Two Cape Girardeau men among four “Gangster Disciples” leaders convicted for racketeering conspiracy and murder

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Leaders with the gang known as the Gangster Disciples have been convicted, including two Cape Girardeau men.

According to the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, the gang has a “decades-long history of lawlessness and violence.”

They were convicted on charges including drug trafficking, witness tampering and multiple murders.

• 52-year-old Sean Clemon of Cape Girardeau
• 30-year-old Dominique Maxwell of Cape Girardeau
• 53-year-old Warren Griffin of Glenwood, Illinois
• 49-year-old Frank Smith of Naperville, Illinois

The Gangster Disciples are organized with a heirarchy of “Board Members” and “Governors.

Clemon and Maxwell carried out orders from Smith on April 28, 2018 in the shooting of a victim in Bridgeton, Missouri as part of a leadership dispute.

On May 18, 2018, Griffin and Smith drove to the southside of Chicago to murder a powerful Board Member.

The defendants were also involved in a nonfatal shooting in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as well as a nightclub stabbing in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Other crimes include acts of drug trafficking, including smuggling the synthetic drug K2 into Missouri prisons.

All four defendants were convicted on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering, which results in a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Smith, Maxwell and Clemon were convicted of racketeering conspiracy.

Griffin was convicted of racketeering conspiracy as well as firearm offenses.

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