Yesterday, two Georgia men and members of the Nine Trey Gangster national criminal organization pleaded guilty to Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy.

The Nine Trey Gangsters (NTG) are a national gang that started in the prisons of New York as a subset of the United Bloods Nation and has since spread throughout the East Coast and Southeast. The NTG’s members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder, assaults, robbery, firearms possession, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, extortion, and other criminal activities. The NTG have a hierarchical structure and members throughout the country are subdivided into separate groups or “lines,” usually named after the gang’s leaders. Each NTG member has a specific rank within the gang or a specific line, and this rank comes with specific duties and responsibilities. Both of the defendants who pleaded guilty yesterday were part of the gang’s “fire” line and were responsible for planning attacks on rival gangs.

According to court documents, Khajavius Mitchell, aka KJ, 28, of Atlanta, held the rank of “fourth floor” in the gang’s hierarchy, and was responsible for assisting the superiors known as “fifth floors” in running the gang’s activity on a daily basis.

Devonta Marshall, aka Street Monsta, 27, of Atlanta, held the rank of “first floor” in the gang’s hierarchy and was responsible for overseeing the gang members without rank within a certain area.

Both pleaded guilty to count 1 of the second superseding indictment, charging them and nine others with RICO conspiracy for their involvement in planning, facilitating, and executing multiple acts of violence and participating in the gang’s drug trafficking activities. Mitchell and Marshall will be sentenced at a later date by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg and face a statutory maximum term of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine for the Northern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge JC (Chris) Hacker of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI is investigating the case.