caught up with smuggling contraband to the facility. they have assaulted staff before. so they get it can be a real big problem. melvin gathers, he is a second lieutenant in folk nation. he is considered one of the higher ranks. when its come down to his gang affiliations here, his chest is out, he s out. mr. gathers refers to himself and i ve heard other inmates refer to him as supreme. a lot of people call me supreme. supreme is the most high. i have a reputation that i must hold. officer last has observed gathers influence over other inmates. if they re all yelling and screaming, he can stop them. if they re all quiet and he s mad, he can start them, as well. i can direct an inmate, a brother, a person, even a non-disciple. if i was to send word to the
gathers finally complied with orders as backup arrived at the unit. with a complex case ahead of him, gathers could face a long stretch in jail. he and a co-defendant face 13 charges including six for armed robbery. prosecutors say they held up three businesses during a four-day crime spree. gathers pled not guilty but has three prior robbery convictions. armed robbery just been something that always came natural as a first instinct. my first armed robbery was a mexican market. i went in there and demanded money, and i seen the power that i had when i looked into their eyes. gathers said he never physically harmed his robbery victims but acknowledges having scarred them in other ways. i understand that i did scar them probably for life because it will be a memory never forgotten. you can hear it in their voice. what? you can hear you can hear them pleading, you can hear them
the island and still lives there. john s island is a rural community. everybody is close knit, everybody knows everybody. i see people from home in here all the time. so if i see them at home, at the grocery store, they re like, i m out. you won t see me in there again. the when i see them again, it s like, let me tell you what happened. the melvin gathers, who is awaiting trial for alleged armed robberies is, also from john s island. what s up? you doing all right? i ve known his family for some time because we ve been in school together from middle school through high school. by knowing his family, it helped in being able to talk and engage in conversation. sergeant kitchings hopes that officer greene s relationship with gathers will provide insight into gathers role with the game folk notion. a set of gangs under a common name, folk nation, black gangster disciples, manic, latin disciples. out of chicago, they fall under the umbrella of folk nation. we have documented
for someone to be punished from here. it was more so like a warning. melvin gathers plays a game of cat and mouse with dangerous implications. and i didn t do nothing. we got dirt roads and trouble. a young man from one of the nearby islands faces the worst trouble of his life. whoooo.
street to handle anything that needs to be taken care of, it will get handled. several weeks earlier, an inmate tied to folk nation assaulted an officer in the jail. now sergeant kitchings wants to find out if gathers was involved. rumor has it on the street that he s been putting out orders to assault officers. hopefully we re able to confirm or deny that information today. good evening. how you doing, man? go on and have a seat, melvin. you re folk, right, gangster disciple? how long you been involved? yeah, since day one. day one? age 13. 99. how far up are you? how far am i? i m not comfortable answering that question as far as rank instruction. i m not comfortable answering that question. i ve been hearing something kind of disturbing to me. i ve been hearing that you ve been putting orders out for officers to be assaulted. and this is coming from the street. it s not coming from this facility.