David Kapone Williams
Introduction
David Kapone Williams, a 36-year-old member of the Western Hills Bloods criminal street gang in Tucson, Arizona, was sentenced to 335 months in prison — nearly 28 years — for his role in the gang’s racketeering conspiracy, a plea that admitted a pattern of narcotics trafficking, firearms offenses, witness intimidation, and murder carried out on the gang’s behalf . Among the acts he admitted to was a 2015 murder committed with other gang members in the parking lot of a hotel near the Tucson International Airport . He is not David Williams, the Buffalo felon charged in a separate 2020s shooting case, who appears elsewhere on this site.
Background Information
The Western Hills Bloods (WHB), per court documents filed in the case, was an organized group operating in Tucson whose members engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity: narcotics trafficking, possessing firearms, witness intimidation, and committing violent crimes — including murder — on behalf of the gang . Williams admitted to being a member, and to trafficking narcotics in Tucson and throughout the United States for the gang .
The prosecution was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Justice Department’s violent-crime initiative, operating here as a component of Operation Take Back America . The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Tucson Police Department .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced. Williams pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Participate in a Pattern of Racketeering Activity and was sentenced to 335 months in prison.
According to court documents, on May 15, 2015, Williams and other WHB members murdered a rival gang member in the parking lot of the La Quinta Hotel near the Tucson International Airport . The gang’s violence extended beyond that killing: WHB members also participated in the October 2014 homicide of an individual near Fremont Street in Tucson .
On September 16, 2026, United States District Judge James A. Soto sentenced Williams to 335 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, after his guilty plea to Conspiracy to Participate in a Pattern of Racketeering Activity .
Williams was one of the last of a long docket. Several of his Western Hills Bloods co-defendants were previously sentenced in the same case: Marcell Demetrius Gray received 335 months on May 27, 2026; Shawmaine Eustace Ardell Moore received 240 months on December 3, 2025; Samuel Lee Berrelle Rakestraw III received 240 months on May 28, 2025; Michael Anthony Williams received 262 months on March 26, 2025; Jermaine Lamar Maxwell received 240 months; Cliffton Martinez received 78 months on December 7, 2022 for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person; and Labarr Martinez received 50 months on July 19, 2023 for possession with intent to distribute cocaine — all on related pleas in the same racketeering case .
Public Reaction and Consequences
U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine framed the sentencing as the end of a decade-long pursuit: “With Williams’ sentence, this long-fought battle to bring members of the violent Western Hills Bloods to justice finally comes to an end,” while warning that the office remains “anywhere close to ending our mission to bring safety to Tucson’s streets” . ATF Phoenix Field Division Special Agent in Charge A.J. Gibes called the sentence part of “an over ten-year effort to hold members of the Western Hills Bloods, a violent criminal street gang, accountable for their acts of violence and intimidation which they inflicted on the citizens of Tucson” .
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Sottosanti, Michelle Chamblee, and Brian Hopkins of the District of Arizona’s Tucson office .
Current Status
Williams, 36, is serving a 335-month sentence imposed September 16, 2026, to be followed by five years of supervised release. His guilty plea stands as his conviction, and with his sentencing the case against the Western Hills Bloods members named in the release has reached sentence for every defendant it lists.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Williams will be in his late fifties when the prison term ends. The RICO plea means his gang membership, the 2015 hotel-parking-lot murder, the 2014 Fremont Street homicide, and the narcotics trafficking are all court-admitted facts attached to his name permanently. The sentence also closes the gang case as a whole: seven co-defendants sentenced before him received terms ranging from roughly four years to nearly 28, and the release describes the effort as a more-than-decade-long campaign by ATF and Tucson Police against the gang’s grip on the city.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona — “Convicted Tucson Gang Member Sentenced to 335 Months in Prison for RICO Conspiracy” source