NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A gang leader once described as one of New Orleans' most dangerous criminals was convicted of three murders and drug and gun charges in a vast federal racketeering case stretching back to the mid-1990s.
A jury found Telly Hankton guilty Tuesday along with three co-defendants, including two of his cousins.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on 28 of 35 charges in the racketeering case against Hankton, Uptown hit man Walter Porter and Hankton cousins Andre Hankton and Kevin Jackson.
Among other crimes, Telly Hankton and Porter each were convicted on three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, a charge that carries a life prison term.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued a statement Tuesday night saying that justice has been served as murderer and notorious gangster Telly Hankton has been convicted by a jury of his peers in federal court.
"Hankton and his co-defendants terrorized our streets for years; drug crimes dating back 20 years and brutal killings of at least five people," Landrieu said. "Telly Hankton and his criminal enterprise epitomized the culture of violence in our city."
All told, Hankton, 40, was convicted on nine of the 11 counts he faced. The jury acquitted him on a pair of counts related to a gun attack in October 2010, while Hankton was behind bars, on an innocent witness to one of those murders.
Graphic created by the New Orleans Advocate:
