NEWARK, NJ — Three Essex County men admitted their roles in murders in aid of racketeering on behalf of a drug enterprise, including the murder of a federal informant, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced Sept. 7.
Tyquan Daniels, 26; Ali Hill, 29; and Thomas Zimmerman, 26, all of East Orange, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to racketeering acts in connection with their roles in a narcotics enterprise led by separately charged defendant Michael Healy.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, in February, 2018, Healy found out that one of his conspirators in the drug enterprise was cooperating with law enforcement by providing information against the drug enterprise. He ordered members of the Brick City Brims Bloods in East Orange to kill the informant. On Feb. 3, 2018, outside the informant’s residence in Bloomfield, Zimmerman and other gang members shot and killed an innocent bystander, believing the bystander to be the informant.
Realizing they killed the wrong person, the Healy enterprise members, including Daniels, Zimmerman and Hill, conspired to murder the informant. On March 12, 2018, in Bloomfield, two masked gunmen, members or associates of the drug enterprise, approached the informant and fired multiple shots at close range, killing him. Daniels also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and predicate acts, which included the murder of a member of a rival Bloods gang, whom Daniels shot and killed on May 13, 2018.
Hill pleaded guilty on June 29 before Vazquez to racketeering acts, which included the murder of the federal informant.
Pursuant to the plea agreements, Hill faces a prison term between 20 and 25 years. Daniels and Zimmerman each face prison terms of between 33 and 38 years.
The charges and allegations against Healy are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty in a court of law.
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