Pack Up and Get Out!

By Donna Ladd Tuesday, March 7, 2006 8:30 p.m. CST

What a week. As our last issue went to press, Mayor Frank Melton was in the middle of a tantrum about alleged "Wood Street Gang" associate Vidal Sullivan going free after a witness recanted his story to the district attorney. By the end of the week, Melton was basking in the Bahamas, and Sullivan was back on the streets as a free man, according to law enforcement insiders and friends of Sullivan who say they talked to him within hours of his brief visit with Melton on Wednesday night.

Multiple sources tell the JFP that Sullivan was never in custody, "protective" or otherwise. All week, though, the mayor and chief told the public that Sullivan was ensconced at an "undisclosed location" and in "protective custody," as Police Chief Shirlene Anderson told The Clarion-Ledger for a March 4 story.

In fact, as we go to press, WAPT-TV has just reported that Sullivan's only charge was possession of marijuana. He was given 14 days to pay a $250 fine, and then released the same night.

As last week began, Melton declared, "I may step aside," in order to go "bring in" Sullivan, who he said was too dangerous to be free. Melton's warrant turned out to be a paper warrant for a contempt of court misdemeanor.

Sullivan was on trial this month for the February 2003 beating death of Carey Bias. But after DeShawn CoCroft, 30, told D.A. Faye Peterson that he had lied about Sullivan's role, the court dropped the charges. Other young men also went free when CoCroft recanted: Anthony Staffney and Zedrick Maurice Warner, both 37.

Oddly, Melton's crusade does not extend to all alleged criminals and "gang" members in Jackson. Only the week before the three men were acquitted, Melton had a more lukewarm response when a similar event occurred in the trial of the alleged "Grayhead Gang"—as he called them during his campaign—who were on trial in the kidnapping and shooting of Michael Sanders.

In that trial, sources say, the defense even came close to calling Mr. Melton himself to the stand as a character witness for the young men—who many casually refer to as "Frank's Boys," due to their mentoring relationship with Melton over the years. Since the 1980s, Melton has been awarded custody of young "at-risk" men. He makes no secret that he has known the young men accused of being associated with the "Grayhead Gang" since they were children.

"Bonding takes place at a young age," Melton told the Associated Press in May 2004 about the Grayhead boys. "Many of these young men don't have father figures. I treat them with respect and dignity. They trust me."

Two of the acquitted Grayhead men go to trial for the murder of Fadenso "Maniac" Jackson, the purported leader of the "Inge Street Gang," later this month.
Melton also has known Sullivan since he was a teenager, he says. But in his case, Melton shows little patience for Sullivan's criminal past. "I have to do what I have to do," Melton told The Clarion-Ledger. "I'm not going to let them terrorize the city of Jackson."

By "them," Melton means the young men he associates with the "Wood Street gang." The new mayor even devoted part of his inaugural speech to telling the Wood Street boys to get out of Dodge.

"We are coming, and we are coming strong," he proclaimed in front of City Hall last July 4. "So to Big Al, Mr. Williams, Mr. Donelson, Mr. Moore, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Butler and all of your thug friends—pack up and get out—it is over."

Those names may have befuddled the audience, but in the mayor's world, those names represent the "Wood Street Gang": Albert (Big Al) Donelson, Terrell Donelson, Terry Moore, L.C. Coleman, Roderick Taylor, Richard Earl Butler and their "thug friends" associated with the group.

While director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Melton focused much of his time on "cold cases" involving violence between groups of young men he knows in Jackson, rather than on drug arrests. While at MBN, a number of the young "Grayhead" men turned themselves in to Melton, instead of the JPD, and he apprehended several "Wood Street" suspects, including Sullivan in November 2003 on a probation charge. Sullivan was then charged with the murder of Reginald Versell, but the D.A. had to let him go for lack of evidence. He was re-arrested by JPD in 2005 for the Bias murder.

After Sullivan turned himself in, Melton took him before Melvin Priester, whom he appointed as a municipal court judge last year. In turn, Priester—Melton's long-time friend and husband of the attorney for the TV-3 Foundation, which Melton chairs—issued a gag order. Then JPD Det. Marcus Wright blocked reporters from the courtroom. Wright was the officer armed with the submachine gun during the Maple Street evictions.

After his manhunt ended, Melton left for vacation Friday morning—reportedly with two of his bodyguards. City spokespeople would not confirm his whereabouts, but after he was seen in the Dallas airport connecting to Miami, a city official confirmed to the JFP Friday that he was headed to the Bahamas. Melton did not return calls to his cell phone.

For background on this story, and extensive blog commentary, please see the JFP's Frank Melton Blog.

Editor's Note: A correction has been appended in the above story. In the written transcript of the mayor's inaugural speech, the city spelled "Donelson" as "Donaldson." It is now corrected in the above story.

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