WASHINGTON — When the ruthless leaders of a street gang called the "K Street Crew" needed someone to vanish, police say they called on Samuel "Chin" Carson.
He was so good at his job as a hit man, investigators say, neighborhoods often cowered under shrouds of silence and fear when the police showed up looking for witnesses. Some of those they persuaded to testify were killed days before trial.
This week, Carson was convicted of nine murder charges — the most ever against a single defendant in the District of Columbia.
Prosecutors say Carson's conviction for killings that occurred between 1989 to 1996 is a significant blow to his gang, which police believe is the city's most deadly crew.
In part, Tuesday's conviction was possible because of grand jury testimony by people killed before they could testify in earlier trials against other gang members.
Carson, 30, now faces life in prison without parole. He will be sentenced Nov. 9.
"He hunted down innocent people and murdered them — brutally," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Anjali Chaturvedi in his final arguments. "There was one law in the neighborhood, and Carson and his friends set themselves up as that law."
The murders attributed to the K Street Crew have received national attention because of the gang's sophisticated techniques for hunting witnesses and other enemies.
Prosecutors said the gang used police scanners to monitor police movements in their neighborhood and to track potential witnesses.
They also were said to have searched through public documents and license plate records to figure out where police might be hiding witnesses.
The gang, which police said makes money selling marijuana, operates in southwest Washington.
Attempts to bring members of the gang to justice have been thwarted over the years by the deaths of several witnesses. But this time, some of those who were slain still got their say in court.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson allowed the words of two witnesses killed before an earlier gang trial — Chrishaunna Gladden and Robert Smith — to be admitted as evidence. Both spoke of gang members involved in other killings and of the gang's methods.
Police alleged Carson ambushed Gladden in 1996, just four days before she was to testify in a gang trial. Smith was killed in 1997 after talking to police.
Carson's attorneys would not comment to The Associated Press.
The trial of Carson and several other gang members began in January, and the jury released the verdicts separately. Four of Carson's five co-defendants have been convicted on charges ranging from racketeering to murder. One co-defendant's case is still in court.
Police alleged that Carson was the gunman in five of the murders of which he was convicted. They say he helped plan the other four.
Among those Carson was convicted of killing were sisters Terita Lucas and Teresa Thomas in 1991. Thomas was Carson's former girlfriend, according to court testimony. Prosecutors said Carson killed her because he thought she gave away his machine gun to another gang member. Carson was also accused of killing Maurice Hallman and Leonard Hyson in a drug dispute in 1989.