By Amanda Roberts | Fox8 | January 2, 2020
NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) -The 3NG gang has been tied to some of the most horrific crimes in years past: multiple murders, drug activity, and weapons charges.
But Rafael Goyeneche with the Metro Crime Commission says now some of those crimes may not be translating to paper.
“This is a public policy decision,” he says. In the evening hours of New Years’ Day, police responded to a car crash. They found downed utility poles, a wrecked truck, and a murder victim inside shot several times.
A source tells Fox 8 the victim was 45-year-old Christopher ‘Boogie’ McCann who had ties to the 3NG gang that operated in Central City.
In 2013, McCann was one of 18 defendants indicted on state gang racketeering charges. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to five felony counts under that state racketeering indictment and received a 20-year sentence.
According to the Department of Public Safety & Corrections, McCann was released in July of 2019.
A spokesperson with the department says he received more than 3 years’ worth of jail credit toward the sentence, as well as additional credit from treatment and rehab programs while incarcerated.
“The fact that this man lost his life probably has less to do with the fact he was released quicker and more about what his criminal history was,” said Goyeneche.
Goyeneche says in 2016 the state legislature passed a measure to reduce jail populations by accelerating good time, making inmates eligible for parole sooner. He says plea deals, while they may help put a violent offender behind bars may not reflect the nature of the violent crimes if they plead to lesser charges.
“He is a byproduct of some of those reforms,” he said. “They entered into plea deals where they may have pled to a non-violent offense but the prosecutors agreeing to those deals didn’t know about the accelerated good times that would be granted after they pled guilty… just because somebody is sentenced for racketeering and drugs that that is not an indicator that they’re not violent offenders.”
McCann was supposed to be on parole until 2033, but Goyeneche wonders when the 3NG will retaliate next.
“Only time will tell if this is something that is not endangering the public,” said Goyeneche.
McCann was also serving time for manslaughter and weapons charges from a 2008 conviction. He was locked up continuously since October 2009 until his release in July 2019.