Thirteen Jacksonville Gang Members and Associates Indicted for Racketeering and Drug Trafficking Conspiracy, Murder-For-Hire, and Retaliation Against a Witness
Federal prosecutors on Aug. 10, 2026, unsealed an indictment charging 13 alleged members and associates of the Slime gang with racketeering, drug trafficking, murder-for-hire, and witness retaliation. The charges are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The case is at the charging stage and has not been resolved.
2 reports on this incident · first at Aug 20, 2026, 5:55 p.m. ET
By AI ReporterWritten Aug 20, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET
Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced on Aug. 10, 2026, the unsealing of an indictment charging 13 individuals—all alleged members and associates of the Slime gang—with crimes including racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and retaliating against a witness. The case is at the charging stage and has not been resolved. Slime was primarily active in the Northside and Oceanway neighborhoods of the greater Jacksonville area. If convicted, the penalties range from 20 years up to life in federal prison. Some of the defendants face the death penalty for murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire, and/or use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime resulting in death. The indictment also notifies the defendants that the United States intends to forfeit certain assets, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offense.
According to the indictment, the Slime organization has existed under various names, including Pearl World, BB4L (Block Burners for Life), K4T (Killers for Telly), and finally, Slime World. At all times relevant to the indictment, Slime was led by Brian Gregory Brightman and generated income through drug trafficking. Slime used violence and intimidation to establish the group’s dominance in the greater Jacksonville area, to protect its territory, to encroach on rivals’ territory and trap houses, and to maintain its drug trafficking operation. The violence and intimidation included assaults, shootings, attempted murders, and murder.
The indictment alleges that, from approximately 2019 and continuing until August 5, 2026, the defendants conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances including marijuana, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine, and maintained multiple trap houses to distribute the same, often arming themselves with firearms to protect their controlled substances and territory. Additionally, the indictment alleges that in August 2021, Brightman, Raymond Cash, and Devin McFadden solicited the murder of a rival gang member. On October 13, 2022, Brightman solicited a Slime member and a Slime associate to murder a different rival gang member. Between November 30, 2022, and continuing through December 1, 2022, Brightman transported approximately 70 pounds of marijuana from California to Florida. On December 19, 2022, Brightman directed an individual to go to one of the trap houses under the ruse that he would be facilitating a drug deal. When the individual arrived at the home with others, Cash and Gary Harris robbed them of marijuana at gunpoint. On January 29, 2024, it is alleged that Brightman and another Slime member assaulted a lower-level drug dealer and user to enforce a debt owed to Slime. On a different occasion, Blake Baker entered the home of a drug dealer and Slime associate, threatened her with a firearm, and assaulted her domestic partner to enforce a drug debt owed to Slime. On December 11, 2024, Devonne Rivers and Terrance Williams shot and attempted to kill another individual, in part, to intimidate any rival groups and gangs on behalf of Slime. Further, Andre Drinks solicited a physical attack on an individual that Drinks perceived to be proving evidence against Slime, causing injury to that individual.
Members of Slime are also in several substantive counts with committing violence to intimidate rivals and get revenge against opposing groups. It is alleged that beginning on an unknown date no later than on November 27, 2023, and continuing through December 2023, Brightman and Jacob Goodman conspired to commit, and did commit, the murder-for-hire of D.S.S. on November 29, 2023. It is further alleged that Brightman, Rivers, and Tarvares Watson Jr. conspired to commit and did commit the murder of A.B. and T.W. on or about April 7, 2024. In addition to the individuals named above, Roderick Leon, Rashawn Rankin, and Da’Veon Smith have also been in the indictment.
These charges are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The case is at the charging stage and has not been resolved. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office, the Nassau County Sherriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the North Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area are investigating the case with valuable assistance from the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Naval Investigative Service, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Florida National Guard Counter Drug Program, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Neptune Beach Police Department, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, and the Green Cove Springs Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel Lasry and Kelli A. Swaney for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Earlier reports
Aug 20, 2026, 5:55 p.m. ETFirst report
13 Alleged Jacksonville Gang Members Indicted on Federal Racketeering and Murder Charges
On August 10, 2026, United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the unsealing of an indictment in the U.S. District Court charging 13 alleged members and associates of the Slime gang. The criminal matter is pending and remains undecided at the charging stage.
According to the official indictment record released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the charges include racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and retaliating against a witness. The Slime organization—which also operated under names including Pearl World, BB4L (Block Burners for Life), K4T (Killers for Telly), and Slime World—was led by Brian Gregory Brightman and operated primarily in Jacksonville's Northside and Oceanway neighborhoods.
The official record states that between approximately 2019 and August 5, 2026, the defendants conspired to distribute marijuana, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine from multiple trap houses, using firearms and violence to protect territory. The 13 indicted individuals are Brian Gregory Brightman, Raymond Cash, Devin McFadden, Gary Harris, Blake Baker, Devonne Rivers, Terrance Williams, Andre Drinks, Jacob Goodman, Tarvares Watson Jr., Roderick Leon, Rashawn Rankin, and Da’Veon Smith.
Allegations in the indictment include the November 29, 2023 murder-for-hire of D.S.S. involving Brightman and Goodman, the April 7, 2024 murders of A.B. and T.W. involving Brightman, Rivers, and Watson Jr., multiple armed shootings, violent debt enforcement, and witness retaliation.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty in court. Because the case is undecided, no convictions have occurred; if convicted, defendants face up to life in federal prison, with statutory ranges starting from 20 years up to life imprisonment, and certain defendants face up to the death penalty.
This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.
Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.
Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.
None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.