An associate of rapper Waka Flocka Flame is facing the death penalty after he was charged with three counts of murder in New York on Monday (13Feb12).
Aspiring hip-hop star Ra Diggs, real name Ronald Herron, was indicted in a Brooklyn Federal Court for the slaying of Frederick Brooks in 2001, Richard Russo in 2008, and Victor Zapata in 2009 on Monday afternoon.
He was acquitted of the first killing after two witnesses refused to testify against him, but he later bragged about getting away with murder onTwitter.com and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly tells the New York Daily News, "His Tweets were premature".
Herron has long been accused of being a gang leader of the drug enterprise Gowanus Houses and now Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch is calling for appropriate action, stating, "Ronald Herron and his gang terrorised a Brooklyn community for more than a decade and he temporarily got away with murder by threatening and intimidating witnesses only to return to the streets of Brooklyn to kill and kill again".
Herron, who has been behind bars for two years on federal charges of running a crack and heroin ring, faces the death penalty if convicted.
