6 Drug Traffickers Arrested In Murder-For-Hire Plot

Six members of a North Carolina drug trafficking organization were arrested and charged for plotting to murder a Norfolk woman.

Landis Jackson, Nelson Evans, Patrice Farland, Brian Tate, Mario Love, and Shafter Manuel were arrested in the areas surrounding Greensboro and Charlotte. Two other defendants, Jaquate Simpson and Kalub Shipman, are in state custody and will appear in a federal court at a later date. According to an indictment, the men were involved in a drug conspiracy led by Simpson, of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Allegedly a drug dealer in Norfolk failed to pay for a delivery of cocaine from Simpson, so the latter hired Shipman and Evans to murder Lillian Bond in retaliation. On April 19, 2016, Bond, who was associated with the Norfolk dealer, was shot to death outside her home on Trice Terrace in Norfolk, Virginia, 13 News Now reports.

The defendants face several charges, including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy, murder while engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise, murder while engaged in a drug-trafficking offense, use of a firearm resulting in death, and distribution of cocaine. If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

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