Years ago, the Tre-4 gang lost its criminal grip on a 50-acre public housing project in San Francisco after a lengthy feud with a group of rivals.
Instead of fading away, the gang spread from the city’s Visitacion Valley to other pockets of the Bay Area, some moving into Oakland the Contra Costa suburbs and San Mateo County. Living true to the gang’s catchphrase, “tear it off” — meaning actually ripping off victims’ Rolex watches and diamond chains in armed holdups — Tre-4 became a top law enforcement target by the start of this decade.
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What followed were federal and location prosecutions of gang rivalries, freeway and cemetery shootings, and robberies gone bad. One of the biggest cases was in Contra Costa’s Lamorinda corridor, where six alleged Tre-4 members and associates were charged with robbery and conspiracy, with two facing additional charges related to the March 5, 2022, shooting of 20-year-old Basel Jilani during a Rolex watch robbery.
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The group targeted those going about their daily lives, police have testified — and may have used a sophisticated manual written by members to try and get away with violent crimes.
Now, five of the men have received lengthy prison terms, while the sixth is set to be released from prison next month, court records show. The sentences were finalized last January and December, but hadn’t been previously reported.
The two defendants in Jilani’s killing, 23-year-old Jalin Washington, and 21-year-old Don-Juan Watson, both of Antioch, were sentenced to 32 years and 15 years in prison, respectively. Washington, the accused shooter, pleaded no contest to manslaughter, while Watson, the accused driver, accepted a robbery conviction in a plea deal, court records show.
Three others — Quinten Sheppard, Amir Roof-Anderson, and Khejon Nelson, all 27 — received terms ranging from 12 to 20 years for robberies or assaults and are all housed in state prisons, records show. The sixth suspect, former East Contra Costa high school football Shurod Thompson, 27, received a nearly five-year prison term in a robbery case with Sheppard, records show.
Prosecuted as a group, Washington, Watson, Roof-Anderson, and Nelson were charged in a massive conspiracy case that mostly focused on street robberies targeting those who wore expensive jewelry, but also touched on gang rivalries, rap and social media feuds, and the gang’s storied history in San Francisco. It was a tumultuous case, with a judge initially throwing out gang charges against the four men at a 2023 preliminary hearing, only to have prosecutors re-file the gang conspiracy charge and persuade a second judge to uphold it.
The evidence showed that Watson and Washington followed Jilani, of Lafayette, from East Contra Costa and ambushed him on Taylor Road near Gloria Terrace, with Washington shooting Jilani during a struggle over a root beer-colored Rolex. The watch, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, was later seen on social media, on the wrist of another Tre-4 member, Ramone Fiapoto, prosecutors contend.
“You’ve got these individuals all communicating about crimes together, with photos of them having proceeds from crimes, including expensive jewelry, Rolexes, Audemars Piguets,” Deputy District Attorney Chad Mahalich said at the 2023 hearing, referencing another luxury watch maker. “Almost a million dollars in jewelry that nobody their age could afford.”
The victims included M2thaK, a popular social media personality and recording artist, who was pistol-whipped and robbed for rings, necklaces and cellphones worth more than $160,000 in Oakland, according to police testimony. A Bay Area rapper, DreamLifeRizzy, was also shot and wounded in Pittsburg in July 2022, allegedly by Tre-4 members who were angry that he allegedly disrespected the gang in a song, according to police testimony at a preliminary hearing.
Investigators also detailed home invasion robberies, instances where women were followed home from ATMs then robbed for cash, and a $341,000 cannabis dispensary burglary. One police gang expert testified Tre-4 members amassed $100,000 to pay for criminal defense lawyers.
Perhaps the most chilling piece of evidence was a handwritten notebook police found in Washington’s Antioch home, a veritable “how to get away with robbery” manual entitled “Welcome to the Bay.” It contained detailed notes and checklists for how to form a successful robbery crew and evade government surveillance, including reminders to use lookouts, obtain dummy license plates and keep a change of clothes if things went south, according to police testimony.
“Burn clothes only if someone dies,” one of the notes read.
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The 2023 preliminary hearing for Washington, Watson, Nelson, and Roof-Anderson started with a tense back-and-forth between retired Judge David Flinn — who died last year, weeks before his 86th birthday — and David Brown, the lawyer who had been representing Roof-Anderson but complained of intense foot pain and said he needed a doctor.
Flinn, brought in because of another judge’s scheduling conflict, doubted Brown’s foot really hurt, and told him he needed to stay.
“This is absurd,” Brown replied, and walked out of court to make his doctor’s appointment. A new lawyer, Claire White, was brought in to represent Roof-Anderson.
From there, police testified for weeks about Tre-4, which despite having fewer than 50 estimated members had catapulted to the top of law enforcement targets in the early 2020s. Formed in the Sunnydale projects of San Francisco, the gang lost a turf war with the Down Below Gang, then expanded around the area, San Francisco police Sgt. Matthew Dudley testified.
Defense lawyers challenged two San Francisco police gang experts’ contention that the four men were Tre-4 members or associates, which was based on photos of them holding up four fingers, associating with gang members and wearing jewelry to memorialized Tre-4 member Reno “Baby” Fiapoto, who was shot and killed on the Bay Bridge in 2020. Flinn agreed, saying he was unconvinced, and chided Mahalich, the deputy DA, throughout the hearing.
Mahalich re-filed the gang charges, and Judge Charles “Ben” Burch upheld them, essentially overturning Flinn’s prior ruling. The case was slated to go to trial when the plea agreements were reached.
Prosecutions involving the gang’s feuds aren’t over. On Tuesday, Antioch police announced that a 22-year-old alleged Double Rock gang member was charged with murdering a suspected member of Tre-4 last January. The victim was a relative of “Baby” Fiapoto’s — the man killed on the Bay Bridge in 2020. The defendant, if convicted of the charges, faces life in prison without parole.