50 Years for Founder of East Coast’s ‘Most Violent Gang’

A judge sentenced the founder of the Bloods gang on the East Coast to 50 years in prison Monday after prosecutors said he headed one of the nation’s most violent criminal organizations.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said that Omar Portee, 33, founder of the United Blood Nation, encouraged young people to join a life of violent crime and that he must face a long prison term to encourage respect for the law, deter crime and protect the public.

She sentenced Portee after he told her during a nearly half-hour statement that he was unfairly portrayed as a dangerous criminal when he actually was a loving father to five children.

Portee was convicted in August of racketeering, murder conspiracy, credit card fraud and drug selling. His lawyer, Robert Dunn, had asked that his client be sentenced to no more than 30 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Dan Gitner said Portee deserved nothing less than life in prison.

Gitner said Portee “sits atop the most violent gang on the East Coast” and had created fear in his Bronx neighborhood through stabbings and attempted murders and extortion.