ATLANTA — A member of the “GoodFellas” criminal street gang will spend the next 10 years in a Federal prison and 5 years of supervised release after being sentence by a judge earlier this week.
Tahj Rankine was convicted after prosecutors say he drove a car during a drive-by shooting that injured an innocent bystander in Southwest Atlanta in February of 2021.
“Tahj Rankine drove a vehicle while fellow gang members shot out of it, maiming an innocent bystander,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Our Homeland Security Task Force will continue to target gangsters who disregard public safety and drive violence in our community.”
“Gang shootings in public places are all too common,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant and his gang terrorized customers at a gas station, unleashing more than 30 rounds, endangering innocent victims and even hitting a car containing children. Violent gang activity that imperils innocent lives has no place in our communities. It must be rooted out entirely,” Duva added.
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Prosecutors said on February 2, 2021, Rankine drove a group of his fellow gang members to a gas station on Southwest Atlanta followed by a second vehicle with armed members of his gang.
They said Rankine drove through the gas station parking lot and the people in both gang vehicles started shooting at the gas station’s storefront, targeting a different gang.
The bystander was hit by bullets and ended up with an injured foot.
“Drive-by shootings endanger entire communities, not just intended targets,” said Marlo Graham, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Rankine’s actions—driving armed gang members into a public space and enabling gunfire—show a blatant disregard for human life that left an innocent bystander injured. The FBI, alongside our partners on the Homeland Security Task Force, will continue to prioritize dismantling violent gangs like GoodFellas and holding those who fuel this kind of reckless violence accountable.”
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Herzberg said The GoodFellas is an Atlanta-based gang that primarily recruits members in Atlanta neighborhoods and jails and prisons throughout the state.
He said that the gang generates money through, among other criminal activities, drug trafficking, robbery, carjacking, fraud, and firearms trafficking. The gang protects its operation, turf, and reputation through violence and threats of violence.
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