YOUNGSTOWN Two Playas convicted under anti-gang law

A defense attorney said the Playas are a rap group, not a gang. Jurors didn't agree.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The music has ended for two members of the Ayers Street Playas.
A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found Darnell Wright and Tony E. Davis guilty of trafficking in crack cocaine and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The nine-man, three-woman jury deliberated about 90 minutes Thursday and six hours Friday before returning with the verdicts. Judge Maureen A. Cronin ordered background checks on both men before they are sentenced. They will be held without bond in the county jail until then.
During the trial, defense attorney Walter Ritchie said the Playas are not a gang, but a rap music group that was looking for a recording contract. Police, though, said they are a gang that controlled drug activity in their East Side neighborhood, known to drug dealers as La La Land.
"They made a living selling crack cocaine together," said Robert E. Duffrin, assistant prosecutor.
Duffrin said the cases were difficult because they broke new legal ground here. Wright and Davis were the first to be tried in Mahoning County under Ohio's law against criminal gang activity.
Fourteen indicted: A county grand jury indicted 14 people, all believed to be members of the Playas, on the drug and gang charges earlier this year. At least three have already pleaded guilty, and Duffrin said he expects others to do the same now that Wright and Davis lost at trial.
The gang activity case against Davis was especially tough because the evidence against him was not as overwhelming as it was with the other defendants, Duffrin said. With that case down, he's prepared for the rest.
"My intent is not to send a message to the other gang members. My intent is to find justice," Duffrin said after the verdicts.
Sentences: Wright, 23, of South Forrest Avenue, faces up to 101/2 years in prison for two counts of cocaine trafficking and one count of gang activity.
Davis, 19, of Byron Street, faced only one cocaine charge and the gang activity charge. He faces a maximum nine years in prison.
Wright stood with his hands clasped in front of his chest, looking upward, as his verdicts were read. Davis, his hands behind his back, looked straight ahead at the judge. Neither showed any reaction.
In his closing statement Thursday, Wright's attorney, Robert Melnick, said the state "bought and paid for" its witnesses through plea agreements, and said there was no evidence linking Wright to a gang.
But he and Ritchie, who represented Davis, said during the trial that they had advised their clients to take plea agreements offered by the state, which would have resulted in significantly lower prison terms.
"He rejected that out of hand and said he wanted to go to trial," Melnick said of Wright.
Besides the prison term, Wright must serve 30 days in the county jail for contempt of court. Judge Cronin sentenced him Wednesday because of an outburst and confrontation he had with deputies and with Melnick outside the courtroom.
bjackson@vindy.com