Leader of Trenton's Get Money Boys gang sentenced to life without parole
Prosecutors say Charles Willis led a violent drug trafficking organization tied to murder, attempted murder and multiple shootings.
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The leader of a violent Trenton street gang has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder, racketeering, attempted murder and other crimes, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced Wednesday.
Charles M. Willis, 33, of Willingboro, also known as "Charly Wingate" and "Gate," was sentenced Tuesday in Mercer County Superior Court. A jury convicted Willis in April on 18 of 22 counts following a three-and-a-half-month trial.
Prosecutors said Willis led the Get Money Boys, or GMB, a Trenton gang that controlled heroin distribution near the Oakland Terrace Apartments and directed acts of violence against rival gangs and witnesses.
The investigation began in 2019 and uncovered a drug operation that authorities said ran around the clock. Detectives intercepted a wiretap call that led to the seizure of more than 19,000 individual doses of heroin and fentanyl from a Hamilton storage facility and vehicle linked to the organization.
Authorities said Willis also arranged the December 2019 killing of Michael Barnes by paying another individual $10,000 to carry out the murder after Barnes had cooperated with police.
Prosecutors said Willis later offered $15,000 to have a witness in another case killed. During the June 2020 shooting, the intended target survived with a graze wound, but three bystanders were struck, including a 12-year-old girl who was critically injured.
The investigation also linked Willis to a May 2020 retaliatory shooting in which he and four other GMB members allegedly fired at least 39 rounds into a crowd near a grocery store on Sanhican Drive during a feud with a rival gang. Two people were wounded, and several homes and vehicles were hit by gunfire.
Willis was convicted of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, racketeering, conspiracy, leading an organized crime enterprise, leading a narcotics trafficking network and related drug and firearms offenses.
