Dump Squad member gets six life terms in Newport News street gang case

federal judge on Thursday threw the book at a leader of a Newport News street gang, saying he wrought terror on the community with murders, shootings, robberies and a host of other crimes.

Perry E. Cousins, 26 — a leader of the Dump Squad street gang in Southeast Newport News — was sentenced to six life terms, plus another 60 years, by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

"You terrorized the city of Newport News," Smith told Cousins. "Your actions put the community in fear."

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Throughout her career as a judge, Smith said, "a case doesn't come to mind that can rival Mr. Cousins'" in terms of the sheer number of violent acts committed in so short a span.

"There hasn't been one iota of remorse shown by this defendant — none," Smith added. "Not even an iota of feeling shown to the family of the victims.… He showed no remorse at trial, and he shows no remorse now."

Cousins' crimes included two killings, an armed home invasion, other robberies and shootings and a pistol whipping. Trial testimony painted a picture of a man who could whip out a gun and shoot at the slightest provocation.

Thursday's sentence brings to a close a large, multi-year effort by local police and federal agents to bring down the Dump Squad gang. The gang ravaged Dickerson Courts, Harbor Homes and Ridley Circle, three local housing projects in the Southeast section of Newport News, between 2003 and 2009.

Of 17 defendants originally charged in the case, Cousins was the only one who did not plead guilty. Several gang members turned on Cousins at trial, testifying against him in the hope of winning sentencing reductions in their own cases.

With her sentence, Smith exceeded even the sentencing recommendations of the U.S. Attorney's Office, which had requested four life terms. "This is one of the few cases that I've been involved with that … the individual enjoyed killing people," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Bradenham. "He went out of his way to kill people.... He shot people that were unarmed and unaware."

Cousins' lawyer, Lawrence H. Woodward Jr., didn't ask for a specific sentence, but asked Smith to keep in mind Cousins' young age — between 18 and 22 — at the time of the crimes.

According to trial testimony, Rashed Caudle, 20, was sitting in a parked car on 19th Street in August 2003 when Cousins walked up from behind and fired nine bullets into Caudle through the shattered glass.

Caudle, who tried unsuccessfully to escape the bullets, was found partially hanging out the driver's-side door in a pool of blood. No motive was ever discovered, except that Caudle had earlier given Cousins a look he didn't like.

In September 2005, Lorenzo Antwan Thomas, 24, was sitting in his mother's apartment in the Harbor Homes housing project, getting ready to watch a football game, when two armed and masked gunmen barged in.

Thomas was a drug dealer, but didn't keep any drugs or money in the home, witnesses said. That led the two robbers, one of whom was Cousins, to grow frustrated at the fruitless search. At one point, Thomas thought he saw an opening and lunged at Cousins. Cousins shot him twice.

Before Smith pronounced the sentence, Cousins said: "Only Allah can judge me. I'm ready for whatever."

"This won't heal the wound in my heart, but justice has been served," said Teresa Cooper, Lorenzo Thomas' mother. "Justice has been served. Hallelujah."

Angela Caudle, Rashed Caudle's mother, said, "I thank God for Judge Smith. She saw through his hard exterior and she gave him exactly what he deserved."

Aside from the slayings of Thomas and Caudle, Cousins was convicted in several other criminal incidents:

* The February 2003 attempted murder of a man who was shot eight times, but survived.

* The June 2005 shooting of a drug dealer who resisted a robbery and was shot in the hand and arm.

* The July 2005 robbery of a drug dealer for $3,900 in cocaine.

* The severe pistol whipping in November 2007 of a man who had earlier pulled a gun on a gang member in trying to defend a friend.

The 17 criminal counts Cousins was convicted of include: murder in aid of racketeering; two counts of using a firearm resulting in death; racketeering conspiracy; drug conspiracy; conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery; three counts of interfering with commerce by robbery; three counts of using a gun in a violent crime; assault resulting in serious bodily injury during racketeering; three counts of cocaine possession with the intent to distribute; and two gun charges.

Members of the Dump Squad and two affiliated gangs — the Slump Mobb and the Bang Squad — were found to have committed a host of crimes. Some of the most notorious of those crimes include the November 2006 killing of Terrell Williams on 18th Street during a drug robbery; the January 2007 slaying of 22-year-old Tiarra Campbell, who was strangled, with her apartment set on fire, after she was considering cooperating with police; the December 2007 slaying of Tony Vaughan after a fight at a Hampton nightclub; and the setting fire to a police substation in May 2008.