down Below Gang in San Francisco was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison Tuesday after admitting that he took part in three murders.Another defendant, Raymon Milburn, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to murder a man identified by prosecutors as a witness against the gang. Police say the Down Below Gang has terrorized the Sunnydale public housing complex in Visitacion Valley since the late 1990s. Twelve alleged members were indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2005, and U.S. District Judge William Alsup has now sentenced...